42 Best things to see & do in Beijing

Built in the early 15th century, the Forbidden City is a vast palace complex of regal halls, ceremonial courtyards, gardens and living quarters, that served as the home of Chinese emperors and their households for 500 years. Behind its vermilion walls was a closed-off world of antique ritual and intrigue, where the ‘Son of Heaven’ was tended to by an army of servants, eunuchs and concubines.

Today the palace complex is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the world’s largest collection of heritage wooden buildings. Officially called the Palace Museum, many of the rooms have been given over to museum exhibits of imperial treasures, from priceless ceramics to Qing-dynasty furniture.

Its central location, historic importance and architectural beauty make this Beijing’s most popular site of interest for tourists.

The monumental Great Wall of China is a defense work stretching from ocean to desert across the vast expanse of China’s northern regions. In the strategic uplands around Beijing, the Wall was built from bricks and stone, with crenelated battlements and watchtowers. Elsewhere it was more simply fashioned from tamped earth.

The Great Wall is actually a series of walls built during different eras of Chinese history, but the first unifying wall was constructed by China’s first emperor, Qin Shi Huang, from around 220 BC. Much of the wall that remains standing today was reconstructed using stronger materials during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644).

Later sections of the Great Wall – including Badaling, the first section to be opened to tourists – stand on average 8m tall and just under 6m wide, designed to allow five horses to ride abreast or ten soldiers to walk shoulder to shoulder.

The nearest stretches to Beijing have been restored and are now among the world’s most visited tourist spots. Unrestored sections, sometimes called the ‘wild wall’, remain in a precarious state of ruin, with an estimated thirty percent already lost to the vagaries of weather, earthquakes and human activity. Around Beijing, the undulating mountain landscapes are as inspiring as the defensive ramparts themselves.

Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism, the three ancient belief systems of China, each have their own temple sites in Beijing.

At White Cloud Temple you might see grey-robed Taoist monks with their hair gathered in topknots, while at the Lama Temple, Buddhist acolytes in saffron-hued robes come and go between the incense-shrouded halls. The Confucius Temple, being more a memorial than a place of worship, has dozens of stone stelae inscribed with the names of famous scholars.

All three styles are architecturally similar, comprising a symmetrical series of halls and courtyards rising in importance the deeper one moves into the temple complex.

There are also many Islamic Chinese in Beijing; the Niujie Mosque dates back 1,000 years and is the city’s largest.

Despite its name, the Temple of Heaven isn’t a temple but an imperial altar used for esoteric state sacrifices, such as when the emperor would ask heaven for good harvests.

The former retreat of China’s imperial rulers, the Summer Palace is a masterpiece of classical Chinese garden design on a truly awesome scale. Artificial hills, lakes, opulent buildings and graceful arched bridges convene in carefully orchestrated harmony.

Now a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the gardens, 12km northwest of the Forbidden City, were first built in the 12th century but were developed to their artistic height during the Qing Dynasty (1644 – 1912).

Most famously, the Summer Palace became the royal retirement home of Cixi, the Empress Dowager, a formidable character who ruled China from behind the curtain for almost five decades. The palace and its gardens were remodelled to serve as her private retirement complex.

There’s plenty to see and do, from strolling the famous ‘Long Corridor’ to pleasure boating on Kunming Lake. Several of the palace buildings hold historical artefacts and exhibits, including possessions belonging to the Empress Dowager.

The Temple of Heaven is unlike any other temple in China. In fact, it’s not really a temple at all but a richly symbolic event space of sorts, where the emperor, accompanied by a grand entourage, would perform arcane rites twice a year to pray for heaven’s blessing.

Ceremonies took place upon the open-air Round Altar, next to the Imperial Vault of Heaven where the spirit tablets of the gods were kept. A 360m-long paved walkway connects to the splendid centrepiece, the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests.

Surrounded by sculpted parkland, the layout of the complex was designed to reflect Chinese cosmology and symbolise the relationship between heaven and earth.

This vast public space sits at the very heart of modern China, both literally and symbolically. It takes its name from the Gate of Heavenly Peace which divides the square in the north from the Forbidden City, and upon which Mao Zedong proclaimed the founding of the People’s Republic in 1949.

The socialist-realist Great Hall of the People, China’s most important government building, lines the western flank, facing the hulking National Museum across the square.

In the centre is Mao Zedong’s mausoleum and the Monument to the Peoples’ Heroes. Demarcating the southern boundary are the parallel Zhengyangmen and Arrow Tower city gates.

During the Cultural Revolution in the 1960s, rallies of up to a million Red Guards took place. In 1989, pro-democracy demonstrators took over the square for six weeks before the government’s brutal crackdown that sent shockwaves around the world.

Eating is the most cherished activity in China, and Beijing is no different. Naturally, the capital attracts Chinese chefs and restauranteurs from across its 34 provinces and regions, which means you can feast on fragrant Yunnan rice noodles one day and hearty Inner-Mongolian lamb the next.

With its icy northern winters, Beijing’s own food is hearty and filling – think stews, wheat noodles, potatoes, steamed bread and mutton – generously laced with garlic and salt.

One of Beijing’s most spectacular historic sights, the Lama Temple started out as a grand imperial residence before being converted to a lamasery for Tibetan Buddhists in 1744.

During the Qing Dynasty, it became one of the most important religious sites in China, tasked with determining the reincarnations of the Dalai Lama and the Panchen Lama.

The palace-like site unfolds symmetrically through a series of ornamental halls, courtyards and pavilions to its incense-shrouded finale, an 18m tall statue of the Maitreya Buddha carved from a single trunk of Tibetan sandalwood.

The divine middle of the ‘Middle Kingdom’, Beijing has ruled over China since the 13th century. In 1287, Kublai Khan established the Yuan Dynasty and built Khanbaliq, a predecessor to today’s city. Less than a century later, Khanbaliq was razed by the emergent Ming Dynasty, and Beijing as we know it took shape.

Ming emperor Yongle designed his capital as a compass-perfect exercise in feng shui, with the newly built Forbidden City at its heart. Twenty-four emperors ruled from its hallowed halls, together with their eunuchs and concubines, until revolution swept aside China’s last imperial rulers, the Qing Dynasty, in 1911.

Wandering the atmospheric hutong neighbourhoods is Beijing’s most evocative experience.

Hutongs are residential lanes and alleyways traditionally associated with Beijing and defined by the outer walls of courtyard homes called siheyuan – usually single storey – which join together to form communities. The oldest date back hundreds of years. The word itself is believed to be of Mongol origin, dating back to the Yuan dynasty.

The narrow hutong lanes north of the Forbidden City and around the Drum and Bell Towers and Houhai Lake, are some of the best for strolling, where you might see local residents playing xiangqi, traditional street sellers, and surviving Qing dynasty courtyard architecture.

Explore independently, or hire a guide to explain the unique cultures of the more fascinating hutongs such as those around the Dashilan neighbourhood southwest of Tiananmen Square, which served as Beijing’s red-light district before the Communist revolution.

Beijing is a great place to take your first forays into China’s traditional performing arts.

Most famous is Jingju (Peking opera), staged regularly at specialist theatres, and even with its own national TV channel. Wearing symbolic outfits and make-up, performers sing at a piercing pitch backed by a percussive ensemble of gongs, drums, and clappers.

More accessible is zaji (Chinese acrobatics), thought to be 2,000 years old. Venues like the Chaoyang Theater stage nightly shows where youthful troupes demonstrate feats of almost superhuman agility.

Touring martial arts shows are also popular, often performed by Shaolin monks.

This series of three connected lakes – Qianhai, Houhai and Xihai – is one of Beijing’s most popular tourist attractions, day and night.

Surrounded by willow trees, winding hutong lanes, bars and restaurants, the lakes are used for leisure boating in spring and summer, and ice skating and ice biking on the frozen waters during winter.

Dating back to the Yuan Dynasty, the man-made lakes once marked the northern terminal of the Grand Canal. Qing nobles built their homes here, and some, such as Prince Gong’s Mansion, can be visited and explored.

