15 things you can do only in Beijing
8 min read • Feb 9, 2022
Eat street food, explore old neighborhoods, find the less-visited parts of familiar sites and shop for (non)antiques: our guide to the best of Beijing.
Travel Stories
Beijing
- How visiting the world’s busiest museums has changed
5 min read • Jul 7, 2020
As some of the most popular museums in the world reopen, here are the new COVID rules and restrictions that visitors can expect.
- Trailblazers: crossing into China as a Lonely Planet writer in the 1980s
8 min read • Jul 7, 2019
Our Trailblazers series sees Lonely Planet's guidebook writers reflect on past adventures, reminisce a little, and compare their experiences past and…
- Cool Xisi: Beijing's up-and-coming neighbourhood
5 min read • Oct 19, 2017
Xisi (literally ‘West Four’) is a neighbourhood in western Beijing, so called for its four richly carved paifang (sign gates) that once straddled the…
- Rooster booster: how to welcome the Chinese New Year
5 min read • Jan 23, 2017
This year, China welcomes the Rooster, crowing in the new year on 28 January 2017. The Rooster is the tenth animal in the Chinese zodiac (between the…
- Hidden Beijing: 10 intriguing sights to discover in the Chinese capital
5 min read • May 18, 2016
As Beijing leaps skywards into the 21st century, its history can sometimes get left in the shadows. But despite the new highways and high-rises, China’s…
- Beijing on a budget
7 min read • May 8, 2015
China’s breakneck rise – in 2014 it became the country with the world’s biggest economy – means that it’s no longer quite the budget destination it used…
- What to eat in Beijing
8 min read • Sep 9, 2014
Mongolian lamb, Sichuan-style chilli-spiked crayfish and flaky flatbreads with sweet wafts of fried spring onions cooked before you. Beijing showcases the…
- Hip Beijing: a neighbourhood guide
5 min read • Jul 11, 2013
Once the great grey heart of China’s communist regime, Beijing now boasts colourful districts that mix historic buildings with contemporary art and design…
- BBeijing trip planner
3 min read • Sep 3, 2012
Beijing is a city of incredible contrasts. Imperial palaces and ancient alleyways teeming with life mingle with cutting-edge architecture and new shopping…
- TThe story of duck
2 min read • Jun 8, 2011
Most people would agree that Peking (or Beijing) duck is the capital’s most famous dish. Once imperial cuisine, now the legendary duck dish is served at…
- Rocking out in Beijing
3 min read • Jun 3, 2011
Think of Asian rock and traditionally, it is Japanese bands that have had the biggest profile in the West. China, though, has been undergoing its own…
- Beijing by night
4 min read • Jun 3, 2011
A city more than 3,000 years old, Beijing is known for its epic palaces and ancient temples, co-existing happily alongside neon billboards and ultra…
- Beijing on ice: 5 ways to cross a frozen lake in style
3 min read • Jan 11, 2011
Winters in Beijing can be brutal, with temperatures commonly dropping to minus 10 degrees Celsius or worse. It doesn't stop the locals, though. Rather…
- The cave dwellers of 21st-century China
3 min read • Sep 6, 2010
Cave dwellers' dwellings. Image by Daniel McCrohan / Lonely Planet.
- HHutong alleyways: Old Beijing at its timeless best
3 min read • Jul 17, 2010
China's capital may be racing towards the future at breakneck speed but sneak behind one of the city's glittering, ultra-modern tower blocks and you find…
- BBeijing's once Forbidden City
4 min read • Jul 11, 2010
Once home to China’s emperors, the Forbidden City was the very heart of the country for five centuries and even now exerts a powerful pull on the nation’s…