We spent a week in Beijing, and it was one of the most incredible experiences we’ve ever had. It left us speechless and we’re itching to go back! This city really does have it all and the things to do in Beijing are immense.
Beijing holds a lot of important history, amazing Chinese architecture and bucket list worthy things to explore. But we want to show you there’s so much more to explore to get a real, local’s feel of Beijing too.
There’s a lot more than meets the eye in this incredible city. We always seek out authentic experiences everywhere we visit, and we were lucky to hit upon so many unusual things to do in Beijing that most guides don’t cover.
We’re going to share all the cool things to do in Beijing that we got to experience first. Our insider tips including accommodation, getting around and things to consider are covered later in our guide.
Whether you’re looking for a 2 day Beijing itinerary or a Beijing Itinerary over 8 days, our guide below has you covered. By the time you’ve finished reading you’ll be on your way to planning an amazing trip.
The Very Best Things to do in Beijing
There is so much to explore in Beijing. We were there for a week and feel like we only got to see a small section!
What we loved is that Beijing has a brilliant mix of iconic landmarks and history, fashion, local food, buzzing culture and vibrant nightlife alongside so much more.
We’ll cover the top things to do in Beijing and all the big sights as well as lots of off the wall hidden gems which let you explore like a local. Get ready to explore in detail below, but in summary, here’s our top 5 of the best things to do in Beijing:
- Explore the Beijing hutongs
- Eat authentic northern Chinese food
- Visit Jingshan Park (views of Forbidden City)
- Take a day trip to the Great Wall of China
- Explore Dongshi District
Our video below brings to life some of the sights and sounds we experienced in Beijing and the places we cover below in our guide. Be sure to watch!
Historic Places to Check Out in Beijing
There are plenty of famous landmarks in Beijing that you’re going to want to check out. Our interests lie in having a rounded experience, so we got this down to a few historic attractions in Beijing and ones with cultural significance.
These are the main locations that we think are worth adding to your must visit list in Beijing. Though if you’re short on time, we’d stick to the Lama Temple and seeing the Forbidden City from above at Jingshan Park.
Visit Tiananmen Square
Tiananmen Square, Beijing is culturally very significant. The large square was host to protests in 1989. These peaceful protests focused on pro-democracy were turned violent on the hands of the Chinese Government.
The Tiananmen Square Beijing 1989 protests and the information surrounding them has been heavily suppressed by the Chinese Government. The events that happened here are still, very rightly so, sensitive.
The memory and legacy of what happened at Tiananmen Square on the 5th June, 1989 in Beijing has been contentious for a very long time. So, looking at this area felt both interesting and heavy.
Whilst Tiananmen Square is quite touristy now because of its history in Beijing, we would still recommend you go and see it. It’s culturally very important and it allowed us to think deeply about some of the freedoms we take for granted.
There aren’t tickets to Tiananmen Square as such, but it is required to use a registration service in Beijing to enter. Without a Chinese phone number, this is actually quite difficult.
So, we used a service on GetYourGuide that will register you for a small fee with your passport. You need to do this one day in advance of the day you want to visit Tiananmen Square in Beijing, China.
The registration service we used is linked here on GetYourGuide. It was well worth it, made it super easy to visit and took the stress out of things, meaning we could just focus on taking everything in.
As you’ll be close by, we’d also recommend spending some time after your visit looking around the area of Qianmen Street. We’ve covered this as a section later on in this article.
How to Find Tiananmen Square, Beijing
The closest metro station to Tiananmen Square is Tian’anmendong on Line 1. When you’re on the metro, there will be an announcement for passengers for Tiananmen Square, so it’s very easy!
Explore the Forbidden City
The Forbidden City, in the heart of Beijing is important to Chinese history. It was built in the 15th century as a palace for the Ming emperors.
The Forbidden City, Beijing was used by the Ming Dynasty and then the Qing Dynasty up to as recently as 1912. After 1924, it was turned into a museum and it’s possible to go and explore it.
Going to visit the Forbidden City is absolutely incredible and deeply rooted in East Asian history. Whilst it is one of the best things to do in Beijing, we do want to warn you that it is also one of the busiest places we’ve ever visited.
If you’re really keen to see this stunning piece of history, incredible art and beautiful architecture, then just go into it with your eyes open. There is no real way to beat the crowds.
It’s so busy that we’d recommend getting your tickets to the Forbidden City in Beijing in as much advance as possible. You can book these online in advance from GetYourGuide here.
Likewise, there are plenty of tours on offer of the Forbidden City that also take in Tiananmen Square (as they are next to each other). Tours like this can be a good way to learn more from a local guide familiar in detail with the history.
If you prefer something on a budget as a group, then we’d recommend this tour on GetYourGuide. There are also plenty of private tours too, like this one. Tours like this can also take the stress out of how to get tickets for the Forbidden City in Beijing.
Another way to see the Forbidden City in Beijing, China is to see it from above. This does allow you in many ways to beat the crowds, especially if you visit on a weekday.
Head to Jingshan Park, which we’ve covered as a whole section later on in this article and take the short walk up Pagoda Hill. From here you’ll be able to look over the Forbidden City. It’s pretty fantastic and still gives you an overview if you’re struggling to want to deal with the crowds actually in the complex.
How to Find the Forbidden City Beijing
We’ve included a Forbidden City, Beijing map below to show you where everything is, including Jingshan Park as well if you decide you’d prefer this option.
The best metro station is Tiananmen West or East on Line 1. The Forbidden City opening hours are 8:30 – 5pm from April – October and 8:30 – 4:30 November to March.
Visit the Lama Temple
We were really excited to visit the Beijing Lama Temple. At the start of a much longer trip that would involve a lot of East Asian architecture of historical significance, this felt like a great introduction.
The Lama Temple, Beijing was built in 1694 and is a Buddhist temple that also happens to be Beijing’s biggest. We didn’t know until we arrived, but it’s actually considered one of the biggest centres of Buddhism outside of Tibet.
The Lama Temple is absolutely incredible, featuring incredible art, decoration and style and is without a doubt one of the best things to do in Beijing. The smell of incense and the calmness of the place is a complete must see and something we really enjoyed.
How to Find the Lama Temple, Beijing
It only costs a small amount to enter, which you can pay in cash or using Alipay. The best station is Yonghegong on Line 2 and it’s open from 9am to 4pm everyday.
Visit the Imperial Ancestral Temple
The Imperial Ancestral Temple sits just outside the Forbidden City. It’s important historically as it was used for sacrificial ceremonies during the Ming and Qing dynasties.
It’s built up of three buildings which in many ways looks pretty similar to the floor plan of the Forbidden City. It has been said that it’s one of the most sacred sites in the area and because of this, is one of the top things to do in Beijing.
