Natchez, Mississippi

Thundering herds of wildebeest, prides of lions, great masses of elephants and giraffes, chattering monkeys, and lumbering water buffalo--all of them viewed from the safety of an open-topped van. That's the portrait of Africa to which most of the travel industry limits itself; the overwhelming majority of Africa tours tend to be wildlife safaris. For viewing an altogether different aspect of that immense continent--the vitally important cultures, politics, and society of Africa--the travel programs are few and rarely available for less than $4,000 or $5,000 per person. Until now, that is. Just in the past several years, a handful of dedicated Africa tour operators have begun to offer travel programs to the cities (and therefore the actual life) of Africa, priced as low as $2,500, and occasionally, for a breathtaking $1,550, including round-trip airfare from the United States. Though these expenditures are far above the usual recommended levels of Budget Travel, they are at least explained by the high airfare cost for reaching most African capitals, and they are justified by the importance of the subject matter. "Ten years ago there was no one rocking the boat, no one saying these prices were way too high," says Ken Hieber, owner of 2Afrika (877/200-5610 or 201/533-1075, 2afrika.com) based in Jersey City, New Jersey. "Americans were not very educated about this part of the world, and they truly were being led by the nose. There was a terrible exploitation of the U.S. travel market when it came to cultural tours of Africa. But with the Internet came the ability to do comparison-shopping, and more and more tour operators realized that they could no longer justify ridiculously high rates." In the path of Nelson Mandela, and sophisticated Cape Town For the past seven years, South African-born Hieber has been selling low-cost cultural tours to South Africa, Namibia, and Zimbabwe, independent of his low-cost safaris to Tanzania and Kenya. His business is booming. "I was bent on creating great trips at affordable prices for the average working person, not the chichi rich tourist, and my tours have increased by 45 percent in recent years," says Hieber. "I tell people that I don't sell status; I sell Africa. The truth is that when people travel to Africa without all the pretense of a luxury tour, the local people react to them much better. They can relate to them, they respect them more, and they welcome them with great warmth." While new specials are regularly posted on 2Afrika's Web site, some of the company's recent deals have included a truly inspiring tour called "Madiba" (Nelson Mandela's clan name), which traces the footsteps of the famous anti-apartheid leader with a tour of his Robben Island prison cell off the coast of Cape Town, as well as Johannesburg, Soweto, Pretoria, the Cape of Good Hope, and several wine regions of the country. The tour includes airfare on South African Airways from New York or Atlanta, all hotels for eight nights in South Africa, all transportation, and some meals. Price: $2,695 (an optional three-day trip to Victoria Falls at the start of the tour is $475). Another 2Afrika special is a hard-to-believe bargain of a nine-day package to Cape Town, including airfare from New York or Atlanta and accommodations for six nights at one of the better hotels in the city, for all of $1550, surely a travel-pricing record. 2Afrika also offers a few add-on excursions, including two on the famed Blue Train, an air-conditioned journey through the countryside that is part luxury hotel and part gourmet restaurant. Trips are available from Johannesburg to Victoria Falls with prices starting at $995 per person (based on double occupancy) for a deluxe compartment for four nights. Ashanti drummers, the Ivory Coast, and the legacy of slavery Based in New Milford, Connecticut, Africa Desk (800/284-8796 or 860/354-9341, africadesk.com) is another highly reliable source for low-cost Africa tours. Founded in 1981 by Christine Tyson, a divorced mother of two with $86 in her pocket, Africa Desk is also noted for its specially designed "Postcards" trips, soft-adventure travel packages for women that attract American females from all walks of life. Postcards trips focus on "women-sensitive issues" that relate to the women of Africa (and other parts of the world), and often include visits with schoolchildren, teachers, and music and dance groups. Most of the company's packages include fully escorted tours, but it can also arrange specially designed trips for independent travelers. Africa Desk has devised a number of cultural tour packages to various