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This is the tourist-friendly name attached to the main lakeside parade of restaurants, bars, and cafés (including, inevitably, a Starbucks), many of which have attractive waterfront terraces.

In summer the lakes are filled with small pedal boats, rented by the hour. By mid-December, they are frozen over and a large area is corraled off for public ice-skating.

The narrow channel that connects Hou Hai’s two lakes is spanned by the pretty, arched Silver Ingot Bridge, which dates from the time of the Yuan dynasty (1279–1368).

The lakes lie at the heart of a sprawling old Beijing district, characterized by the traditional alleyways known as hutongs. These alleyways are lined for the most part by the blank outer walls of siheyuan, which are inward-looking houses that are arranged around a central courtyard. Each siheyuan houses several families.

Built for a Manchu official but seized by the imperial household, the former residence of Prince Gong is the best preserved historic mansion in Beijing. The garden is a pattern of corridors and pavilions, dotted with pools and gates.

Beijing has countless “former residences of,” mostly connected with Party favorites. Moruo was an author and influential figure in the rise of communism in China. His house offers the opportunity to see inside a hutong home.

One way of seeing the hutongs is from a rickshaw. Prices and length of the tour are negotiable, but expect to pay around ¥180 per person for a two-hour jaunt with stop-offs at several place of interest.

Song Qingling was the wife of the revolutionary leader Sun Yat Sen. Her former living quarters are now a small museum (note the pistol that Sun Yat Sen gave his wife as a wedding present). The gardens surrounding the house are beautiful.

One of the loveliest streets in Beijing is lined with historic buildings, most of which have been converted into small boutiques and bars, including a temple that is now a café.

Just north of the eastern end of Yandai Xie Jie these two imposing towersonce marked the northern-most limits of the city. You can ascend the towers for views of Hou Hai and beyond.