Imperial palaces, one Great Wall day and the rules nobody explains: passports, real-name tickets, Alipay and a blocked internet.
Photo: Reinhold Möller, CC BY-SA 4.0
Beijing is the capital of an empire that kept one address for six centuries. The Yongle emperor moved the Ming court here and finished his palace in 1420, the Qing took it over, and the city still lines itself up along the north-south line he laid out. UNESCO listed that Central Axis in 2024: from the Drum Tower in the north, past the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square, to the Temple of Heaven in the south.
It's also a huge, flat, fast city that isn't set up for improvising. The big sights sell only dated, named tickets, many of them against a passport, and the phone does half the work: payments, maps, rides, trains. None of it is hard once you know it, so the tips at the bottom come first in your preparation, not last. Five days is the right length: two for the palaces and the axis, one for the Wall, one for the western gardens and the Olympic site, one for temples, hutongs and food.
The plan is built around closing days. The Forbidden City, the National Museum and the Mao Mausoleum are shut on Mondays, so start on a Tuesday and you never meet a locked door. Day one is the imperial core, day two the south of the axis, day three the Great Wall at Mutianyu, day four the Summer Palace and the Olympic Green, day five the temples of the north-east. The practical part runs long because this is the site's first guide for China.
Every stop from the plan below, colored by day. Pick a day to see its route.
The square, the palace and the hill behind it, then noodles and a lake walk as the light drops.
A morning of Mao and museums on the square, the old south gate and its lanes, then the Temple of Heaven and a proper duck dinner.
One day on the best-restored section close to the city, with a cable car up, a toboggan down and lunch in the village.
The Qing court's lakeside garden in the morning, the ruins of the palace that was burned in the afternoon, then the stadiums and a hot pot.
The Drum Tower, the Lama Temple and the Confucius Temple, a hutong lunch, then the art district and Ghost Street for dinner.
This is the one day with a hard deadline: the Forbidden City sells no same-day tickets, so you need a booked slot a week ahead. Be at the Tiananmen Square security check early, with your passport in hand, and do the palace in one go.
The square is named after the Tiananmen, the Gate of Heavenly Peace, at its northern end. It was designed and built in 1651 and enlarged fourfold in the 1950s to 765 by 282 meters. Mao Zedong proclaimed the People's Republic here on 1 October 1949, and a national flag is raised at sunrise and lowered at sunset every day.
Outside China the square is best known for the 1989 protests. Inside China that subject is censored, so don't expect to discuss it. What you can do is walk it, look at the Monument to the People's Heroes, the Great Hall of the People and the National Museum, then cross under the gate to the palace. Expect an airport-style security check.
The palace was built between 1406 and 1420 and housed 24 emperors, 14 Ming and 10 Qing. Legend gives it 9,999 rooms, though surveys count 8,886. It stopped being China's political center when Puyi abdicated in 1912, and since 1925 it has been the Palace Museum. In 1644 the last Ming emperor, Chongzhen, fled as rebels closed in and hanged himself on the hill behind it, your next stop.
Entry is only through the Meridian Gate in the south, and the route is one way, south to north, leaving by the Shenwu Gate or the East Glorious Gate. Walk the central axis first: the three great halls of the outer court, then the inner palaces and the Imperial Garden. The Gate of Supreme Harmony has been closed for restoration since 3 August 2026 and the Hall of Military Eminence closed on 19 October, so older guides promise more than you'll get. The Clock Gallery and the Treasure Gallery cost 10 CNY extra each and are worth it only if you have time left.
The palace's north exit puts you across the road from Jingshan Park. The hill, Jingshan or Prospect Hill, was piled up from the earth dug for the palace moat, and it was a private imperial garden until the park opened to the public in 1928. A short climb takes you to the central pavilion, and from there you look straight down the axis: the yellow-tiled roofs below, the Drum Tower and Bell Tower to the north, the towers of the modern city south.
Time it for the end of the afternoon if the air is clear. Sunset is around 5pm in early November, and the park stays open until about 20:00 in the off season.