countries. Its "Ghana Cultural Tour" is a nine-day adventure through that West African nation, which starts in Accra with tours of the National Museum, Makola Market, Kwame Memorial, and the W.E.B. DuBois Center for Pan-African Studies. It then goes on to the heart of the Ashanti Region, once the seat of an empire that stretched from the Ivory Coast to Togo, and includes visits with Ashanti drummers and market ladies who sell intricate kente cloth fabrics. The last leg involves a tour of the bustling town of Cape Coast, with visits to the African Historical Museum and a tour of the fifteenth-century slave dungeons inside Elmina Castle. Including airfare from New York, hotel accommodation for seven nights, ground transportation, and meals, prices for the tour start at $2,589 per person. The "Ivory Coast Cultural Tour," also offered by Africa Desk, is another rewarding package. Starting off in Abidjan, the nine-day trip includes escorted tours to the Cocody Market, National Museum, and religious sites. It then goes on to Grand Bassam, the former capital and a popular beach resort area, and Tiagba, a river village that juts out of the water on wooden pilings. Including airfare from New York, hotel accommodations for seven nights, ground transportation, and meals, prices start at $2,219 per person, double occupancy. For a taste of French-African flavor, the seven-day "Senegal Cultural Tour" begins in Dakar at the deluxe French-owned Sofitel Hotel and includes tours of the city, arts and crafts markets, and government buildings. It then moves on to one of the most compelling places in all of Africa-Goree Island, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Now a mellow beach town dotted with colonial architecture, Gorée Island was one of the most infamous slave trading centers in West Africa during the eighteenth century, and most of its historic structures relating to the slave trade have been turned into museums. Including airfare from New York, hotel for five nights, and meals, the price of the tour is $2,239 per person. A tour of "roots" in the Gambia or Benin In 1989, Spector Travel of Boston (800/879-2374 or 617/351-0111, africa@spectortravel.com, spectortravel.com) began experimenting with even lower-cost Africa excursions, and it now offers several interesting tours. Its seven-day "Roots and Culture Tour" to Senegal and the Gambia starts with a tour of Dakar and Goree Island and continues on to Banjul with visits to a Gambian orphan village, health center, and primary school where tour members present gifts of books and school supplies to the children. Including airfare from New York, hotel accommodations, ground transportation, admission fees, and daily breakfast, the price starts at $1,699 per person (based on double occupancy). Spector's Saturday-to-Saturday "Roots and Culture Tour" to Benin offers another fascinating slice of West Africa. Starting with a city tour of Cotonou, it continues with a full-day excursion to Ouidah, the voodoo center of the country and a port city from which thousands of slaves were shipped to Haiti, Brazil, and the United States. In addition, there are visits to the Sacred Forest, the Portuguese Museum, python temple, and slave memorials. Including airfare from New York, first-class hotels for five nights, ground transportation, admission fees, and breakfast daily, the cost is $1,699 per person (based on double occupancy). For the adventurous: Roughing it For travelers with no qualms about roughing it a little, two outstanding adventure tour operators are wonderfully inexpensive to use. In Emeryville, California, Adventure Center (800/228-8747 or 510/654-1879, adventurecenter.com) offers over 100 "participatory camping" tours to Africa, and recently its tours have been booked solid. "We've seen grassroots cultural tours to Africa really taking off," says Trevor Saxty, Adventure Center's sales manager. "We focus on giving people an authentic African experience without insulating them too much from the reality of the continent. I always tell prospective clients the truth--if you don't mind getting a little dusty and helping out to pitch a tent, you will have a fantastic time. But I also tell them that Africa is not as unmanageable or difficult as most people think it is." Part of a larger company called Far & Wide, Adventure Center tours attract people of all ages and backgrounds, from bored executives and graduate students to honeymooners and retirees. The top cost of its trips (not including airfare to Africa) is $80 per day, with some as low as $40 a day. All have experienced trip leaders, require members to bring a sleeping bag, include some but not all meals, and involve groups of 8 to 24 people. Carefully note again that airfare to and from the destination is not included in the tour prices. The 4 1/2-week "Tribal Lands of West Africa Tour," which begins in Accra, includes the slave castles of Ghana, the ancient capital of the Ashanti, fetish markets in Togo, the ancient slave-market city of Ouidah in Benin, Hausa villages of Nigeria, and beautiful beach towns in Cameroon. Cost: $1,810. And the 18-day/12-night "Journey to Timbuctoo," with transportation via bus, boat, and dugout canoe, includes stops in Dakar, Djenne, and Dogon villages before a trip down the Niger River to legendary, mysterious Timbuktu itself, on the edge of the Sahara Desert. Cost: $1,500. Africa by bicycle Based in Seattle, the International Bicycle Fund (206/767-0848, ibike.org/ibike) is still another down-to-earth alternative. A nonprofit organization that promotes sustainable tourism and cross-cultural encounters, the IBF has a "Bicycle Africa Program" run by former Peace Corps volunteer David Mozer, who has over 25 years' experience traveling throughout Africa. Described as soft-adventure tours that average about 40 miles a day, the program runs about 12 trips a year to 16 nations. "Most of our clients are well traveled, well read, and rather independent people," says Mozer. "Many have traveled on their own to other exotic places, but when it comes to Africa they think they would be more comfortable in a group." On all of our trips, our goals are to give an overview of the diversity and complexity of African culture, to be environmentally friendly, and to have a positive impact on the local economy. We buy local foods, hire local guides, and use small lodgings." Mozer's clients range in age from 17 to 70, but most are in their 40s and 50s. Most are novice bikers, and the average group size is seven to ten people. The small hotels and private homes where they stay may not be elegant, but they are safe, clean, and African to the core. Breakfasts and dinners are included; airfare is extra. Among a far broader selection, IBF's tours include the 14-day/13-night "Guinea: West Africa People-to-People," which consists of rides through the Futa Jalo mountains and the Guinea coast, and several rural lifestyle and cultural programs with the Manike, Peuhl, and Soussou peoples of the West African coast. Cost: $990. The 13-day/12-night "Uganda: Pearl of Africa" tour includes rides through Entebbe, Kampala, the Rift Valley, Kibale National Forest, rural villages, cultural centers, and visits to museums. Cost: $990. In over 20 years of leading bike tours to the most remote parts of Africa, Mozer claims he has never had a bad experience, nor has he had one bike stolen. "The reaction we get from locals is amazing," he says. "When we ride into small towns, people come running out to meet us. They offer us drinks and bananas and they invite us into their homes. I remember an old man once in a small village who said to me, 'You're not like the other tourists who drive by in those big buses. Seeing you ride into my little village makes my heart big.'" Custom-designed group tours to Africa Finally, a seasoned South African-born travel specialist who offers affordable custom-planned group trips to his home continent: Norman Pieters, the owner of Karell's African Dream Vacations (800/327-0373 or 305/446-7766, karell.com). Based in Coral Gables, Florida, Pieters' company has been selling tours to South Africa, Zimbabwe, Zambia, and Botswana for 18 years. "When it comes to travel to Africa, what I've seen in recent years is that people's travel budgets do not always reflect their financial standing. Many people who can afford to spend a lot prefer not to, and are concerned about getting good value for their money," says Pieters. For a fee of $250, he will custom design a tour and hunt for bargains. But first, he puts his clients to work. "For most people, Africa is a great unknown, and they often view it as a country rather than the enormous continent that it is," says Pieters. "So I give them homework to do. They must read up on the different places and decide what their priorities are. Do they want a cultural or simply a big-game nature experience? Once I know those answers, I can scrimp to put together a terrific but affordable trip." Pieters recently designed a 14-day escorted tour for American teenagers that took in Cape Town, Johannesburg, Sun City, Kruger National Park, Zimbabwe, and Victoria Falls. His price was $3,000 per person and included airfare from the U.S., all transportation in Africa, first-rate hotels, and all meals.

Sooner or later, everyone coming to central New York sees cars with bumper stickers that read: "Ithaca is Gorges." Nature is the highlight of this budget-friendly, bucolic college town, whose vineyards and rolling hills resemble those of northern California. But beyond its natural wonders, this student-filled home of renowned Cornell University is full of cultural vibrancy and excitement. And no, I'm not partial just because I attended college here. An Ithaca view An hour by car from Syracuse, New York, Ithaca occupies the southern tip of 40-mile-long Cayuga Lake-one of New York's celebrated Finger Lakes, shaped by the imprint of the Great Spirit's digits, according to Native American lore. It's hard to break free of the beauty that surrounds you. This is prime waterfall country, and 150 of these natural wonders grace the area. The man-made attractions and the turbulent life of a great university are centered on a high-altitude campus crowning the hill east of Ithaca's modest downtown. Your first stop should be Day Hall, home to the Information and Referral Center (corner of East Ave. and Tower Rd., 607/254-4636, info.cornell.edu), which supplies vital free maps and lists of events. Student-led tours of the spacious 745-acre grounds depart daily at 1 p.m. (and more frequently in spring and summer) from the Day Hall lobby. While you're there, pick up a free Cornell Chronicle for its calendar of mostly gratis shows and seminars (also presented on the Web at news.cornell.edu/Chronicle/Chronicle.html) or access CUinfo (cuinfo.cornell.edu). Still another good event-filled publication distributed hereabouts is the Cornell Daily Sun. From Day Hall, a short stroll leads to the stone clock tower and the Arts Quad-the heart of Cornell. In my undergraduate years, as it is today, the Quad was an outdoor living room, a grassy spot for Frisbees and Hacky Sacks. Watch for bulletin-board notices of various a cappella performances-the all-male Hangovers are a standout. The Quad is a curious mishmash of architectural styles-from neoclassical to modern-and multiple libraries: the Carl A. Kroch Library, built completely underground (home to a signed copy of the Gettysburg Address and various outstanding, free, temporary exhibits); the Romanesque-style Uris Library topped by McGraw Tower-you can climb the 161 steps to view chimesmasters playing three times daily (schedule: 607/255-5350); and the A.D. White Library (within the Uris Library) with its wingback chairs and filigreed catwalks. The promenade behind Uris provides panoramic views of the valley below and is a highly romantic spot for watching the sunset. Across University Avenue from the Johnson Museum (see below), descend the steps and follow the forest trail. The roar of water announces the Suspension Bridge, which sways at a heartstopping elevation of 138 feet and leads to the mostly residential North Campus. If you're lucky enough to be there on a starry Friday night, you'll find that the Fuertes Observatory is open and active between nine and midnight (607/255-3557; free). I once saw Saturn through its powerful microscope, which befits an astronomy department where the late, great Carl Sagan taught. Lectures, screenings, concerts The campus itself is a dynamic scene of free, open lectures ("Politeness in the Iliad"), free exhibits ("Images of Brazilian Workers"), and nominally priced ($2 to $6) screenings of art films and documentaries at Cornell Cinema. Dozens of these weekly opportunities, open to students, visitors, and residents of Ithaca alike, are listed in the Chronicle. There are countless exhibits in associated museums, like the free-of-charge, I.M. Pei-designed Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, which is located at the corner of Central and University Avenues, just west of the Arts Quad and down Libe Slope (607/255-6464). Open Tuesdays through Sundays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., the museum boasts an extensive collection of Asian antiquities, while also offering stunning panoramas of the Ithaca area from its fifth-floor windows. As for the performing arts, we penny-pinching undergrads enjoyed concerts as colorful as those presented by the Indonesian Gamelan orchestra at little or no cost, thanks to the Department of Music's concert program. Another option is nearby Ithaca College's James J. Whalen Center for Music. We paid less than $10 for important plays and musicals at I.C.'s Dillingham Center for the Performing Arts, and Cornell's Schwartz Center for the Performing Arts. You can enjoy the same opportunities at the same low prices. Off-Campus Cornellians without cars reach downtown in about 45 minutes via the leisurely Cascadilla Gorge Trail (pick it up next to the Schwartz Center), which meanders alongside a chain of cascades. The very center of the city is a pedestrian mall known as the Commons. On weekends, it seems like everyone is there, window-shopping or pausing at