Beijing

Overview

Beijing is the bigger, slower, colder cousin to Shanghai. The pace here is set by the wide Soviet-style boulevards that ring the old imperial core, by the long winters that strip the willows along Houhai bare, and by the grey-tiled hutong courtyards where pensioners still pull stools onto the lane to play chess and watch their grandchildren. The city has been the capital of one Chinese state or another for most of the last seven hundred years, and the imperial bones, the Forbidden City at the dead centre, the Temple of Heaven to the south, the Summer Palace to the northwest, are still the points the rest of the city navigates around.

What you will eat is Peking duck, lamb skewers from charcoal grills outside Xinjiang restaurants, and zhajiang noodles tossed with fermented soybean paste. What you will see, if you do nothing else, is the Forbidden City and a section of the Great Wall a couple of hours out by car or train. The Great Wall is not in Beijing proper but the day-trip culture is so embedded that almost every traveller treats it as part of the city visit.

The other thing to know upfront is that Beijing is a mainland Chinese city and behaves like one. Google, WhatsApp, Instagram and most Western news sites are blocked behind the Great Firewall, payments are done by QR code through WeChat or Alipay rather than card, and air quality, while much improved since the 2013 “Airpocalypse”, is still occasionally bad enough to make a mask sensible. Plan for that and the rest of the city opens up easily.

Neighbourhoods

Central Beijing breaks into a few clearly distinct districts. The historic core, walled in until the 1950s, is divided down the central north-south axis into Dongcheng on the east and Xicheng on the west; everything outside the second ring road is either later imperial sprawl, communist-era boulevards or post-1990s development.

Dongcheng and the hutong

The eastern half of the old walled city contains the Forbidden City, Tian’anmen Square, the Drum and Bell Towers, the Lama Temple and the Temple of Heaven, plus the densest surviving network of hutong (alleyways). The streets around Nanluoguxiang (“South Gong and Drum Alley”), once a dilapidated lane and now a packed pedestrian shopping strip, are the easiest entry point to the courtyard-house geography that defined the old city. North of the Drum Tower, the lanes off Beiluogu Xiang and Gulou Dongdajie have the cafes, craft beer bars and small restaurants without the crowds.

Xicheng and Shichahai

The western half of the old core is quieter, with more government buildings and the chain of imperial lakes, Beihai, Qianhai and Houhai, which together make up the Shichahai (Houhai) area. Beihai Park, on the lake of the same name immediately northwest of the Forbidden City, has been an imperial garden since the Liao dynasty and is the place to rent a rowboat in summer or watch ice skaters in winter. The Houhai bar strip on the lake’s south shore is touristy and noisy; the lanes a few blocks back from the water are far better.

Sanlitun and Chaoyang

Chaoyang is the eastern district outside the second ring, home to most of the city’s foreign embassies, expat residents and international restaurants. Sanlitun, around the Taikoo Li shopping complex, is where the city goes for cocktails, branded shopping and noisy nights out. Light on history, heavy on bars and brunch spots. The 798 Art District is further northeast in the same district, near the airport expressway.

Olympic Park and the north

The Olympic Green, built for the 2008 Games, occupies a long axis north of the old city ending at the Bird’s Nest stadium and the Water Cube aquatics centre. The neighbourhood around it is mostly residential, with the China Science and Technology Museum and the National Stadium itself being the main reasons to come. Most travellers visit at dusk for the lit-up exteriors and skip the daytime.

Haidian

Beijing’s university district, home to Peking and Tsinghua universities, sits in the northwest of the city. It is also where the Summer Palace, the Old Summer Palace ruins (Yuanmingyuan) and the Beijing Zoo are. Few travellers stay here, but a half-day trip up by subway Line 4 covers the headline sights.

See & do

Beijing’s headline sights are spread across the central districts of Dongcheng and Xicheng, with the Summer Palace out in Haidian to the northwest and the Great Wall reachable as a day trip in any of three or four directions. Two days will get you the basics. Four lets you do them properly.

Forbidden City

The 72-hectare imperial palace at the centre of the old walled city was the residence of Ming and Qing emperors from 1420 to the abdication of Puyi in 1912. It is the largest surviving palace complex in the world, with around 980 buildings inside its 52-metre-wide moat. Tickets are timed and capped at 80,000 a day, sold online via the official Palace Museum site; same-day walk-up tickets effectively don’t exist anymore. Enter through the Meridian Gate (Wu Men) on the south side, exit through the Gate of Divine Prowess (Shenwu Men) on the north. Allow a half day. The Clock Exhibition Hall and the Treasure Gallery in the northeast quadrant cost extra and are worth it.

