Badaguan

Badaguan, the eight great passes, takes its name from the streets named after strategic passes of the Great Wall, and it was laid out in the 1930s as a villa quarter after Qingdao's German and Japanese periods, with houses built for the wealthy in more than twenty national styles, Russian, British, French, Danish, Greek, Spanish and others, so the district is sometimes called a world architecture exhibition. Each street is planted with a single flowering species: peach on one, crab apple on another, crape myrtle, ginkgo, so the quarter changes colour street by street through the year. The Huashi Villa, a granite castle-like house of 1932 on the shore, is open to visitors.

What you actually see

• The villa architecture - houses in more than twenty national styles.
• The single-species streets - each road planted with one flowering tree.
• Huashi Villa - the 1932 granite house on the shore, open inside.
• The beaches - Qingdao's shoreline at the district's edge.

When to go

April to June for blossom on the streets and September to October for autumn colour and mild weather; summer brings crowds and humidity. Wedding photographers fill the streets at weekends year-round.

Honest expectations

Most villas are private and seen only from the street. Wedding photography crews occupy the best corners. The area is a walk rather than an attraction, with limited interpretation.

Nearby

Qingdao's beaches are adjacent; the brewery museum lies northwest.