We didn’t find the Imperial Ancestral Temple as interesting as some of the other places we visited in Beijing. But because of its significance, we still think it’s one of the most important places to see here.
How to Find the Imperial Ancestral Temple, Beijing
As it’s located on the edge Tiananmen Square, you can use Tiananmen East Station which is on Line 1. Our map below shows the Imperial Ancestral Temple’s location.
Explore Like a Local: Hidden Gems in Beijing
This section of things to do in Beijing, in many ways is our favourite. Due to the size of the city, Beijing’s hidden gems are vast and diverse.
We always seek out hidden gems when we travel. This involves leaving space in our schedule to explore, walk without purpose and see where has a good vibe.
The beauty of this approach is that we stumble across areas that are usually only explored by locals. Think authentic food, extremely cool bars and street culture that feels out of this world.
We’d recommend saving some time to explore like this as you often find the best things this way. The great news for you is that we’ve done the ‘hard work’ to find some hidden gems in Beijing to get you inspired.
Explore the Beijing Hutongs
We’d heard about Beijing hutongs in our research before we travelled and were ready to seek them out. Hutongs aren’t specific to Beijing being present around China, but there are many in Beijing to explore.
A hutong is a narrow lane or alley. They are, in many ways, the heart of the city and combine residential and commercial areas. From our experience there is a whole lot of cool stuff happening across them to explore.
Along hutongs you’ll find a maze of independent cafes, hole in the wall food sellers, boutique clothing stores, flower shops, artists’ studios and everything in between. We loved exploring the Beijing hutongs and spent a lot of time doing so.
One of our favourite things to do was wander around and spot street scenes to photograph. There is so much vibrancy and life happening down hutongs.
We personally found the most interesting things happening in the city were usually around hutongs. They’re not hard to find either. Go to any area and the side streets are usually hutongs.
Though some of them are more interesting than others, so it takes a bit of exploring to find interesting things. But that’s half the experience and one of the really fun things to do in Beijing.
We thought some of the best Beijing hutongs were Jinyu hutong, Quianliang hutong, Juanqing hutong, Dajiang hutong, Lianfeng hutong and around Chongwenmen Xiheyan. Easily one of the best things to do in Beijing!
If you want a little further inspiration on finding hutongs, we had this guided tour through GetYourGuide bookmarked. It looks like a great way to explore with a local.
How to Find Beijing Hutongs
Here are some of the favourite Beijing hutongs we found on the map. Just a note though, whilst we’ve included Google Maps so we can embed things for you to see, Google Maps doesn’t work in China.
We’d recommend saving everything you can to another map software (either your phones mapping if you use an iPhone or seeking out an alternative for Android).
Head to Shichahai to People Watch
We stumbled across Shichahai, Beijing one day when on the metro. We noticed a lot of very stylish looking people getting off and decided the next day to factor in Shichahai to our plans. Glad we did.
Shichahai is a district and shopping area which sits by the side of Houhai Lake. It’s also about a block or so down from the Drum Tower and Bell Tower, which you can buy your entry ticket for here.
This area is a little touristy, but there are plenty of areas that aren’t – making it one of the fun things to do in Beijing. As soon as we came out of Shichahai metro station, you’re met with the ultra cool, neon lit shopping and food market.
This is a great place to try local specialities like pot helmet (which we’ll cover more later). There are various individual hotpot places, tea shops, fried chicken and Beijing noodle stalls within this to check out.
Step out from the metro and you’ll find a mix of amazing street wear, and traditional dress. It’s quite common to rent traditional Chinese outfits for the day from nearby.
When we visited it was right in the Spring festival season when all the cherry blossom was starting to come into full flower. There were so many incredibly dressed people making the most of the festivities, which was so fun to see.
You can then head down Fangzhuanchang Hutong and Maoer Hu Tong to explore. Head in the other direction and you’ll hit Qianhai. Further down is Beihai and Qiongdao Island, also worth exploring, and easy to fit into the same day.
We absolutely loved exploring Shichahai and it’s a great place to people watch, enjoy the vibe and eat some good food. It’s more on the touristy side in certain parts, but you can easily find more individual things happening here too.
How to Find Shichahai, Beijing
The best way to get to Shichahai is by metro, it’s on Line 8. This is Shichahai Subway Station A1. From there, you can explore on foot.
Please note all map locations are approximate. Mapping in Beijing isn’t as solid as some places. However we had no trouble finding things when on the ground.
Go Gallery Hopping
As you may expect from any big city, Beijing has its fair share of arts and culture. We found that there were plenty of vibrant art galleries to explore and with this a wide variety of specialisms.
There’s a real mix in Beijing of contemporary art, big traditional galleries focusing on Chinese art and smaller galleries featuring independent artists and shows. If you love art, you’ll love the gallery scene in Beijing.
For a larger contemporary art museum, you’ll want to head to Today Art Museum. We loved this gallery. Its mission is to help develop Chinese art through emerging artists.
Beijing Art Museum is a private gallery well worth checking out too. It has a more specialised collection with a lot of pieces from the Ming and Qing dynasties.
The National Art Museum of China is one of the largest in the country. It’s a fantastic place to see collections that will help you learn about traditional Chinese art, previous dynasties and so much more.
We’d recommend booking your ticket in advance for this on GetYourGuide as it means you can just enter when you get there. You can buy that here and we thought it was well worth it.
A little note for when you’re visiting National Art Museum of China. It’s pretty close to the Forbidden City, so you can combine the two.
You’re also only 10 minutes’ walk from our favourite biang biang noodle place in the city. This is called Yellow River Noodles Xiaoshanwa Biangbiang Noodle. 24A Meishuguan East Street. Don’t miss it!
We personally think some of the best art galleries in Beijing are the smaller ones. If this sounds like your kind of thing, then head to the Three Shadows Photography Art Centre and Caochangdi Art District.
We can’t write a section on galleries without mentioning 798 Art District. We’ve actually included this as a separate spot to check out below, as there is so much more to 798 art district Beijing than just a gallery.
How to Find the Best Art Galleries in Beijing
Here’s a map of the art galleries we’d recommend checking out in Beijing:
Spend the Day at 798 Art District
The Beijing 798 Art District is a little out from the main draw of the city, but after visiting, we think it’s well worth it. It’s easily one of the best things to do in Beijing for a unique experience.
The 798 Art District in Beijing, also known as 798 Art Zone is a complex of old factory buildings used in the past for military purposes. It’s now an artist community which makes the most of its unique architecture.
If you’ve ever visited Berlin, then you may feel it has a similar vibe due to its Bauhaus design style. We thought that the 798 Art District in Beijing was one of the best things we experienced in China.
You can easily spend most of a day there. We really had to prize ourselves away, as it was such a great space to experience.
In 798 Art District, you’ll also find lots of very cool, uniquely Beijing restaurants alongside incredible coffee shops and independent art galleries and shows.
