There are a lot of beaches and parks in Dalian that are worth while to check out since Dalian is a coastal city.

Binhai Road travels across the southern part of the city connecting Xinghai Square to the east side of the city.  It goes through Tiger Beach, which is in the central part of the road.  The city has done a great job of putting a boardwalk on the side of the road, perfect for pedestrians.  The walk is a beautiful walk with spectacular views and highly recommended.  All along the southern part of the city are cliffs overlooking the ocean and many different beaches.  Many people who have just been married come here for photos.  To get here, either find a bus route to Tiger Beach and hike east or west from there, or go to the Rhyme of Sea Park and walk west or the Fujiazhuang Scenic Spot and walk east.  Any route will give stunning views.

Binhai Road:

One day we snuck into the zoo.  One of the graduate students (Xie Peng) informed us of his knowledge of a secret entrance, so we followed him over about five mountains in the heart of the southern part of the city—which had fantastic views of the city.  About 4 hours later, we arrived at the zoo.  We definitely recommend this option over paying to get in (although the entrance fee it is quite cheap).  The zoo has a lot of animals, and the habitat of the animals is not the greatest.  Many of the animals are not caged and therefore can be found on the streets when walking around the zoo (e.g. llamas).  Also, many different live animals (e.g. chickens) can be bought and fed to various animals such as tigers.  To get into the zoo for free take 23 to the Taiyuan stop just after Peace Plaza.  Walk southeast until you see stairs that look like the entrance to a park.  From there, you will have to rely on locals as to what trails to take to the zoo... OR…take a taxi to the zoo entrance and pay to get in.

Forest Zoo:

Tiger Beach is not necessarily a beach but a place for many different activities.  One can take a boat ride here (which is a lot of fun) or go bungee jumping or zip lining etc.  Most of the tourists in Dalian will stop at this part of the city.  Ocean Park is also found here (although none of us paid to go there).  A good idea is to hike here via Binhai Road.  Restaurants can be found in the center of Tiger Beach (there is a good Hunan food restaurant).  There are other amusement activities and sculptures throughout Tiger Beach.  Definitely a recommended day trip. 

Tiger Beach (Lao Hu Tan):

Labor Park is a park just south of Victory Plaza and is a really neat and beautiful place to walk around.  There is a giant soccer ball and Buddha statue here.  You can find amusement rides (which are overpriced, but one of use did the hamster ball ride which was a lot of fun).  There are also rose gardens and other various plantlife.  One can take a ski lift up the top of the mountain in Labor Park to a TV Tower (Dian shi ta) that overlooks the city and on the way down, take a land slide that is quite fun.  One of us did this and highly recommends it.  The ski lift is about 30 RMB and the ticket to the top of the TV Tower is 50 RMB.  Go to the top of the TV Tower and there are stairs to the floor just below the observation deck where a coffee shop can be found.  We were the only ones on the coffee shop floor and were able to sit and enjoy coffee while the floor rotated, allowing us to see views of the city in every direction.  The Wikitravel page has a description of a lesser known way to hike up to the TV Tower that sounds like it is worthwhile.  To get here, take the 23 bus downtown and walk south of Victory Plaza.  Try to go here on a clear day. 

Labor Park (Lao Dong Gong Yuan):

Xinghai Park is an amusement park connected to Xinghai Square just west of it.  There are a lot of amusement rides as well as Polar World.  There used to be bungee jumping and zip-lining—which both were not operating when we were there.  To get here, take 23 to the “Xinghai Outdoor Bathing” stop or walk here west from Xinghai Square.

Xinghai Park:

We went to a dinner on the beach at the Hei Shi Jiao Beach.  Hei Shi Jiao also has a lot of shopping and is the place to find American fast food.  Take the 23 about 5 stops.  To get to the beach, walk south a few blocks.

Hei Shi Jiao:

This is a smaller beach on the way to Tiger Beach from the west side of the city.  It is a good place to start the Binhai Road hike.  Also, there seem to be a lot of DJs here throughout the day and is a fun place to hang out on nice, hot summer days.  The best way to get here is by taxi either from Xinghai Square or from campus.  From campus, expect the taxi to be about 20-30 RMB.

Fujiazhuang Beach: