Imperial Axis south to north
6.5 km · ~1 day · Historic centre · 6 stops
- Temple of Heaven
- Qianmen Street
- Tiananmen Square
- Forbidden City
- Jingshan Park
- Beihai Park
118 places · Michelin Guide Beijing 2026, Black Pearl, Asia's 50 Best, Time Out, The Beijinger · 5 routes · transit
Tap a route and it gets drawn on the map, stop by stop.
Tap a pin to see photos, rating and how to get there by metro. Turn on a route to follow the numbered path.
This interactive map of Beijing (China) brings together 118 hand-picked places: 38 attractions, 38 restaurants, 21 cafés and 21 shops. It also includes 5 walking routes with their stops in order. For every place you get what it is, a practical tip and how to get there by public transport. It is free, works on your phone and needs no sign-up.
· Curated by the HOLASIM team · How we make the maps
Tap a route to see it drawn on the map, stop by stop.
6.5 km · ~1 day · Historic centre · 6 stops
4.2 km · ~half day · Shichahai and Gulou · 7 stops
3.8 km · ~half day · Yonghegong and Guijie · 6 stops
120 km · ~full day · Northern Beijing · 5 stops
12 km · ~1 day · Chaoyang · 6 stops
故宫博物院 · Dongcheng
Nine thousand halls, golden roofs and 500 years of Ming and Qing emperors in one palace.
Tip: Book online seven days ahead: tickets sell out daily and there is no on-site counter.
🚇 Tiananmen East — Linea 1
Featured in: UNESCO World Heritage / Time Out Beijing
Show on map天安门广场 · Dongcheng
The largest public square on earth, with a flag-raising ceremony at first light.
Tip: Carry your passport: security checks it every single time and you cannot enter without it.
🚇 Tiananmen West — Linea 1
Featured in: Time Out Beijing
Show on map天坛公园 · Dongcheng
The circular altar where emperors prayed for good harvests, ringed by thousand-year cypresses.
Tip: Enter at 7am by the east gate and watch retirees dancing, singing and playing mahjong.
🚇 Tiantan East Gate — Linea 5
Featured in: UNESCO World Heritage
Show on map颐和园 · Haidian
Kunming Lake, a 728-metre painted corridor and Empress Cixi's famous marble boat.
Tip: Enter at Beigongmen and walk downhill: you skip the climb and finish beside the lake.
🚇 Beigongmen — Linea 4
Featured in: UNESCO World Heritage
Show on map圆明园 · Haidian
Baroque marble ruins burned in 1860: Beijing's most melancholic and photogenic park.
Tip: The European ruins sit in the far northeast corner: allow an extra hour to walk there.
🚇 Yuanmingyuan Park — Linea 4
Featured in: Time Out Beijing
Show on map慕田峪长城 · Huairou
The greenest restored stretch of the Wall, with a cable car up and a toboggan slide down.
Tip: Ride the toboggan down from tower 6: it is a 1,500-metre run and costs less than a taxi.
🚇 Bus 916 desde Dongzhimen — Linea 2
Featured in: UNESCO World Heritage / Time Out Beijing
Show on map八达岭长城 · Yanqing
The most accessible and monumental stretch, linked to Beijing by high-speed train in 35 minutes.
Tip: Turn left as you enter: the north side is steeper but carries half the crowd.
🚇 Badaling Changcheng — tren S2 / Jingzhang
Featured in: UNESCO World Heritage
Show on map雍和宫 · Dongcheng
The most important Tibetan temple outside Tibet, with an 18-metre Buddha carved from sandalwood.
Tip: Free incense comes with your ticket: light it outside each hall, never inside.
🚇 Yonghegong Lama Temple — Lineas 2 y 5
Featured in: Time Out Beijing
Show on map孔庙 · Dongcheng
Six hundred stone stelae carved with the names of scholars who passed the imperial exam.
Tip: The ticket also covers the Imperial College next door: do not skip it.
🚇 Yonghegong Lama Temple — Linea 5
Featured in: Time Out Beijing
Show on map北海公园 · Xicheng
A thousand-year-old imperial garden with a white Tibetan stupa on an island in the lake.