As this is a complex, we’d recommend looking in on our map below to find all of the maze of galleries, cafes and other spaces. Here’s our 798 Art District guide to find some of the best spots:
- UCCA Store: An incredible boutique featuring purchasable art, clothing and lifestyle goods.
- Voyage Coffee: They have various locations around the city, and their coffee is always exceptional.
- Fodder Factory: A very cool dining space with dishes that focus on Hunan specialties. We’d recommend using Alipay’s translate feature to take a photo of the menu and order based on that!
- Faurschou Foundation: This contemporary art space has a place in Beijing and Copenhagen. We loved this space.
- Ullens Centre for Contemporary Art: Large exhibition space and creative studios well worth checking out.
- Shenji Restaurant: This restaurant is famous for it’s red cooked pork. But you’ll also find lots of other tasty dishes to try unique to the chef’s take.
How to Find 798 Art District, Beijing
798 Art District is generally open from 10am-6pm, Tuesday – Sunday. It’s free to go in but some smaller galleries do charge an entrance fee.
Our Beijing 798 Art District map below shows the walk from Gaojiayuan Station to one of the main entrances.
Take in the Atmosphere and go Shopping on Wangfujing Street
Wangfujing Street is one of the main shopping districts in Beijing. Here you’ll find a lot of places you’re likely familiar with as well as lots you won’t be.
We really loved checking out these shopping streets and it’s so obvious that this modern Chinese city is buzzing! It’s quite an immersive experience as it turns from day to night with all the neon lights and signs.
We generally explored in the evening and loved it. It never seemed to die down and was as busy at 4pm as it was at 11pm.
We particularly loved some of the tea shops along here. One which we found by its long line of people outside waiting for matcha soft serve ice cream. This is roughly the location (though it doesn’t come up specifically on maps).
There’s also a great shop that sells really fresh rolling donkey next door too. We’d recommend the purple one, it was delicious, and we still think about it.
Wangfujing Snack Street was also one of our favourites. We had the best cold noodles (liang pi) of our lives here as well as very spicy fried tofu in a sauce we still dream of.
How to Find Wangfujing Street
The best way to find Wangfujing Street is to take the metro to Wangfujing Street station on Line 8. Best exit is A, and this puts you straight out into the thick of it. We’d recommend exploring along from there.
Spend Some Time Exploring Dongsi District
Dongsi or Dong Si was a district we discovered by chance. We found it as we decided to take an alternate route from the main street to a restaurant we wanted to try one day.
What we found in this area were some very cool bars, cafes and lots of cute shops with so much going on. Particually around Lianfeng Hutong, Dongsi 1st Alley, Dongsi 2nd Alley etc (they go up in order along the block).
Dongsi is a great place to explore if you plan on going to the National Art Museum. It’s really close by so you could easily explore both in the same day. Perhaps heading to Dongsi to explore later in the day for drinks or dinner.
We also discovered an area called the Dongsi Dreamscape Odyssey Town, which had some great cafes and restaurants to explore. As well as plenty of street art.
We don’t have an exact location as it doesn’t really come up on the map, but this map point is roughly where this area was. We’d recommend exploring this area!
Also head to a coffee shop called Black Coffee (approx. map point). They do jasmine tea iced cold brew coffee. It’s exceptional. We also loved their clothing store called Second Seconds.
Where to Check Out in Dongsi District
Some of these map spots are approximate locations as mapping in Beijing isn’t perfect, but this will give you lots of starting points to explore.
Get Inspired by Beijing Street Style Fashion
Without a doubt one of the more unusual things to do in Beijing. If you’re into fashion, you’ll love Beijing.
If you love street style, then you’ll love it even more. As really big fans of street style, we were blown away by the shopping experience and general people watching Beijing had to offer.
Chinese fashion is simply incredible, and you can expect to find designer pieces at affordable prices you likely won’t see anywhere else. We both bought unique pieces in Beijing that we were so pleased to add to our wardrobes.
Spend any time around Dongsi, Shichahai and 798 Art District and you’ll get your fix of Chinese street style. Some of the looks we saw people wearing in Beijing were totally inspired!
If you want to do more than people watch and want to know where to go shopping in Beijing, we’d highly recommend checking out a few of the following boutiques, shops and retailers:
- Second Seconds: we bought some stunning tailored pieces here that had a unique take and managed to get the balance between loose style and structured shape. Try their jasmine iced americano too.
- NPC: Otherwise known as New Project Centre. This is more of a chain but still some cool pieces that fit that Beijing street style
- Leng Hou: Very cool street wear store in an interesting area – be sure to explore around after visiting.
- Dover Street Market: We were familiar with DSM from our time living in London and the Beijing offering has a similar feel. Well worth checking out.
Where to go Street Style Shopping in Beijing
Our map below covers some of the street wear shops and boutiques we found and loved:
Explore the Area Around Qianmen Street
When visiting Tiananmen Square, we quickly found Qianmen Street afterwards. This large pedestrianised shopping area is well worth checking out.
If you’re visiting Tiananmen Square, we’d really recommend spending some time here afterwards and it’s a great way to utilise your time to fit in more of the many things to do in Beijing.
On an initial glance, the Qianmen Street, Beijing contains lots of food and drink vendors as well as gift shops. However, explore onto the side streets and Hutongs all around and you’ll find loads of very cool places.
When we explored it was becoming evening, and we think this is easily one of the best things to do in Beijing at night. It becomes so vibrant with neon lights and is a huge hub of activity.
We found some extremely cool side streets one being the concept store called Beijingfang that is split over three of four storeys. This held lots of very cool art books, prints and everything in between.
There’s loads more to explore too – there’s plenty of street food markets to try local delicacies. So many great little hole in the wall bars and specialist tea houses. This just scratches the surface!
Places and Locations to Check Out Around Qianmen Street
Here are some locations we enjoyed checking out around Qianmen Street. We personally recommend checking out the area around Beijingfang – easily one of the best things to do in Beijing, China.
The Best Nightlife, Food and Drink Ideas for Beijing
One of the main reasons we were keen to visit Beijing was our love for Northern Chinese food. The heavy hand of Sichuan pepper, fragrant chillis and comfort food just really hits the spot for us.
It’s fair to say we spent a lot of time eating and drinking in Beijing. Our guide below covers what to eat in Beijing as well as some interesting options to try for both food and drink.
We’ve also covered some of the bustling spots we visited where you can get great Beijing food as well as a lively atmosphere. Perfect for evenings after you’ve spent the day exploring.
Eat Authentic Northern Chinese Food
If you’re wondering what to eat in Beijing, you’re going to have a field day if you’re a foodie like we are. We both agreed that the food we ate here was some of the best we’d had around the world.
If you’re not familiar, Northern Chinese and Beijing food has a pretty different feel to a lot of the Cantonese style food you may be used to from Westernised Chinese restaurants. You’re in for a real treat.
