This is something that might not come to mind when you think about Beijing, but this is a city where you can rent a villa instead of an apartment. The advantages are that you can have a family life there with more space, a garden and some intimacy, you are protected from Beijing’s urban environment tha can be quite agressive.
This is a choice you should make according to your lifestyle or the place you are working in Beijing. Actually most of the vilas in Beijing are located inside large compounds in the east of Beijing. The areas where you find the most villas in Beijing are the following:
Shunyi:
Shuyi is the place for villas in Beijing, you have many large compounds with several different standards, close to the airport and green spaces. This is the actual villa district of Beijing.
Lido:
Another district with several villa compounds in the northeast of Beijing.
Except for these two district that are the districts with villas, international schools. This is designed to make of these districts the familial districts of Beijing. (You have as well some weird cases…)
You might find villas in other districts of Beijing such as Chaoyang Park, Liangmaqiao, Ditan, Sanlitun, Sanyuanqiao and Shuangjing. The villa compounds in these areas are rare but they do exist, and can sometime be very nice places since they are inside urban areas where you wouldn’t expect to find villas.
Actually, there is another type of accomodation in Beijing that can be considered as a villa: the traditional courtyards. In those places you might have closed gardens, rooftop terraces and large living areas that can be compared to life in a villa. Still, this is a very specific market and other developemnts have been made on this site about the life in Beijing courtyards and Beijing Hutongs.
People like to rent villas in Beijing for another reason, the impression that you are protected from the pollution. Villas represent a healthier way of life, especially since they are located in the east of Beijing which is generally considered as less polluted in Beijing. This is a popular choice among expatriate parents.
The bad point is that most of the villas are far from most city’s landmark, people who live in Shunyi tend to live apart from the rest of the city, with their social life, education and work centered on Shunyi. Some villas are more centered and can be a good compromise.
The Beijing international schools have shuttle services that will allow the kids to go diectly and safely to school.
The villa compounds have clubhouses with a community life.
Leave a Reply