QINGDAO, CHINA

Ensconced on the southern tip of the Shandong Peninsula along the Yellow Sea, this city of 2.5 million is the largest trading port in northern China. Yet, despite such an urban bulk it behaves in the confident manner of a tourist resort. Its rare mesh of mountains and sea combine with a fairytale beachfront setting of Bavarian architecture to conjure strange expectations of women in bikinis and men in lederhosen snacking on hot apple strudel with chopsticks. Regardless of how impossibly odd, the bottom line is that it cohesively works: Qingdao averages more than 15 million tourists a year attracted to its beautiful weather, interesting historical architecture and, needless to say, beer. Major four- and five-star hotel chains are the norm rather than the exception. The 16 day International Beer Festival enjoys worldwide attention. In 2008 Qingdao served as the host for the Summer Olympic sailing competitions.

Qingdao's first splash of fame occurred in 600 BCE when the Chinese scholar Lao-Tzu outlined a philosophy soon known as Taoism in the nearby Laoshan Mountains. The area instantly... more