Tip: Rent a pedal boat at sunset: the white pagoda reflects whole across the water.
🚇 Beihai North — Linea 6
Featured in: Time Out Beijing
Show on map景山公园 · Xicheng
The artificial hill with the best aerial view over the Forbidden City's golden roofs.
Tip: Climb 20 minutes before closing: the sun drops right behind the palace and the top empties.
🚇 Shichahai — Linea 8
Featured in: Time Out Beijing
Show on map什刹海 · Xicheng
Three lakes ringed by bars, teahouses and hutongs: Beijing's classic night-time stroll.
Tip: Walk the western shore: the karaoke bars are all on the east side and get loud.
🚇 Shichahai — Linea 8
Featured in: Time Out Beijing
Show on map南锣鼓巷 · Dongcheng
The city's most famous hutong, 800 years old, with side lanes full of hidden courtyards.
Tip: Duck into the side lanes like Mao'er or Ju'er: the main drag is pure souvenir territory.
🚇 Nanluoguxiang — Lineas 6 y 8
Featured in: Time Out Beijing
Show on map五道营胡同 · Dongcheng
Beijing's hipster hutong: specialty coffee, independent design studios and almost no crowds.
Tip: Start at the east end beside the Lama Temple and walk west slowly.
🚇 Yonghegong Lama Temple — Linea 2
Featured in: Time Out Beijing / The Beijinger
Show on map国子监街 · Dongcheng
The last street in Beijing that still keeps its four original Ming-dynasty wooden archways.
Tip: The bookshops on this block only open at 10am: come after visiting the Lama Temple.
🚇 Yonghegong Lama Temple — Linea 5
Featured in: Time Out Beijing
Show on map烟袋斜街 · Xicheng
An 800-year-old crooked lane running from the Drum Tower down to the Houhai bridge.
Tip: It ends at Yinding Bridge: stand there at dusk and you can see the western hills.
🚇 Shichahai — Linea 8
Featured in: Time Out Beijing
Show on map鼓楼 · Dongcheng
It once kept the imperial city's time: today drumming performances run every half hour.
Tip: It is 69 very steep steps, but the top gives you the grey hutong rooftops.
🚇 Shichahai — Linea 8
Featured in: Time Out Beijing
Show on map钟楼 · Dongcheng
Its 63-tonne bell could be heard twenty kilometres away: the heaviest in China.
Tip: The square between both towers fills with locals playing cards in the late afternoon.
🚇 Shichahai — Linea 8
Featured in: Time Out Beijing
Show on map798艺术区 · Chaoyang
A German Bauhaus military factory turned into Asia's biggest contemporary gallery district.
Tip: Come Tuesday to Friday: weekends fill with photo shoots and you cannot see the art.
🚇 Wangjing South — Linea 14
Featured in: Time Out Beijing
Show on map尤伦斯当代艺术中心 · Chaoyang
China's most influential private museum, inside a restored industrial hall in the 798 complex.
Tip: UCCA's cafe has the best terrace in 798 for watching the old brick chimneys.
🚇 Wangjing South — Linea 14
Featured in: Time Out Beijing
Show on map中国国家博物馆 · Dongcheng
A million objects and 5,000 years of Chinese history, in the world's most visited museum.
Tip: Free but you must reserve online with your passport: slots vanish seven days out.
🚇 Tiananmen East — Linea 1
Featured in: Time Out Beijing
Show on map首都博物馆 · Xicheng
Beijing's own story told through bronzes, porcelain and models of the walled city.
Tip: Start on floor 5 and work down: the old Beijing hall is the best and almost empty.
🚇 Muxidi — Linea 1
Featured in: Time Out Beijing
Show on map国家体育场 · Chaoyang
The 2008 and 2022 Olympic stadium: 42,000 tonnes of steel woven like a giant nest.
Tip: Come after 7pm: it lights up red and the shot from the pedestrian bridge is the best.
🚇 Olympic Sports Center — Linea 8
Featured in: Time Out Beijing
Show on map国家游泳中心 · Chaoyang
The bubble-skinned Olympic pool, now a covered water park the whole family can use.
