City guide · Beijing Municipality
Six centuries of imperial red walls, a Great Wall you can climb before lunch, and the best roast duck on earth.
Reviewed by our Beijing team Updated 2026-10-10
The short version
City guide
Photographs from the coast, and what other travellers wrote afterwards.
I climbed the 1,168 steps up Xiangshan and my legs were shaking, but standing at the top in the middle of all that red maple was worth every step. Beijing in autumn is a completely different city.
Traveller's notebook, Xiangshan in Autumn
You could spend a whole day in the hutongs and never run out of things to look at — a man grilling skewers on the corner, kids doing homework on a courtyard doorstep, a cat asleep on a coal briquette. That's the Beijing I came for, not the postcard one.
Traveller's notebook, Rediscovering Beijing
Beijing is a city where you can stand on a 600-year-old city wall in the morning and be in a glass tower in Guomao by evening. The old and the new don't sit politely side by side here — they crash into each other, and that collision is the whole point. Three thousand years of history, six dynasties of capitals, and a skyline that changed beyond recognition in thirty years.
The Beijing most visitors fall for isn't the monuments. It's the hutongs — the grey-brick lanes north of the Forbidden City where you still hear bicycle bells, smell coal smoke in winter, and watch old men play cards under the trees. Walk from Nanluoguxiang through the back alleys to Houhai and you'll pass courtyard gates, tiny noodle shops and people who have lived on the same lane their whole lives.
Then there's the food. Beijing duck is a ritual — lacquered skin carved tableside, pancakes, spring onion, sweet bean sauce — but the real local eating is humbler: copper-pot mutton hotpot, zhajiangmian noodles, and the notorious fermented mung-bean drink called douzhi that locals adore and first-timers usually can't finish. Come hungry and come curious.
Beijing
Seven things that are worth rearranging a day for.
Highlights
The Forbidden City is the largest surviving imperial palace complex on earth, and you enter it through the same Meridian Gate the emperors used. Buy the timed e-ticket in advance, go at opening (8:30 in high season), and walk the central axis south to north — it takes about three hours and dumps you out at Jingshan Park for the classic rooftop view.
Badaling is the one everybody knows and the one everybody queues at; Mutianyu is steeper, greener and far quieter. At Badaling tickets are ¥45; the cable car and the 877 bus from Deshengmen (¥12 on the air-conditioned coach, running 6:00–17:00 every five minutes) get you there without a tour.
The lanes around Nanluoguxiang, Guozijian and Wudaoying are where Beijing still lives at ground level — courtyard houses, bicycle bells, tiny noodle shops. Nanluoguxiang's main drag is now a souvenir conveyor belt, so turn off into the side alleys within two minutes and the crowd evaporates.
Duck roasted over fruitwood, carved tableside, wrapped in a paper-thin pancake with spring onion and sweet bean sauce. Quanjude is the tourist classic, Bianyifang the locals' answer to Quanjude, and Dadong the modern favourite. Expect roughly ¥150 per person at the big names.
A 1950s electronics plant turned into China's first and biggest contemporary art zone, with over a hundred galleries, studios, bookshops and cafes still threaded between working industrial buildings. It is free to wander, and there is no metro station nearby — take Line 2 to Dongzhimen or Line 13 to Wangjing West, then bus 401, 405, 909 or 991 to Dashanzi.
Suggested itineraries
For first-timers who want the headline monuments done properly, with the walking kept manageable and one big day out at the Wall.
Start at Tiananmen Square early — the flag-raising happens at sunrise and the time shifts daily, so check it the night before — then cross Chang'an Avenue into the Forbidden City. Book the timed e-ticket online before you fly; walk-in tickets are effectively gone in high season.
Stops: Tiananmen SquareForbidden City (Meridian Gate in, Shenwu Gate out)Jingshan Park for the palace-roof panoramaNanluoguxiang and the lanes around it
Leave the city by 7am to beat the coaches. Mutianyu is the section to choose if you want restored ramparts without Badaling's crowds; the cable car saves your legs for the steep watchtower climbs. Back in town by late afternoon, spend the evening at Houhai, where the bars sit right on the water.
