Beijing 6 Day Itinerary
Set up a VPN before you leave home, not after you land. Google, Instagram, WhatsApp, and most Western apps sit behind the Great Firewall, and the app stores that would normally let you download a VPN are themselves blocked once you’re inside China, so downloading one at the airport after arrival is a genuine catch-22. Forbidden City tickets carry their own trap too: same-day purchases are not possible, tickets release online exactly seven days ahead around 8pm Beijing time, and peak-season slots can vanish within minutes, so this needs to be the first thing you book, not something left for day one.
Day 1: Arrival, Tiananmen Square, and the Forbidden City
Where to stay
The Opposite House in Sanlitun and the Park Hyatt Beijing both sit in the central business district with easy subway access to the historic core, a sensible base for a trip built around the old city rather than the newer districts further out.
Activities
Tiananmen Square, one of the largest public squares in the world, and the Forbidden City directly north of it anchor day one. Since tickets must be booked exactly seven days in advance and sell out fast in high season, lock in your Forbidden City slot the moment the booking window opens, and treat the square itself as a free wander before or after your timed entry.
Where to eat
Skip chasing a specific named restaurant on your first night and instead look for a well-reviewed Peking duck house near your hotel. Beijing has dozens of serious duck restaurants at every price point, and jet lag plus a full day of walking makes flexibility more valuable than a reservation across town.
Tips
Wear comfortable shoes, the Forbidden City alone covers nearly 180 acres and involves a lot more walking than the map suggests. Download your VPN, WeChat, Alipay, Baidu Maps, and Didi before you leave home, since Alipay and WeChat Pay both now accept foreign Visa, Mastercard, and Amex cards directly, meaning you can link your existing bank card within minutes of landing rather than hunting for cash.
Transportation
Subway Line 1 or Line 2 to Tiananmen East or Qianmen station gets you there directly, and Beijing’s subway system is clean, cheap, and easy to navigate even without much Mandarin, with station names posted in both Chinese and pinyin.
Day 2: Temple of Heaven and hutong exploration
Activities
The Temple of Heaven, where Ming and Qing emperors once came to pray for good harvests, sits inside a park large enough to spend a full morning in. The Echo Wall, a circular enclosure where a whisper can supposedly travel clearly to someone standing on the opposite side, is a genuinely fun stop if the crowd isn’t too thick to test it properly. In the afternoon, walk the hutongs, the narrow historic alleyways that have largely disappeared from the rest of the city, and consider a guided visit to a local family courtyard home if your itinerary allows, since it’s one of the more genuine looks at pre-modern Beijing life still standing.
Where to eat
Look for a courtyard restaurant in the hutong district itself rather than a chain nearer the main road. These smaller family-run spots tend to serve home-style northern Chinese dishes you won’t find on hotel menus.
Tips
Haggling is expected in hutong shops selling crafts and souvenirs, though not in restaurants or at fixed-price attractions. Start at roughly half the asking price and work up from there.
Transportation
Subway Line 5 to Tiantan East station gets you to the Temple of Heaven directly, while Line 6 or a short taxi ride reaches the main hutong areas around Nanluoguxiang and Gulou.
Day 3: The Great Wall at Mutianyu and the Ming Tombs
Activities
Mutianyu sits about 70 kilometers northeast of Beijing, a roughly 90-minute to two-hour drive depending on traffic, and is generally the better choice over the more famous Badaling section, since visitor numbers here run 60 to 70 percent lower even in peak season, and the Ming-dynasty stonework and surrounding forest are genuinely better preserved. The cable car up costs around 140 yuan round trip on top of the 40 yuan entrance fee, and it’s worth it, the stairs on this section are steep and uneven in places. Afterward, the Ming Tombs, the burial complex for thirteen Ming-dynasty emperors, make a reasonable afternoon stop if your energy holds, though they are a secondary stop rather than a headline one on a day already built around the Wall.
Where to eat
Grab a simple noodle lunch in the small village at the base of Mutianyu before or after the Wall, most day-trip groups eat here since options along the route itself are limited.
Tips
Book a tour or hire a car with driver for this day rather than attempting public transport, since Mutianyu isn’t well served by direct trains the way Badaling is. Wear sunscreen and carry more water than you think you’ll need, there’s minimal shade along most of the Wall itself.
Transportation
Private car or an organized day tour is the standard approach here. A few public bus routes exist but add significant time and complexity for a day where you want to maximize hours actually on the Wall.
Day 4: Summer Palace and Olympic Park
Activities
The Summer Palace, the sprawling imperial garden and lake complex built as a retreat from the Forbidden City’s formality, rewards a slow half day rather than a rushed pass-through, particularly the walk along Longevity Hill and the boat rides across Kunming Lake in warmer months. In the afternoon, Olympic Park houses the Bird’s Nest Stadium and the National Aquatics Center, nicknamed the Water Cube for its bubble-wrap exterior. The Water Cube today functions mostly as the Happy Magic Water Park, a slide-and-wave-pool attraction, alongside a separate Olympic history exhibition hall and a public swimming pool in the Huo Yingdong Hall that’s open year-round for a modest entry fee. It’s not the casual open swim some older guides imply, admission is ticketed and the pool areas are limited to specific halls, so check current hours before planning around it.
Where to eat
A restaurant with rooftop or high-floor views over the Olympic Green makes a good dinner setting after a day spent mostly outdoors.
Tips
If you do want to swim, bring a suit and expect to pay a separate entry fee for the pool hall rather than assuming it’s included with general admission. Wear a hat and sunscreen regardless, the Olympic Park has almost no shade across its open plazas.
Transportation
Subway Line 4 or Line 15 both reach Olympic Park station directly, putting you within walking distance of both the stadium and the Water Cube.
Day 5: Lama Temple and 798 Art District
Activities
The Lama Temple, Beijing’s largest and most important Tibetan Buddhist temple, remains an active place of worship, not just a museum piece, so keep your voice down and your camera use respectful inside the halls. In the afternoon, the 798 Art District, a former state-owned electronics factory complex converted into galleries, studios, and installation spaces, gives a completely different picture of contemporary Beijing than the imperial sites earlier in the trip.
Where to eat
798 has a good range of cafes and small restaurants inside the gallery complex itself, a convenient way to break up a day of walking between exhibitions without leaving the district.
Tips
Burn incense respectfully at the Lama Temple if you choose to participate, following the lead of other visitors rather than guessing. At 798, budget more time than you expect, the district is larger and more spread out than photos suggest, and the better galleries reward slow browsing.
Transportation
Subway Line 2 or Line 5 connects toward the Lama Temple stop directly on the loop line, while 798 is best reached by a short taxi or rideshare from the nearest subway station, since the district itself sits a walk away from the closest stop.
Day 6: Departure
Where to eat
Have a final proper meal somewhere elegant if your flight timing allows, a tasting menu at a hotel restaurant is a good way to close out the trip without the logistics of chasing down one more specific address across town.
Tips
Allow real extra time for traffic heading to the airport, Beijing’s ring roads back up badly during peak commuting hours, and a trip that should take 40 minutes can stretch past an hour without warning. Tipping is not customary in mainland China the way it is in the West, and offering a tip in casual restaurants can occasionally cause more confusion than goodwill, so save it for higher-end hotel service where staff are more accustomed to international guests.
Transportation
A pre-arranged car service or airport taxi is the simplest option on departure day, especially with luggage. Confirm your VPN and any remaining data plan details are settled before you leave, since once you’re through security and back on Western networks, all of that becomes moot anyway.