Tip: The indoor water park runs year-round: perfect if a rainy day catches you out.
🚇 Olympic Sports Center — Linea 8
Featured in: Time Out Beijing
Show on map中央电视台总部大楼 · Chaoyang
The trouser-shaped skyscraper designed by Rem Koolhaas, the defining symbol of modern Beijing's skyline.
Tip: The best photo is from the corner of Guanghua Lu: the cantilever seems to float.
🚇 Jintaixizhao — Linea 10
Featured in: Time Out Beijing
Show on map日坛公园 · Chaoyang
The imperial Altar of the Sun, now a leafy park where locals practise tai chi.
Tip: It is the embassy district's green lung: perfect to break up a day of museums.
🚇 Yonganli — Linea 1
Featured in: Time Out Beijing
Show on map香山公园 · Haidian
The mountain where Beijing heads each October to watch 100,000 maples turn fire red.
Tip: In October go on a weekday before 8am: weekends mean three-hour queues.
🚇 Xiangshan — Western Suburban Line
Featured in: Time Out Beijing
Show on map法源寺 · Xicheng
Beijing's oldest temple, founded in 645, famous for its lilacs blooming every April.
Tip: It is still an active Buddhist seminary: enter quietly and do not photograph the monks.
🚇 Caishikou — Linea 4
Featured in: Time Out Beijing
Show on map白云观 · Xicheng
Northern China's most important Taoist centre, with 19 courtyards and top-knotted monks.
Tip: Hunt for the three stone monkeys hidden in the walls: tradition says they bring luck.
🚇 Muxidi — Linea 1
Featured in: Time Out Beijing
Show on map恭王府 · Xicheng
The best-preserved private Qing mansion, complete with rock garden and its own theatre.
Tip: Book online: they cap entries per time slot and it sells out early.
🚇 Beihai North — Linea 6
Featured in: Time Out Beijing
Show on map太庙 · Dongcheng
Where emperors honoured their ancestors, with 500-year cypresses and almost no tourists.
Tip: Separate ticket from the Forbidden City and a fraction of the price: unbeatable value.
🚇 Tiananmen East — Linea 1
Featured in: Time Out Beijing
Show on map妙应寺白塔 · Xicheng
The 1279 Tibetan stupa designed by a Nepali architect: the oldest in Beijing.
Tip: The hutong quarter around it was just restored and hides cafes nobody knows about.
🚇 Fuchengmen — Linea 2
Featured in: Time Out Beijing
Show on map智化寺 · Dongcheng
A 1443 Ming temple where ritual music is still played on 500-year-old instruments.
Tip: Ritual music concerts run daily at 10am and 3pm and last about twenty minutes.
🚇 Chaoyangmen — Linea 2
Featured in: Time Out Beijing
Show on map北京古观象台 · Dongcheng
Fifteenth-century bronze astronomical instruments standing on a Ming wall tower, framed today by glass skyscrapers.
Tip: It is tiny, takes 40 minutes and sits two blocks from the metro: a perfect quick stop.
🚇 Jianguomen — Lineas 1 y 2
Featured in: Time Out Beijing
Show on map明十三陵 · Changping
Thirteen Ming emperors buried at the foot of the mountains, along an avenue of stone animals.
Tip: The 7km Sacred Way takes an hour on foot and is the prettiest part of the complex.
🚇 Changping Line — Ming Tombs
Featured in: UNESCO World Heritage
Show on map卢沟桥 · Fengtai
A stone bridge from 1192 carrying 501 carved lions, every one of them different.
Tip: Come at dawn: mist off the Yongding river over the lions is Beijing's best photo.
🚇 Dabaotai — Fangshan Line
Featured in: Time Out Beijing
Show on map前门大街 · Dongcheng
The restored imperial shopping avenue, with a heritage tram and century-old shops.
Tip: The good stuff is not on the avenue but in Xianyukou and Dashilan, the lanes on each side.