Stops: Mutianyu Great WallHouhai and Shichahai lakesDrum and Bell Towers at dusk
Temple of Heaven opens its gates at 6:00 and is four times the size of the Forbidden City — the Echo Wall and the Circular Mound Altar are the two things not to skip, and the park around them is full of locals doing tai chi. Afternoon at the 798 Art District, evening at Sanlitun for dinner and a bar.
Stops: Temple of Heaven798 Art DistrictSanlitun
For second-timers and anyone who would rather drink tea in a courtyard than queue for another palace. Slower, cheaper, and you actually talk to people.
Yonghe Temple is the former residence of the Yongzheng Emperor, later converted into a Tibetan Buddhist lamasery — ¥25 entry, student half price, open 8:00–17:00, and in autumn the ginkgo avenue inside turns solid gold. Walk from there to the Imperial College and Confucius Temple, then lose yourself in the Wudaoying lanes.
Stops: Yonghe TempleGuozijian and Confucius TempleWudaoying Hutong
Take Line 4 to Beigongmen for the Summer Palace, China's largest and best-preserved imperial garden — ¥30 in high season, ¥60 with the combined ticket, and the 728-metre Long Corridor is the thing you will remember. Exit by the north gate and ride one stop to Yuanmingyuan, the ruined garden burned by British and French troops in 1860; entry is ¥10 and the broken stone fountains do the talking.
Stops: Summer PalaceYuanmingyuan (Old Summer Palace)Tsinghua and Peking University campuses
Beihai Park is where the song about rowing a boat past the White Pagoda comes from — ¥10 in high season, ¥20 with the combined ticket. Prince Gong's Mansion nearby costs ¥40 for the basic visit or ¥70 with a guide, a performance in the mansion theatre and tea; it is the best-preserved princely residence in the city. Finish with Peking opera at the Liyuan Theatre or crosstalk at a Tianqiao teahouse.
Stops: Beihai ParkPrince Gong's MansionLiyuan Theatre or Tianqiao for a show
Sights
Imperial palace
The Ming and Qing palace, now the Palace Museum, with four gates — Meridian (south), Donghua (east), Xihua (west) and Shenwu (north). There is almost no proper food inside, only snack counters, so eat before or after; luggage can be stored next to the ticket office and moved free between the Meridian and Shenwu gates, 8:30–18:00. Audio guides are ¥10 with a ¥100 deposit.
Tip Walk the central axis only and you will finish in about three hours — enter at the south gate, exit north, and eat lunch near Jingshan.
Imperial altar
Where Ming and Qing emperors sacrificed to heaven at the winter solstice, and four times the size of the Forbidden City. The layout is an 'I' shape split by two walls into inner and outer altars, with a square southern wall for earth and a semicircular northern wall for heaven. Stand at one end of the Echo Wall and speak softly — the sound carries to the other end, over a hundred metres away.
Tip Come at 6am with the retirees doing tai chi in the park — that half hour is better than the buildings.
Imperial garden
China's largest and most intact imperial garden, built around the 41-metre Tower of Buddhist Incense on Longevity Hill, with halls, pavilions and corridors placed to match the slope. At the foot of the hill runs the 728-metre Long Corridor, painted end to end, linking the buildings to the lake and the hills behind.
Tip Enter at the north gate, work downhill to the lake, then take the boat across if it is running — it saves a long walk back.
Great Wall
The best-preserved stretch of the Ming wall, and the one Mao's line about becoming a true man made famous. It is also the busiest: expect a solid wall of people in the frame. Tickets are ¥45, and the 877 bus from Deshengmen runs 6:00–17:00, every five minutes, at ¥12 for the air-conditioned coach or ¥7 for the ordinary one.
Tip Go on a weekday and be on the first bus. By 10am the cable-car queue alone can cost you an hour.
Contemporary art
A working 1950s electronics factory complex that artists moved into and converted into China's first and largest contemporary art zone. More than a hundred cultural outfits now sit inside — galleries, design studios, publishing houses, music venues and artist workshops — alongside bars, restaurants, bookshops and clothing stores. It is free to walk in and there is always an exhibition or a talk on.
