🇨🇳 China · Asia
Beijing
China's capital: an imperial axis, grey hutong lanes and the Great Wall an hour north
cityculturefood☀ best: Sep – Oct, then Apr – May
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The Beijing guide
Inside the premium guide
A preview of the real thing — a detailed premium guide, researched and checked in 2026. Click a page to enlarge.
THE COMPLETE CITY GUIDE
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CHINA · RESEARCHED 2026
Beijing
China's capital: an imperial axis, grey hutong lanes and the Great Wall an hour north
sama·sama
The cover
What this guide covers
38 pages, A4 — cover to back, everything in one place.
What’s inside + how to use
The place & what a day costs
City at a glance — the best-of snapshot
What & how to eat
Where to eat — cheap & local
Mid-range & special occasion
Sweets, cafés & coffee
Vegan, veggie & gluten-free
Supermarkets & typical prices
Markets & food halls
Souvenirs & shopping
Where to stay — neighbourhoods
Budget, boutique & luxury stays
Hostels — the backpacker shortlist
Six big things to do
Top 10 experiences — book & compare
Nightlife & after dark
Best day trips
Insider tips + safety & scams
Ready-made day plans
Getting around
Arrival, tickets & transport cheat sheet
When to go + best time to visit
Cash, cards & tipping
Connectivity & insurance
Health, safety & entry
The travel toolbox
Every link, one place
Sama·Sama · Beijing guide38 pages
Everything it covers
Everything. In one premium file. Working for you.
This isn’t a blog post saved as a PDF — it’s a detailed, premium, 38-page A4 magazine — researched and checked in 2026, designed to be used. Keep it on your phone or print it, open it at a street corner in Beijing and it answers the question you’re standing there with.
38A4 pages — cover to back
195+researched prices in €
319live, verified links
110jump straight to Google Maps
62hand-picked photos
Add it up: 576+ researched details — every price checked, every venue placed, every link live. More usable information than a week of blog-tab hopping, in one beautiful file.
- Every venue is one tap from navigation — 110 Google Maps links mean you never type an address on holiday.
- Real prices, not vibes — three honest daily budgets (€52 / €132 / €395) and prices on everything from a dorm bed to a splurge dinner.
- Zero sponsorships — nobody paid to be in this guide. If it’s in, it’s in because it’s good.
- Book everything from the page — stays open on Booking.com & Hostelworld, experiences on GetYourGuide, Trip.com & Klook, transport on official operator sites.
- Plan-it-for-me included — ready day plans, a Top 10, a best-of snapshot, and neighbourhood “best for” labels that choose your base with you.
Buy the Beijing guide — €14.50 →
✦€14.50 is our price. Etsy adds your country’s sales tax on top — MVA in Norway, VAT across the EU, usually nothing in the US — and shows you the total in your own currency at checkout.
SHOESTRING
€52/day
dorms, street plates, transit
COMFY
€132/day
private room, sit-down meals, a treat
FLASH
€395/day
nice hotel, good dinners, no maths
🧮 Trip maths
€924 total
What Beijing costs, day to day
🛵 Getting around
Didi
Didi, airport run
Shared bike
Metro ride, central journey€0.4–€0.8
Airport Express from Capital (PEK)€3.2
Daxing Airport Express (PKX)€4.5
Tourist bus to Mutianyu, return€10
High-speed train to Badaling€3.9–€10
🛏 Stays
Per night
Hostel dorm bed€9–€15
Airbnb / apt 1-BR€40–€90
3-star hotel€35–€75
Boutique / 4-star€125–€229
Monthly
Studio€770–€1,150
1-BR, decent area€1,000–€1,540
🛒 Groceries & daily life
Ole' / BLT — upmarket mall supermarkets, imported goods alongside Chinese
Hema — app-driven Alibaba store, live seafood, 30-minute delivery
Corner convenience stores — mostly 24h, hot counters with tea eggs and buns
Milk 1L€1.7
Bread€1.6
Eggs 12€2
Cheese 1kg€12
Chicken 1kg€3.5
Rice 1kg€1.2
Beer 0.5L€0.8
Coffee jar€6
🍜 Eating out
Street food item (jianbing, skewers)€1–€2.5
Local restaurant meal€3.2–€9
Peking duck, whole bird for 2-4€22–€45
Mid restaurant dinner€13–€32
Fine dining tasting menu€51–€77
🎡 Things to do — with kids
Mutianyu Great Wall, entry + cable car return€23–€24
Temple of Heaven park / through ticket€1.9–€4.3
Acrobatics at Chaoyang Theatre€23
🌙 Things to do — grown-ups
Guijie after midnight, per head€7.7–€19
Cocktails in Sanlitun, each€9–€15
Tasting menu at TRB Hutong€77
🌤 Climate
Day °CRain
Best: Sep – Oct, then Apr – May · Wet: Jul – Aug
About 700mm of rain a year and July and August carry over half of it, in downpours rather than drizzle. Autumn is the reason to come — clear light and the cleanest air of the year — while spring is windy and Beijing gets sandstorms two or three times most Marches and Aprils.