The lakes can be a great place to experience local culture, especially early in the morning. On the north shore of Houhai, Beijingers swim in the lake all year round, breaking the ice in winter for a freezing dip.

Only traces remain of Beijing’s mighty city walls, built in the Ming Dynasty but torn down in the Mao era to make way for the Second Ring Road.

The southeast corner watchtower (also known as the Fox Tower) still stands, joined to a 1.2km stretch of wall restored in the 1990s, which runs westwards through a strip of parkland.

Inside the watchtower is an exhibition of historical photos, and you can even find scraps of graffiti from American and Russian soldiers dating to 1900 and the Battle of Peking.

A former imperial garden in the heart of the capital, Beihai Park is visible for miles around thanks to the Tibetan-style White Dagoba that rises up imperiously over the lake (Beihai literally means northern sea).

Around the lotus-strewn waters, plied by pleasure boats in summer, are ornate temples, pavilions, and former imperial residences. Be sure to seek out the Nine Dragon Screen, a 27m-long ‘spirit wall’ carved with writhing dragons, the symbol of the emperor.

The National Museum of China contains a humongous cache of bronzes, ceramics, Buddhist art and jade dating back through the dynasties. The bombastic ‘Road to Rejuvenation’ exhibition traces China’s rise from the 1840-42 Opium War with Britain to the country’s 21st century space programme.

Close to the sights orbiting Tiananmen Square, this longstanding venue is more theatre than teahouse, putting on a nightly highlights reel of Peking opera, acrobatics, magic shows and traditional Chinese music. Take a table and order snacks and tea while you watch.

Get clued up on the capital’s own storied history at this hulking behemoth of a museum. Lively exhibits use artefacts and vivid dioramas to map out a timeline of the city from the Jin dynasty (around 900 years ago) up to the 20th century.

A Beijing institution, Panjiayuan is a sprawling, partially covered market where over 4,000 dealers hawk replica antiques, ceramics, jade, calligraphy brushes, handicrafts and Communist ephemera. Keep in mind that the vast majority of antiques are fake, and prepare to haggle. Weekend mornings only.

The pulsing heart of Beijing’s contemporary art scene is a former industrial complex east of the 4th ring road.

Numerous eclectic galleries located in revamped warehouses and factories host top-class art and photographic exhibitions by established and emerging Chinese and international artists.

Recommended art galleries to look out for as you wander include Ullens Centre for Contemporary Art, M Woods Art Museum, Galleria Continua, Faurschou Foundation and the iconic 798 Art Factory with its Mao slogans inscribed on the sloping Bauhaus ceilings.

This vast complex also features cafés, bars, art stores and outdoor installations.

The big-ticket attraction at China’s oldest zoo is the impressive giant panda enclosure where Beijing’s beloved bears get the VIP treatment. You can also spot a cast of beasts endemic to China including Siberian tigers, snow leopards and golden snub-nosed monkeys.

The centrepiece of Beijing’s 2008 Olympic Games (and again for the winter games in 2022), the ‘Bird’s Nest’ is an architectural wonder with its bulbous curves and filigree of crisscrossing supports. Sports fans can pay to go inside and see the track where Usain Bolt bagged his first Olympic gold medal.

Protecting the Forbidden City from icy winds and evil spirits, this 45m-high artificial hill is Beijing’s best park and a great vantage point, offering superb views over the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square beyond.

It was once part of Beijing’s imperial city, and is most famous as the site where the last Ming emperor hanged himself as peasant rebels stormed the capital in 1644.

The climb up to the ornate Wanchun Pavilion, the park’s most famous viewpoint, is relatively gentle, and on route you’re sure to pass groups of locals singing, dancing and playing music.

Looking out over Tiananmen Square, this is China’s most iconic political building and the meeting place for the National People’s Congress. Inside, you can tour its vast Stalinist auditorium, complete with plexiglass red star in the ceiling. When it’s not in use, you can go in to see the vast Stalinist auditorium, complete with plexiglass red star in the ceiling.

The city’s best historical walking tours, covering everything from concubines to Communism. As well as a tour company, Beijing Postcards has a hutong shop selling old city maps, quirky souvenirs and framed black and white prints of early 20th century Beijing.

