Beijing Hotels     Beijing Train     Beijing Flight     Community     Blog     Home

Your Reliable Gateway Travel to Beijing China
200+ things to do in Beijing China. Book ahead - save time and money!
10 reasons to use a local travel Agency !

There are numerous scenic spots and historical sites in Beijing. Some of them are walkable. Some of the attractions are a little far from the city center. Among the huge number of sightseeing spots, there are top 10 must-see places in Beijing - Forbidden City, Temple of Heaven, Summer Palace, Ming Tombs and the Great Wall, Old Hutongs, Lama Temple, Tiananmen Square, Capital Museum and Olympic Sites ( see the Top 10 places in Beijing for more information; for a complete list of Beijing attractions, see Beijing Attractions ).





Where to stay in Beijing? That's a question, considering that Beijing has hundreds of rated hotels, plus numerous hostels, courtyard hotels, B&B hotels and boutique hotels.

You are going to visit Beijing for the first time and you simply have no idea where to stay with a good location in the city for sightseeing, shopping or partying. You have to do extensive research of hotel location, hotel type, price...

That's why we have divided Beijing into 6 areas ( Central Beijing, Houhai & North Beijing, South Beijing, Northeast Beijing, West Beijing and Northwest Beijing) where you can find precisely where and in which hotel you want to stay, and what to see and do. See Where to stay in Beijing for more information.

A: Central Beijing (Imperial Center)		B: Houhai & North Beijing (Hutong & Olympics)
C: South Beijing (Traditional Residences)		D: Northeast Beijing (Business & Embassy Areas)
E: West Beijing (Financial District)		F: Northwest Beijing ( Beijing' Silicon Valley)

Around Beijing, there are eight major sections of the Great Wall, including Badaling, Juyongguan, Huanghuacheng, Jiankou, Mutianyu, Gubeikou, Jinshanling, and Simatai. Most of the sections of Great Wall in Beijing are well-preserved and mainly the remains from the Ming Dynasty, an era of huge construction. All the eight sections of the Great Wall in Beijing have their own unique features. Check out Beijing Great Wall Tour for information.





Beijing Municipality comprises 6 urban districts (downtown), 8 suburban districts and 2 counties (in the suburbs). Under the suburban district and county level, Beijing has 183 towns. Under the 183 towns, we have hundreds of villages.
Check out Beijing Excursions for more information.





There are lots of interesting scenic spots and historical sites not very far from the city of Beijing like Xian, Chengde, Pingyao, Datong, Qinhuangdao, Luoyang, Qufu, Tianjin, Shanghai, Harbin and many more.... Check out Beijing Side Trips for more information.





China tour map with cities covering Beijing, Xian, Shanghai, Guilin, Guangzhou, Lhasa, Chengdu, Chongqing, Wuhan,Huangshan, Hangzhou, Harbin, Urumqi... as well as China Silk Road and Yangtze River.
Check out China City Tour for more information.





Beijing local people often mention "ring road" when talking about the city roads in Beijing. Ring Roads circle the city and the city has now six ring roads. The first ring road theoretically goes around the Forbidden City, which is the middle of the city, but in reality, it doesn't exist. So the ring roads start with the second ring road. People often consider the city within the third ring road as city proper. When people talk about city center, it means the area around Wangfujing Street, Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square.

The city proper is administrationally divided into 4 districts - they are Chaoyang District, which goes from the centre of the city all the way out to the Olympic sites in the north. Dongcheng District lies directly to the east of the Forbidden City, Xicheng District to the west, and Haidian, holding many of the capital's universities, in the north of the city.

There are currently over 10 subway lines, and many more under construction; Tiananmen Square, Wangfujing, Qianmen, and Lama Temple and Confucius are can be reachable by subway. There are lots of public buses linking the city major sites. There are also tour buses to some major scenic spots in the city and the suburbs.

Beijing is very big and not walkable. The present city still finds its the basic outline of the Imperial City 500 years ago in Yuan Dynasty with a clear north-south axis and a lot of narrow lanes. The round line of the subway and the second-ring road almost liken the none-existant old city wall. The Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square are located in the middle of the city.

The area close to the north of the Forbidden City once homed court officials and royal families. Some of these old residential houses can still be found in the hutongs or alleys. These hutongs now has turned into the popular sites for a visit to the city. It's a pity that in some other parts of the city, the old alleys are being fast turned down for new buildings and houses.

Close to the south of the Forbidden City is Wangfujing Street, a busy walking commercial street and a place with some famous hotels. Wangfujing is walking distance to Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City.

To the Northeast of the Forbidden City is Chaoyang District, which holds some of the city's expat community and also the layout of many hotels which are for foreign clients.

The Beijing Capital International Airport is located to the northeast of the city with about 40 minutes by drive.

Northwest to the Forbidden City is The Summer Palace and Weigongcun which hold many higher learning institutes, like Beijing University, Tsinghua University and more. Temple of Heaven is located within southern second ring road.

Far to the Northwest is the Badaling Great Wall and Juyongguan Great Wall.

Questions & Answers: