Beijing 7 Day Itinerary (No Tourist Traps)
Most visitors get three days, do the highlight reel, and leave. Seven days means doing the highlight reel properly, going back to the Wall on a quieter section, and closing with a day that isn’t racing a checklist.
| Day | Focus |
|---|---|
| 1 | Forbidden City, Jingshan Park, Tiananmen Square |
| 2 | Great Wall at Mutianyu |
| 3 | Temple of Heaven, Summer Palace |
| 4 | Lama Temple, real hutongs, 798 Art District |
| 5 | Ming Tombs, Houhai |
| 6 | Great Wall at Jinshanling |
| 7 | Qianmen, Dashilan, Silk Market |
Book these before you go:
- A Mutianyu Great Wall tour with cable car on GetYourGuide for day 2.
- A Jinshanling Great Wall tour on Viator for day 6.
- A hotel near Dongcheng or Wangfujing on Agoda .
Day 1: The Imperial Core
Forbidden City at opening, real-name ticket booked seven days out through the official site or WeChat, passport checked at the gate, no exceptions. Give it three to four hours. Jingshan Park (¥2) for the best skyline in the city. Tiananmen Square on its own separate WeChat reservation, passport again, security at the gate. Duck at Siji Minfu over the more famous Quanjude, same dish, better value.
Day 2: The Wall, Done Right
Mutianyu over Badaling. Badaling is the nearest section and the most photographed, which is exactly why it’s the most crowded, tour-bus-choked stretch of wall in the country. Mutianyu (¥45 entrance) is well-restored, calmer past the first tower, and the cable car up (¥100 one-way, ¥140 return) with the toboggan down turns the descent into the best part of the day. Ninety minutes each way.
Day 3: Temples and Gardens
Morning: Temple of Heaven at opening, when the park belongs to locals doing tai chi rather than tour groups doing selfies (¥15 park-only, ¥34 combined peak). Afternoon: Summer Palace (¥30 peak, ¥20 low), pick the Kunming Lake walk and Longevity Hill viewpoints over trying to cover every corner.
Day 4: Temples, Hutongs, and Art
Morning: Lama Temple (Yonghegong), ¥25 flat, timed-entry booking required online or via WeChat now. Afternoon: Wudaoying and Fangjia Hutong instead of Nanluoguxiang, which swapped old Beijing for craft beer bars years ago. Evening: 798 Art District, free to wander.
Day 5: Ming Tombs and a Slower Afternoon
Morning: Ming Tombs (¥60 peak general admission, ¥20 low; individual tombs extra), no reservation needed, buy on-site. Skip the rushed version some tours bundle with Badaling. Afternoon: Houhai lakeside, paddleboats if the weather cooperates, then a walk through Wangfujing, skipping the scorpion-and-starfish skewer stalls.
Day 6: A Second Wall, Done Differently
Jinshanling, roughly two to two and a half hours out, rougher and far less rebuilt than Mutianyu (entrance ¥65 peak/¥55 low, cable car ¥60 return), with a three-to-four-hour hike and a fraction of the crowds. Worth the longer drive if day 2 left you wanting more wall without more people.
Day 7: Shopping Streets and a Slow Exit
Morning: Qianmen and Dashilan, the restored pedestrian street south of Tiananmen with century-old shops like Neiliansheng and Ruifuxiang still trading, polished but genuinely worth the visit. Afternoon: Silk Market for souvenirs, then whatever’s left of your list. Build in real buffer time for the airport; Beijing’s taxi queues run long, and a DiDi booked through an Alipay- or WeChat-linked card usually beats the rank.
Practical notes. Everything runs on the yuan, and Alipay or WeChat Pay linked to a foreign card covers nearly everything. The Beijing subway reaches every stop on this itinerary. Set up and test a VPN before you fly. Watch for the tea-house invitation near Tiananmen, Wangfujing, and the Forbidden City exits. If a week in the city convinces you China deserves more of your time, our Beyond Beijing guide covers the visa rules and rail hops to Xi’an and Tianjin.