boutiques, restaurants, and galleries. The Sagan Planet Walk, both a scale model of the solar system and a memorial to the astronomer, begins at the Commons and ends at the Sciencenter (601 First St., 607/272-0600, sciencenter.org; $3.50 children 3 to 12, $4 seniors, $4.50 adults), where you can also study leafcutter ants or a man-size combination lock. North of town, the Paleontological Research Institution (1259 Trumansburg Rd., 607/273-6623; free), housed in a former orphanage, features one of the largest fossil collections in the nation. Within eight miles of downtown, the topography of three state parks taught me more about the movements of Ice Age glaciers than any geology class could. Take Route 89 to Taughannock Falls (607/387-6739), whose vertical drop of 215 feet surpasses that of Niagara's (only about 170 feet). Cascades froth into a basin at Buttermilk Falls (Route 13 south, 607/273-5761). And don't miss Robert H. Treman State Park (607/273-3440), on Route 327. Although Lower Treman's swimming hole is a warm-weather draw, Upper Treman possesses more grandeur, as footpaths wind across stone bridges and between towering chasms. During the spring thaw, the trails beside the falls are the perfect vantage point for observing the surging waters. (Park admission is $5 to $6 per vehicle.) Finally, Ithaca serves as a base for exploring the Cayuga Wine Trail (cayugawinetrail.com), whose 13 vineyards offer tastings and tours for nominal prices. One winery, Six Mile Creek Vineyard (1551 Slaterville Rd., 607/272-9463), is within the city limits. Pillows and provisions Low-cost lodgings for visitors are abundant within a short drive from the campus. At the foot of CU's West Campus, the no-frills Hillside Inn (518 Stewart Ave., 607/273-6864) offers doubles from $55, while at the Embassy Inn (1083 Dryden Rd., 607/272-3721), queens are $55 and up, and a room with two double beds starts at $59. The Elmshade Guest House (402 S. Albany St., 607/273-1707) is three blocks from the Commons and has doubles with shared bath for $60, with private bath for $70. For units with kitchen facilities, the Grayhaven Motel (657 Elmira Rd., 607/272-6434, grayhavenmotel.com) near Buttermilk Falls charges $38 to $110 per unit from December through March, and $65 to $150 April through November. Cheap eats? They're mainly at the ethnic restaurants of "Collegetown" along College Avenue, Eddy Street, and Dryden Road at the south side of the campus. For a special treat, try the Terrace Restaurant of the Statler Hotel off Campus Road, part of Cornell's renowned School of Hotel Administration. On weeknights, students do the cooking and serving, and entrees are as little as $4.25 to $6.75; reserve at 607/254-2500. Getting there and getting around Helpful Web sites:visitithaca.com, cornell.edu, cayugalake.com, and ithacatimes.com.

Distinguishing between indoors and outdoors is ingrained in Japanese culture, and wearing shoes into someone's house is tantamount to spitting on their living room floor. To avoid getting off on the wrong foot, here are some guidelines. Japanese homes and guesthouses usually have a foyer, called a genkan, specifically meant for changing in and out of shoes. Footwear that slips on and off easily is best. Leave your worn, holey socks at home to spare yourself embarrassment. In the genkan, take off one shoe and step with that foot into the main part of the house. Then remove your other shoe, never letting your bare feet touch the genkan floor. It's polite to align your shoes neatly off to one side, with toes facing outward. Guests are often offered slippers to wear around the house, although they're not required. In Japanese homes, the toilet--which is almost always separate from the bathroom--usually has its own set of slippers. Leave your regular slippers at the door and put on the special toilet ones. Switch slippers again when you exit the bathroom, or you will simultaneously amuse and horrify your hosts. Some homes and restaurants have rooms with traditional rice-straw flooring, known as tatami. Guests should remove their shoes or slippers and sit directly on the floor in tatami-mat rooms, which are furnished with low tables and cushions. Think of tatami as plush, white carpeting that you would only dare touch with stockings or bare feet. Many temples, shrines, historical buildings, and even museums require visitors to take off their shoes before they enter. If you see a basket filled with ugly plastic slippers near the entrance, that's your cue--which for many big-footed Westerners may mean flopping around with their heels hanging off the backs. When you dine out, what you do with your shoes depends largely on the type of restaurant. If there are Western-style tables and chairs, keep your shoes on. At traditional Japanese restaurants with tatami-mat floors, shoes are not allowed. The rules confuse many outsiders, so be patient. When all else fails, just follow the lead of locals or simply ask someone.