Walk north-east to Fangzhuanchang Hutong for the noodle every Beijinger has an opinion about: zhajiangmian, thick wheat noodles under a sauce of fried fermented soybean paste, with pickles and raw vegetables on the side. The dish started in Shandong, but the Beijing version counts among the Ten Great Noodles of China. This small place has held a Michelin Bib Gourmand for several years, and a bowl is about 25 CNY.
Order a bowl each and stir it all together before the first bite. It's the cheapest memorable meal in the old city.
Shichahai is three connected lakes, Qianhai, Xihai and Houhai, northwest of the Forbidden City and just north of Beihai. The bar strip around Houhai peaked in the 2000s and has faded since, so go for the water and the old lanes behind it rather than for the nightlife.
Nanluoguxiang, a restored hutong 786 meters long just east of the lakes, is the tourist version: snack stalls and gift shops, and at peak hours you weave through people. Walk it once, then turn off into the quieter lanes on either side. The Drum Tower is five minutes away if you want to see it lit.
One of Beijing's first craft breweries sits in a residential hutong so tucked away that first-timers struggle to find it. You can drink the standard Chinese lagers anywhere, so this is the place to try something with more hops and compare it with Yanjing, the city's own brand.
Order a flight if you can't choose, add something simple to eat and stay for one round. After a day of stone and queues, a courtyard bar full of locals and expats is the right way to land.
Today runs south along the axis. The Mausoleum is open only until noon and the National Museum works in timed slots from 9am, so the morning is tight and the afternoon is loose. All of the day's sights are closed on Mondays, which is why you're here on a Wednesday.
The Memorial Hall holds the embalmed body of Mao Zedong, who died in 1976. It stands on the site of the Gate of China, the main southern gate of the Ming and Qing Imperial City.
Whether you go is personal. For many Chinese visitors it's a pilgrimage, and for others a quiet few minutes to fit in before the museum. If you'd rather skip it, take the hour at the museum or the palace.
The National Museum, on the east side of the square, is one of the largest museums in the world by floor area, with more than 1.4 million objects and 48 exhibition halls. It's free, which makes it the best-value stop in the city.
Don't try to see it all. Come for the ancient China displays, choose two or three halls, and sit down between them. Treat the modern-history rooms as the official account, because that's what they are.
Zhengyangmen, usually called Qianmen, is the old gate south of the square that once guarded the southern entry to the Inner City. The central axis passes through its main gate. Qianmen Street runs south from it as a pedestrian street of traditional brands, and Dashilar, an old commercial lane of snacks and shops, branches off to the west.
The area has been rebuilt as a shopping district, and the new Beijing Fun mall takes away from the old feel. For a quieter version, walk about 1.5 km west through the residential lanes to Liulichang, a street of art-supply and antique shops. Eat lunch in one of those lanes rather than on Qianmen Street.
The Temple of Heaven was built in 1420 as the place where the Ming and Qing emperors prayed for a good harvest. The 273-hectare complex is round in the north and square in the south, after the old belief that heaven is round and the earth square, and UNESCO listed it in 1998. The blue-roofed Hall of Prayer for Good Harvest is the postcard, with the Echo Wall and the Circular Mound as the other two main sights.
The park around it is as good as the monuments. It's where locals come for tai chi, calligraphy and tea, and the late afternoon is the time to watch it. Arrive by 3pm so you see the halls in daylight.
Dinner is the dish the city is named for. The duck comes whole, the chef carves it at the table, and you roll skin and meat in a thin pancake with sweet bean sauce, scallion and cucumber. The famous names are chains: Quanjude has been at it since 1864, and Bianyifang claims a history back to 1416.
Near Qianmen, Liqun is the small-scale choice, a tiny courtyard at 11 Beixiangfeng Hutong. Whichever you pick, book ahead, order the whole duck, and take the address in Chinese characters.
Walk back north up Qianmen Street after dinner. The gate tower and the buildings around it are lit at night, and by now the crowds have thinned enough to see the fronts of the old brand shops. At the north end Zhengyangmen stands over the southern edge of Tiananmen Square.
It's a short, easy end to a long day.
Pick one section and give it the whole day. Leave by 7:30am with a pre-booked car or a tour seat, and bring warm layers and your passport. Plan to be back in town around 6pm: the road into Beijing in the late afternoon is slow, and the wall shuts between 17:30 and 18:30 depending on the season.
Mutianyu is 70 km northeast of the center, and older than Badaling: a wall stood here in the mid-6th century, and the present Ming wall was begun under General Xu Da, rebuilt in 1569 and restored from 1983. It has 22 watchtowers along 2,250 meters, parapets with merlons on both sides, and forest all around.
Why this one? Badaling is the most visited section and the most crowded. Jinshanling and Simatai are wilder and quieter but two hours or more away, and Jinshanling is in Hebei province. Mutianyu is restored like Badaling, has a lift up and a slide down, and lies inside the Beijing municipality. It's busy on weekends and holidays, so go midweek.
There are three ways up. You can climb the more than 4,000 steps, take the four-seat gondola cable car, or take the two-seat chairlift. The cable car, which you enter through the north gate, is the one most people use.
The two lifts land at different towers, so ask at the ticket office which you're buying. Walking up suits the fit and anyone who wants the forest on the way; everyone else should save their knees for the wall itself.
From the top of the lift you can walk along the ridge in both directions. The wall here is built of granite, 7 to 8.5 meters high and 4 to 5 meters wide on top, and the daytime route opens towers 1 to 20. At the Mutianyu Pass, three watchtowers stand joined on one terrace, which you rarely see elsewhere on the Wall.
Walk until the stairs get hard, sit on the parapet and eat your snack, then turn round. The stretch a few towers from the lift landing, where the tour groups stop, is where it gets quiet.
The village beside the wall has been held up by the government as a model, rebuilt largely on tourism and glassware. There are restaurants along the road to the car park, and the food is set lunches and hot dishes at tourist prices, not discoveries.
Order two or three dishes to share, such as stir-fried vegetables, tomato and egg and a plate of dumplings, and be done in an hour. It's also the place to dry out if it rained.
The slide is the part people remember: a winding metal track from the wall down to the valley in a single-rider sled. It's silly and fun, and a little absurd on a section of the Wall that was a real fortress.
If you'd rather walk or ride down, the lifts run both ways. Either way, aim to leave the wall by 4pm, because evening traffic into Beijing can double the trip.
Today moves from the 18th century to the 21st and from west to north. Take subway Line 4 to Beigongmen and be inside by 9am. The paid buildings at the Summer Palace close on Mondays in the off season, so a Friday works. The Olympic Green is a short subway hop once the sun is low.
The Summer Palace is where the Qing court escaped the Forbidden City. It began as the Qingyi Garden, built from about 1750 for the Qianlong emperor, and was rebuilt as the Summer Palace in 1886 after the damage of 1860, with money meant for the navy, by the Empress Dowager Cixi. The palace area by the east gate, with the Hall of Benevolence and Longevity and the Garden of Virtue and Harmony, is where the court worked and lived.
The park covers 2.9 square kilometers, three-quarters of it water, so the point is the setting: a hill, a lake and a long walk. UNESCO listed it in 1998.
The heart of Longevity Hill is the line of the Hall of Dispelling Clouds, the Tower of Buddhist Incense and the Sea of Wisdom Temple, stacked up the slope with the lake behind you. The hill is about 60 meters high and was built from the earth dug out of Kunming Lake.
The north side is the quiet one. If you have time, walk around the hill rather than over it for gentler paths and fewer people.
Kunming Lake covers 2.2 square kilometers and was dug entirely by hand. The three islands in it represent three legendary mountains in the eastern sea, an idea from Chinese myth, and the Seventeen-Arch Bridge crosses to the nearest of them. Walking the shore is the real way to feel the scale of the place.
Boats cross the lake in the warm months. Service often stops for winter, so ask at the ticket window. If it's closed, walk, and leave through the east gate rather than back the way you came.
Two kilometers east is the Summer Palace's older twin. The Old Summer Palace was the main residence of the Qianlong emperor and his successors, a huge complex of gardens and halls built over the 18th and early 19th centuries. On 6 October 1860 French and British troops captured it during the Second Opium War and looted it, and on 18 October Lord Elgin ordered it burned in reprisal for the treatment of an Anglo-French delegation. It took 4,000 men three days.
