Beijing

The weather is at its most pleasant in spring, from May to June, and in autumn, from September to early November. Hotels are busier and prices are higher during these periods.

Summer (July and August) can be intolerably hot and humid. The freezing winter months (December to March) are quieter, and the icy lakes and hot pot feasts lend Beijing a unique seasonal appeal.

Beijing gets very crowded with Chinese tourists during the week-long public holidays of Chinese New Year (late January or February) and National Day (from 1 October).

Beijing has two major international airports. The closest to the city is Beijing Capital Airport, a thirty-minute ride via the Airport Express train into central Beijing.

Beijing Daxing Airport, opened in 2019, is about 1 hour and 10 minutes from the city centre, using a combination of Airport Express and subway.

A taxi from Beijing Capital Airport takes 30-45 minutes to downtown. From Daxing Airport, allow at least an hour.

The high-speed ‘bullet’ train arrives from most major Chinese cities into one of Beijing’s three main stations: Beijing Railway Station, Beijing West Railway Station, and Beijing South Railway Station.

Beijing is a huge, spread-out city, and distances on maps often look shorter than in reality. Utilise taxis and the subway to full effect to save unnecessary walking time.

Taxis are plentiful, but drivers don’t speak English so have your destination written in Chinese characters and ensure the driver uses the meter. Uber isn’t used in China, but the equivalent Chinese app, Didi Chuxing, has an English interface and can be used by overseas tourists to hail metered taxis (not private cars), paying with cash at the end of the journey.

The subway system is cheap, efficient and easy to navigate. Car rental is not an option unless you have a Chinese driving licence. Traffic can get congested, so leave plenty of time for your journey, especially at rush hours.

With dedicated cycle lanes on many roads, cycling can be a great way to explore, especially through the quiet hutong lanes. You’ll see dockless hire bikes everywhere, but you will need to enlist the help of a Chinese person to use them.

For first-time visitors, Beijing can seem rather spread out and sprawling, so it’s important to choose your hotel location carefully.

Wangfujing is the safest all-round bet – it’s central, with a huge choice of places to stay, and within walking distance of the Forbidden City. A little further out, the Central Business District has some very swanky international hotels and good subway links.

Sanlitun, with its trendy design hotels, is the location of choice for night owls, while those seeking a more authentic hutong experience can opt for the neighbourhoods around the Drum and Bell Tower and Houhai Lakes, home to a few notable boutique hotels.

Petty crime rates are low, but always take sensible precautions especially in crowded areas and on public transport. Traffic is very congested during weekdays, and Beijing drivers are impatient so cross streets with care. Pay special heed to zippy electric scooters, which you won’t hear coming.

Although improving year on year, air pollution can still be an issue, particularly in winter. The summer heat and humidity is draining. Tap water is not safe to drink, but safe bottled water is sold everywhere.

If English-speaking Chinese approach you outside major tourist sites, it might be one of two well-known scams. One leads to a hard-sell on student art, the other is the infamous tea scam, where an invite to drink tea could mean end up footing a hefty bill.

Get a VPN (Virtual Private Network) subscription if you want to use Google, Facebook or other banned sites extensively while away. Note that these while these sites are blocked over Wi-Fi and local mobile networks, they are still accessible if you use your own carrier’s roaming service.