Tian’anmen Square and the Gate of Heavenly Peace

Directly south of the Forbidden City, the 440,000 sq m square is the largest city square in the world and the symbolic centre of the Chinese state. The flag-raising ceremony at sunrise, performed by PLA soldiers marching from the Gate of Heavenly Peace, draws a crowd well before dawn. Security checks on entry are heavy and you need your passport.

Temple of Heaven Park

Three kilometres southeast of the Forbidden City, this 267-hectare walled park was where Ming and Qing emperors performed annual rites for good harvests. The Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests, a triple-eaved circular hall on a three-tier marble terrace, is the building Beijing puts on its postcards. Come early, around 7am, to catch the locals doing tai chi, calligraphy in water on the paving stones, and informal Peking opera in the corridors.

Drum and Bell Towers

The Drum Tower (Gulou) and Bell Tower (Zhonglou), about a kilometre north of the Forbidden City, were the city’s official timekeepers from the Yuan dynasty until 1924. The current structures are Qing-era. Climb the Drum Tower for the drumming performances on reproduction Ming watch drums, then climb the Bell Tower for the photograph back across the rooftops.

Lama Temple (Yonghe Gong)

A working Tibetan Buddhist monastery in the northeast of Dongcheng, converted to a lamasery in 1744 from the former residence of the Yongzheng Emperor. The 18-metre Maitreya Buddha in the Wanfu Pavilion, carved from a single block of Tibetan sandalwood, is the highlight. Worshippers come with bundles of free incense handed out at the gate. Subway: Yonghegong Lama Temple, lines 2 and 5.

Summer Palace

About 15 km northwest of the city centre, the Summer Palace (Yiheyuan) was the Qing court’s hot-weather retreat, comprehensively rebuilt by Empress Dowager Cixi in 1888 with funds intended for the modern navy. Three quarters of the 290-hectare park is Kunming Lake. The Long Corridor (Chang Lang) along the north shore is a 728-metre painted gallery; the marble boat at its western end was Cixi’s only nautical concession. Reachable by subway: Beigongmen on Line 4 at the north gate.

The Great Wall

The Wall is the day trip every visitor takes, and the question is which section. Badaling, 65 km northwest, is the closest, easiest and busiest, fully restored and reachable by suburban train from Huangtudian or Qinghe stations. Mutianyu, 70 km north, is restored, less crowded, has a chairlift up and a toboggan run down, and is the family option. Jinshanling and Jiankou, further out, are the wilder unrestored stretches, partly ruined and steep, for hikers willing to commit a full day. Most hostels run shuttle bus or van trips to all of these.

Other worthwhile stops

The Confucius Temple and Imperial College on Guozijian Jie, next door to the Lama Temple, is the second-largest Confucian temple in China and considerably quieter. The 798 Art District, an old electronics factory complex in northeast Chaoyang, has been the city’s contemporary art hub since the early 2000s, with galleries, studios and cafes spread across the Bauhaus-era industrial buildings. The Olympic Park in the north of the city, with the Bird’s Nest Stadium and the Water Cube, is mostly worth a look at night when both are lit up.

Food & drink

Beijing eats heavier and saltier than the south of China. Wheat over rice, lamb and pork over fish, garlic in everything. The signature dish is Peking duck, but the everyday food is noodles, dumplings, lamb skewers and the regional cuisines of every other province represented in the capital’s restaurants.

Peking duck

The dish is a specific preparation: a duck of a particular Beijing breed, force-fed, air-dried, glazed and roasted in an oven fired with fruitwood until the skin is glassy and crackling. It is sliced at the table and eaten with thin pancakes, scallion strips, cucumber and sweet bean sauce. The two big institutional names are Quanjude, founded in 1864, with the flagship branch on Qianmen Dajie south of Tian’anmen, and Bianyifang, founded in the 15th century and using a different closed-oven method. Da Dong, a more modern chain, is the upscale option and arguably better. Liqun, in a courtyard south of Qianmen, is the small-and-scruffy cult favourite. Reserve. A whole duck for two costs roughly ¥250 to ¥350.

Hutong food

The everyday food of central Beijing is found at small no-frills places dotted through the hutong: zhajiang noodles (thick wheat noodles with fermented soybean paste, pork and cucumber), jiaozi dumplings, Beijing-style sheep-spine hotpot, and stalls selling jianbing, a savoury egg crepe with a crispy cracker folded inside, eaten for breakfast. Ghost Street (Gui Jie), a 1.4 km strip of Dongzhimennei Dajie east of the Lama Temple, is lined with around 150 restaurants and is the city’s late-night eating drag, especially for spicy crayfish and hotpot.