What's left is a park of ruins and broken stone that China keeps in that state as a reminder of what it calls a humiliation. It's quiet and somber after the Summer Palace, and the story depends on who tells it. Walk the main ruins and leave.
The Bird's Nest, officially the National Stadium, broke ground in 2003, was completed in June 2008 and holds 80,000 people. It was used again for the 2022 Winter Olympics. Next door is the Water Cube, the National Aquatics Center. Together they're the best look at modern Beijing's ambition.
The Olympic Green around them is a public park and free to walk, with the stadium interior sold separately. Come for the hour before dark.
For dinner, do what Beijing does on a cold night: shuan yangrou, instant-boiled mutton. A pot of broth sits in the middle of the table, you swish thin slices of lamb through it for a few seconds and eat them with dipping sauce, vegetables and noodles. Traditionally it's a winter dish eaten at home, so November is the season.
Donglaishun, founded in 1903 by Hui Muslims, is the old name, so the lamb is halal. It's now a chain with a Wangfujing flagship, and there are plenty of smaller places around the Olympic Green. Look for a busy one and order a plate at a time.
Day five is the neighborhood day, mostly on foot in the north-east of the old city. Start at the Drum Tower when it opens at about 9:30, work east to the temples, and take a taxi or the subway out to 798 in the afternoon. A Saturday brings crowds to the Lama Temple.
The Drum Tower and Bell Tower stand at the northern end of the Central Axis and kept time for the city. The Drum Tower dates to 1272 and was moved to this site in 1420, and the Bell Tower was built around 1700. Both are small museums now, with an old copper bell, a few drums and a short drum performance roughly every hour.
Climb the steep steps, more than 60, for the view over the roofs. Then notice that the axis you've followed for four days ends here. In the evening locals play badminton in the square between the two towers.
The Lama Temple is one of the largest Tibetan Buddhist monasteries in China proper, a Gelug school temple that mixes Han Chinese and Tibetan styles. In the middle and late Qing period it was the highest-ranking Buddhist temple in the country, and it's an active place of worship, so you'll smell the incense before you see the gate.
The famous sight is the 18-meter statue of Maitreya, carved from a single piece of sandalwood. Zhou Enlai is credited with saving the temple during the Cultural Revolution. Follow the person ahead of you with the incense.
A short walk west is the Confucius Temple, built in 1302 and the second largest Confucian temple in China after the one in Confucius's hometown of Qufu. The courtyard is a pleasant place to rest, where art students sit and sketch, and unlike the Lama Temple it's usually quiet.
Next door the Imperial Academy was the highest college in imperial China and the venue for the civil service exams. It's a good place to understand why that system mattered so much, and one ticket covers both.
Wudaoying is the most relaxed pedestrian street in Beijing, a long narrow hutong of small coffee shops, bakeries and boutiques, just south of the Second Ring Road and around the corner from the temples. It's the best lunch stop of the trip.
Pick a café with a courtyard, order coffee and something to eat, and don't rush. There's a Western brunch café at number 31, and plenty of tea and noodle options. Then try a side alley and see where it comes out.
798 is a complex of decommissioned military factory buildings, now Beijing's best-known art district, anchored by the UCCA Center for Contemporary Art. The factory halls make a good setting, and many galleries are free or cheap.
It's commercial, with cafés, shops and billboards, and can feel like a mall. Go for the buildings and one exhibition rather than for shopping, and check the schedule first. A taxi from the temples takes about 25 minutes.
Guijie, or Ghost Street, is a stretch of more than a kilometer of restaurants along Dongzhimen Inner Street, around 150 of them, with red lanterns over the road and a crowd until late. Its best-known dish is spicy crayfish, xiaolongxia, eaten by the pile with gloves on.
Pick a place with a queue, order the crayfish by the half kilo, add a cold dish or two and a local beer. It's loud, messy and exactly how Beijing eats on a Saturday night.
Six more places for a longer stay, ordered by distance from the city center.