These days, Beijing changes in the blink of an eye. One night, you're at a fantastic restaurant on a street jammed with fantastic restaurants. They're rubble by the next afternoon. That's progress, Chinese style. So go now -- before many of the ancient neighborhoods are destroyed to make way for the 2008 Olympics, and before the costs of visiting, already on the rise, start to approach those of Shanghai and Hong Kong. The "don't miss" attractions What to skip The low-down on hotels Recommended restaurants Where to buy Red China kitsch The attractions you really must see Mao's Mausoleum at Tiananmen Square: Out front, watch the locals buy silk flowers for 12¢, genuflecting--and even weeping--as they lay them at the foot of a Mao statue. (Guards gather the flowers and take them out on carts to resell.) You'll be rushed by the corpse too fast to know whether it's real or wax, then spit out the back among hawkers selling Mao watches, pins, and all manner of doodads. 8:30-11:30 a.m. Monday-Saturday, 2-4 p.m. Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays; free. The Great Wall: As awesome as advertised--a technological and architectural wonder providing sensational views. Tours often pair the Badaling section with a visit to the Ming Tombs, but resist both. Badaling is reconstructed, overrun, and commercialized, and the tombs waste a half day. You're better off at Simatai (8 a.m.-5 p.m. daily), a more authentic and unspoiled part that costs $3.75 to get into and has a $7.25 lift for those who can't handle the rugged climb. The round-trip ride--with your cabbie waiting at the Wall--should cost about $36. Forbidden City: Wander the halls and temples where emperors lived for five centuries (8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily, $4.75-$7.25 depending on the season). The $3.75 audio tour, Roger Moore's finest performance, is more informative than most of the guides for hire at the entrance. Pay the extra $1.50 to see the Hall of Clocks, a quirky collection of ancient timepieces. After you leave the north end of the Forbidden City, walk to Jingshan Park and climb the hill for a stunning overview. Lama Temple: The lamasery--in recent decades a monastery for Buddhist monks but for centuries a royal-family residence--is one of the city's most peaceful locations, with five major prayer halls and lots of chanting and burning incense. It's also a terrific example of Chinese propaganda; the museum displays offer an accurate history of Tibetan Buddhism up until the 1950s, when the Communists rolled into the Tibetan capital of Lhasa, exiled the Dalai Lama, and hijacked the faith. Now they call it a "peaceful liberation." Take the subway to the Yonghegong stop and follow the signs. 12 Yonghegong Dajie, 011-86/10-6404-3769, 9 a.m.-4:30 p.m., $3. What to skip and what to do instead Skip the tours of the Great Hall of the People and the Museum of the Chinese Revolution. They're dullsville. Instead: Hop the Line 1 subway west to the Junshibowuguan stop for the little-visited but more entertaining Military Museum, which charges $1.25 to enter (8:30 a.m.-5 p.m.). Unfortunately, much of the collection lacks English explanations; then again, what you see--the history of Chinese artillery and war machinery--is what you get, and you can fire a sling-bow gun at an arcade target (24¢ for four shots). Afterward, walk five minutes west to the free Millennium Monument, a mammoth rotating sundial propped up on 200-odd steps. Climb it for something rare in Beijing: a view. Skip full performances of puppet, acrobat, or Beijing opera shows. They're often in high school-quality auditoriums, and most Westerners can't bear the indecipherable screeching of the opera for long anyway. Instead: Take in a 70-minute sampler of all three arts, 7:30 p.m. nightly at the Liyuan Theatre, inside the Jianguo Hotel Qianmen (175 Yongan Lu, 011-86/10-8315-7297). It will only cost you one evening and $4.75 to $16, depending on where you sit and whether you order dessert. Skip the pedicab tours of Beijing's ancient alley neighborhoods, known as hutong. The tours cost at least $30, your guide will stick to a script that you could have gotten off the Internet, and those pedicabs are only romantic until your butt starts aching from the bumpy ride. Instead, all you really need to know is that this style of housing--the courtyard house leading out into narrow alleys--is hundreds of years old, has no indoor plumbing, and is in danger of disappearing as bulldozers make way for thoroughfares. Keep walking south from Tiananmen Square or take the subway to the Qianmen stop, and then meander in the winding maze until you've shot enough quaint photos of old women sitting on milk crates and picking their teeth or diaperless babies chasing chickens. Hotels: How much will you spend? The hotels listed below are relatively inexpensive, near subway stops, and with some staff who can speak English. There are far cheaper ones, but a non-Chinese-speaking tourist definitely needs easy subway access and/or reliable concierge help. Prices are baseline for doubles, and may rise depending upon arrival and departure dates. For $58 per