Luxury hotels in Beijing

Beijing guide

The Forbidden City: booking, timing and the view from Jingshan

Five centuries of emperors behind red walls. Entry is by advance booking only, with your passport.

Completed in 1420, the Forbidden City was home to 24 Ming and Qing emperors, and today, as the Palace Museum, it is the most visited sight in Beijing. Its courtyards run north along the city's central axis, from the Meridian Gate to the Imperial Garden.

Tickets are sold online only, in your name and with your passport number, and daily numbers are capped, so they can sell out a week or more ahead in spring, autumn and the October holidays. The museum is closed on Mondays except on public holidays. Enter at opening, walk the main axis first, and then turn into the quieter eastern palaces and the Treasure Gallery.

Leave by the north gate and climb the hill in Jingshan Park opposite: from the pavilion at the top, the golden roofs of the whole palace lie at your feet. A private morning on a restored but quiet section of the Great Wall, such as Mutianyu, is the natural second day.

The Great Wall: Mutianyu and the quieter sections

The Great Wall is the most cited excursion from Beijing, and Mutianyu, about ninety minutes away, is the section most often recommended: restored, surrounded by forest, with a cable car up and a toboggan down. Arriving at opening on a weekday makes all the difference.

Jinshanling and Simatai offer wilder, partly restored walls and spectacular hikes, and Simatai can be visited at night from the water town of Gubei. Autumn, from late September to early November, brings clear skies and red leaves; Chinese holidays are best avoided.

The Temple of Heaven and the hutongs

The Temple of Heaven, where emperors prayed for good harvests, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of Beijing's most cited sights; its round Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests is a masterpiece of Ming architecture. Arrive early to see residents practising tai chi, singing and playing cards in the park.

The hutongs, the old lanes of courtyard houses around Houhai and Nanluoguxiang, are best explored by rickshaw or bicycle, and a meal in a restored courtyard is unforgettable. Peking duck is the essential dish, carved at the table.