Tip Check what is actually showing before you go — the big-name galleries rotate exhibitions and some close on Mondays.
Food
The city's signature dish: lacquered, fruitwood-roasted Beijing duck carved tableside into crisp skin and tender meat, wrapped in thin pancakes with spring onion, cucumber and sweet bean sauce. Quanjude is the tourist rite of passage, but locals increasingly rate Dadong and Bianyifang higher. Expect around ¥150 per person at the famous houses.
Thick wheat noodles under a dark, salty sauce of fermented soybean paste fried with minced pork, cooled by a pile of shredded cucumber, radish and soybean sprouts. It is the everyday Beijing bowl, cheap, filling and everywhere. Haidwuanju and Jingweizhai are the crowd favourites.
A charcoal copper pot of plain water, paper-thin slices of mutton swished seven or eight times, then dredged through sesame paste. No spice, no broth gimmicks — the meat is the point. Order tripe first, then meat, then vegetables, and finish with noodles in the same pot.
The one that separates tourists from locals. Sour, faintly sulphurous and served cold with a crunchy fried ring, it is an acquired taste you either fall for hard or abandon after one sip. Try it once at Huguosi Snacks — you are allowed to not like it.
Donkey rolls (glutinous rice rolled in soybean flour), pea-flour cake, aiwowo, fried sausage slices with garlic brine, and candied hawthorn skewers in winter. The densest cluster is at Huguosi Snacks near Ping'anli; a full tasting plate runs well under ¥50.
Where to eat
Peking duck · the classic
The duck house everyone has heard of, open since 1864 and still roasting over open fruitwood fire. The whole-duck set is carved at your table; go early or book, and skip the à la carte duck if you want the full ceremony.
Crayfish · Gui Street institution
The busiest table on Gui Street, famous for its spicy málà crayfish, rich with garlic and chilli. It runs late and the queue is real — put your name down, then wander the street until they call you.
Mutton hotpot · old brand
Charcoal copper pot, sesame dipping sauce, and lamb sliced thin enough to read through. It is a heritage name, so prices are not bargain-basement, but the setup is the real thing and the winter queue moves fast.
Tea, snacks and stage shows
A teahouse where you drink jasmine tea, nibble Beijing sweets and watch crosstalk, acrobatics, shadow puppetry and opera excerpts on a small stage. Come for the culture as much as the food — a good rainy-day or first-night introduction.
Where to stay
Best for atmosphere
Stay inside the hutong belt and you wake up to bicycle bells and breakfast stalls instead of traffic. The Gulou and Nanluoguxiang lanes put the Bell and Drum Towers, Shichahai and Houhai bars within walking distance, and the metro is a few minutes away.
Best for charm
Converted siheyuan courtyard guesthouses, often designer-renovated, with sunlit courtyards for afternoon tea. Rooms are small and pricey, but the location — a short walk from the Drum Tower, Houhai and Nanluoguxiang — is hard to beat.
Best for convenience
The central splurge: big hotels on or near Chang'an Avenue, minutes from Tian'anmen Square and the Forbidden City. You pay for the address and the view, but you save an hour of commuting every morning.
Getting around
Beijing Capital International Airport (PEK) sits about 25 km (16 mi) northeast of the centre and handles most international flights, split across three terminals: T3 for Air China and most Star Alliance carriers, T2 for China Eastern, China Southern and SkyTeam, T1 for Hainan Airlines. Check your terminal before you leave — the walk between them is not short. Nanyuan Airport, south of the Fourth Ring Road, mostly serves domestic routes. A taxi from T3 to Dongzhimen runs about ¥60, to the Qianmen area about ¥80, to Zhongguancun around ¥100.
Nine city routes leave from outside Arrivals on the ground floor, departing T3 and stopping at T2 and T1 before heading into town: Fangzhuang, Xidan, Beijing Railway Station, Gongzhufen, Zhongguancun, Wangjing, West Railway Station, Shangdi and Tongzhou. The Xidan line runs every 20 minutes, the Beijing Station and Gongzhufen lines every 15, the rest no more than every 30. Journeys take 1–1.5 hours and cost a flat ¥16.
The subway is the fastest way across a city this size and ridiculously cheap: every line except the Airport Express costs a flat ¥2, with unlimited transfers as long as you stay inside the gates. Trains generally run from around 05:00 to 23:00. Lines 1 and 2 cover Tiananmen, Wangfujing and the old city; Line 4 reaches the Summer Palace and Yuanmingyuan; Line 8 serves the Bird's Nest and Olympic Park. Buy a Yikatong transport card or tap with your phone.
Beijing has five main passenger stations — Beijing, Beijing West, Beijing South, Beijing North and Beijing East — and booking online at 12306.cn or by phone is the norm. For Badaling, the cheapest and most reliable option is bus 877 from Deshengmen: air-conditioned coaches at ¥12 or ordinary buses at ¥7, both running 06:00–17:00 every five minutes. Sightseeing lines also leave from Qianmen, Beijing Railway Station, Dongdaqiao and the zoo. For Mutianyu, take a tour bus or hire a car — public transport there is slow and infrequent.
Shopping
Vacuum-packed roast duck from Quanjude or Bianyifang travels well and makes the obvious gift, and jars of Liubiju pickles — the name comes from the workshop's six strict rules for grain, water, pottery, timing and fire — are the more interesting souvenir. Tianfuhao's braised pork knuckle has been made since 1738 and still sells out by early afternoon.
Beijing's own clear spirit, distilled from the second pot of sorghum, is strong but smooth and sold everywhere from corner shops to airport duty free. Red Star and Niulanshan are the two names to look for. A bottle costs anything from ¥20 to several hundred depending on age.
Even if you buy nothing, the Panjiayuan market is worth half a day — it is where the city's traditional antique trade still happens, and stallholders are happy to bargain. Open Monday to Friday 08:30–17:30, weekends from 04:30, easy to reach on Metro Line 10 to Panjiayuan station.
Silk Street near Jianguomen sells everything from real tailored silk to knock-off designer labels, and haggling with a calculator is part of the show. For old-brand shopping, Dashilan off Qianmen has Ruifuxiang silks, Neiliansheng cloth shoes, Tongrentang medicine and Zhang Yiyuan tea all within a few narrow lanes.
Practical
Before you lock in dates, check current opening hours and ticket rules — Beijing adjusts Forbidden City capacity and Great Wall access around public holidays, and the Spring Festival week is the busiest travel period of the year. For a private itinerary that fits your dates and pace, see our Beijing private tour options, or browse Beijing tour packages that bundle the Wall, the Forbidden City and the hutongs into one trip.
| Best season | Autumn, especially late October to early November when the red leaves peak and the Fragrant Hills festival runs. Early December to mid-February is freezing but gives you the Spring Festival temple fairs at Ditan, Longtan Lake and Baiyunguan. |
|---|---|
| Forbidden City tickets | Peak season ¥60, low season ¥40, students ¥20. Open 08:30–16:10 in peak season, 08:30–15:40 in low season. Buy the e-ticket in advance — daily numbers are capped and it sells out. |
| Climbing the Great Wall | Badaling costs ¥45 and is the most restored, most crowded section. Mutianyu is steeper and quieter; Jinshanling is for real hikers. Go early — by 10am Badaling is a wall of people. |
| Subway and taxis | Flat ¥2 per ride on all lines except the ¥25 Airport Express. Trains run roughly 05:00–23:00. Taxis are metered and cheap but traffic on the Second and Third Ring Roads can double any journey time. |
| Money | Prices are lower than Beijing's property market suggests: transport is cheap, restaurant meals sit at ordinary Chinese levels, and headline sights are reasonably priced rather than extortionate. Budget around ¥2,000 for five comfortable days. |
| Weather | A dry, inland, four-season city. Summers bring the rain and humidity; winters are cold and clear. If you are from the coast you will notice the dryness — pack lip balm and hand cream. |
| Eating and drinking | Book ahead for Quanjude and Dadong. Donglaishun does the copper-pot mutton hotpot, Haidilao the service spectacle. Skip the tourist snack street by Wangfujing if you want the real thing — Guijie and Niujie are where locals eat. |
Background
Beijing has been a capital on and off for roughly 800 years and a settlement for three thousand, and you can read that layering on the ground. The grid of hutong lanes you walk through near the Drum and Bell Towers was laid out under the Yuan dynasty in the 13th century; the red walls and yellow roofs of the Forbidden City went up in 1420 under the Ming; the Summer Palace and the Old Summer Palace carry the fingerprints of the Qing. Very little of the city is a reconstruction for tourists — most of it is the actual thing, patched and repainted many times over.
