Beijing 4 Day Itinerary

Beijing 4-Day Travel Itinerary

Four days is tight for a city where the single biggest attraction sits an hour and a half outside town, so this itinerary front-loads the center and treats the Great Wall as the standalone day it actually requires, not a bolt-on to another packed morning.

Day 1: Tiananmen Square, Forbidden City, and Wangfujing Snack Street

  • Morning: Start at Tiananmen Square, still the world’s largest public square. It stays open on Mondays even though the Forbidden City next door does not, so if your trip includes a Monday, this is the day to schedule it.
  • Afternoon: Walk north through the gate into the Forbidden City, the former imperial palace complex used for roughly five centuries until the last emperor left in 1924. It closes every Monday except when that Monday falls on a national holiday, in which case the closure shifts to Tuesday instead, so double check the calendar for your exact dates rather than assuming the standard rule.
  • Evening: Wangfujing Snack Street for street food, though treat the scorpion and starfish skewers as a photo op more than a meal; most locals eating there are ordering the grilled meat skewers, jianbing crepes, and candied fruit rather than the novelty items aimed squarely at tourist cameras.
  • Accommodation: Stay centrally, around Wangfujing or Dongcheng, to keep this day’s three stops all within walking or a short taxi ride of each other.
  • Things to know: Airport-style security screening is standard to enter both the square and the Forbidden City; bags are scanned and it adds real time, budget accordingly during peak season crowds.
  • Transportation: Since September 2024, Beijing’s subway gates accept tap-to-pay with foreign Visa and Mastercard directly, no transit card purchase required, which makes getting around noticeably easier than it used to be. Alipay and WeChat Pay, both now set up to accept foreign cards, cover everything else including taxis and DiDi rides.
  • Tip: Dress modestly for the square and palace complex, shoulders and knees covered is the safe standard.

Day 2: Temple of Heaven, Hutongs, and Summer Palace

  • Morning: Temple of Heaven, the circular complex where Ming and Qing emperors performed annual harvest rituals. Arrive early if you want to see the park’s other daily ritual, locals doing tai chi, ballroom dance, and card games in the surrounding gardens before the tour groups arrive.
  • Afternoon: A hutong tour by pedicab through the old lanes near Houhai or Nanluoguxi. Agree on a total price in writing before you get in; this is one of the most commonly reported tourist scams in the city, where a cheap quoted fare turns into a per-person or per-stop charge at the end. Booking through your hotel or a licensed operator avoids the issue entirely.
  • Evening: Summer Palace, the Qing dynasty’s lakeside retreat with Longevity Hill and the marble boat pavilion. It is large, budget at least two hours and comfortable shoes.
  • Dinner: Peking duck at Da Dong, still operating and now carrying a Michelin star in the 2026 guide; a full duck runs around 398 RMB and reservations are genuinely necessary, walk-ins face long waits even on weeknights.

Day 3: The Great Wall at Mutianyu

  • Give the Great Wall its own full day rather than pairing it with the Lama Temple as some itineraries suggest; Mutianyu alone is 1.5 to 2 hours each way by car or DiDi from central Beijing, and adding a morning temple visit before that drive leaves almost no real time on the wall itself.
  • Mutianyu is the better choice over Badaling for most visitors: less crowded, better restored without feeling artificial, and set in genuinely dramatic mountain scenery. A DiDi or private driver runs roughly 200 to 300 RMB one way and takes about 1.5 hours; a direct tourist shuttle from Qianmen runs about 80 RMB round trip if you would rather not arrange a private car.
  • Entrance is 45 RMB, and the cable car or toboggan up and down adds another 100 to 140 RMB depending on which you choose and whether it is one-way or round trip; the toboggan down is genuinely fun and worth the extra cost.
  • Plan for a full day door to door, including the drive; do not schedule anything else the same day.
  • If you would still like a temple visit, do the Lama Temple, the city’s best-preserved working Buddhist temple with genuinely impressive Tibetan Buddhist art, first thing on day two instead, ahead of the hutong tour, rather than squeezing it in before Mutianyu.

Day 4: Olympic Park, 798 Art Zone, and Houhai Bar Street

  • Morning: Olympic Park for the Bird’s Nest Stadium and the Water Cube, both still striking structures more than fifteen years after the 2008 games and easy to reach by subway.
  • Afternoon: 798 Art Zone, a former state factory complex turned into one of Asia’s largest contemporary art districts, galleries, installations, and independent shops throughout. Many galleries close or run reduced hours on Mondays, worth checking specific venues if your visit falls then.
  • Evening: Houhai for the lakeside bar strip, livelier and more tourist-oriented than most of the city, a reasonable way to close out the trip with a drink by the water.
  • Accommodation: Stay near your final departure logistics for an easy exit the next morning.
  • Things to know: Peak season brings genuinely long lines at Olympic Park’s ticketed venues and at 798’s more popular galleries; arriving right at opening avoids most of it.
  • Transportation: Taxis and buses fill the gaps the subway does not reach directly in this part of the city, particularly around 798, which sits a short walk from the nearest station.