🚇 Qianmen — Linea 2
Featured in: Time Out Beijing
Show on map牛街礼拜寺 · Xicheng
A mosque from 996 built like a Chinese temple: the heart of the Hui Muslim quarter.
Tip: Non-Muslims cannot enter the prayer hall, but the courtyards and minaret are worth it.
🚇 Caishikou — Linea 4
Featured in: Time Out Beijing
Show on map四季民福烤鸭店 · Dashilan
Beijingers' favourite roast duck: shatter-crisp skin, an endless queue and honest prices.
Tip: Take a ticket in the app before arriving: walk-in waits easily hit two hours.
🚇 Qianmen — Linea 2
Featured in: Time Out Beijing / The Beijinger
Show on map大董烤鸭店 · Nanxincang
Ultra-lean roast duck and chef-driven plating at Beijing's most decorated duck house.
Tip: Order the skin with sugar before the duck itself: it has been the house ritual for 20 years.
🚇 Dongsi Shitiao — Linea 2
Featured in: Michelin Guide Beijing 2026 / Black Pearl 3 Diamonds
Show on map全聚德 · Qianmen
The house that invented modern Peking duck in 1864, with open pear-wood ovens.
Tip: They hand you a numbered certificate with your duck: the most Beijing souvenir there is.
🚇 Hepingmen — Linea 2
Featured in: Time Out Beijing
Show on map便宜坊 · Chongwenmen
Duck roasted in a closed oven since 1416: juicier and less smoky than the Quanjude style.
Tip: Ask for the menlu closed-oven method: it is what has set them apart for 600 years.
🚇 Chongwenmen — Lineas 2 y 5
Featured in: Time Out Beijing
Show on map全鸭季 · Sanlitun
Jujube-wood roast duck in a hidden industrial courtyard, with a champagne bar attached.
Tip: Book a table near the oven: they ring a gong every time a duck goes out.
🚇 Tuanjiehu — Linea 10
Featured in: Time Out Beijing / The Beijinger
Show on map晟永兴 · Sanlitun
Date-wood roast duck served with caviar: the refined take on the Beijing classic.
Tip: The lunch menu costs half the dinner price and serves exactly the same duck.
🚇 Tuanjiehu — Linea 10
Featured in: Michelin Guide Beijing 2026 / Black Pearl
Show on map京兆尹 · Yonghegong
Buddhist vegetarian fine dining in a courtyard facing the Lama Temple: pure theatre.
Tip: Request a courtyard table facing the pond: say so when booking or you get seated inside.
🚇 Yonghegong Lama Temple — Lineas 2 y 5
Featured in: Michelin Guide Beijing 2026
Show on map新荣记 · Xinyuan South Road
Taizhou seafood treated like jewellery: the only three-star address in the Beijing guide.
Tip: Book a month ahead and ask for the wild yellow croaker of the day.
🚇 Liangmaqiao — Linea 10
Featured in: Michelin Guide Beijing 2026 / Asia's 50 Best 2026 #84
Show on mapLamdre · Gongti Beilu
A plant-based tasting menu reinventing Chinese ingredients: Asia's highest climber in 2026.
Tip: Only two seatings a day and the menu shifts with the season: book weeks ahead.
🚇 Tuanjiehu — Linea 10
Featured in: Asia's 50 Best 2026 #17 / Michelin 2 Stars / Black Pearl 2 Diamonds
Show on map嵩祝寺 · Jingshan
Contemporary European cooking served inside a fifteenth-century temple, around a candlelit courtyard of old cypresses.
Tip: In summer ask to sit outside: you dine between the temple's red walls by candlelight.
🚇 Nanluoguxiang — Lineas 6 y 8
Featured in: Michelin Guide Beijing 2026
Show on map乔治 · Dongbuyaqiao
Nordic cooking in a canal-side courtyard, with Georg Jensen silver on every table.
Tip: Weekend brunch is the cheapest way to eat inside a Michelin star in this city.
🚇 Shichahai — Linea 8
Featured in: Michelin Guide Beijing 2026 / Black Pearl 1 Diamond
Show on mapChef 1996 · Jiangtai
Chef-driven Chinese cooking built on seasonal produce, the young revelation of the scene.