Modern Beijing is a collision of that old fabric with a very new one. Whole hutong neighbourhoods came down in the 1990s and 2000s to make room for ring roads and towers, and the CBD around Guomao looks like any twenty-first-century financial district. But the protected quarters survived — Nanluoguxiang, Wudaoying, the lanes around Houhai — and in them life is still ordinary: neighbours drinking tea in a courtyard, old men playing cards under the trees. That contrast, imperial monument one street over from somebody's laundry line, is the reason Beijing rewards slow walking more than any other Chinese city.
Further reading
dir. Bernardo Bertolucci
Shot partly inside the Forbidden City itself — the first Western feature ever granted access — it takes you through the halls you are about to queue for, from the boy emperor's coronation to his life as a gardener. Watch it the night before your Palace Museum ticket and the empty courtyards will mean something.
Ma Jian
A dense, unsparing novel that moves between the city's political history and the everyday lives of its residents. Pair it with Peter Hessler's essays on modern Chinese life for a more journalistic counterweight, and read either one on the train out to the Great Wall.
Mao Livehouse, Dongcheng
Beijing is where Chinese rock and folk actually live. Mao Livehouse at 111 Gulou Dong Dajie, plus the smaller venues around the Drum Tower, put on bands like Miserable Faith and folk singers such as Zhou Yunpeng most nights of the week. Tickets are usually ¥80–150 — check what's on before you fly, then build an evening around it.
The questions visitors ask us most about Beijing, answered plainly.
Prices and practical details are reviewed every month by our Beijing team and updated the day a rule changes.
Five days covers the essentials comfortably: one day for Tiananmen and the Forbidden City, one for the Great Wall, one for the Temple of Heaven and the Summer Palace, one for the hutongs and Houhai, and one for 798 or the Olympic Park. Add two more days if you want day trips to the Ming Tombs or Chengde.
Yes, and it's not optional. The Forbidden City sells a limited number of tickets per day and they're booked online against your passport, usually several days ahead in peak season. It's closed every Monday, and you enter through the south Meridian Gate and exit through the north Gate of Divine Prowess.
Mutianyu for the best balance of scenery, restoration and access — about 1.5 hours from the city, with a cable car and a toboggan down. Jinshanling for wilder, less-restored wall and fewer crowds. Badaling is the closest and the most crowded, with thousands of people on the ramparts by mid-morning.
Not really. Subway rides are ¥2, a bowl of noodles is around ¥20, and most headline sights are ¥10–60. Where you'll spend is accommodation near the centre and a Peking duck dinner, which runs ¥150–300 per person at a reputable restaurant. Budget travellers can easily manage on ¥300–400 a day.
Late September to early November — crisp, dry, clear skies and the red leaves at Xiangshan. Winter is cold and dry but the crowds thin out and temple fairs fill February. Spring brings dust storms and pollen. Summer is hot, humid and crowded, and July–August is peak domestic holiday season.
Mostly yes. The subway has English signage and announcements, taxis can be booked through Didi (the Chinese Uber) so no speaking is needed, and major sights have English displays. Keep your hotel's name and address written in Chinese to show drivers, and download a translation app before you arrive.
Plan this trip
The same places, with a driver, an English-speaking guide and the tickets already bought.
The essential first-time itinerary: imperial Beijing, the Terracotta Army in Xi'an and futuristic Shanghai, linked by high-speed rail.
From US$1,290 US$1,490/per person
The three great capitals plus a morning with the pandas of Chengdu — the trip we recommend to seven out of ten first-time visitors.
From US$1,690/per person
View tourWalk the restored battlements of Mutianyu, then camp overnight on a wild, unrestored stretch of the wall at Jinshanling.
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View tourTwelve days built for children: panda mornings, dumpling classes, a Great Wall toboggan, karst rivers and no 5 a.m. wake-ups.
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View tourBeijing, four nights afloat through the Three Gorges, and Shanghai — the classic river journey with shore excursions included.
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View tourFive regions, one journey: imperial north, panda country, the karst rivers of Guilin and the skyline of Shanghai, with Hangzhou's West Lake.
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Beijing
Cable car to Tower 14, a 2-hour walk east along the ramparts, then the toboggan down. Departure timed to arrive before the coach groups.
From US$118/per person
View tour
Beijing
Enter at the Meridian Gate, walk the central axis with a guide who knows the side halls, then climb Jingshan for the view back over 980 buildings.
From US$109/per person
View tour
Beijing
A rickshaw through the grey-brick alleys north of the Drum Tower, a courtyard-house lunch, and Peking duck carved at the table to finish.
From US$99/per person
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Wuyi Mountain
City guide · 12 tours
Nine bends of clear water, red sandstone cliffs, and the tea that made a mountain's name.
Jiuzhaigou
City guide · 12 tours
108 mineral-blue lakes in one 55 km valley — the place that ruins water everywhere else for you.
Mount Siguniang
City guide · 12 tours
Four snow peaks, three valleys, and the friendliest 5,000 m mountain in China to stand on top of.
Hailuogou
City guide · 12 tours
A glacier that comes down to 2,850 m, hot springs in the forest, and Gongga Shan filling the sky above both.
Daocheng Yading
City guide · 12 tours
Three 6,000 m sacred peaks, glacial lakes at 4,600 m and twenty hours of road — the hardest, highest payoff in Sichuan.
Shunan Bamboo Sea
City guide · 12 tours
Seventy thousand mu of bamboo over twenty-eight hills, a red sandstone corridor under a closed green roof, and a banquet made entirely of bamboo.
Dujiangyan
City guide · 12 tours
Not a monument but a machine: three pieces of engineering with no dam, still doing their job after 2,270 years.
Qingcheng Mountain
City guide · 12 tours
The mountain where Daoism was organised, and the one Chengdu escapes to when the basin turns into an oven.
Qingdao
City guide · 12 tours
Red-tiled roofs, cold beer and a granite mountain that walks straight into the sea — the easiest good time on the Yellow Sea.
Mount Tai
City guide · 12 tours
1,545 metres, 6,290 stone steps and three thousand years of emperors — the one mountain in China that is also a document.
Jinan
City guide · 12 tours
A provincial capital with 700 springs under the pavement — people still queue at the spouts to fill their kettles.
Weihai
City guide · 12 tours
1,000 km of clean coast, a free bathing beach, the island where the Beiyang Fleet died — and thousands of wild swans every winter.
Qufu
City guide · 12 tours
One family, two thousand years of steles, and a ¥150 pass that covers the lot — the easiest serious day trip in Shandong.
Penglai
City guide · 12 tours
China's immortals' coast — a Song-dynasty naval harbour you can walk for free, a mythology nobody ever found, and the ferry to 32 islands.
Changdao
City guide · 12 tours
32 islands, one causeway, a ¥150 land pass, tens of thousands of gulls and nowhere you can drive — the place where everything happens by boat.
Nanjing
City guide · 12 tours
Capital of six dynasties, capital of the Republic, and the city that eats more duck than anywhere else on earth.
Suzhou
City guide · 12 tours
Two thousand five hundred years of canals, sixty surviving gardens, and a city that shuts its gates at half past five.
Zhouzhuang
City guide · 12 tours
Nine hundred years, fourteen bridges, one ticket — and a town that only makes sense before eight in the morning.
Tongli
City guide · 12 tours
Fifteen canals, seven islets, forty-nine bridges — and a town that still gets up at dawn because it lives here.