This hidden gem museum of ancient Chinese bronzes and Buddhist statuary is on the ninth floor of a high-rise office block. The objects were all bought and repatriated from overseas, including four bronze animal heads from the Old Summer Palace.

Visitors line up in droves to shuffle past Mao’s embalmed corpse, on display in a mausoleum in the middle of Tiananmen Square. Guards keep the crowds moving through to the gift shop full of Mao-themed souvenirs.

A fun way to get your foodie bearings, UnTour’s ‘Old Beijing Dinner Tour’ visits several hidden hutong restaurants and bars, introducing local specialities like Beijing-style hotpot and the city’s famous sorghum-based firewater, Erguotou.

Qing emperors would come to this complex, resembling a miniature Forbidden City, to worship their royal ancestors. The rearmost Sacrificial Hall, now a gallery space, is one of the most magnificent imperial buildings in China.

Beijing’s official timekeeper since the age of the Mongols, this splendid, 47-meter tall stone tower, facing its compatriot the Drum Tower, houses a gigantic copper bell said to weigh over 60 tons.

Rising up imperiously over grey hutong rooftops, the Drum Tower (together with the adjacent Bell Tower) has sounded the rhythm of Beijing for centuries. Climb the steep steps for exhibits on time-keeping in ancient China, and an hourly drumming performance.

Destroyed by British and French armies during the Second Opium War, what was one of the world’s greatest classical Chinese gardens is now wistful ruins, lakes and parkland. A relaxing place for a wander, it sees far fewer crowds than the ‘new’ Summer Palace nearby.

A fantastic array of arcane astronomical contraptions, cast in bronze and carved with writhing dragons, can be seen at this museum on the site of a Chinese observatory formerly built into Beijing’s mighty city walls.

What better way to dismount the Great Wall of China than by riding a luge down the mountainside? Toboggans whizz along a snaking metal track for 1.5 kilometres, with speed controlled via a hand-brake. Hop on at the No. 6 Watchtower for a 15-minute thrill ride.

For centuries, Beijing’s royals have decamped to the Fragrant Hills, an undulating landscape of pine forest dotted with temples, pagodas and lookouts. On a clear day you can see the skyscrapers of downtown Beijing from 557m-high Incense-Burner Peak.

Carved tortoise-like beasts heave enormous stone slabs on their backs at this grand temple complex honouring China’s foremost spiritual thinker, the great sage Confucius. The attached Guozijian (Imperial College) is where scholars of old studied for their civil service exams.

Dating back to the reign of Kublai Khan, this peaceful Buddhist temple is crowned with an urn-shaped, 51-metre tall dagoba that soars photogenically over the surrounding hutong neighbourhood, one of the city’s best for strolling.

An India-inspired temple along the once-royal waterway between the capital and the Summer Palace, the Wuta (Five Pagodas) is a remarkable piece of architecture. The temple grounds are also home to a fascinating museum of ancient Chinese stonemasonry.

Built to honour a corrupt and powerful eunuch, this is Beijing’s best-preserved Ming dynasty temple. The walls of the remarkable Ten Thousand Buddhas Hall are filled from floor to ceiling with tiny niches, each housing an effigy of Buddha.

This maze of halls and shrines is still tended by Taoist monks. Its 19 separate chambers are each dedicated to a particular deity, such as the God of Wealth, or the Jade Emperor.

Islam came to China around the tenth century AD; this mosque is Beijing’s oldest, dating to the Yuan dynasty (1271-1368). Architecturally it resembles a traditional Chinese temple, but for that fact that it faces west rather than the customary south.

This Buddhist temple complex enjoys a sublime hillside setting at the Fragrant Hills. The Diamond Throne Pagoda at the rear is a magnificent showpiece, while the unusual Hall of Arhats contains 500 near life-size sculptures of Buddhist disciples.

The grand residence of an imperial prince, this magnificent mansion close to Houhai Lake is most notable for its classical Chinese gardens. Pathways wind between carp ponds, artificial hills, ornate pavilions and even a miniature Great Wall folly.