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Beijing Travel Guide 2026: 3 Days, Where to Stay and How to Get Around

Last updated: 16 September 2026 · Fares, hours and booking rules below are dated and linked to an official source · Museum and transport arrangements change, so re-check before you travel · Jump to sources

Beijing at a glance

How to get to Beijing

If you land at Beijing Capital International Airport, the Capital Airport Express is the simplest way in: a flat CNY 25 per person, running Dongzhimen – Sanyuanqiao – Terminal 3 – Terminal 2, with trains roughly every ten minutes. Boarding is inside the car parks rather than the terminal — Terminal 2 at the second basement level of parking building 2, Terminal 3 on the second floor of parking building 3. On the city side the published hours run 06:00–22:30 towards the airport at Dongzhimen (07:01–23:34 heading back) and 06:04–22:34 at Sanyuanqiao (06:55–23:28 heading back). Airport shuttle buses cover the rest of the city, with routes to Xidan, Beijing Station, Gongzhufen, Zhongguancun, Wangfujing Jinbao Street, Beijing West, Tongzhou and Beijing South, plus interprovincial services to Tianjin, Tangshan and Qinhuangdao. Fares are tiered by stop and confirmed at the airport ticket offices, where you also buy them.

If you land at Daxing, the Daxing Airport Express reaches Caoqiao in about 19 minutes and drops you onto metro Lines 10 and 19. Caoqiao earns its keep for a second reason: in-town check-in and baggage drop-off are available there, so you can shed your luggage before going into town. An intercity railway also links Daxing Airport with Beijing West Railway Station in roughly 20 minutes.

By rail. Beijing is a rail city — eight passenger stations serve it and all are connected to the metro, so arriving by high-speed train works well provided you note which station your ticket names. Depending on where you came from, that could be Beijing South, Beijing West or Beijing North. Our 12306 ticketing guide covers booking as a foreigner.

By road. Several expressways link the airports and the city, with tolls charged on the Airport Expressway and the Second Airport Expressway. Drive yourself and the toll booth, not the satnav, sets the price.

Getting around Beijing

The metro is the default. City fares start at CNY 3 for the first 6 km and rise in steps after that, with no upper cap on distance. One detail catches people out: a maximum of four hours is allowed inside the paid area on a single journey, so do not treat a station as a waiting room.

For visitors the useful part is payment. Beijing's municipal information pages state that contactless Tap to Ride works on all 27 subway lines, including the two airport lines, and accepts overseas-issued Visa and Mastercard as well as UnionPay QuickPass — plus a physical BEIJING PASS card, issued at the airport international arrival halls. Not every card type is supported yet, so carry a second payment method. The Capital Airport Express is priced separately from the city network at a flat CNY 25, so treat it as its own ticket.

Taxis and ride-hailing fill the gaps late at night, after both airport lines stop. Use the official ranks outside arrivals rather than accepting a lift from someone who approaches you inside the terminal, and insist the meter is running.

Three days in Beijing

Day 1 — the Palace Museum and the Tian'anmen area. This is the day to have booked ahead. The Palace Museum releases reservations through its own booking system, opening seven days in advance at 20:00, and it is closed on Mondays except on statutory holidays. Entry begins at 08:30, the doors stop admitting at 16:00 and the museum closes at 17:00, so a morning slot gives you the most room. The surrounding Tian'anmen area is served by Tian'anmen East and Tian'anmen West stations on metro Line 1. Bring the identity document you booked with.

Day 2 — the Great Wall at Badaling. Badaling sits in Yanqing District, about 60 km northwest of the city, and tickets are sold on site — the municipal government’s guide to the site lists no advance reservation requirement — with adult tickets at CNY 40 in peak season and CNY 35 off season. Go early: this is the most accessible section of the wall, and the busiest. One trap worth knowing — the S2 suburban rail line's running section changed on 25 October 2025 from Huangtudi–Yanqing/Shacheng to Nankou–Yanqing/Shacheng, so ignore older guides that route you through Huangtudi.

Day 3 — the Temple of Heaven and the old city. The Temple of Heaven park is the classic morning; its inner halls are ticketed separately from the park itself, so check official channels for what you need on the day. Spend the afternoon walking rather than queueing. Beijing rewards slow wandering more than it rewards another timed-entry slot, and a pass through the streets around your hotel usually beats one more ticketed sight. Finish in the Wangfujing and Jinbao Street area, which also appears on the airport bus route map and is the most central place to eat and shop.

Where to stay in Beijing

Two decisions matter more than the hotel itself. First, which airport you land at, because the arrival line decides which part of town you reach first. Second, which metro line you want at the door, because Beijing distances are unforgiving and a hotel two interchanges away turns a 20-minute ride into 50. Central districts put the Forbidden City, the Temple of Heaven and the main shopping streets within a short metro hop, while the station districts suit anyone continuing by high-speed rail the next morning.

We do not rank hotels or quote room rates: no official rate data was available for this update and online prices move daily. For the area-by-area breakdown — which neighbourhoods work for a first visit and which do not — read our Best area to stay in Beijing guide. If you are still deciding how to get in from the airport, the Beijing airport to city guide compares the express lines, buses and taxis.

Eating, paying and staying connected

Eating. We deliberately publish no restaurant lists or rankings for Beijing. There is no official register we can cite, openings change faster than any guide can track, and a “best of” list we cannot stand behind is worse than none. Practical advice instead: eat where you sleep and walk one street back from the main drag, which in this city is where the good, cheap food tends to be. If you want everything in one place, the Wangfujing and Jinbao Street area is the most central cluster.

Paying. Mobile payment is near-universal, and metro gate readers take contactless bank cards, so you are not locked out if a wallet app will not link to a foreign card. Keep a little cash for small vendors as backup.

Staying connected. Sort out your data before you fly. Maps, translation, ride-hailing and ticket apps all want a live connection the moment you switch your phone on, and airport Wi-Fi is not a plan — see our Best eSIM for China guide.

Entry rules. We state no visa or visa-free rules here, because they turn on nationality and change often. Check the current NIA list for your nationality at en.nia.gov.cn before you book flights.

Advice on this page is editorial. We take no payment for rankings, and no hotel, museum or transport operator paid for a mention.

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Sources

All sources retrieved 16 September 2026 unless marked as carried over from an earlier source check in this project and not re-opened this round. Rows B13 and B14 were re-filed on 19 September 2026: the Badaling row now cites the Beijing Municipal Government’s English guide to the site, and the S2 row now cites the municipal notice of the running-section change. Two further rows (B10 and B11) are absence notes rather than sources. Fares, hours and booking rules change — check the current figure at the official source before you rely on it.

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