Wuxi
City guide · 12 tours
Taihu on one side, a Grand Buddha on the next hill, and ribs sweet enough to argue about — the most underrated city on the Yangtze delta.
Yangzhou
City guide · 12 tours
A city built by salt merchants who had more money than restraint — gardens, a narrow lake, and the best breakfast in China.
Zhenjiang
City guide · 12 tours
Three hills, one ferry landing, and an unreasonable share of Chinese literature — the Yangtze city people drive past.
Changzhou
City guide · 12 tours
A 2,500-year-old canal city that built a dinosaur park and refuses to apologise for it.
Wuzhen
City guide · 12 tours
A town that is two towns: the older, quieter East Zone and the lit-up West Zone you sleep inside.
Xitang
City guide · 12 tours
Nine canals, 122 lanes, one long roofed corridor — and a town that still works for a living.
Hangzhou
City guide · 12 tours
A lake in the middle of a city, a tea village in the hills, and two thousand years of getting the mood right.
Xixi Wetland
City guide · 12 tours
Ten square kilometres of marsh inside Hangzhou, and the only way into half of it is a boat.
Ningbo
City guide · 12 tours
A 7,000-year-old port with Asia's oldest private library, a free waterfront 20 years older than Shanghai's, and the best seafood before the islands.
Mount Putuo
City guide · 12 tours
A Buddhist island with no cars, three great temples and a ¥10 lunch that is the point of the place.
Qiandao Lake
City guide · 12 tours
A thousand islands that did not exist sixty years ago, and the cleanest big-lake water in China.
Shaoxing
City guide · 12 tours
Two and a half thousand years of water-town China, and Lu Xun's house is free.
Zhoushan
City guide · 12 tours
1,390 islands, one road bridge in, and a harbour that lands more fish than almost anywhere on earth.
Hengdian
City guide · 12 tours
A backlot the size of a town, where the palaces are copies and the film crews are real.
Yandang Mountain
City guide · 12 tours
A volcano that weathering turned into scenery — 500-odd sights of peak, cave and waterfall across eight scenic areas.
Zhejiang
City guide · 12 tours
One small, mountainous, absurdly rich province that holds a lake, two canal towns, a Buddhist island and a dead volcano.
Hong Kong Outlying Islands
City guide · 12 tours
Two hundred-odd islands, half an hour of ferry from the financial district, and not a car on three of them.
Hong Kong Shopping
City guide · 12 tours
A duty-free port where the tag starts lower, two citywide sale seasons knock a third off, and every mall sits on an MTR exit.
Macao
City guide · 12 tours
Four hundred years of Portuguese streets, a fake Venice under a painted sky, and the best egg tart in Asia.
Urumqi
City guide · 12 tours
The city furthest from the sea, with a snow range on its doorstep and dinner starting at nine.
Hong Kong SAR, China
City guide · 11 tours
A harbour skyline you already know by heart, dim sum trolleys at dawn, and 260 islands an hour from the neon.
Taiwan, China
City guide · 11 tours
Night-market alleys, high-mountain railways, and a coastline that changes character every hundred kilometres.
Qinghai Lake
City guide · 12 tours
A 4,400 sq km inland sea at 3,200 m, ringed by rapeseed gold, prayer flags and the best cycling road in China.
Mount Emei
City guide · 11 tours
A 3,099-metre Buddhist summit you can reach by cable car before lunch — and a mountain full of monkeys that will absolutely rob you.
Taipei
City guide · 11 tours
A 24-hour bookstore, a night market that never stops sizzling, and a city that apologises when you bump into it.
North Xinjiang
City guide · 11 tours
Alpine lakes the colour of poured enamel, a village of log cabins under birch trees, and the last tear the Atlantic ever sheds.
Lanzhou
City guide · 11 tours
A city split in half by the Yellow River, where beef noodles are a breakfast ritual and the Silk Road still runs through the streets.
Mount Hua
City guide · 11 tours
Five granite peaks, one plank road bolted to a cliff face, and a sunrise that justifies the 2am start.