Tip: Very few tables and tasting menu only: they take no last-minute changes.
🚇 Jiangtai — Linea 14
Featured in: Asia's 50 Best 2026 #52 / Black Pearl 1 Diamond
Show on map胡大饭馆 · Guijie
Ghost Street's most famous spicy crayfish: people queue here until three in the morning.
Tip: Ask for medium spice and plastic gloves: they charge extra but you will need them.
🚇 Beixinqiao — Linea 5
Featured in: Time Out Beijing / The Beijinger
Show on map花家怡园 · Guijie
Beijing cooking in a red-lantern courtyard house: the most photographed patio on Guijie.
Tip: Order the roast duck and the crayfish together: that is the house combination.
🚇 Beixinqiao — Linea 5
Featured in: Time Out Beijing
Show on map东来顺 · Wangfujing
Mongolian hot pot since 1903: hand-sliced lamb and a copper pot fired with real charcoal.
Tip: Order the clear broth, not the spicy one: here the point is the lamb, not the chilli.
🚇 Wangfujing — Linea 1
Featured in: Time Out Beijing
Show on map聚宝源 · Niujie
The Hui quarter's best-loved halal hot pot: fresh lamb and a queue around the block.
Tip: Buy Hui pastries from the street counter while you wait: it is part of the ritual.
🚇 Caishikou — Linea 4
Featured in: Time Out Beijing / The Beijinger
Show on map姚记炒肝店 · Gulou
Garlicky liver and intestine stew, the most Beijing breakfast there is, since 1958.
Tip: Eat it without a spoon, turning the bowl and sipping from the rim: that is how locals do it.
🚇 Shichahai — Linea 8
Featured in: Time Out Beijing / The Beijinger
Show on map老磁器口豆汁店 · Tiantan
Douzhi, the fermented mung bean drink that splits the city: you love it or spit it out.
Tip: Order it with jiaoquan fried rings: it is the only way a foreigner ever finishes the bowl.
🚇 Tiantandongmen — Linea 5
Featured in: Time Out Beijing
Show on map护国寺小吃 · Dongsi
State-run canteen of Beijing snacks: pea cakes, rice cakes and sesame balls by the tray.
Tip: Pay at the till first and collect with your ticket: nobody serves you at the counter.
🚇 Zhangzizhonglu — Linea 5
Featured in: Time Out Beijing
Show on map方砖厂69号炸酱面 · Dong'anmen
The zhajiangmian that made soybean-paste noodles famous again, with eight vegetable dishes.
Tip: Stir the whole bowl for a full minute before the first bite: without it the noodles stay dry.
🚇 Tiananmen East — Linea 1
Featured in: Time Out Beijing / The Beijinger
Show on map海碗居 · Maizidian
Zhajiang noodles delivered with a shouted chorus by waiters with towels on their shoulders.
Tip: The whole room shouts the traditional greeting as you walk in: it is part of the show.
🚇 Agricultural Exhibition Center — Linea 10
Featured in: Time Out Beijing
Show on map都一处烧麦 · Xianyukou
Steamed shaomai since 1738, under a signboard brushed by Emperor Qianlong himself.
Tip: Order the lamb and spring onion ones: they are the 280-year-old house original.
🚇 Qianmen — Linea 2
Featured in: Time Out Beijing
Show on map爆肚冯 · Langfang Ertiao
Lamb tripe blanched for nine seconds and dunked in sesame sauce: neighbourhood Beijing.
Tip: Start with the tender sanban cut: begin with the chewy one and you will never come back.
🚇 Qianmen — Linea 2
Featured in: Time Out Beijing / The Beijinger
Show on map南门涮肉 · Gaobeidian
Beijing-style lamb hot pot with a copper pot, clear broth and thick sesame dipping sauce.
Tip: Build your sauce at the bar: sesame, fermented tofu, coriander and spring onion, nothing else.
🚇 Gaobeidian — Batong Line
Featured in: The Beijinger
Show on map馄饨侯 · Guangqumen
Clear-broth wontons since 1949: the bowl Beijingers have after a night at the opera.
