Palace
Forbidden City morning
Nine thousand rooms across 720,000 square metres; enter through the Meridian Gate and work north to the Imperial Garden before the post-lunch crowds arrive.
Beijing wears five thousand years with an almost casual authority — the world's most intact imperial complex flanked by ring roads, and a hutong labyrinth of courtyard homes where the smell of soy and sesame never quite fades.
A timing note — Beijing's best window is Mar–May & Sep–Nov: September–October gives the clearest skies over the Wall
Where you'll base yourself
DongchengSanlitunWangfujingHouhai
Things to do
Mornings
Temple
Temple of Heaven at dawn
Old men play erhu and practise taichi on the marble terraces as the sun rises; the circular Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests glows crimson in early light.
Garden
Summer Palace morning boat
The vast Kunming Lake reflects Longevity Hill and the Marble Boat; hire a rowboat and drift past weeping willows at the pace the Empress Dowager intended.
View
Jingshan Park sunrise view
Climb the artificial hill just north of the Forbidden City at first light to see golden rooftops spread in perfect symmetry — free of tour groups before 08:00.
Hike
Great Wall at Mutianyu
The best-restored and least-crowded major section: take the cable car up, walk three kilometres of battlements, and toboggan back down the mountain.
Museum
798 Art District morning
A sprawling Bauhaus factory complex repurposed as Beijing's premier contemporary art quarter — galleries, coffee shops, and outdoor sculpture parks that rival anywhere in Asia.
Outdoors
Beihai Park morning boats
An imperial garden older than the Forbidden City itself, Beihai's lake is calmest at sunrise, when a slow rowboat past the White Pagoda island feels like drifting through a scroll painting.
Afternoons
Museum
Tiananmen Square & National Museum
The world's largest public square, flanked by the National Museum of China whose vast collection of bronzes, ceramics, and silk paintings rivals the British Museum.
Bike
Houhai Lake hutong cycling
Rent a bicycle at the lakeside and thread through the hutong lanes — centuries-old siheyuan courtyard homes just minutes from the Drum Tower.
Temple
Lama Temple (Yonghe Gong)
Tibetan Buddhist incense wraps the courtyard in fragrant smoke; the Maitreya Buddha carved from a single sandalwood trunk stands eighteen metres in the final hall.
Wander
Nanluoguxiang hutong walk
The most photogenic of Beijing's renovated hutong alleys: independent coffee shops, calligraphy studios, and stinky-tofu stalls in equal, excellent measure.
Street
Wangfujing Snack Street
Scorpions on skewers, lamb offal, and silkworm pupae alongside more approachable lamb skewers and fried jianbing — the ultimate Beijing snacking street.
Tasting
Peking duck cooking class
Learn to crisp-roast a duck in a wood-fired oven, carve it tableside, and wrap pancakes with scallion and hoisin — the technique takes years; the afternoon results are surprisingly good.
⏰ Needs advance booking — reserve 2–3 weeks ahead
Markets
Liulichang antique street afternoon
This centuries-old street of calligraphy shops, ink stone dealers, and antique booksellers has supplied Beijing's scholars since the Qing dynasty, and an afternoon browse still turns up genuine curiosities.
Evenings
Dining
Quanjude Peking duck dinner
The original Peking duck restaurant since 1864: whole-roasted birds carved tableside, the skin alone worth the visit.
Culture
Acrobatics show, Chaoyang Theatre
Plate-spinning, contortion, and motorcycle stunts in an intimate theatre — the highest-skill variety show in the country, running nightly.
⏰ Needs advance booking — reserve about a week ahead
Nightlife
Houhai lakeside bars at night
Strings of red lanterns over the water, live music spilling from every doorway, and strong baijiu cocktails served on terraces that barely fit two tables.
Street
Wangfujing night market snacks
Jianbing crepes, lamb-and-cumin skewers, and sweetened red-bean bao from the carts that set up after dark along the pedestrian shopping boulevard.
After dark
Sanlitun after-dark stroll
Beijing's most cosmopolitan quarter comes alive after sunset, its pedestrian lanes lined with boutiques, bars and a striking mix of expats and fashionable locals. It is the city's clearest glimpse of its international, after-hours self.
Culture
Beijing Opera at Liyuan Theatre
In a teahouse-style hall, painted-face performers in elaborate costume act out centuries-old legends to the clash of cymbals and gongs, with tea and sunflower seeds served at your table. Surtitles in English make the drama easy to follow.
⏰ Needs advance booking — reserve about a week ahead
Food & drink
Hotpot dinner on Ghost Street
Guijie's red-lanterned strip stays loud and busy well past midnight, its restaurants built around bubbling communal pots of mala broth. It is Beijing's most unfiltered, high-spirited food street.