✈️ Getting there
Air ChinaLufthansaKLMAir FranceChina EasternAmsterdam€450–€800
Frankfurt€480–€900
London€430–€850
Helsinki€450–€800
Two airports 70–80km apart, and the code on the ticket decides everything. Capital (PEK) is 30km north-east and takes Star Alliance and oneworld; Daxing (PKX) is 46–50km south and is the SkyTeam hub. Airport Express from PEK: 24 minutes to Dongzhimen. Transferring between the two costs half a day, so fly home from where you landed.
🏧 ATMs & money
Fees: Foreign cards work at Bank of China, ICBC and big-bank ATMs (~¥15–30 fee), but China is almost entirely cashless via mobile pay.
Limits: Usually ¥2,000–3,000 per pull.
Best machines: Bank of ChinaICBCChina Construction Bank
Set up Alipay or WeChat Pay with a foreign card BEFORE you go — you'll pay for nearly everything by QR, and cash is increasingly refused. Keep a little cash as backup and withdraw at major bank branches. Decline conversion.
🩺 Health & safety
Vaccines: Routine, Hepatitis A, Typhoid. Japanese encephalitis for long rural/summer stays.
Health: Bottled/boiled water only. Air quality varies by city and season — check the AQI, sensitive travellers pack a mask. Big-city international hospitals are excellent (and pricey); insure well.
Tap water: ❌ Don't drink the tap. Bottled or boiled water only; hotels provide kettles and locals drink hot water everywhere.
Safety: China is very safe for visitors day-to-day — violent crime against tourists is rare and cities feel secure late at night. The real friction is digital: bring a VPN installed BEFORE arrival (Google, WhatsApp, Instagram are blocked), and set up Alipay/WeChat Pay with a foreign card — cash is nearly dead here. Scams target tourists at tea houses and 'art galleries' near sights.
Emergency: 110 police · 120 ambulance · 119 fire
🛂 Visa & entry
For most short tourist trips, citizens of the US, UK, EU/Schengen, Canada, Australia and New Zealand either enter visa-free or get a simple online authorisation (an eVisa or eTA) before flying. Typical visa-free stays run 30–90 days. Some countries want a visa arranged in advance, and a growing number ask you to fill an online arrival or eVisa form even when 'visa-free' — so always check the official portal for your exact nationality before you book.
Rules change — always verify with an official source for your nationality before you book.
💬 Traveller tips & reports
Book the sights before the flights — Every big sight here is real-name and pre-booked. The Forbidden City releases seven days out at about eight in the evening, one ticket per passport per day, capped at forty thousand. Book that first, then build the week around it. Carry the physical passport — a phone photo is refused everywhere.
@hutong_hopper · Aug '26 · ▲ 214
Set up the payment apps at home — Set up Alipay or WeChat Pay at home, over your own wifi — both take foreign Visa and Mastercard, and both want a passport verification you do not want to attempt on airport wifi. They are free under ¥200 and roughly three per cent above. Switch any VPN off at the till, or the payment gets blocked.
@lanes_and_lanterns · Aug '26 · ▲ 168