night: Hademen Hotel Small, adequate rooms with hard beds and ugly pink-and-gold bedspreads. But you do get cable television (for free) and in-room broadband Internet access (6¢ per minute). The Hademen Hotel is an excellent value especially for its location, kitty-corner from the Chongwenmen subway stop. 2A Chongwenmenwai Dajie, 011-86/10-6711-2244, hademenhotel.com. For $60: Novotel Xin Qiao Beijing A standard chain hotel with clean, basic rooms and excellent light. Two Western and two Chinese restaurants. Bonus: You can rent a bicycle for $4.75 per day. At the Chongwenmen subway stop. 2 Dong Jiao Min Xiang, 011-86/10-6513-3366, novotel.com. For $65:Capital Hotel Rooms have white-and-taupe bedding and draperies and large windows that let in lots of light. Seven restaurants, one with a karaoke bar, as per the Asian obsession with lipsynching to Celine Dion. Near Qianmen subway stop; within walking distance from Tiananmen Square. 3 Qianmen Dong Dajie, 011-86/10-6512-9988. Reserve via beijing-hotels.net. For $90:Jianguo Hotel The airy lobby is often a heartwarming scene--the hotel is frequented by Western parents adopting babies. Rooms are spacious, and you're a block from a Starbucks and Xiushui Market. At Yonganli subway stop. 5 Jianguomenwai Dajie, 011-86/10-6500-2233. Reserve via beijing-hotels.net. If you need a fork, bring your own Liqun Roast Duck Restaurant: The traditional Beijing duck restaurant that foreign correspondents once agreed never to write about. Tough secret to keep, and the owner now has a big sign outside welcoming foreigners. You're greeted as you walk through the narrow, dusty entryway into the Chinese courtyard by a coal hearth and several ducks roasting before you. From $2 a dish. At $7.75, the duck is an incredible bargain, since it can feed at least two. 11 Beixiangfeng, Zhengyi Lu, near Qianmen. It's a bit tricky to find, so taking a taxi may be wise. Xinjiang Red Rose Restaurant: The Red Rose is charmingly reminiscent of a mosque, which befits a place serving Uygur cuisine, the Middle Eastern-inspired style from China's far northwest (where Muslims are a large minority). Unlike a mosque, the restaurant gets rowdy at night, with live music and belly dancers. Lamb kebabs, or "string of roast mutton," cost 60¢ each; hand-pulled-noodle dishes start at $2.25. 7 Xingfu Yicun, the alley across the street from the north gate of the Workers' Stadium, 011-86/10-6415-5741. FuKu Restaurant: Looking out over Houhai Lake, FuKu is a typical restaurant with plastic-covered wood tables. The food is Dongbei, or northeast Chinese. Don't miss the fried green beans. 4 Binhai Hutong, north bank of Houhai Lake in Xicheng District, 011-86/10-6403-7311. Walk 10 minutes north from the footbridge at Houhai, where most taxi drivers will drop you off. Gourmet Garden Sichuan Restaurant: A terrific place for Sichuan, the hyperspicy style from the southwestern province. Look for mala xia, referred to on the menu as "hot-pepper lobsterlings," for $2.75. 12-1 Jianguomenwai Dajie, next to the Yonganli subway stop and across from Xiushui Market, 011-86/10-6568-1607. Where to buy Red China kitsch Panjiayuan Market: Known as the "ghost market" because of the hours--4:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday--and the "dirt market" because it's China's largest garage sale. Vendors line up along dusty aisles, spreading their wares on blankets or hanging them in makeshift galleries. It's a great place to buy Chinese scrolls, sculptures, ceramics, and Mao stuff. Hiding among the junk are valuable antiques, especially the cameras. Take a taxi, after asking your concierge to write the address in Chinese. Xiushui Market: Also called the Silk Alley market, Xiushui is a colossal bazaar of clothes, watches, bags, and trinkets. Most are knockoffs of famous Western brands, but that doesn't mean anyone back home will know the difference. The market is located immediately west of the Yonganli subway stop. Wanfujing Street: A sprawling shopping street an easy walk east of Tiananmen Square, Wanfujing Street is abuzz well into the evening with browsers inside and out of the row of malls that surround the pedestrian plaza. The area is a fascinating study in contrasts between the upscale--Nine West to Louis Vuitton--and a bustling street-food market, where vendors hock everything from tasty Inner Mongolian cheeses to fried swallows on a stick. Partying with the expat community Sanlitun: A longtime expat hangout, which is actually two separate bar streets branching north and south from Gongrentiyuchang Beilu. The north end is pricier but better lit, and home to several handsome cafés. The south-end bars are so small that folks usually just mill around in the alley. Walk 15 minutes east from the Dongsishitiao subway stop or grab a taxi. Houhai: Lake Once a quaint residential area around a picturesque lake--small enough that folks ice-skate on it during winter--Houhai has burgeoned in the past year into a bustling mishmash of cafés and bars, up and down both sides of the lake. Some are expensive, some aren't. Cheapest drinks: $1.25 beers at No. 2 Café, on the lake's east side, near the footbridge.