In the last five months we have visited the Jing Jin city 3 times. When we visit we always stay at the Hyatt Regency. I originally heard of Jing Jin, one of the famous Chinese Ghost cities through a friend. I had read about Ghost cities before and was very curious. I couldn't wait to actually go and visit one. What I was not expecting was a real hidden gem, the Hyatt Regency Jing Jin city. See their website here.
One of the large vacant villas.
Empty apartment blocks at the golf course.
Rows and rows of empty shops.
Inside of of the empty villas.
Jing Jin City is situated between Tianjin and Beijing. It is about an hour out of Beijing. There is no public transport of any sort to the city. The city was built with big expectations. Over 3000 luxury villa were built, A luxury hotel, the Hyatt Regency, A golf course, other hotels, hot springs, colleges, shops and a school.
It is thought one of the main reasons that the city remains unoccupied is that it is to far from both Tianjin and Beijing for commuting and the size of the houses available would be too large for retirees. There is not enough residences to support local businesses and people won't buy homes there because there are no amenities.
We have enjoyed cycling around the city looking at all the empty houses and shops that litter the place.
The Hyatt looks very impressive from the road.
Having seen the city once you might question why we would continue to go back. The answer is the Hyatt. They Hyatt was built originally to service the city of Jing Jin however with the lack of occupation it now has another purpose, a peaceful retreat for those who want to get away from hectic city life in Beijing and Tianjin.
It is incredibly quiet and peaceful there. Even staying over Chinese New year, which was a rather busy time for the hotel, I opened up my balcony door and stood out and listened... not a sound. You can read my short trip advisor review here.
Another reason we return is the attentive staff and fabulous food. Because of the Hotels location you are stuck there apart from going for a walk or cycle around the city itself. This has never been an issue for us as they offer so much to do. Also it is worth noting that they use the term city but town would be more appropriate.
Camp Hyatt, the children club has fantastic facilities.
Camp Hyatt offer a supervised kids club. They have little chef classes, a pottery studio, art and crafts lessons, pool, x box, and an array of indoor activities for children of all ages including a soft play area. My children are never bored.
Pottery room.
Children's movie theatre.
The ice skating rink.
The hotel itself has great facilities such as: a bowling alley, squash courts, a badminton court, bike rental, swimming pool, Jacuzzis and steam rooms. They have 4 different options in restaurants. Also something I would recommend is their hot springs.
This visit we sat in hot springs with snow on the ground, it was fabulous, we got a private spring and had Chinese tea and fruit delivered to us.
Tea at the springs.
The hot springs.
The glasshouse is where Breakfast and evening meals on weekends is served.
Breakfast is a real treat. Their breakfast quiche is worth a mention. There is plenty of fresh bread and pastries to choose from. A great selection of Chinese items and of course the western fry up.
The Hyatt burger is a tasty treat.
There is extensive grounds to wonder round. There is an old-world charm in the grounds which I love and could spend days roaming around.