A former imperial garden first built in the 12th century and open to the public since 1925, with a lake covering more than half of its 71 hectares and Jade Flower Island, 32 meters high, at its center. It connects to Shichahai in the north and makes an easy half-day with Jingshan.
Getting there: 4 km northwest of Tiananmen, about 15 minutes by taxi or subway
A 160-hectare former imperial garden at the foot of the Western Hills, with pine and cypress forest and slopes planted with maples, smoke trees and persimmons. The highest point is Incense Burner Peak at 575 meters. A day for walking when the air is clear.
Getting there: About 30 km northwest of the center, 30 minutes by car, longer by subway and bus
Thirteen Ming emperors lie in a valley chosen by the Yongle Emperor after he built the Forbidden City. Three tombs are open, and excavation stopped in 1989. It's a UNESCO site, but the honest verdict is that it's the least exciting of Beijing's big sights.
Getting there: 42 km north-northwest of the center, about 40 minutes by car
Badaling is the most visited section of the Great Wall: the stretch here was built in 1504 and in 1957 became the first to open to tourism. It's heavily restored, has a cable car, and is the most crowded. Juyongguan, 56 km out, is nearer and quieter, though an expressway cuts through the pass.
Getting there: About 65-80 km northwest, around 1 hour by car; the S2 commuter train is unreliable, so a car or tour is easier
Simatai is a wilder Great Wall section in the north of Miyun District, closed in 2010 and reopened in 2014, with daytime hours of about 9:00-17:00. It pairs with Gubei Water Town, a rebuilt village beside the wall with night tours sold separately. Hiking from Jinshanling to Simatai means paying twice.
Getting there: About 120 km northeast of the center, around 2 hours by car
Built from 1570 in the Ming dynasty and linked to Simatai in the east, Jinshanling is the pick for a quieter, longer walk. It's hard to reach by public transport, so most people hire a car. Transit travelers on the 240-hour rule may visit: Hebei is a permitted area.
Getting there: About 125 km northeast, 2-2.5 hours by car; it's in Hebei province, not Beijing
Beijing eats everything from everywhere, but the local list is short and worth chasing: duck, mutton, noodles and a few odd snacks.
Roast duck carved at the table and eaten in thin pancakes with sweet bean sauce, scallion and cucumber. The skin is the prize. The big names, Quanjude (1864) and Bianyifang (claims 1416), are chains, so the best bird may be at a smaller house you've booked.
Where to try it: Liqun near Qianmen, or the flagship of a famous name. A duck costs around 230-300 CNY (31-40 EUR).
In Beijing it means shuan yangrou, instant-boiled mutton: thin slices of lamb swished through a pot of broth at the table. A savory, non-spicy broth is the classic, and you can ask for a spicy half.
Where to try it: Donglaishun (since 1903, halal) on Wangfujing, or any busy lamb hot pot near your hotel.
Thick wheat noodles under fried fermented soybean sauce, with shredded vegetables and pickles. The Beijing version counts among China's Ten Great Noodles. Stir it all together and eat it hot.
Where to try it: No. 69 Fangzhuanchang (about 25 CNY a bowl), or Fortune Long on East Xinglong Street (about 18 CNY).
A savory crêpe of wheat and grain batter spread on a griddle with an egg, filled with a crisp cracker, scallions and sauce, and folded over. It's the street breakfast of the north.
Where to try it: Street carts during the morning commute; pick the one with a queue.
Yangrou chuan, cumin-dusted lamb skewers grilled on makeshift stands around the city, a Beijing night staple.
Where to try it: Street stands near Guijie and Wangfujing in the evening; check the price first.
Hawthorn fruits on a bamboo skewer, dipped in hardened sugar syrup. The classic is plain hawthorn, sometimes filled with red bean paste. Sweet shell, sour fruit.
Where to try it: Street sellers in cold weather, often near Qianmen and Wangfujing.
A fermented mung bean drink, gray and slightly sour, with a history of more than 300 years in Beijing. Many visitors hate it. One sip is enough for the story.
Where to try it: Old-style breakfast shops; locals pair it with fried dough.
