Guides · China
Getting around Beijing
How to move around Beijing on a 3-day walking trip: metro, tickets and the notes that matter.
Checked September 2026 against official sources
Beijing
Transit and walking
Follow the official link before you buy. Full walking days: Beijing itinerary.
Getting around
- Beijing's subway accepts tap-and-go payment with contactless UnionPay, Mastercard, Visa, JCB and American Express cards at every gate of all 29 lines and 523 stations, including the airport express lines; since June 2025 all five brands work across the network, so no advance ticket or app is needed.Source: Beijing Municipal Government Foreign Affairs Office · checked Sep 2026
Questions
Quick answers
Which days should I plan around?
The Forbidden City is closed on Mondays and so are the ticketed halls of the Temple of Heaven, the Confucius Temple and the paid sights inside Beihai Park, so keep days one and two off a Monday. The Forbidden City sells no same-day tickets and its 40,000 daily places open seven days ahead at 20:00; Tiananmen Square needs its own free reservation, one to nine days ahead.
Do I need a Chinese app to visit?
For the Forbidden City, no: the Palace Museum's English website takes bookings with a passport number. Tiananmen Square, the Temple of Heaven, the Summer Palace and the Lama Temple sell timed tickets through WeChat mini-programs, which now accept foreign cards; the Summer Palace and Mutianyu also sell tickets at the gate. Bring your passport everywhere, because every ticket is tied to it.
How do I pay for the subway?
Tap a contactless Visa, Mastercard, JCB, American Express or UnionPay card, or a phone wallet, on the gate reader at any station; the network's own transport card and the Alipay and WeChat ride codes work too. A taxi or a ride-hailing car is the practical way to and from Mutianyu.
How much walking is this itinerary?
Day one is the longest on foot, about 5 km in a straight line from Tiananmen to Houhai plus the length of the Forbidden City itself; day two is about 2 km between sights plus two subway rides and a lot of walking inside the Summer Palace; day three is the steps and slopes of the Wall, then under 2 km in the city.
The days these rules belong to
3 days in Beijing
Beijing's big sights sit on a north–south line, so day one simply walks it: Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City from the Meridian Gate to the north gate, the view from Jingshan, Beihai's white dagoba and an evening around the Houhai lakes and the Drum Tower. Day two starts early at the Temple of Heaven with the tai chi crowd, walks up Qianmen Street for Peking duck, takes the subway out to the Summer Palace and ends on Wangfujing. Day three is the Great Wall at Mutianyu, back in the city by mid-afternoon for the Lama Temple, the Confucius Temple and the lanes of Nanluoguxiang. The Forbidden City is closed on Mondays and sells no same-day tickets, so book it a week ahead and put day one anywhere but Monday.