Northern Chinese food prioritises rich chilli sauces, Sichuan pepper, BBQ meats, and a lot of really excellent noodles. To make things better, most of the places you’ll eat (if you follow our suggestions) offer cheap eats that will keep you heartily satisfied.
You also get a great mix of Uighur food too, which is Northwest Muslim and combines Middle Eastern, Central Asian and East Asian influences. We have been lucky to try this cuisine before, and it’s just so comforting.
There are plenty of brilliant food markets to explore and they offer some of the most popular food in Beijing, like Beijing noodles, stinky tofu and liang pi. Noodle soups and hot pot are also really popular, as is Peking duck.
If you want to eat and drink like a local, we’d advise you head to a combination of food markets and some of the smaller canteen style cafes that service some of the more popular food in Beijing.
We’ve put a map below of some of our favourite places to eat in Beijing. If we had to say visit any, it would be Yellow River Noodles Xiaoshanwa Biangbiang Noodle.
They do the best Biangbiang noodles we’ve tried, incredibly authentic, comforting (so much so there may have been a few tears shed when eating). Thinking about them right now is giving some serious food cravings.
Likewise, if you want to try something refreshing and delicious, head to Wangfujing Snack Street. On the left hand side of this market in the main square there is a lady selling the most delicious Liang Pi we’ve had.
Liang Pi is a cold noodle dish using handmade noodles, wheat gluten, cucumber, sesame sauce, and chilli sauce topped with a lot of coriander. It’s utterly addictive. The fried tofu stall next to it is delicious too for the perfect pairing.
In many of the markets you’ll also see spicy BBQ octopus, sausage and many other items. The great thing is you can pair things up and try things from different vendors.
Spend any time in Beijing and you’ll realise stinky tofu is very much an iconic option. In fact, if you ask anyone what is the most popular food in Beijing, it’s possibly this.
You may think that the idea of stinky tofu sounds kind of terrifying. Honestly when you see it, it looks it. However, try a portion and you’ll either love it or hate it. It’s worth the experience though. We loved it, it kind of grows on you.
Of course, Peking duck is very popular too, and many of the stalls you’ll see will be offering roast duck, in differing amounts. Likewise, Beijing noodles are really popular.
This noodle dish uses hot bean paste, fresh noodles, various pickles, cucumber and really whatever the sellers’ own take is. It’s served ready to mix and is very tasty after a few beers.
Pot helmet was also another street food we weren’t expecting. A thin layer of dough is cooked on a stone grill plate. Inside is usually a mix of picked veg and meats, or just veg for vegetarians. Delicious.
Eating is absolutely one of the best things to do in Beijing. Do yourself a favour and skip your hotel breakfast (which is often expensive) and get yourself immersed in Beijing street food and small canteen culture. You won’t regret it.
As a tip, when you head into any of the canteen style places, you will likely be handed an English menu. This just contains a few things and is never as good as the Chinese menu.
Use your Alipay app to take a picture of the menu and translate it to see what you want to order. Likewise, many of the menus have photos, so if you get stuck, you can point at which item you want to order from the menu.
If you’re vegetarian, be sure to show the waiter a translation of ‘without meat’ in both English and Chinese on your translation. Liang Pi, Biangbiang noodles, stinky tofu and other items like this are generally vegetarian and vegan anyway.
If you want an easy introduction into the food in Beijing, then we’d recommend you go on a tour. We had this tour on GetYourGuide bookmarked, which we wished we’d had time to do!
Where to Eat in Beijing
Use this map as a starting point, as there are so many incredible spots that we didn’t get time to try. There are so many great cafes and canteens all around as well as street food markets.
Seek Out the Best Spots for Beautiful Chinese Tea
Naturally when visiting China, we were expecting good tea, but in reality, it was on a whole different level. Tea of course is a huge part of Chinese culture, particularly green and oolong.
Whether you like your tea hot or cold, sourcing out the best places to have tea is one of our top things to do in Beijing. What we loved was that you can choose between traditional tea houses, and more modern cafes offering iced teas, fruit teas and various infusions you’ll likely never have seen before.
More traditional tea houses offer you the chance to relax, do tastings and take in the silence and tranquillity. Drinking tea in traditional tea houses almost feels like a form of meditation – and absolutely an experience to savour.
There also plenty of curated and guided experiences which show you the best of tea in Beijing and just what it means to Chinese culture. We had this tea ceremony experience on GetYourGuide bookmarked. We thought it looked incredible and wished we’d had time to make it work!
Newer, more modern tea places, not to be entirely confused with places offering bubble tea, produce light, vibrant and highly caffeinated iced teas. These are often made of unique blends of mountain herbs and flowers to give a distinct flavour.
There are also plenty of tea merchants offering selections of different teas to buy. We ended up buying more jasmine tea varieties (which is Fay’s favourite) than we probably care to admit. In fact, we’re drinking a cup of iced jasmine tea from a shop we picked some up in Beijing as we write.
We both love tea, so this was without a doubt one of the very cool things to do in Beijing for us. We’d really recommend you try some of the options available.
Where to Drink Tea in Beijing
We’d recommend that you visit at least one tea house for a tea tasting for the experience. Then visit some of the more modern places for a caffeine fix, just like you would coffee, on the go.
Get Engrossed in Beijing’s Third Wave Coffee Movement
If you’re used to the third wave coffee scene in the UK, Europe and the US then you will love what Beijing has to offer when it comes to coffee. We love coffee and were incredibly happy with what we found here.
As with most things in Beijing, coffee shops have created their own twist. You can expect coffee to be an experience and easily one of the cool things to do in Beijing.
Of course, many cafes and independent coffee shops offer straight up European style coffee – latte, piccolo/cortado, flat white etc. However, look a little further and you’ll find really interesting scenes and movements taking it a step further.
A favourite of ours was called Black Coffee. Set inside a stunning streetwear shop, they offer cold brew coffee. Our favourite mix was jasmine iced americano: a cold brew combination of jasmine green tea with coffee.
These guys offered some of the best coffee in Beijing. We loved that some shops had a unique take, and it felt similar to the experience and mixology offered around cocktails. We wondered if we were actually starting to see a nod towards the starts of a fourth wave…?
Many of the Beijing hutongs also have some of the best shops, but really, you don’t have to go far before you’ll find the perfect cup, infusion or something different. We encourage you to try something other than your usual order – you won’t be disappointed!
Where to Drink the Best Coffee in Beijing
If any, we’d recommend Black Coffee the most, it’s seriously good! Or Voyage. However, you’ll find plenty of incredible places when wandering between areas!
Try Local Delicacies like Stinky Tofu and Rolling Donkey
We’ve talked in great detail about good food in Beijing already in this article, but there are a few specialities that are well worth trying and deserve further mentions. Two that you probably won’t be expecting are stinky tofu (chou doufu) and rolling donkey (lüdagun).
Even if you’re not a ‘fan’ of tofu, or haven’t tried it, give stinky tofu ago. It’s a local delicacy popular with locals and tourists alike and it’s defined by its fermented taste and smell.
Usually, the dark coated tofu is fried again, then each piece is opened up to pour in a mixture of garlic sauce and chilli. You usually eat it in a small tub from street food stalls and it’s one of the cheaper eats.
It’s widely available and is known to have an acquired taste. When we first tried it, we initially didn’t like it, but then we kept eating and it became fairly addictive. The flavour is really hard to explain, so you’ll just have to try it.
One of the great things is that the cost of food in Beijing at street food markets is pretty low. Some dishes costing as low as around 50p / 0.67 USD and ranging up to about £6 / 8 USD.
This is great as it means you can try lots of different street food and if you don’t like some of it, you don’t feel like you’ve spent over the odds. It’s a great way to get out of your usual food choices and try something new.
Rolling donkey was another street food/local delicacy we loved. It’s a desert made of rice flour and filled with red bean paste. You can get it in many flavours (our personal favourite was the purple everywhere we tried it).
When you’re choosing it, you’ll see it in a lot of sweet shops or groceries offered in big rolls that the server will then cut down for you. It’s addictive and so comforting to eat.
It doesn’t contain any donkey meat, despite the name, and is called so because of its appearance. Apparently, it looks like a donkey rolling on the ground covered in dust.
We weren’t so sure it did, but it didn’t stop it tasting delicious. Better still, it’s completely vegan – they’re both must try food in Beijing.
You’ll find stinky tofu and rolling donkey at so many places that we don’t really need to provide a map for this. They’re both so popular, you’ll find them anywhere.
Go to the Buzzing Dongzhimen Outer Street at Night for Neon Lights and Incredible Local Food Specialities
We found the the Dongzhimen Outer Street and general area by chance. We were walking around when returning from our Great Wall day tour and were drawn to all the neon lights.
As we explored further, we found Dongzhimen Outer Street. On the Friday night we were around, there was such a good atmosphere with everywhere buzzing with activity.
We spent the evening just exploring and hopping into a few places that didn’t really have names or map locations. So, we’d advise you just to go explore, take some pictures and get involved. It’s one of the best things to do in Beijing at night.
Whether you can get some of the best food in Beijing around here or not is questionable and likely depends on your tastes. This area was as much about the buzz as it was the food. But if you love BBQ and hot pot, you will likely be pretty happy.
There were a lot of restaurants serving specialities of the area – one such that seemed really popular was Maloxia Longya (river crab) and Mongolian hot pot. We didn’t try this, but were told it is a very popular food in Beijing.
How to Find Dongzhimen Outer Street
Head to Dongzhimen Station and then you can walk along Dongzhimen Outer Street.
Time in Nature and Day Trips from Beijing
Beijing isn’t just a buzzing city, there are plenty of places to get some time in nature and explore beautiful Chinese architecture at the same time. There are also options just a short distance away that make for great day trips from Beijing too.
Of course, the options you explore here will be based on how long you have in here. But even just spending a few hours in some of the parks in Beijing will give you a rounded view on what this city has to offer.
Visit Jingshan Park (including great views over the Forbidden City)
Admittedly one of the main reasons we sought out Jingshan Park was because we’d heard that from the top of the hill, there’s stunning views over the Forbidden City. Look at Jingshan Park photos, and this is one of the first things you see.
We headed to Jingshan Park in Beijing on a sunny Sunday afternoon and explored for a few hours. We found we didn’t really want to leave, and seeing the Forbidden City was just such a small part.
Once you get into Jinghan Park, you’ll find plenty of architecture and gardens synonymous with China and East Asian style. On a Sunday, there were plenty of singing groups gathered around, which felt really special to experience.
If you’re just looking for views over the Forbidden City, then head up to Pagoda hill. It’s a short walk uphill for great views over the city. Though we’d recommend exploring the whole top as there are iconic city views not to be missed.
Jingshan Park is in our opinion one of the best things to do in Beijing, China to see a variety of what the city has to offer, and you’ll see plenty of locals there too. Basic Jingshan Park tickets are very cheap (well under £1/$1 and can be bought on entry with cash).
If you want to go inside some of the buildings within the park, we’d recommend that you buy a ticket in advance via GetYourGuide here so you can look around at leisure.
If you also like the idea of finding out more from a local’s perspective, we had this two hour Jingshan and Beihai walking tour on GetYourGuide bookmarked. It looked really good and being a private tour, it seemed really good value!
How to Find Jingshan Park, Beijing
The closest metro station to Jingshan Park is National Art Museum, which is on Line 8. As they’re quite close together, you could easily visit Beihai Park and Qiongdao Island on the same day.
Jingshan Park’s opening hours are roughly 6:30am until 9pm April 1st to October 31st. Or 6:30am until 8pm November 1st until March 31st.
Head to the Tranquil Qiongdao Island
When we headed out to Shichahai, we also visited Qiongdao Island. It’s set within Beihai Park. This is a really beautiful park including lots of stunning Chinese architecture such as Beihai Bridge and Beihai White Tower Temple.
At the start of April when we visited, the blossom was out hundreds of trees with differing blooms were being cherished by a lot of locals, dressed up traditionally and having photos taken. It was such a lovely experience and one of the fun things to do in Beijing.
Aside from people watching, enjoying nature and checking out some of the East Asian design, you can also walk up the short but steep hill to Beihai White Tower Temple. This is well worth a short detour.
As they’re so close to each other, and if you have the energy, you could include Shichahai, Qiongdao Island and Jingshan Park together. Beijing has so much by way of stunning parks!
How to Find Qiongdao Island
The nearest metro station to Qiongdao Island is Beihaibei on Line 6. Our map below shows the walking route from this metro station to Qiongdao Island in Beihai Park.
There is a small entry fee to get into Beihai Park, which was well under £1/$1. This is payable on entry with either cash or Alipay (at time of writing).
Go on a Day Trip to the Great Wall of China
Visiting the Great Wall of China has been a must do for Fay since being a little kid. So, we were over the moon when we realised that visiting Beijing opened this up to us as a day trip from Beijing.
Visiting the Great Wall of China from Beijing is really easy. You can book onto a tour that will collect you from a specific point in the city. We had about 6 hours at the Great Wall, and it felt like more than enough.
You’re also left on your own after you arrive, which means you’re not looking around with an entire bus of people all day. Which is much more our kind of thing!
The tour we did was through GetYourGuide, which you can book here and we’d highly recommend it. Be sure to come back soon for our full guide on visiting the Great Wall of China from Beijing.
