Beijing Travel Guide
Great Wall:
Getting to the wall, hiking it and back will take you an entire day, so be prepared to spend that time. It’s time well spent, but you’ll need to work it into your schedule if you plan to see many other sights.
Admission: 40RMB (November 1st – March 31st)
45 RMB (April 1st – October 31st)
Cable Car: 50 RMB (Round trip) You will need to take some sort of transportation in order to get up to the wall. This is the fastest and allows you to walk a good portion of the wall. It does, however, have operating hours. One should note these before going up the wall or it’s a long hike back.
Tiananmen Square:
Tiananmen Square is open all day long so you can view it from morning until night. There are also some great restaurants there, a particularly good Peking Duck restaurant as well! You’ll have to go through the square in order to get to the Forbidden city, so plan it for the same day. The recommended time for visiting the Square is around half an hour, but its all dependent on how much you explore the place. There are a number of different government buildings, and even a memorial to Chairman Mao.
Admission: Free
Forbidden City:
Plan on spending at least three hours here. The Forbidden city is not only massive, but packed with beautiful architecture, and historical relics. That is not even mentioning the amazing garden in the back. You can easily spend an entire day between Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden city. If you have extra time you can visit Jingshan park directly behind the Forbidden city. It’s a very relaxing spot with an especially nice peony garden.
Admission: 40RMB (November 1st – March 31st)
60RMB (April 1st – October 31st)
10RMB Extra for rooftop access. (Purchased inside the city).
Summer Palace:
The Summer Palace is also another massive sight. It includes not only the palace itself, but a temple, a shopping street styled after Suzhou (a famous water-side town), an extensive garden, and a lake (which you can take boats out on). Recommended time for visit is about three hours, possibly more depending on how captivated you are. There is a lot to explore in the palace itself, many corridors and a lot of climbing! However, for all the climbing, it sports a magnificent view of the lake and surrounding area.
Admission 50RMB (Includes access to all areas of the palace)
Temple of Heaven:
Leave yourself at least an hour and a half for this one. The Temple has some interesting spots; such as the echo wall and the “mound.” The temple itself is also beautiful. There are several museum-like buildings around it with historical information on the temple as well. These are worth a visit, but won’t take you long.
Admission: 35RMB (Includes access to all areas of the temple)
Prince Gong’s Mansion Garden:
Although the garden itself isn’t big, the historical significance of this alone makes it worth while. There are some interesting things about the garden as well, one such thing being the many caverns. This can be done as part of a Hutong tour or separately, but the hutong tour is recommended if you are short on time, as you can see many of the surroundings spots of interest in a short amount of time. The tour includes several temples, old government and imperial sites, the bell and drum towers, the Hutongs, and several other places of interest. The last stop can be made here and it works out nicely. Recommended time for visit: an hour to an hour and a half.
Admission: 60RMB (Includes a tour walkthrough)
Beihai Park:
This is located near the Forbidden city. This park is massive and best known for the White Pagoda. The park can take you anywhere from an hour to three hours to get through depending on your interest and modes of transportation. There are boats you can use for a small price, or you can walk. The entrance free is small, but you have to keep paying over and over to get to various areas in the park. During my visit there was no all inclusive ticket available.
Admission: 5RMB (November 1st – March 31st) These are both basic admission.
10RMB (April 1st – October 31st) You’ll end up paying another 15-25 RMB just to get through the entire park and up to the pagoda. It all depends on what you want to see and if you are willing to pay to see it.
Hutong Tour:
You’ll notice the massive number of bike tours just about everywhere taking you to the Hutongs. Hutongs are small old Chinese community style living quarters, and fairly interesting if you want some old Beijing history. Beijing is the only place in China with these still in tact. The tours can run very expensive if you don’t bargain. However, you can get them down a good deal if you try. Do it before you get it, and it they refuse don’t go. Usually they’ll try to charge around 100RMB. If you’re bad at bargaining try for whatever price you are willing to pay. You can easily get them down to about 60RMB, any less and it’s a little harder. It’s all up to you.
These tours will also take you places around the Hutongs, especially sites of interest. So if you’re tired for the day it’s a nice break.
