Forbidden City and the Great Wall. Here is when to go, what a day costs on site and what to see, then Okela composes your itinerary hour by hour.

Compose my trip to BeijingSee Beijing in Okela

When to visit Beijing

Best months: April, May, September and October.

What to see in Beijing

1. Cité interdite
   This imperial palace, built in the early 15th century under the Ming, spreads its courtyards, halls and glazed roofs over 72 hectares in an unusually rigorous plan.
2. Grande Muraille (Mutianyu)
   This restored section of the Great Wall north of Beijing runs along wooded ridges, with watchtowers set close together.
3. Temple du Ciel
   Emperors came here to pray for good harvests, and the layout still says so: round buildings set on square terraces, linked by one long, calm axis.
4. Palais d'Été
   This vast imperial garden brings a hill, a lake and scattered pavilions together into one composed landscape, where you walk under willows and watch golden roofs reflected in the water.
5. Place Tian'anmen
   This vast paved esplanade, with hardly a tree on it, shows how power is staged in Beijing: massive official buildings line its sides and the Gate of Heavenly Peace closes the view to the north.
6. Hutongs (Nanluoguxiang)
   Nanluoguxiang is a pedestrian lane lined with small shops and cafés, with quieter hutongs branching off it, their low courtyard houses and wooden doors still in place.
7. Temple des Lamas
   A former princely residence turned lamasery, Yonghe Gong is one of the most lively Tibetan Buddhist temples in Beijing.
8. Parc Jingshan
   This is where Beijing makes sense at a glance: from the top, the golden roofs of the Forbidden City line up along the city's central axis and its layout becomes clear.

A sample itinerary for Beijing, three days

Composed by Okela from the places in its database, with times. Yours takes your dates, pace and group into account.

Budget

Expect about €111 per person per day on site (accommodation, meals, transport and visits), depending on the comfort you choose. Okela shows the price of every step of your itinerary.

My Beijing itinerary, hour by hour

More destinations: China

Photo: N509FZ, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons.