China's imperial capital: 3,000 years of dynasty, seven UNESCO sites, and a modern city that never stops surprising families.
An endless procession of golden-roofed halls under a wide grey sky, a grey-brick alley of courtyard homes humming with bicycle bells, and the Great Wall riding the ridgelines to the horizon.
Beijing is China's vast, ancient capital — the seat of emperors and the modern superpower at once, where the world's largest palace sits at the centre of a ring-road megacity and the Great Wall snakes over the hills beyond. It is monumental in every sense, and rewards anyone ready for its scale.
Beijing spreads across a flat plain in northern China, a colossal city laid out on a grid of ring roads around its ancient imperial core. At the very centre lie Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City, the emperors' palace; around them, the old hutong alleys and lake districts survive in patches among the high-rises, while the modern business and embassy districts and the Olympic parks spread out to the ring roads. The Great Wall runs through the hills to the north. It is enormous — you'll live on the excellent subway — but the great sights repay the effort.
Beijing holds some of the most extraordinary sights on earth — the Forbidden City, the largest palace complex in the world; the Temple of Heaven; the Summer Palace; and, an hour away, the Great Wall of China. It is the political and cultural heart of a civilisation thousands of years old and a superpower today, with a food culture headlined by Peking duck and a surviving old-city life in the hutongs. It is big, demanding and unforgettable.
The Forbidden City and the axis — Beijing was built on a grand north–south axis, and walking it is the classic experience — from Tiananmen Square through the gate under Mao's portrait into the Forbidden City, the emperors' palace of nearly a thousand golden-roofed halls and courtyards, the largest such complex in the world. Climb Jingshan Park's hill directly behind for the view back over the sea of roofs. Book ahead with your passport; it's timed, capped and closed on Mondays. **The Great Wall** — No visit is complete without the Wall, which rides the mountain ridges an hour or two north of the city. Skip the overcrowded nearest section and head to Mutianyu, with its cable car and toboggan, or the wilder, partly unrestored Jinshanling for fewer people and a real hike along the ramparts. Standing on the Wall as it snakes to the horizon is one of travel's great moments. **The hutongs and old Beijing** — Between the high-rises, the old city survives in the hutongs — a maze of grey-brick alleys and courtyard homes, best around the Shichahai lakes and the Drum and Bell Towers. Wander or take a rickshaw, drink by the lakes at dusk, and see the everyday, human-scaled Beijing that the imperial monuments and skyscrapers frame. It is the city's soul, and much of it is disappearing. **Peking duck and the table** — Beijing's signature dish is its roast duck — lacquered, crisp-skinned, carved at the table and rolled into thin pancakes with scallion and sweet bean sauce — and eating it at a proper duck house is an event. Beyond it, the city eats hand-pulled noodles, dumplings, hotpot against the winter cold, and a whole world of street food; a good meal here is cheap, hearty and memorable.
Beijing neighbourhood by neighbourhood — the character of each and who it suits.
The ancient centre on the city's central axis — Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City, ringed by the old Imperial City, the seat of emperors and the symbolic heart of China.
The surviving old city just north of the centre — a maze of grey-brick alleys (hutongs) and courtyard homes around the Shichahai lakes, the last of everyday old Beijing.
The southern district around the great imperial temple park — where emperors prayed for good harvests, now a vast park full of morning life.
The eastern business, embassy and nightlife district — the CBD's skyscrapers, the shopping, the bars of Sanlitun, and the art of the 798 factory district.
The green northwest, home to the imperial summer garden-palace and the university district — lakes, pavilions and the leafier side of the city.
Beijing's food is northern Chinese — wheat rather than rice, hearty and made for the cold. The icon is Peking duck, roasted and carved for the pancake; alongside it come zhajiangmian (noodles in a savoury bean sauce), boiled and steamed dumplings, and the meat-and-vegetable hotpot that warms the winter. Street food runs from the breakfast jianbing crepe to candied-hawthorn skewers and steamed baozi. Tea houses and, increasingly, a craft-beer and café scene fill the gaps; the local baijiu spirit is fierce.
Vegetarians can manage — tofu, vegetable and noodle dishes abound, and there are dedicated Buddhist-vegetarian restaurants — but meat and stock are pervasive, so learn the phrase for "no meat" and check. Vegan is harder but doable in the bigger, modern spots. Halal food is genuinely easy given Beijing's Hui Muslim community and their noodle-and-lamb restaurants; kosher is very limited. Gluten-free is difficult in a wheat-based northern cuisine — rice dishes help, but confirm sauces (soy contains wheat).
