Playa Maya: 10 More Days to Splash at Beijing’s Newest Water Park

If you still haven’t checked out Playa Maya – Happy Valley Beijing’s new waterpark – you better go soon, because it will be closed from August 31 until next summer. 

This superb place to escape the Beijing summer heat just opened in June, after over a year of construction.

Nestled within the Happy Valley amusement park that opened back in 2006, it is the twelfth edition of a popular chain of water parks, run by Overseas Chinese Town, with locations throughout China.

The newest edition has six large slides and a multitude of smaller attractions, such as a children’s playground (which is still very fun for adults, but they aren’t allowed on the slides), a ball-pit-pool for the kids, and an intense vigilantly lifegaurded wave pool.

The wave pool has a huge sound system and powerful jets that blast giant arches of water across the impressively large central swim spot.

The jets and the waves are turned on and off periodically throughout the day, but when they are both going, it is quite the experience – sort of like if the ocean was also a giant fountain. 

We recommend renting an inflatable tube to fully experience the wave pool – unless the idea of bouncing bumper cars on water doesn’t appeal to you. They have several types you can rent for the day starting from RMB40, and floaties are also required if you want to enjoy the artificial river.

They managed to fit quite a lot into the relatively small space by weaving the slides together – the entrances to the largest ones are only a few meters apart or directly next to each other.

However, that doesn’t mean you won’t be taking a lot of steps when you visit; be prepared to climb six flights of stairs to get to the top of the wildest slides. The ride down is worth the climb, and the magical view you get overlooking Happy Valley is an extra bonus.

We think listing the slides and telling you what to expect from each one would ruin half the fun of the unexpected drops and loops, so we are just going to give you some pro-tips: they won’t let you on two of the main attractions if you are wearing even the tiniest earrings; and the two biggest slides are for three to five people with a minimum and maximum weight limit – yes, they will weigh you together on a giant scale before approving your group to ride.

There are also still a couple rainy days forecast prior to August 31, which actually might be the best days to go – it’s still going to be warm, you are going to be wet anyways, the lines will be significantly shorter, and water slides in the rain are kind of amazing.

Playa Maya puts on musical performances at the wave pool in the evening, when the park lights up with bright LEDs lining the slides and lasers reflecting off of the water – a spectacle worth staying past dark for.

Happy Valley and Playa Maya have separate entrance tickets. Their info hotline says that the waterpark costs RMB299/adult and RMB245/child, but when we went last week the price was RMB199/adult and there were different discounts available on multiple tickets and family packages based on the day of the week – hopefully by next year the ticket pricing will be more clear. 

The food is reasonably priced – RMB55 for a burger and fries – but the burgers are precooked and have likely been sitting around all day. Luckily, they allow you to bring in food and drinks.

Playa Maya might not be big enough to entertain you from the time it opens at 10am to when it closes at 10pm, but it is a well-designed waterpark that is definitely worth checking out while it is still brand spanking new!

Open until August 31, 10am-10pm

Playa Maya, Happy Valley, Xiaowuji Beilu, East Fourth Ring Road, Chaoyang

[All images via Happy Valley]