One of the most asked questions we found in advance was ‘how far is the Great Wall of China from Beijing’ thinking it must be a long way away. However, the bus tour we took had us arrive within about 1 hour 40 of setting off.
The section you’ll visit is Mutianyu which has been restored and means you can walk along to various different towers. The views are simply incredible, and it felt like a real highlight for us both, Fay especially.
It didn’t matter that it was incredibly busy, seeing the Great Wall in the flesh was such a brilliant experience. We spent most of our time walking between different towers and taking hundreds of photos – we felt really in our element!
When you arrive, you’ll head through the main food, drink and gift area where you take a short shuttle bus up to the cable car station. The shuttle bus is included in your GetYourGuide ticket, but the cable car isn’t, but they cost well under £10/$10 per person.
On our trip it was made easy as you could just buy the tickets for the cable car through the bus representative. So, all we had to do was scan our passports to get through the barriers – very stress free.
You can also take a slide from one of the other areas, which you get up to with a chair lift. We were advised not to do this due to how busy it was going to be that day. But it also didn’t appeal to us. However, your guide will be able to tell you more about this if you want to do it!
How to Get to the Great Wall of China from Beijing
The best way to get to the Great Wall of China is to take a tour. This is the tour we did through GetYourGuide, which you can book online in advance here.
It was absolutely fantastic and wouldn’t hesitate to recommend it to anyone. A real once in a lifetime experience!
Beijing Itinerary and Planning: Things to be Aware of and What to Consider
We’ve been fortunate enough through our work to travel to a whole host of different places around the world, which has built up our confidence enormously. Though there is something about China that seems like a mystery.
There is of course the fact that tourism to China has only really just started ramping up due to various visa schemes. Unlike some other areas in Asia that are more synonymous with Western tourists, China just hasn’t been.
Therefore, we spent quite a lot more time carefully planning and making sure we had everything in order to make our trip to Beijing run as smoothly as possible.
We also did this to take the headache away for you, our lovely readers, and to make booking easy. We’ve covered as many things to consider as were relevant below, to hopefully put you more at ease and take the leap to visit this incredible place.
Below you’ll find the most important considerations you’ll need to make. We’ve also covered many of the smaller things you may not have thought of to make your trip planning easier.
How to Get to Beijing
We got to Beijing via a flight from Dubai, but it’s also possible to get there from Doha and some airlines even do direct flights from places like London. We found the inbound flight from Dubai was good as it allowed us to break our flight up into two, making the time spent on the plane feel better.
We were also lucky enough to fly over the Himalayas in the middle of the day with clear visibility. We spent a couple of hours photographing from the plane window the incredible views that were passing us by. One od our favourite pictures below!
We booked our travel through Trip.com as we find it’s the best way to find deals on flights and costs next to each other, alongside timings to find what’s right for you and your dates.
It’s also possible to arrive in Beijing by train from somewhere like Shanghai. We would have loved to have done this to experience the bullet train but needed to keep things simple for this trip to China. Though worth keeping in mind if you’d like to cover more areas in China.
It’s important to keep in mind that many people need to make use of a visa waiver to get into China. This isn’t something you apply for in advance, and you just fill out entry cards upon arrival at the border.
This information seems to change quite frequently, as the Chinese authorities seem to keep increasing the length of time you’re allowed to enter and relaxing the requirements.
We both hold different passports, so it was a bit different for each of us. For Fay, we needed to show proof that we were flying to an onward country after China. So, we had our flights booked to Vietnam and had to show confirmed seat reservations and our tickets.
Matt was just granted access for 90 days on his EU passport. So, we’d recommend you look at your local embassy and this website to find up to date information.
When you enter China, the immigration system can feel a bit full on, but everything is laid out logically. We arrived late and felt tired, so it may be a good idea to try and arrive earlier if this kind of thing can confuse you.
How to Get Around Beijing
Beijing is a big city. In many ways, we underestimated just how big it was. We’d planned to walk a lot, but this wasn’t always possible as the distances were vast.
We made use of the metro system to get around more than anything. This was made easy for us by the fact that we had a metro station right outside our hotel.
The metro in Beijing is clean, fast, logical and inexpensive – though it only runs from 05:00-23:00. Signs are in both Chinese and English, so easy to use.
Tickets are also keenly priced. For most journeys it was the equivalent of between 60p/0.80 USD and £1/1.30 USD.
You can buy your tickets before you travel at machines located around the entrance to your outbound station. If buying with credit card, you need to put your credit card into the box reader provided (image below as this isn’t the most obvious).
We personally didn’t enjoy using taxis. Two out of two taxis we used refused to put on the meter and tried to scam us with higher fares.
We arrived in Beijing quite late at night and outside metro running hours. We got a taxi, and the driver tried to charge us 500 Yuan at the end even though he agreed he’d run the meter.
We had done our research before and found out the max we should pay for this journey was 170 Yuan. We offered him this and he quickly accepted.
We don’t recommend car hire in Beijing. When you head out of Beijing (as we did for the great wall) all of the road signs are in Chinese only.
There are certain road limitations based on your number plate and a lot of traffic cameras where any minor error will certainly be recorded. We don’t think a car is necessary if you’re only visiting Beijing and doing relevant tours.
Keep in mind for getting around that you won’t be able to use Google, Google Mail, most western social media and WhatsApp. These are generally blocked in China.
We had a virtual sim which did allow access to these, but plan for not having it. We used Apple Maps, which worked well. So, if you’re using Android or similar, you’ll need to use another non Google alternative.
We’d also advise waiting until you get to China to buy a virtual sim. The ones we bought before wouldn’t activate in China. This wasn’t an issue as it was an Asia package and would work for our next stop in Vietnam. Though it would be frustrating if you bought one you couldn’t use.
We found the only ones that actually worked were the ones on offer through the AliPay app. This was cheap, and when outside the hotel, did actually provide us access to some Google services.
Where to Stay in Beijing
There are plenty of options when it comes to accommodation in Beijing. From more budget options to more luxury accommodation. As Beijing is generally on the cheaper side, we opted for something in the mid ground.
We stayed at the Howard Johnson Paragon Hotel Beijing, which was made cheaper with our Genius Rewards on Booking.com (which we’d recommend you sign up for if you haven’t already here).
The hotel was gorgeous, spacious, quiet and the staff were really friendly and helpful. It was also close to a number of really good noodle and BBQ places outside, which we made plenty of use of!
What we loved about this hotel was that it made it really easy to explore everything Beijing had to offer. It was within a minute’s walk from the metro station just outside Beijing Railway Station, so well connected.
This made it easy to get to everything we needed really quickly. Whichever hotel you decide to stay in, we’d recommend using the map feature in Booking.com to see which hotels are closest to metro stations, as this will make a huge difference to your trip enjoyment!
