Water Cube (National Aquatics Center) – A Blue Dreamlike Olympic Landmark

Written by Clementine | Updated July 29,2025

The Water Cube, located in the Beijing Olympic Park (north of urban Beijing), is also known as the National Aquatics Center. The building is very unique, with over 3,000 irregular air cushion bubbles on the exterior walls, resembling water molecules in a blue sea when viewed from afar. Under the beautiful night lights, Water Cube is a great place to capture night scenes during your China tours.

The Water Cube is an iconic venue first built for the 2008 Beijing Olympics and later revamped for the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics. It is the only Olympic facility funded by compatriots from Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan, and overseas Chinese. Hailed as one of the “New Architectural Wonders of China,” Water Cube is one of Beijing’s new representative structures.

History and Today of Water Cube

Founded in December 2003, Water Cube was officially completed in January 2008. In November 2020, the renovation project of the National Aquatics Center’s Winter Olympics curling venue passed the acceptance inspection, transforming the “Water Cube” into the “Ice Cube”.

During the 2008 Olympic Games, Water Cube hosted the competitions of swimming, diving, synchronized swimming, and water polo. During the 2022 Winter Olympic Games, Ice Cube was the venue of curling competitions.

After the Olympic Games, Water Cube in Beijing has become an internationally advanced center that integrates swimming, sports, fitness, leisure, and so on. The Water Cube Water Park is also equipped with several water recreation facilities, like the SPA zone, the Waterdrop Theater and the Business zone.

Basic Facts About Water Cube

• Address:Olympic Park, No. 11 East Tianchen Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing
• Opening hours:

Peak season (May – Oct.): 09:00 – 22:00

Off-peak season (Nov. – April): 09:00 – 20:00

• Ticket prices:

For visit only, RMB 30 (full-price)

For swimming, RMB 60 for 2 hours

For the Water Park, RMB 200 – 260 subject to the date

The total construction area is 65,000 – 80,000 square meters, of which the construction area of the underground part is not less than 15,000 square meters, and its length, width and height are 177x177x30 meters. The exterior of Water Cube is like an ice crystal shaped cube, with a simple and modern design. The interior of Water Cube is a six-story building with a square plane.

The facilities in the Water Cube mainly include a competition hall, a warm-up pool, a multi-functional hall, and a large Water Park. The Ice Cube – Ice Sports Center is located in the underground space of the South Square, consisting of a standard skating rink and a standard curling court.

Architecture and Design of Water Cube

The unique and elaborate design of Water Cube is chosen from the International Design Competition, which is designed according to the arrangement of cells and the natural structure of soap bubbles. The design of Water Cube is similar to a simple “square box”, which is the basic form of Chinese ancient architecture. This “square box” is built by the jointed- effort of Chinese traditional culture and modern science and technology.

Water Cube is the world’s largest membrane structure engineering and the external architectures are made by the world’s most advanced environmental protection and energy saving materials – ETFE (Ethyl Tetra Fluoroethylene) membrane materials. Nowadays, the membrane architecture is one of the most representative and novel architectural forms in the 21st century and has become one of the main forms of long-span space.

What to See and do in Water Cube

Visit

Entering the interior of the Water Cube, with sunlight seeping in, you will discover that there are more than one layer of bubbles forming the exterior walls. You can go to the “Bubble Bar” located at the southeast corner of the second floor, which is 170 square meters, and gently touch the special membrane structure that makes up the bubbles to see if they are hard or soft.

Swimming

If you want to have intimate contact with water, both the swimming pool and the Water Park on the first floor of Water Cube can satisfy you.

Swimming in Beijing Water Cube’s swimming pool used by Olympic athletes, will give you the feeling of being a sports star. Please note that you cannot go to the deep water area casually unless you have a deep water certificate.

The Water Park (Happy Magic Water Cube)

The Water Cube Water Park is an exciting indoor water amusement park with facilities such as the Tornado, Bulletbowl, Aqualoop, Speedslide, Wave Pool, etc.

Boasting more than 50 water slides, 18 water rides and enough space for 30,000 swimmers, the Water Cube records as the world’s largest indoor water park.

Best Time to Visit Water Cube

We highly recommend that the best time to visit the Water Cube (National Aquatics Center) is in the evening as the decorated brilliant light with the breathtaking night view is quite unique. At night, the Water Cube lights up with blue as its main color and changes colors from time to time, forming a nice contrast with the red lights of the nearby Bird’s Nest.

Note: The Water Cube turns off the lights around 21:30-22:00 each day.

How to Get to Water Cube

The Water Cube in Beijing is adjacent to the North 4^th Ring road where the public transportation is highly convenient. And there are many buses, sightseeing lines and subway lines coming from all the directions. You can depend on your own preference to take any appropriate public transportation during your Beijing tours.

• Bus

Take Bus Yuntong 113, 689, 611, 658, 386, 407, 660, 740 (inside), 740 (outside), 753, 939 or 944, and get off at the Beichen Overpass West stop; or take Bus 81, 82, 510 or 607, and get off at the Beichen Western Overpass North stop.

• Subway

Take subway Line 8 and get off at the Olympic Park stop.

 

Attractions Nearby Water Cube in Beijing

• Bird’s Nest (National Stadium)– the Main Stadium for 2008 Beijing Olympics
• Forbidden City (Palace Museum)– Best of the World’s Five Imperial Palaces
• Tiananmen Square– Right in the Middle of Beijing City
• Temple of Heaven– the Largest Surviving Ancient Sacrificial Building in China

Customize your Beijing tours to Water Cube >

Recommended Beijing Tours

• 2 Days Beijing Stopover Tour: Great Wall+Forbidden City
• 3 Days Beijing Package Tour: City Highlights & Great Wall
• 4 Days Beijing Essence Tour