Staying near the imperial core puts you walking distance from the Forbidden City and on the central subway lines — convenient, if touristy. The hutong-and-lakes area (Dongcheng) around Shichahai offers atmospheric courtyard-hotel stays in the old city. Chaoyang to the east is the modern base for business, nightlife and shopping. The city is vast, so choose a district near a subway hub and accept that you'll ride the metro a lot. Prices are moderate for a capital.
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The subway is vast, cheap, signed in English and the best way to cross the city — you'll use it constantly. Taxis and ride-hailing apps fill the gaps; a car and driver isn't needed. The city is too big to walk between districts, but each sight-cluster is walkable once you're there. Set up mobile payment for fares and everything else.
The imperial core, the hutongs and the Temple of Heaven are linked by subway and short walks (~approx); Chaoyang, the Summer Palace and the Wall are longer subway or road trips out — plan by district and lean on the metro.
Ready-made day plans for Beijing — from a single day to a long weekend.
Walk the central axis: Tiananmen Square, then the Forbidden City end to end, and climb Jingshan Park behind it for the view over the palace roofs. In the afternoon, explore the hutongs and the Shichahai lakes around the Drum and Bell Towers, and end with Peking duck at a good duck house.
Give day two to the Great Wall. Take a trip to Mutianyu or Jinshanling for the morning and a hike along the ramparts, returning in the afternoon for the Temple of Heaven park or the 798 Art District, and an evening in Sanlitun.
Use day three for the imperial gardens and modern city. Spend the morning at the Summer Palace and Kunming Lake, see the Lama Temple, and explore the Olympic park and the CBD skyline, ending with dinner and drinks in Chaoyang.
I recommend a minimum of five full days for a first family visit — one day for the Forbidden City and Tiananmen area, one day for the Great Wall, one for the Summer Palace and hutong exploration, one for the Temple of Heaven and the National Museum, and a fifth day for the Central Axis walk, the Bell and Drum Towers and any remaining hutong wandering. Seven days allows a much more relaxed pace and time for day trips to the Ming Tombs.
The Forbidden City — the centrepiece of the UNESCO Imperial Palaces inscription — tends to land extremely well with teenagers, particularly if you brief them on the Five Elements cosmology behind the colour choices, the eunuch system, and the specific emperors who lived and died there. The sheer scale (it took 14 years to build and employed a million workers) is genuinely staggering. Pair the visit with the Palace Museum audio guide or an app-based tour and most teenagers will be absorbed for the full morning.
UK passport holders can enter China visa-free for up to 15 days (as of 2024–2025 policy) for tourism purposes — but check current visa rules on the Chinese Embassy in the UK website before booking, as policies change. For stays longer than 15 days, or if you plan to travel to regions outside the major tourist circuit, a standard tourist visa (L visa) should be applied for in advance.
The most important is WeChat Pay or Alipay — both now accept foreign bank cards and are essential for paying for almost everything in Beijing, including metro tickets, DiDi rides, restaurant bills and market stalls. VPN apps are also useful as Google, WhatsApp and many Western social media platforms are blocked in China; install and test your VPN before departure (it cannot be downloaded inside China). Download offline maps via Maps.me or Baidu Maps for navigation without data reliance.
No — tap water in Beijing is not safe to drink without boiling. Bottled water is cheap, widely available and sold in every convenience store, hotel and tourist site. Your hotel room will almost certainly provide a kettle and bottled water. This is one of those practical points worth explaining to teenagers before arrival so they are not caught out.
For families, Mutianyu is the consistently recommended section — it has an excellent cable car, well-restored ramparts stretching across several ridges, and the famous toboggan descent. Most family-friendly tours from the city run in the morning and return by mid-afternoon, which is the right pace. Badaling is closer to Beijing but significantly more crowded; Jinshanling and Simatai are more dramatic but involve harder hiking. Book Mutianyu through a reputable day-tour operator or arrange a private driver through your hotel for the most relaxed experience.
Beijing is genuinely affordable by London standards once you are there. Metro fares, street food, noodle restaurants and admission to most parks are all cheap. The main costs are flights (~£450–£900 per person return from the UK), accommodation (budget hotels from ~£40/night, mid-range courtyard hotels from ~£80–£140/night) and admission to the Palace Museum (moderate, timed-entry tickets). A mid-range daily budget for a family of five once in the city runs to roughly ~£120–£200/day including meals, transport and main attractions — lower if you eat local, higher if you add private drivers and duck restaurants every night.
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We're still curating hand-picked tickets and tours for Beijing. In the meantime, the map above and the nearby cities are a great place to start.
September to October and April to May — mild and clearer, between the harsh winter and hot summer
What to expect — Cool warming to warm and pleasant, one of the better times, though spring can bring dust and the odd sandstorm off the north. Blossom in the parks.
What's best — Mild sightseeing weather, blossom in the palace gardens and parks, and comfortable days on the Wall before the summer heat and crowds.
What to expect — Hot, humid and often hazy, with afternoon downpours in the wet months and the biggest domestic-tourist crowds. The Wall and palaces are sweltering and packed.
What's best — Long days, green parks and lakes, and lively evenings by the water — but the heat, humidity and crowds are real, so start early and hydrate. Autumn is far more comfortable.
What to expect — Cool, dry and clear — the best season, with crisp blue-sky days, comfortable temperatures and the parks turning gold. Reliable and lovely.
What's best — The clearest skies and best air of the year, comfortable days for the palaces and the Wall, and golden autumn colour. The ideal time to visit.
What to expect — Cold, dry and often bitter, with sharp winds off the north and short days, but clear light and thin crowds. Snow on the Wall is a treat.
What's best — A near-empty Forbidden City, snow on the Great Wall, hotpot weather, low crowds and prices, and crisp clear days — wrap up very warmly for the biting cold.
Skip the crowded Badaling section of the Wall → head to Mutianyu or the wilder Jinshanling for fewer people and better hiking.
Skip the tourist-trap "tea ceremony" and "art student" scams near Tiananmen and Wangfujing → they're set-ups; walk away politely.
Skip the pricey duck-house tourist menus → a reputable local duck restaurant does it better for less.
Skip trying to see everything → Beijing is vast; pick a few great sights a day and lean on the subway.
The Forbidden City is timed, capped and closed on Mondays — book online ahead with your passport, and go at opening.
Domestic holidays (especially the October "Golden Week" and Chinese New Year) pack every sight — avoid them if you can.
Carry your passport — it's needed for the Forbidden City, train and some hotel check-ins, and for ID checks.
Set up mobile payment (Alipay/WeChat Pay) with a foreign card before arrival; much of daily life runs on it, and cash is increasingly awkward.
Be aware that Tiananmen Square has airport-style security and sensitivities; keep politics off the table and be respectful.
Mobile payment dominates — link a foreign card to Alipay or WeChat Pay before you travel; carry some yuan cash as backup.
Use official taxis or ride-hailing apps, and note that many Western apps and sites need a VPN, best arranged before arrival.
Sanlitun and the Chaoyang CBD hold the mainstream bars, clubs and rooftops.
The Shichahai and Houhai lakes have the atmospheric bar-street scene by the water.
The hutongs hide craft-beer bars and speakeasies; this is a big, varied nightlife city.
Beijing is one of the safer major cities I have taken my family to. Violent crime directed at tourists is genuinely rare, and the city's public spaces — metro stations, parks, tourist sites — are clean, well-lit and heavily staffed. The main practical challenges for families are the language gap (English is less widely spoken than in, say, Tokyo or Seoul) and the need to use Chinese-market apps such as WeChat Pay and DiDi, which require a little setup before you arrive. I strongly recommend downloading these apps and linking a payment method before departure — it makes daily life enormously easier. Air quality should be checked before travel: the city has improved significantly but PM2.5 levels can spike in winter; bring N95 masks as a precaution for any high-pollution days.
For teenagers, Beijing may be the most educationally rich city in Asia. The concentration of UNESCO sites means that one trip touches imperial Chinese history, landscape design, astronomical science (at the Temple of Heaven) and urban planning (the Central Axis) in a way that no classroom can replicate. The Great Wall toboggan at Mutianyu, the boat rental at the Summer Palace and the sheer scale of the Forbidden City tend to land hard even with sceptical teens. I have yet to meet a teenager who was bored in Beijing.
~£120–£200/day mid-range (family of five, in-city costs excluding flights)
Beijing has two huge airports — Capital (PEK) in the northeast and the newer Daxing (PKX) in the south — both linked to the centre by airport-express trains and the subway (~approx 40–60 min). High-speed trains connect Beijing across China from its several major stations.
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