Hotpot, lamb and Xinjiang

Mongolian-style mutton hotpot, with a brass charcoal-fired pot in the middle of the table and thinly sliced lamb dipped in sesame sauce, is winter food and a Beijing speciality even though the technique is borrowed. The chain Donglaishun is the textbook version. For Sichuan-style spicy hotpot, the city has a long list of Sichuanese chains and the Ghost Street strip. Xinjiang restaurants, run by Hui Muslim or Uighur owners, do lamb skewers (yang rou chuan), large-plate chicken (da pan ji) and naan-based dishes; you find them on almost every block, often distinguishable by the green crescent signage.

What things cost

Street snacks ¥5 to ¥15. A bowl of noodles in a neighbourhood restaurant ¥15 to ¥30. A meal for two with beer in a normal hutong restaurant around ¥120. A whole Peking duck dinner with sides for two ¥350 to ¥600. The smarter Sanlitun and Chaoyang restaurants run to international prices.

Nightlife

Beijing nightlife splits along district lines. Sanlitun, in eastern Chaoyang, is the loud international zone of cocktail bars, beer halls and clubs. The lanes around the Drum Tower in north Dongcheng are the quieter craft-beer and live-music territory. Houhai, on the lake north of Beihai Park, is the boozy karaoke strip that locals largely concede to tour groups.

Sanlitun

The strip around Taikoo Li mall and the older Sanlitun bar street has the highest density of drinking in the city. The mid-2000s clusters around Nali Patio still anchor the area, with rooftop bars, cocktail places and a steady churn of new openings. Workers’ Stadium (Gongti) just to the south used to be the city’s club district, demolished in 2020 and rebuilt; the venues have since spread to Sanlitun and the surrounding office towers.

Drum Tower and Gulou

The hutong around Gulou Dongdajie and Beiluogu Xiang are the home of Beijing’s craft-beer scene, including the long-running Great Leap Brewing, which has multiple branches and was the first independent craft brewery in the city. The mood is small bars in courtyards, low ceilings, music quiet enough to talk over. Live indie music spills out of the small venues around Gulou, and Yugong Yishan (currently relocated) has long been the city’s main mid-size live room.

Wudaoying and Fangjia hutong

These two narrow lanes off Yonghegong Dajie, just south of the Lama Temple, are the next generation of the Drum Tower bar scene: small wine bars, listening rooms, third-wave coffee in the daytime, cocktails at night. Easy to wander between, walkable from Yonghegong subway.

Houhai

The lake-edge bar strip on the south shore is brightly lit, full of touts, pricier than it should be and dominated by big covers bands shouting Cantopop hits across the water. Avoid it as a night out, but it’s worth a slow walk past the bars on a summer evening for the spectacle.

Practicalities

Bars in Sanlitun and the hutong districts open from around 6pm and run until 2am or later, sometimes 4am at weekends. Drinks are cheap by international standards in dive bars (a local beer ¥25 to ¥35) and London-priced in the cocktail places around Sanlitun (¥85 to ¥120). Last subway is around 11pm; after that it’s DiDi or hailed taxis. Many bars now don’t accept cash; have WeChat Pay or Alipay set up.

When to go

Beijing has four sharp seasons. The shoulder months either side of the heat and the cold, roughly mid-September to early November and late April through May, are the obvious windows. Pick autumn if you can.

September to early November (peak)

The best stretch of the year. Skies clear, temperatures drop from the summer 30s into the high teens, the trees in the imperial parks turn yellow and red. National Day on 1 October triggers the seven-day Golden Week holiday: domestic tourism volumes are intense, the Forbidden City sells out weeks ahead, and prices spike. Either book that week far in advance or work around it. Mid-October to early November is the sweet spot.

Late April through May (peak)

Spring is the second peak window. The willows around Houhai green up, the magnolias in the parks bloom in early April, and average highs sit between 18 and 26°C. The dust storms that used to roll in from Inner Mongolia in March and April have eased considerably since the early 2000s reforestation projects, though they still happen occasionally. The May Day holiday (1-5 May) is a smaller version of October’s crowd surge.

June to August (shoulder, hot)

Hot, humid and prone to short heavy thunderstorms that briefly clear the air. Daytime highs 30 to 35°C, with occasional spikes higher. Crowds remain heavy on weekends and through the school summer holiday. Hotel rates are middling. The Great Wall is doable but unpleasant in midday sun; go for sunrise hikes if you can.

