7 Days: Beijing and Beyond
A full week in Beijing means you finally have room for everything: the imperial core, the wall done properly, the neighborhoods, a real day trip, and a last morning that isn’t a mad dash to the airport. It also means getting the entry logistics right matters more, not less, because you’re spending a bigger chunk of your visa-free window here. Staying in the city the whole time? Our 7-day Beijing itinerary swaps Tianjin for a second Great Wall day and a market morning.
Book these before you go:
- Forbidden City tickets release online exactly 7 days ahead and sell out for weekends
- A Mutianyu Great Wall tour if you’d rather skip arranging your own driver
- A hotel in Dongcheng near Wangfujing; check rates on Agoda before you land
| Day | Focus | Distance from center |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tiananmen Square + Forbidden City + Jingshan Park | In city |
| 2 | Great Wall at Mutianyu or Jinshanling | ~90 min-2.5hr / 73-130km |
| 3 | Temple of Heaven + hutongs | In city |
| 4 | Summer Palace + Lama Temple + 798 | In city |
| 5 | Ming Tombs + Olympic Park | ~1hr / 50km + in city |
| 6 | Tianjin day trip | ~30 min by rail / 120km |
| 7 | Panjiayuan Market + departure | In city |
Before You Land
China’s 240-hour visa-free transit scheme covers roughly 55 nationalities, including the US, UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and most of the EU, and lets you skip a visa entirely if you’re holding a confirmed onward ticket to a third country and entering through one of 65 approved ports, Beijing among them. The clock starts at midnight the day after you land, giving you ten full days, so a seven-day trip uses most but not all of that window, plan your exit ticket accordingly. Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei are grouped as one connected zone under this scheme, which matters later in the week. Install and test a VPN before your flight leaves the ground; the Great Firewall blocks Google, Gmail, Maps, WhatsApp, Instagram and X, and it blocks most VPN providers’ own websites too once you’re already inside, so there’s no fixing this after landing. Set up Alipay or WeChat Pay against a foreign Visa, Mastercard or Amex now, passport plus international phone number is all either requires, and still carry some cash, since small stalls and rural spots occasionally can’t take either app.
Day 1: Tiananmen and the Forbidden City
Clear the airport first: Airport Express to Sanyuanqiao from PEK runs 20-30 minutes for ¥25-30, or the newer Daxing Express to Caoqiao from PKX takes about 22 minutes for ¥35. Pick up a Yikatong card, roughly ¥20 deposit, or activate the transport QR code inside Alipay or WeChat, and you’re set for the metro all week. Head for the Forbidden City if you booked it: real-name, passport-required, tickets released online at 8pm Beijing time exactly seven days ahead and often gone within minutes for weekend slots, closed Mondays except holiday Mondays, no gate tickets under any circumstances. Budget three to four hours inside. Tiananmen Square next door needs its own separate WeChat reservation and its own airport-style security screening, so plan for two lines rather than one shared entrance. Climb Jingshan Park afterward, just ¥2, for the best rooftop view over the Forbidden City you’ll find anywhere in the city, then have dinner at Siji Minfu near the palace, whose Peking duck runs ¥154-259 for the full bird and beats the more famous Quanjude on both price and quality without the tour-group formula.
Day 2: The Wall
Should You Pick Mutianyu or Jinshanling With a Whole Week Available?
Mutianyu, if this is your only Great Wall day. Skip Badaling regardless: it’s the closest section to the city and, precisely because of that, the one most buried in tour buses by mid-morning. Jinshanling is the better call only if you specifically want a rougher, near-empty hike and don’t mind the longer drive.
Mutianyu, roughly 90 minutes out, is better restored, comes with a cable car up (check current hours on the official Mutianyu site ) and a toboggan run down, and carries a fraction of the crowd for the same wall. If you want the wall with almost nobody on it and don’t mind a longer drive, Jinshanling rewards you with a rugged three to four hour hike and thin crowds. Go early either way, before the heat and the tour groups both peak, and pack water, sunscreen and shoes you don’t mind sweating through. And no, you cannot see the Great Wall from space with the naked eye, a myth astronauts themselves have had to keep denying.
Day 3: Temple of Heaven and the Hutongs
Start at the Temple of Heaven , ¥15 for the park alone, and watch locals doing tai chi or playing cards under the cypress trees before the tour buses show up. In the afternoon, trade Nanluoguxiang’s coffee shops and souvenir stalls for Wudaoying or Fangjia hutong, both of which still feel like an actual neighborhood rather than a shopping street wearing old brick. Evening belongs to Houhai’s lakeside bars, or a bowl of zhajiangmian somewhere unglamorous if you’d rather skip the crowd.
Day 4: Summer Palace, Lama Temple and 798
Give the Summer Palace an unhurried morning, ¥30 in peak season, wandering the lakes and covered walkways rather than rushing the whole complex in an hour. The Lama Temple (Yonghegong) now requires its own mandatory timed-entry booking online or through WeChat, ¥25 flat, so reserve it the night before rather than at the gate. Spend the late afternoon at 798 Art District , a converted 1950s factory complex off metro Line 14 plus a short walk, free to wander and a genuine counterpoint to several days of imperial architecture. Dinner in Sanlitun covers a solid meal and, if you’ve still got the energy, Beijing’s most reliable nightlife strip.
Day 5: Ming Tombs and Olympic Park
This is the day most shorter trips cut, and it’s worth keeping. The Ming Tombs, the burial complex of 13 Ming dynasty emperors, run ¥60 for general admission in peak season with individual tombs extra, no reservation needed, buy on-site, and deserve a genuine half-day rather than the rushed hour most bundled Great Wall tours allow you. In the afternoon, Olympic Park’s Bird’s Nest stadium and Water Cube are still worth seeing well over a decade after the 2008 Games. For dinner, Donglaishun’s copper-pot lamb hotpot, ¥100-150 a person, is a welcome change of pace after four days of duck and noodles.
Day 6: Tianjin, Because Your Clock Allows It
Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei are grouped together under the visa-free transit rules, so a high-speed rail trip to Tianjin, about 30 minutes each way and roughly ¥55-70, doesn’t touch your entry clock at all. Walk the old European concessions along the river, try a plate of Tianjin’s goubuli baozi, and you’re back in Beijing well before dinner. It’s the easiest legitimate day trip on this whole itinerary, and one most first-timers never realize is even on the table.
Day 7: Panjiayuan Market and Departure
Spend the morning at Panjiayuan Antique Market, haggling over souvenirs and local handicrafts before you run out of time to actually use them. If markets aren’t your thing, Qianmen’s restored old shopfronts near Tiananmen make a calmer alternative. Before you head to the airport, double-check the exact same onward ticket that got you through immigration on day one; airline staff verify it again before boarding, and if your plans shifted mid-trip, make sure the ticket you’re holding still clears within your original 240-hour window. Have your passport out and ready, since it gets checked again on the way out, not just the way in.
Getting Around
The metro is genuinely easy for foreigners, about 27 lines and 500 stations with English signage and announcements throughout, and fares run distance-based from ¥3. DiDi is the taxi alternative that actually works, but link your card through Alipay or WeChat first, since cards added directly inside the DiDi app frequently get blocked by the issuing bank. Regular taxis exist too, though few drivers speak English, so keep your destination written in Chinese characters or ready in a translation app.
Where to Stay
Dongcheng district, near Wangfujing, keeps the Forbidden City, the hutongs and Jingshan Park all within walking distance, which saves real time across a week of moving around. If you want a splurge night, the area around Wangfujing also has genuine luxury options with rooftop bars and full concierge service; if you’re keeping costs down, a traditional courtyard guesthouse in the hutongs gives you character for a fraction of the price and puts you steps from Houhai’s evening scene.
Money and Language
Everything runs on the Chinese yuan, and once Alipay or WeChat Pay is linked you’ll rarely need cash for sit-down meals or the metro, though small stalls, street vendors and rural spots sometimes only take cash or a QR scan, never a card. Mandarin is the official language; hotel staff and major attractions generally manage some English, but a translation app closes the gap everywhere else, and it’s worth learning a handful of basic phrases regardless.
Watch For
The “tea ceremony” invitation from a friendly stranger near Tiananmen, Wangfujing, the Forbidden City exits or Houhai ends in an inflated bill every single time; the art-gallery version runs the identical play toward a high-pressure print sale instead. Buy Great Wall and Forbidden City tickets only through official channels, since touts working both queues sell fakes that won’t get you through the gate. Carry your actual passport, not a photo of it, since it’s checked at the Forbidden City, Tiananmen, the Lama Temple and again at the airport on your way out.
A full week turns Beijing from a checklist into a real trip: imperial sights, the wall done without rushing, the old neighborhoods, a genuine day trip out of the city, and a last morning spent shopping instead of sprinting for a gate.