Long known as the northern gateway to Beijing, this historically significant city and its surrounding countryside provide a number of excellent weekend-trip possiblities from the capital. Comprising a whopping 36,947 square kilometer (14,237 square miles) and situated at the meeting place of three mountain ranges—the Hengshan, Taihang and Yanshan—greater Zhangjiakou's peaks, valleys and plains offer a number of options for hiking, sightseeing and skiing. The city itself, an increasingly prosperous industrial center, is a fairly typical northern Chinese urban area with some fascinating history that makes for a good break from the intensity of the capital.

Among the scenic and recreational areas worth checking out  in Zhangjiakou are Bashang Prairie, a Qing-era hunting ground that provides a taste of the wide-open spaces of nearby Inner Mongolia; the Wanlong Ski Resort and the Cuiyunshan Ski Resort, located in Heping Forest Park; the ruggedly beautiful Xiao Wutai Shan Nature Reserve and a number of ancient temples, pagodas, residences and military constructions, including Dajing Gate. The greater Zhangjiakou area also includes a number of smaller settlements, such as the old garrison town of Xuanhua, known both for its proud military tradition and excellent vineyards, a number of which are now providing grapes for one of China's largest and most successful wine makers, Great Wall Wines.
 

Zhangjiakou was long known as Kalgan to much of the world. The name comes from the Mongolian word for "barrier," which was an apt description of this key city's importance to Qing Dynasty China (1644-1911). If you were a merchant heading east on the Tea Road that ran northwest into Central Asia and then west toward Europe, Kalgan was the end of the line: there you would hit the Great Wall's main northern gate. Likewise, if you were heading west, you'd load up your camels or horses with goods from China—most likely tea—and start your long journey from this garrison town.

By the time the Qing fell in 1911, the railroad had replaced caravans, and Zhangjiakou continued to serve as a buffer zone between Beijing and the north. After Sino-Soviet relations soured in the 1950s, the city's defensive role was more important than ever, as China girded itself for a possible war with the Russians. Fortunately, that never happened, and in the years since the greater Zhangjiakou area has prospered, taking advantage of its proximity to Beijing as well as of its abundant natural resources, from timber to gold to grapes to coal and iron ore. 
 

Greater Zhoujiakou covers a lot of territory and, depending on where you are, temperatures can vary quite a bit. Generally a few degrees cooler than Beijing, it's best to be prepared with layers in fall, winter and spring, as evenings can get downright chilly well into late spring. Summer, on the other hand, is hot and wetter, and the area is subject to the same variety of dust storms that plague the capital. Winter itself can be brutally cold, as weather  systems move down across Mongolia from Siberia.