Dense pastries filled with lotus seed paste, red bean or nuts, eaten at the Mid-Autumn Festival, which fell in late September in 2026. Fresh boxes are everywhere around the festival and scarcer after it.
Where to try it: Chinese bakeries and department stores; in season, hotel lobbies sell gift boxes.
Beijing's own baijiu, a clear sorghum spirit that is milder in aroma than other baijiu but still strong. It's made in and around the city and is cheap, a few euros a bottle.
Where to try it: Any corner shop or supermarket; in a restaurant order a small bottle.
Beijing's own mass-market beer, brewed since 1980, light and cheap. For something with more taste, craft beer started here early, and Great Leap Brewing is the name to know.
Where to try it: Everywhere; Great Leap Brewing in Doujiao Hutong for craft.
Tea is the other drink, and the Qianmen and Qianhai areas have tea houses. Ask the price before you sit: tourist-area tea can run 200 CNY (27 EUR) or more for a tiny pot.
Where to try it: A local tea shop rather than a tourist tea house; ask to taste two or three teas.
Good coffee has moved into the old alleys, and the lanes around Dongsi North Road, Wudaoying and Miaoying Temple are full of small cafés, some with rooftop views of the temple's white pagoda.
Where to try it: Wudaoying Hutong, Dongsi North Road, or the lanes around Miaoying Temple.
Pick the neighborhood for your plan, not the hotel: Beijing is spread out, and the subway makes up for most of it.
Best for: First-timers who want hutong life, cafés and evening walks
The hutong grid north of the Forbidden City, with Shichahai, the Drum Tower and Nanluoguxiang on the doorstep and subway Lines 2, 5 and 8 close by. It's the most atmospheric base. The catch: it can be noisy at night, and many courtyard hotels sit up narrow lanes that taxis can't enter.
Best for: Short stays and walking to the Forbidden City
The most convenient base for days one and two, with Tiananmen East a short walk away. Most of the luxury hotels are in Dongcheng. A four-star starts around 500 CNY (67 EUR) and a five-star at 1,200-2,100 CNY (160-280 EUR). The catch: higher prices, and a mall feel after dark.
Best for: Budget travelers and the south of the axis
Old lanes and cheaper beds just south of Tiananmen, within reach of the Temple of Heaven. Budget rooms in Beijing start under 300 CNY (about 40 EUR). The catch: it's busy by day and bare at night, and the best food isn't on Qianmen Street.
Best for: Nightlife, international restaurants and modern Beijing
The center of Beijing's bar scene for a long time, with the widest range of international food. The catch: it's a subway ride from the imperial sights, and it doesn't feel like old Beijing.
Pinpoint: click each country on the world map - inside the border for full points, the closer the more you earn.
The practical stuff that makes the first day in Beijing easier.
Check this before you book a flight. Ordinary-passport holders from 50 countries can enter visa-free for up to 30 days for tourism, business, family visits or transit: Andorra, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, Montenegro, the Netherlands, North Macedonia, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Peru, Uruguay, Bahrain, Brunei, Japan, Kuwait, Oman, South Korea and Saudi Arabia. For most of these countries the exemption runs to 31 December 2026, so check the NIA list if you travel later. The United States is not on it.
Citizens of 57 countries, the United States among them, can instead use the 240-hour (10-day) visa-free transit, with an ordinary passport and a confirmed onward ticket to a third country or region (not China, and not the place you flew in from). Beijing's airports are eligible, and you may travel between the permitted areas of the 24 provinces involved, so Hebei (Jinshanling) and Tianjin are fine. Other nationalities need a visa or a bilateral exemption; start at the NIA site. Fill in the free online arrival card on the official NIA page before you land. Paid copies exist and aren't needed.
The big sights sell real-name tickets, and for foreigners the ID is your passport. Use each sight's official page or app, pick the passport option and book as soon as slots open: the Forbidden City a week ahead, Mutianyu up to 30 days. Carry the passport itself, not a photocopy: it's checked at the gate, and the UK government advises always carrying it. Ignore anyone selling tickets on the street, since the Palace Museum authorizes no third party to sell them.