When is the Best Time to Visit Beijing
What is the best time to visit Beijing if you can plan your trip at any time? Generally, April and May as they offer good weather. September and October are also good times too. If you suffer with allergies, September and October may be best.
The best time to visit Beijing will generally depend on your personal travel requirements more than anything. It’s worth keeping in mind that between November and February, it can be very cold, so best to avoid these times.
We visited at the start of April. Whether this was the best time to visit Beijing, China or not was secondary in some ways as it was part of a wider trip to Vietnam too. We based our plans mostly on when the best time for visiting Vietnam was and worked around this.
However, April was a really great time to visit. It was about 20 degrees Celsius with sun most days. It’s also a great time to see the blossom (though not so great if you have pollen allergies).
Things to Consider for Your Trip to Beijing
There’s so much to consider when it comes to visiting Beijing. Here are the main things that we think are important to keep in mind or have planned out before you visit.
Getting a hold of these, especially from our tried and tested wins and fails will hopefully help things run more smoothly for you on the ground. Meaning you can enjoy your trip!
Beijing Average Daily Costs
We weren’t sure what to expect when it came to the general day to day costs of being in Beijing. After a week of living pretty enjoyably, we spent about £300/$400 on food, drink, transport and entrance to places we visited.
We thought this was really good, and we didn’t feel like we had to scrimp at all. We ate mostly at smaller canteen style restaurants and street food markets, drank a lot of good coffee, tea and beer. We also bought a few things to bring home within this too.
Of course, you could spend more than this, a lot more in fact if you eat at high end restaurants. But this was our average and think this is a good starting point for you to work around.
This doesn’t include accommodation costs as we never really think this gives a great idea of on the ground costs as this has usually been paid for in advance!
Is Beijing Safe?
When thinking about whether Beijing would be a suitable destination for you, especially as a marginalised individual there are a few things to consider.
We saw a good number of solo travellers in our hotel. The metro system is safe and easy to use and getting around is safe. It also felt very safe at night too.
LGBTQIA+ people should have no issues travelling in Beijing. It’s a huge city with a lot of scenes and an actively queer scene. It is generally culturally less accepted to hold hands for any couple in Beijing though, so keep this in mind.
Beijing is also a pretty safe place for POC. Though be prepared for people to stare at you when passing – this is very common for all foreigners in general as Chinese people are naturally curious to see foreigners. It’s just not as common there.
Of course, it’s important to take in your own considerations when travelling. Be sure to do your own research to determine whether travelling to Beijing will be safe for you or not.
Is Beijing Accessible?
Beijing is accessible in some ways and not others. The roads and pavements are generally flat and level, so walking doesn’t involve a lot of up and down when it comes to getting about.
Beijing is a big city, and with that there are quite significant distances between certain areas. If using the metro, there can be walking distances between your station and where you want to go that can lead to quite a lot of ground to cover over the day.
Taxis can be difficult to navigate with some drivers trying to hike up prices for tourists. This can get quite stressful and doesn’t feel like the calm that may sometimes be needed when trying to get from one place to another.
It does get quite hot from May until about September/October and this can increase fatigue quite considerably. From a wheelchair perspective, the Beijing Subway is designed to be accessible. For this, you can get hold of a printed map at the subway station which shows accessible lines to help you plan a route.
Public toilets in Beijing aren’t always accessible for wheelchair users. Some are, but it’s hard to tell until you’re there, which does make things difficult. To be honest, they aren’t always accessible for everyone in general. This is down to some of the squat style toilets used.
It can also be difficult to communicate as speaking English is very infrequent and can lead to getting frustrated and overwhelmed. So, it’s important to consider this as a factor too.
Staying Connected
We thought we’d been organised and clever before we left, having downloaded and logged into all the apps we thought we’d need, like Alipay for example. Haha.
When we arrived in Beijing, it seemed like a lot of the apps needed further verification and some things that worked before didn’t seem to when in China. This was really frustrating, and we lost our first morning in Beijing to sorting out a lot of this stuff.
The problem was, a lot of the apps wanted to verify your identity with a text message, which we couldn’t receive because of data roaming. So we just felt like we were going around in circles constantly.
We finally managed to get around this with email verification to find that because we used Gmail, we weren’t going to be able to get it. 1 step forward and 10 back.
Keep in mind that you may find, try as you might, that Alipay just doesn’t work for you. Cash machines are dotted around everywhere, and you can easily take out cash, which is what we relied on.
In terms of internet access, we tried out all browsers available through Apple Safari and the only search engine that worked was Bing. Nothing else. The results you get aren’t always what you will expect from elsewhere in the world.
Google, Google Mail, Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, TikTok etc don’t work in Beijing. The only time we were able to get them to work was through the virtual sim Matt bought through Alipay that outside of our hotel gave us access to all of them.
As soon as you walked through the hotel lobby and back onto WIFI, you couldn’t get onto any of them anymore. This did make it frustrating for checking in on emails, but we worked around it.
On the note of virtual sims, we normally choose Saily for our eSIM needs as they’re really reliable. However, it just wouldn’t work in China. The only one we could find that would work was offered through Alipay which we bought when we arrived.
It was a real busted gut trying to get access, but we got there in the end. We’d recommend not buying a virtual sim in advance and waiting until you arrive. For China, you may even find a physical sim card that can usually be picked up at the airport may be best too.
That said, it’s worth persevering with these workarounds. Beijing really is worth it, technological hiccups and all! All part of the fun, eh?
Maps for Getting Around Beijing
We pretty much entirely rely on Google Maps for finding our way around places, but Google Maps sadly doesn’t work in China. So, you’ll have to use an alternative.
We both have iPhones, so it was easy enough for us to use Apple Maps. If you’re using an Android, you’ll need to find an alternative. Apple Maps does work pretty well, and we didn’t have an issue there using it outside.
Keep in mind that a lot of restaurants, food markets and generally social related places don’t come up as an exact location on maps. So wherever possible we’ve put an approximate map pin above when making recommendations.
We’ve included our maps as Google Maps so we could embed them in the article for you. But you’ll be best to get these opened up in the map software you’re going to use and save them ahead of time.
Culture Shock
Whether you’ve been to East Asia before or not, visiting China can be a bit of a culture shock. It certainly was for us. You will get stared at quite a bit, this is not hostile it’s out of curiosity toward foreigners.
It did make us feel a little uncomfortable to begin with, but we didn’t take it personally, and after a couple of days we didn’t notice it as much. We just found that smiling when catching people’s glances led to some really nice interactions.
It’s also good to keep in mind that very few people speak more than a few words of English. So be prepared to use a translation app as much as possible. We used the Alipay app’s translation feature and managed to get by pretty well here, combined with a few simple phrases.
Toilets
It took us a minute to clock onto the fact that restaurants don’t generally have toilets. The fancier ones do, but most of the places we ate (which in our opinion were the best) don’t. The same with cafes.
Public toilets are much more a thing in Beijing, and you’ll find them dotted everywhere. They’re looked after and some are in better condition than others.
One thing to keep in mind for the women’s toilets is that they use mostly squat toilets with one or two sit down toilets depending on the size of the building. This can take some getting used to!
They also generally don’t provide toilet paper. So, we just ended up bringing some in our bags from our hotel room for the day to use.
A Few Useful Words in Chinese
Here’s a few basic but helpful words in Mandarin Chinese to help you start conversations:
- Nǐ hǎo: Hello
- Zàijiàn: Goodbye
- Xièxiè: Thank you
- Qǐngwèn: Excuse me (can be used to get someone’s attention)
- Nǐ hǎo ma: How are you?
- Wǒ bù néng chi: I can’t eat
- Wǒ shì chïsù de: I’m a vegetarian
What to Pack for Your Trip to Beijing
When we visited Beijing in April, we had a lot of clothes with us prepared for our ongoing trip to Vietnam where it would be very hot and humid. China was to be a little cooler.
We found that most days we wore what we had planned for Vietnam with extra layers. Some days we took these off, and others, they stayed on. However, it was always a good temperature that made it easy to walk around all day.
Here’s our brief packing list essentials to consider:
- Shoes that are comfortable all day: We prefer trail runners for walking all day. These are generally more geared to harder surfaces than hiking specific shoes. Fay was really loving the Helly Hansen Skyhawk Trail Running Shoes, whereas Matt really enjoyed the Adidas Terrex Freehiker 2. This is a great hybrid shoe that gets the balance right as a runner/hiker combo.
- Layers: We brought lighter jackets that we could add on over our other clothes and went out with a jumper/sweater in our daypack too.
- Suncream: The sunlight felt really strong at points. We always recommend the Neutrogena Suncream as it has a non greasy formula. We’ve recently been loving the Hawaiian Tropic powder suncream to use on our hairlines and faces too.
- Universal travel adapter: We always take this one from Amazon with us everywhere we go now. It’s taken the stress out of making sure we have the right adapter! It also has USBC/USB ports to make charging easy.
- Medication in your carry on: If you take day to day medication, it’s always a good idea to make sure you bring this in your hand luggage to avoid any problems.
- Easy access to any travel documents and onward travel information: We needed to show our onward travel documents a few times in our trip, so keeping these close to hand saved a lot of time at airports and immigration.
- Allergy tablets: We found when visiting in April that the air was very dry, and the blossom caused our seasonal allergies to flare up. Even if you’re not traveling in allergy season (April and May) we’d advise you to consider if the dry air may be an issue for you and what amendments you can make. We also find a nasal solution like this one helpful to keep our nostrils moisturised and avoid nosebleeds.
FAQ’s
There are so many things to think about when it comes to visiting Beijing. Here are some of the questions we found asked a lot that after our trip, can answer in more detail to make your planning easier.
What is the best time to visit Beijing?
The best times to visit Beijing are usually between April and May and September and October. Both have their own considerations. April is great for spring blooms, whereas September is perhaps better for those who suffer with allergies and still want cooler temperatures than the summer heat!
Do I need a visa to visit Beijing?
The visa you need to visit Beijing will really depend on where you’re from. For us, our entry requirements were different as we both hold different nationality passports. We’d advise you look on your embassy website. We also used this article to help us find out more about visa waiver schemes that are in place. Though transitory visas are becoming much more common and you don’t need to apply for them in advance.
Do people speak English in Beijing?
Not really! Some people, mostly people in your hotel, in shops or cafes may speak a few words, but English isn’t widely spoken. We made great use of the Alipay translate feature. Though it was still hard to communicate. There was a lot of pointing and awkward smiling at points, but we got by! You will just need a little bit of an adjustment.
What are the must see attractions in Beijing?
This really depends on your main interests, as Beijing has a really good mix of culture, history and nature. Our main suggestions of must see attractions in Beijing are Jingshan Park, the Beijing Hutongs, the Great Wall of China and the Dongshi District.
How can I visit the Great Wall from Beijing?
We’ve written a whole section above about how to visit the Great Wall of China from Beijing. In a nutshell, you can book on the tour we did through GetYourGuide which will take you there and back in a day with plenty of time to spend there – this is a must do in our opinion!
What food and local dishes should I try in Beijing?
We’ve written a lot about food above – Beijing is a hotspot for incredible street food bursting with incredible flavours. Notable things we’d recommend are Beijing noodles, biangbiang noodles, liang pi, stinky tofu rolling donkey.
Is it easy to be vegetarian in Beijing?
We’re actually both mostly plant based, and we found it pretty easy to be vegetarian in Beijing. There is a lot of food that is heavily dominated by meat, but you can get around this.
We did a lot of pointing at items on menus and we had a pretty good idea of what was already vegan from our experience with this type of cuisine in the UK.
You can easily enjoy liang pi, biangbiang noodles, stinky tofu, rolling donkey, preserved fungus in vinegar and tofu shred salads to begin. If you can translate ‘without meat’ on Alipay, some restaurants will make dishes for you without. Be mindful that many soup broths are made with bones, though.
Does the metro run well in Beijing?
The metro system runs really well in Beijing. In fact it was our preferred way to travel. It’s easy, logical, all information is in English too and is very cost effective to use.
It only runs from 05:00-23:00, but we didn’t find this an issue. Our section on getting around Beijing above goes into this in more detail.
Is it better to use cash or card in Beijing?
Alipay is widely accepted, but so is cash. Most people tend to use Alipay in preference. We couldn’t get Alipay to work at all (but used the app for other things, like the translate function), so relied on cash and never had an issue.
You will not find many places take credit card. You can link your card up to Alipay to make things easier. Most places don’t accept Apple Pay and you can’t use Google Pay either.
Can I use social media in China?
Social media apps like Facebook, TikTok and WhatsApp are technically under ban in China. You can use a VPN to access them, but when we tried this in our hotel, it still didn’t work.
The only way we found to get around this was to use a virtual sim that we bought whilst in China. When outside and not on WIFI, we had access to all apps as normal.
Enjoy Beijing
We hope our article has shown you some of the incredible things to do in Beijing. We’re sure it’s fairly clear just how much we fell in love with this wonderful city.
The buzz of Beijing is hypnotic. It feels like it never stops and has a sense of vibrancy that we haven’t experienced in a while. When you combine the food, the drink, the history, culture and nature all together, you’ve got a pretty much perfect package.
As were mentioned earlier, we were a little apprehensive ahead of our trip to Beijing, as travel to China as a tourist is relatively new. On the other side, we’re so glad we did it and would return in a heartbeat.
We hope you come away from reading our article on the things to do in Beijing feeling ready to book your trip. We know you’ll have the time of your life there!
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