Suffice to say, this is a 3,000 year old city, and ancient capital of one of the largest countries in the world. It is a political and cultural hub, boasting UNESCO World Heritage sites and one of the seven wonders of the world, the Great Wall of China nearby. You cannot AVOID history here, and likely history is one of the driving factors of your visit. With that, I will offer advice on some of our favorite experiences, but know this is not an exhaustive list of options, and that again: can’t recommend strongly enough making time to wander and stumble upon some other lesser known sites in your own adventure.
Landmark Sites
Let’s start with perhaps the most obvious in Beijing proper- the Forbidden City, right in the heart of the Beijing. Our hotel was less than a block from the east gate, so an easy commute for us to arrive first thing in the morning. In fact, we woke up extra early to catch to sunrise from the top of Jingshan park, just north of the Forbidden city, as the city became slowly illuminated in the morning light. From there, we walked down to the designated entrance for our assigned entry time.
As with many attractions in Beijing, you can’t exactly “wing” this one. There are strict regulations, the most incredible amount of tourists/visitors I have ever seen in one spot, and lines snaking around the entry yard I can only imagine people stood on for hours. Book this in advance, through the official Forbidden City site, and follow these detailed instructions:
- Individual visitors are required to register on the Museum’s official online booking site (http://gugong.228.com.cn) with an “individual user” account before signing in and providing the information necessary for the online booking. Required information includes number of visitors (one user account can purchase up to five tickets), date of intended visit, and the ID or passport information of every visitor. On the day of the intended visit, any of the IDs or passports registered may be used to redeem the reserved tickets at the ticketing window. Nevertheless, all visitors in the group must bring their valid ID cards (2nd generation) or passports in case of random checks.
- After online payment is completed, the system will generate a reservation number. On the day of the intended visit, this reservation number is required for presentation with the visitors’ original passports to the museum staff at the ticketing window. Prior to entrance, international individual visitors will be required to exchange this reservation number for tickets bearing a QR code. This exchange may be completed at the designated window in the quadrangle between the Gate of Correct Deportment (Duan men, which is north of the Tian’anmen gate) and the Meridian Gate (Wu men, the Museum entrance). All visitors must bring their IDs or passport for possible random checks.
- The online booking system allows individual visitors to purchase admission tickets 10 days in advance. Tickets will not be sold after 21:00 the day before the intended visit. Certain information may be changed before this deadline, including number of visitors and date of intended visit. The actual number of visitors in the group may be fewer than but not more than the number registered during online booking. On the day of the intended visit, before the scheduled end of ticket sales for the day, the booking can be cancelled.
You will see part of the ticket purchasing process is selecting a time frame during which you can enter. I recommend a morning entry through the south gate, as you will be one of the first in (despite many tour groups) and the temperature is a bit cooler if you are there in spring or summer before that midday sun really bakes over the sparsely-shaded palace grounds. This is a sprawling city indeed. Incredible to witness! Make your way in and out and through the various palace museums. An unexpected highlight for us was the out-of-this-world collection of clocks! We spent 2-3 hours in the Forbidden City, most of it on our feet, so bring your walking shoes and don’t forget to hydrate.
Another top-Beijing destination: The Temple of Heaven, an ancient sacrificial altar and UNESCO world heritage site. We entered at the north gate of Temple of Heaven park and there was no line at all when we arrived (keep in mind, cash only tickets). I know traditionally entering from the south and walking north towards the largest temple makes for the most dramatic visual unveiling experience, but we enjoyed working north to south and since we got there early, lucked out with not TOO big of a crowd yet arrived at the main attraction. The intricate architecture and detailed paint work were unlike anything we’d ever seen, very different from the Forbidden City- a definite must see if in Beijing.
Other favorite sites and experiences within Beijing central that don’t take up a whole day and would be great additions to other plans: Tiananmen Square flag raising ceremony (for you early risers), Yonghegong Lama Temple and Confucius Temple, Beihai Park, an evening stroll down Wangfujing snack street
Outside Beijing Proper
As mentioned in both my “obstacles and solutions” page and “getting there and around” page, this is a sprawling city and I highly encourage taking advantage of the public transit system. We found the metro system super effective, and it made getting to sites on the outskirts possible. Some favorite sites we couldn’t walk to from central Beijing included:
The Summer Palace
As impressive as the Forbidden City and Temple of Heaven each were, the Summer Palace was by far our favorite destination on this trip (we even got engaged here! the moment felt THAT right). Another UNESCO world heritage site to check off your list. Being there in early April, we were lucky to see the cherry blossoms and gardens in full bloom- pure magic. We loved walking through the endless garden paths, meandering around the lakes, over moon bridges, and exploring the various temples and palace structures, complete with taking in the views from the highest peak of the palace grounds atop Longevity Hill. Bring cash, as they did not accept cards for the entry fee, and you will likely want to buy light snacks and refreshments at some point. Bring walking shoes to cover lots of stairs, uneven terrain, and steep slopes. And leave yourself plenty of time to explore! We walked around almost 4 hours here and were wiped out for most of the day after, so I don’t recommend making this visit a part of an already busy day with other plans. See my suggested itinerary page for more details on getting here and ideal ways to spread out your plans.
The Great Wall
An obvious and oh-so-worth-it part of any trip to China within reach of this wonder of the world. And I can attest, so very worth it. Absolutely awe-inspiring to stand upon the wall and take in the history that has stood the test of time. From Beijing, there are several options to visit the Great Wall. That Lonely Planet Beijing book I recommended breaks down your options with very in depth descriptions of the pros and cons of each, as well as logistics of getting to and from. We chose to visit the Great Wall at Mutianyu. We heard and read from multiple sources that Badaling would be too crazy with crowds, so opted for slightly less popular (and I promise now that I’ve been, still super impressively scenic) Mutianyu. Having read into and contemplated the logistics of various modes of coordinating getting to this wall on our own, we opted to book our very first group tour. Despite our reservations (biggest one being that we like to travel at our own pace) this ended up working out really well for us. The tour bus picked us up right from our hotel lobby early in the morning. We made the almost hour long drive to the wall, dealt with one passive sales gimmick, then we were on our way up to the wall. Given we had just under 3 hours to climb, we opted to take the lift to the top rather than climb up so that we could use our time climbing along the top of the wall, not just up to the surface. We started right at tower 6 and walked to tower 23 and back easily within the 2 and a half-ish hour limit to not miss our bus, including breaks to take it all in and snap some photos. It was perfect- and extra idyllic being there for one of the only two weeks of cherry blossoms, last day of March! Only regret was that we didn’t leave ourselves time to wait online for the Toboggan back down, so we had to take the lift again. We’ll have to go back. We didn’t have to stay as a group, we could do our own thing, and just meet back on the ground in time for lunch and the bus ride back to Beijing, which was all we could ask for. Would recommend this tour for the convenience of not having to worry about travel logistics and still feel confident it won’t impede on independent travel style too badly. Again, hydrate and bring those walking shoes- steps for days!
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