December to February (off)

Bone-dry and brutally cold, with January lows often below -10°C and a wind off the Mongolian plateau that cuts hard. The upside is empty parks, half-price hotel rooms, and the imperial buildings in the Forbidden City and Temple of Heaven looking their best in winter light. Houhai Lake freezes solid and locals skate and push wooden chair-sleds across it. Spring Festival (Chinese New Year, late January or February) effectively shuts the city for a week as Beijingers travel home; many small restaurants close, the subway gets quieter, and prices for hotels stay flat or drop further. The Lama Temple on New Year’s Day is a real event, with queues stretching down Yonghegong Dajie before dawn.

Getting there

Beijing is the most connected city in China, with two major airports, four mainline rail stations and high-speed services to almost every provincial capital.

By air

Beijing has two international airports. Beijing Capital International (PEK), 25 km northeast of the centre, is the older hub and home to Air China; it has three terminals, with most international long-haul out of Terminal 3. Beijing Daxing International (PKX), 46 km south of the centre and opened in 2019, handles a growing share of domestic and international traffic, particularly for Chinese carriers other than Air China. Check which airport your flight uses; they are 70 km apart.

From Capital, the Airport Express subway connects T2 and T3 to Dongzhimen station (subway lines 2 and 13) in around 25 minutes for ¥25. A taxi to central districts costs ¥100 to ¥150 and takes 40 to 60 minutes, longer in rush hour. From Daxing, the dedicated Daxing Airport Express line links to Caoqiao station (line 10) in 19 minutes for ¥35, and a high-speed rail link runs to Beijing West.

By rail

Beijing has four large rail stations, all on the subway. Beijing South (Beijingnan) handles most high-speed services to Shanghai, Tianjin and the southeast; the Jingjin intercity to Tianjin takes 30 minutes. Beijing West (Beijingxi) runs the high-speed lines to Wuhan, Guangzhou and Hong Kong, plus older sleepers to the southwest. Beijing (the central station) handles trains to the northeast and to Mongolia and Russia. Beijing North runs the suburban service to Badaling on the Great Wall.

The Beijing-Shanghai high-speed line covers 1,318 km in around 4.5 hours, with multiple departures per hour from Beijing South. Beijing to Xi’an by G-class train is around 4.5 hours, and Beijing to Chengdu is now 7 to 8 hours via the new Beijing-Chengdu high-speed corridor. Buy tickets through the official 12306 system or via apps like Trip.com; you’ll need your passport for the booking and at the station.

By road

Long-distance buses arrive at one of several outer-ring terminals (Bawangfen, Sihui, Liuliqiao, Muxiyuan), all with subway connections. Useful mostly for places not on a rail line. Driving yourself is not recommended; international licences are not directly valid and the traffic in central Beijing is heavy. From within China you can reach the city by self-drive on the network of expressways, all radiating from the second to seventh ring roads.

Getting around

The Beijing subway is the workhorse, supplemented by DiDi (the Chinese ride-hail app), bicycle share and your feet. Beijing is flat, but it is also vast, and the imperial-era boulevards mean walking distances between sights look shorter on the map than they are in reality.

Subway

The subway has 30 lines, more than 900 km of track, and runs from around 5am to 11pm; it is the fastest way to cover any distance over a couple of kilometres. Single tickets are distance-based, ¥3 to ¥9. Get a Yikatong rechargeable smart card (refundable ¥20 deposit) to skip the ticket queues, or scan a QR code in the official Beijing Subway or Alipay app. Bag x-ray screening at every entrance adds a couple of minutes per trip; allow for it.

Taxi and DiDi

Metered cabs are everywhere except in rain or rush hour, when they vanish. Flag fall is ¥13 for the first 3 km, then ¥2.30 per km, plus a ¥1 fuel surcharge. Drivers rarely speak English; have your destination written in Chinese. The DiDi ride-hail app (the Chinese equivalent of Uber, which left the market in 2016) is available in English, accepts foreign cards and tells the driver where you are going automatically. Use it.

Bike share

Two big bike-share fleets, Hello Bike and Meituan Bike, blanket the city. Unlock bikes via WeChat or Alipay mini-apps for around ¥1.50 per 30 minutes. Beijing is flat enough that this is genuinely the best way to do the hutong districts and the area between the Forbidden City and the Drum Tower.

Walking

Inside the second ring, the old city is walkable in chunks. The Forbidden City to the Drum Tower is around 2.5 km north on the central axis; the Forbidden City to the Temple of Heaven is around 4 km south. Outside the second ring, distances stretch fast and the boulevards become hostile to pedestrians.

Where to stay

Where you sleep in Beijing matters more than in most cities, because the place is enormous and traffic-clogged. The decision is essentially a four-way choice between staying in a hutong courtyard, a business hotel near the Forbidden City, an international high-rise in Sanlitun, or a budget hostel in Dashilar.

Hutong courtyard hotels (Dongcheng North)

The most atmospheric option: small boutique hotels in renovated traditional siheyuan courtyard houses, usually 10 to 30 rooms, in the lanes around the Drum Tower, the Lama Temple or Nanluoguxiang. Rooms are often small and ceilings low; that’s the point. You wake up in a real hutong, walk out for jianbing breakfast, and have the Forbidden City and the Drum Tower within walking distance. Doubles ¥600 to ¥1,500 in shoulder season. Good for first-time visitors who want the city’s texture.

Business hotels around Wangfujing and Qianmen

Big international and Chinese chains, well-located for the Forbidden City and Tian’anmen, with proper desks, gyms and English-speaking staff. The Wangfujing pedestrian shopping street area in central Dongcheng has Hyatts, Marriotts and Hiltons; the streets around Qianmen Dajie south of Tian’anmen Square are the same idea but a touch grittier. Doubles ¥800 to ¥2,500.

Sanlitun (Chaoyang)

The international hotel zone east of the second ring, around the embassies and the Taikoo Li shopping complex. Properties here range from the Opposite House and Bulgari at the high end down to the chain four-stars. Easy access to nightlife and international restaurants but a 25-minute taxi from the Forbidden City. Suits travellers prioritising bars and shopping over imperial sights. Doubles ¥1,500 to ¥4,000+.

Dashilar and Qianmen (budget)

The lanes south of Qianmen, particularly around Dashilar Jie, are the traditional backpacker base, with hostels in old courtyard buildings, dorms ¥80 to ¥150, doubles ¥200 to ¥400. Less polished than the Dongcheng courtyard hotels but cheaper, and still a 15-minute walk to the Forbidden City. The neighbourhood gets its share of redevelopment notices; check that your booking isn’t in a building currently being demolished.

Practical info

Beijing is a mainland Chinese city and the practicalities follow from that. The main blockers for first-time visitors aren’t safety or language so much as connectivity and payments.

VPN and the Great Firewall

Google, Gmail, WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook, X, YouTube, the New York Times, Wikipedia (English) and a long list of Western services are blocked. If you need any of them while in Beijing, install and pay for a reputable VPN before you arrive; downloading one once you’re in China is much harder. Astrill, ExpressVPN and LetsVPN are the names that have historically worked, with the caveat that performance varies and the Chinese authorities periodically tighten enforcement. Hotel wi-fi at international chains and the airports is generally usable but slow.

Payments: WeChat Pay and Alipay

China is essentially cashless, and the cashless system is built around two domestic apps: WeChat Pay and Alipay. Both have made it possible since 2023 to link an international Visa, Mastercard or Amex card directly to your account, with small foreign-card surcharges over certain thresholds. Set this up on your home wi-fi before you arrive. Cash still works at most major attractions and chain hotels but is awkward at small restaurants, taxis and street vendors. ATMs at Bank of China branches accept foreign cards.

SIM cards and data

A China Unicom or China Mobile SIM with a few weeks of data costs ¥100 to ¥200 at the airport, and you’ll need your passport. Note that Chinese SIMs do not let you bypass the Great Firewall; whether you have a foreign roaming plan or a local SIM, blocked sites stay blocked unless you use a VPN. International roaming on a foreign SIM, by contrast, often does see Western services because the connection is routed back through your home carrier.

Passport, ID and security

Carry your passport at all times. You need it for hotel check-in, train tickets, attraction entry (the Forbidden City requires you scan it at the gate) and any subway security check that turns into a longer conversation. The metro and major sights have airport-style bag screening; budget five extra minutes per entry.

Air pollution and weather

Air quality is much better than it was a decade ago but still occasionally bad enough to merit a mask, especially on cold still winter days. Check aqicn.org. Pack one KN95 per day you plan to be outside in winter; in summer, the issue is rare.

Tap water

Don’t drink it. Hotels supply bottled water; cafes and restaurants serve boiled or filtered. Bring a refillable bottle if you want to fill up at hostel water dispensers.

Tourist scams

The classic Beijing scam is the teahouse setup: a friendly young Chinese-speaking student approaches you near Wangfujing or Tian’anmen, suggests practising English over tea, and the bill arrives at hundreds of dollars. The other is unmetered taxis at the airport and rickshaw drivers at the Forbidden City’s north gate quoting “three” and meaning ¥300. Use DiDi and metered cabs only.

For country-wide basics (tipping, currency, plug type, visa rules), see China.

Places to visit

Other

• Forbidden City
• Great Wall of China
• Ming tombs
• National Museum of China
• Summer Palace
• Temple of Heaven