Alipay and WeChat Pay run on QR codes, and both let foreign visitors link a Visa or Mastercard. Chinese government guidance from 2024 raised the limit for overseas users to 5,000 USD per payment, and small payments need no ID. Set up and test your card before you fly. Bank cards are meant to be accepted at 4A and 5A attractions and three-star hotels, and the government pushes shops to keep taking cash, but carry a few hundred yuan anyway, since small places and taxis can be slow with cards. ATMs show your card network's logo.
The UK government lists Google, Facebook, YouTube and X as permanently blocked in China, and WhatsApp and Instagram are widely reported blocked too. A roaming or travel eSIM that routes your data out of the country usually keeps these working without a VPN, while hotel Wi-Fi and a local SIM don't. VPNs need government licensing and the firewall detects many of them, so one that worked at home may fail. Install what you need before you land, since Chinese app stores won't carry it, and download offline maps.
Google Maps works badly here. Use Apple Maps or Amap (Gaode), and show drivers the destination in Chinese characters. Alipay's English interface includes taxi hailing. Since 2025 the Beijing subway has taken contactless Visa, Mastercard, JCB, American Express and UnionPay cards issued abroad at every fare gate: tap the same card in and out. Fares are 3-10 CNY, and the Capital Airport Express is 25 CNY.
Book high-speed and long-distance trains on 12306, China Railway's official site and app, which has an English version and registers foreign passports. Verify your passport in the app early. Tickets usually go on sale about 15 days ahead, and foreign cards sometimes fail, so have a backup payment. You enter the station with the passport you booked with. Smoking is banned on high-speed trains.
Hotels register foreign guests with the police at check-in, using your passport. If you stay in a private flat, you or the host must register within 24 hours, and since 21 September 2026 this can be done online through the NIA website, the NIA 12367 app or its WeChat and Alipay mini programs. Skipping it can bring a warning or a fine. Choose places that say they host international guests, and keep your passport on you in the city.
Mains power is 220 V with Type A and I sockets (Type C no longer meets the standard, though hybrid sockets remain in older hotels), so pack an adapter. Tap water isn't safe to drink; boil it or buy bottled. Tipping isn't customary and some places refuse it. Public toilets often lack paper, so carry tissues. Mandarin is the language and English is rare outside hotels and tourist sights. Emergency numbers: police 110, fire 119, ambulance 120.
Yes, for the main sights: the palace, the axis, the Great Wall, the Summer Palace, the Olympic Green and a day of temples and hutongs. The city is huge and you'll leave things out. With three days, do days one to three. With more time, add the Ming Tombs, Beihai Park and a second Wall section.
Maybe not. Holders of ordinary passports from 50 countries, including most of Europe, the UK, Canada, Australia and Japan, can enter visa-free for up to 30 days, currently to 31 December 2026 for most. The United States is not on that list, but its citizens and those of 56 other countries can use the 240-hour transit rule with an onward ticket to a third country. Everyone else needs a visa or a bilateral exemption. Check the National Immigration Administration site before booking.
Often at hotels, big sights and chain restaurants, but the everyday system is Alipay and WeChat Pay, which take foreign cards if you link one beforehand. Carry a few hundred yuan in cash as a backup. The subway takes contactless foreign cards.
Not on local networks or hotel Wi-Fi. A roaming or travel eSIM that routes data abroad usually avoids the block, while VPNs are unreliable. Set up your tools before you land.
Mutianyu for most people: it's restored, has a cable car and a toboggan, and lies inside Beijing, about 70 km out. Badaling is nearer but the most crowded. Jinshanling and Simatai are wilder and quieter but two hours away, and Jinshanling is in Hebei province.
Yes. Violent crime is rare and police are everywhere in the center. Watch for pickpockets around Tiananmen Square and on routes to the Great Wall, taxi scams, and strangers inviting you to tea tastings or art shows. Avoid demonstrations.
September and October, and April and May. Winter is cold and dry, summer is hot and crowded, and spring brings dust storms. Avoid the early-October holiday week, when the sights are packed.
Not much. Hotels and some tourist sights have English, but taxi drivers and most restaurants don't. Keep your hotel's address in Chinese characters, use a translation app, and learn xie xie (thanks) and ni hao (hello).
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