Skip to main content
Shanghai Travel
English

Choose a language

Available in 14 languages

North China

Beijing

The imperial capital: the Forbidden City, the Great Wall, and hutong lanes that survive between the ring roads.

Last updated:

Layered mountain and roofline silhouettes in jade and gold representing Beijing

Overview

Beijing is where most trips to China start, and it rewards more time than people give it. The headline sights are genuinely as good as their reputation, but the city only makes sense once you understand its shape: a series of ring roads around a rectangular imperial core, with the old hutong neighbourhoods squeezed into the gaps.

Give it four or five days. Three is possible but means choosing between the Great Wall and the Forbidden City rather than doing both properly.

What Beijing is actually like

It is enormous, flat, and much greener than first-time visitors expect. It is also the most politically visible city in the country — Tiananmen Square, the National Museum and the Great Hall of the People are all in one axis — and you should expect airport-style security checks at metro stations and major sights. Carry your passport; you will need it for attraction entry.

The language barrier is real but manageable. English signage on the metro and at major sights is good. Anywhere else, a translation app and a willingness to point at what you want will get you through.

How to pace it

Two heavy days — the Forbidden City/Tiananmen axis, and the Great Wall — then a lighter day for the Temple of Heaven and the hutongs. If you have a fifth day, use it for the Summer Palace, which is the one major sight most short itineraries drop and the one that feels least like a monument.

Do not schedule the Forbidden City and the Great Wall on consecutive days if you can avoid it. Both involve several hours on your feet.

Air quality

Beijing’s air has improved substantially over the past decade, but it still varies. Winter heating season and still, cold days are worse. If you are sensitive, check a daily air quality index and swap your outdoor day for a museum day when it spikes.

Do not miss

  • The Forbidden City — allow three hours, enter from the south, exit north into Jingshan Park for the roofline view
  • The Great Wall at Mutianyu, quieter than Badaling on weekdays and reachable with a cable car
  • The Temple of Heaven park at dawn, where retirees sing, dance and play cards around the actual sight
  • The hutong lanes north of the Forbidden City, best explored on foot or by bicycle without a fixed route
  • Peking duck, carved at the table, in one of the old-established restaurants rather than a hotel dining room

When to go

April, May, September and October are reliably clear and comfortable. July and August are hot, humid and crowded with domestic school holidays. Winter is cold and dry but the air is often at its clearest, and the Wall is empty. Avoid the first week of October and the Lunar New Year period, when domestic travel peaks.

Getting there and around

Beijing Capital (PEK) and Daxing (PKX) both have direct metro links to the city, and Daxing is the newer and faster airport for southern routes. High-speed trains arrive at Beijing South and Beijing West. Within the city the metro is cheap, signed in English, and almost always the fastest option — buy a Yikatong card or use the metro QR code in Alipay.

Itineraries that include Beijing

Routes that spend real time here rather than a rushed half-day.