Dunhuang
City guide · 11 tours
A desert oasis where Buddhist cave art survived a thousand years and a crescent lake refused to dry up.
Gannan
City guide · 11 tours
433 kilometres of the Yellow River's first bend, a 3.5 km prayer-wheel circuit, and Tibetan grasslands almost nobody has commercialised yet.
Sichuan–Tibet Highway
City guide · 11 tours
2,142 kilometres of cliff-edge switchbacks, four of China's most beautiful mountains, and a road the Tibetans walk on their knees.
Kangding
City guide · 11 tours
The town that gave Asia its most famous love song, a 7,556m sacred peak on its doorstep, and the last real Tibetan town before the road climbs to Lhasa.
Lhasa
City guide · 12 tours
A city of prayer wheels and butter lamps at 3,700 metres, where the sun shines 3,000 hours a year and the world's highest palace watches over it all.
Nyingchi
City guide · 11 tours
Tibet's greenest corner — peach blossom valleys, a 7,782 m peak that hides from almost everyone, and the world's deepest canyon.
Namtso
City guide · 11 tours
A 1,920-square-kilometre sheet of impossible blue at 4,718 metres, ringed by snow peaks and prayer flags.
Chongqing
City guide · 12 tours
A vertical city of fog, cable cars and cliff-side stilt houses, where the火锅 never stops boiling and the night skyline outshines Hong Kong.
Qiandongnan
City guide · 11 tours
A thousand Miao households stacked up a mountainside, drum towers and wind-rain bridges in Dong villages, and a 600-year-old Ming garrison town on the road to Guiyang.
Libo
City guide · 11 tours
Emerald rivers threading through karst peaks, a 600-metre forest growing out of a riverbed, and China's largest wild plum grove.
Guiyang
City guide · 11 tours
China's summer capital at 1,100 metres, where the nights run on sour fish soup, street-side barbecue and mahjong that never quite stops.
Zhenyuan
City guide · 11 tours
A 2,000-year-old river town where the Wuyang River carves an S through the mountains and every lane hides a story.
Huangguoshu
City guide · 11 tours
Asia's biggest waterfall, and the only one on earth you can walk behind, above and around — plus 600-year-old Ming dynasty villages a short drive away.
Harbin
City guide · 11 tours
Minus 30 degrees, a frozen river you can walk across, and a cathedral built by Russians who never went home.
Yunnan
City guide · 11 tours
Snow mountains, tropical rainforest, twenty-five minorities and a plate of rice noodles — all in one province.
Shanghai
City guide · 11 tours
A 1920s waterfront of colonial banks facing a science-fiction skyline, soup dumplings you eat with a straw, and 20 million people moving like clockwork.
Zhangjiajie
City guide · 11 tours
Three thousand sandstone pillars straight out of Avatar, a glass skywalk bolted to a cliff, and a cable car that leaves from downtown.
Guangzhou
City guide · 11 tours
A 2,200-year-old trading port where dim sum is a religion, colonial islands sit beside 600-metre towers, and the food never stops.
Guilin
City guide · 11 tours
Karst peaks rising straight out of a green river, rice terraces carved into mountainsides, and the best bowl of noodles you'll eat in China.
Shenzhen
City guide · 11 tours
A fishing village that became a megacity in forty years — and it still has 500-year-old banyans, empty beaches and dim sum worth the border crossing.
Chengdu
City guide · 11 tours
A 3,000-year-old city where the schedule is tea, mahjong and hotpot — and the pandas are just the opening act.
Xinjiang
City guide · 11 tours
Snow peaks, grassland, desert and oasis — one-sixth of China, and the longest road you will ever ride.
Xi'an
City guide · 14 tours
Thirteen dynasties of emperors, a terracotta army buried for 2,200 years, and a walled city you can cycle in 100 minutes.
Qinghai
City guide · 11 tours
China's high-altitude blue heart: a salt lake you can walk on, a 3,200-metre sea, and yak butter tea at the roof of the world.
Tibet
City guide · 11 tours
A plateau the size of Western Europe where the sky starts at your feet, prayer flags carry the wind, and the roads run past 8,000-metre peaks.
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