Beijing Travel Guide: The Great Wall, the Forbidden City & Imperial Beijing

Beijing is where most first-time visitors start, and for good reason: this is the China of postcards — the Forbidden City, the Great Wall snaking over mountain ridges, hutong alleys where grandmas play chess outside courtyard homes. It is grand, layered, and far more manageable than its 22-million-person scale suggests.

Three to four days covers the imperial highlights at a humane pace. Anything less and you will be sprinting; more and you can add the Summer Palace, the 798 Art District, or a slower day in the hutongs.

The non-negotiables

1. The Forbidden City (Palace Museum)

The world’s largest palace complex deserves a full morning, ideally entering from the Meridian Gate and exiting through the north gate into Jingshan Park — climb the hill for the classic aerial view over the golden roofs.

• Book ahead: tickets are online-only, released 7 days in advance — the booking apps foreigners can use also sell palace tickets (Trip.com is the easiest).
• Closed on Mondays.
• Budget 3 hours minimum; the ticket (¥60 peak / ¥40 off-season) also covers the exhibition halls.

2. The Great Wall — go to Mutianyu

Skip Badaling (the closest and most crowded section). Mutianyu, 90 minutes from the city, offers the same dramatic scenery with a cable car up, a toboggan down, and far fewer tour groups.

Section	Distance from Beijing	Crowd level	Best for
Mutianyu	~90 min	Moderate	First-timers, families
Badaling	~70 min	Very high	Train access (rail) only
Jinshanling	~2.5 h	Low	Hikers, photographers
Jiankou	~2.5 h	Wild/unrestored	Experienced hikers only

3. Temple of Heaven

Come early — before 8 am the park belongs not to tourists but to locals practicing tai chi, dancing, and calligraphy with water brushes on the pavement. The Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests is Beijing’s most photogenic building. Combine with the Qianmen district and a jianbing breakfast nearby.

Worth adding if you have time

• Summer Palace — lakeside imperial gardens; rent a paddle boat or walk the Long Corridor.
• Hutong exploration — the Nanluoguxiang and Yandingqiao areas on foot or by rickshaw; drop into a courtyard café.
• 798 Art District — decommissioned factory turned contemporary art zone, great for a rainy morning.
• Peking Opera or acrobatics show — tourist-friendly evening options with English program notes.

Getting around

Beijing’s subway is extensive, cheap (¥3–9 per ride), and has English signage — get an Alipay or WeChat Pay transport code and you never need a physical ticket. For the Great Wall day, a Didi (ride-hailing) round trip usually beats a bus on comfort. From the airport, the Daxing and Capital express trains are fast; a taxi to the city center runs ¥100–150.

What to eat

• Peking duck — the ritual dish. Mid-range institutions like Siji Minfu (near the Palace Museum) deliver the full carving theater for around ¥150–200 per person; Quanjude is the famous-but-touristy grandfather.
• Zhajiangmian — Beijing’s noodles with fermented soybean paste.
• Jianbing — the breakfast crepe of champions, ¥8–15 from street carts.
• Hutong courtyards — many now hide excellent cafés and small bistros.

Where Beijing fits in your trip

Most first-timer itineraries give Beijing 3–4 days, then bullet-train onward to Xi’an (4.5–6 hours) — the natural next imperial capital. Check our 240-hour visa-free transit guide to see whether you even need a visa for this trip.