Tip: Get a sesame shaobing flatbread on the side: that is the classic house combo.
🚇 Guangqumennei — Linea 7
Featured in: Time Out Beijing
Show on map柳泉居 · Shichahai
A restaurant from 1567, among Beijing's oldest, famous for its yeasted steamed buns.
Tip: The sweet bean doushabao are sold at the street window with no queue at all.
🚇 Xinjiekou — Linea 4
Featured in: Time Out Beijing
Show on map大理院子 · Xiaojingchang Hutong
Yunnan cooking with no menu: the chef serves what he found that day, in a wisteria courtyard.
Tip: Dinner only and booking only: flag allergies when you reserve because you choose nothing.
🚇 Nanluoguxiang — Lineas 6 y 8
Featured in: Time Out Beijing / The Beijinger
Show on map老石水饺 · Baochao Hutong
Hand-folded dumplings made in front of you, the long-running backpacker classic of Gulou.
Tip: Order half steamed and half pan-fried: the only way to compare both textures.
🚇 Shichahai — Linea 8
Featured in: The Beijinger
Show on map大跃啤酒 · Zuojiazhuang
The craft brewery that started in a 100-year-old hutong and changed Beijing nightlife.
Tip: Order the Honey Ma Gold brewed with Sichuan pepper: it tingles your tongue.
🚇 Sanyuanqiao — Linea 10
Featured in: Time Out Beijing / The Beijinger
Show on map京A · Longfusi
A Beijing brewery with cult labels and a rooftop terrace over the downtown rooftops.
Tip: The Longfusi rooftop runs April to October and takes no bookings: get there early.
🚇 Dongsi — Lineas 5 y 6
Featured in: Time Out Beijing / The Beijinger
Show on map悠航鲜啤 · Nongzhanguan
An American-style taproom with giant burgers and twenty rotating house taps poured by the brewers themselves.
Tip: Tuesdays are half-price burger night: the place fills up at seven sharp.
🚇 Agricultural Exhibition Center — Linea 10
Featured in: The Beijinger
Show on map海底捞火锅 · Wangfujing
The hot pot chain that made Chinese service famous: free manicures, origami and noodle shows.
Tip: Ask for the hand-pulled noodle show: it is free and performed dancing beside your table.
🚇 Wangfujing — Linea 1
Featured in: TikTok viral / Time Out Beijing
Show on map大鸭梨 · Shifoying
The everyday roast duck chain Beijingers actually use: cheap, huge portions, always packed.
Tip: A whole duck costs less than a third of Quanjude's and feeds four people.
🚇 Shifoying — Linea 6
Featured in: The Beijinger
Show on map局气 · Aoyuncun
Beijing cooking reinvented with humour: dishes shaped like hutong bricks and nitrogen snowball desserts.
Tip: Order the snowball dessert: they build it tableside with nitrogen and it is the most filmed dish.
🚇 Beishatan — Linea 8
Featured in: TikTok viral / The Beijinger
Show on map老舍茶馆 · Qianmen
Tea, imperial snacks and nightly shows of Peking opera, acrobatics and face-changing.
Tip: Buy the 7:50pm show on the second floor: the view beats the ground-floor tables.
🚇 Qianmen — Linea 2
Featured in: Time Out Beijing
Show on map牛街清真超市 · Niujie
The Hui supermarket where Beijing's classic Muslim snacks are sold by weight.
Tip: Ask for lvdagun and aiwowo at the sweets counter: two bites explain Hui cooking.
🚇 Caishikou — Linea 4
Featured in: The Beijinger
Show on map鲜鱼口街 · Qianmen
A lane of century-old eating houses behind Qianmen: shaomai, offal stews and noodles.
Tip: Come at 9am: the breakfast houses are the good ones and they shut by noon.
🚇 Qianmen — Linea 2
Featured in: Time Out Beijing
Show on map簋街 · Dongzhimen
A kilometre and a half of red lanterns and 150 restaurants that never close at night.
Tip: Peak hour is between midnight and 2am, when Beijingers pour in after their shifts.
🚇 Beixinqiao — Linea 5
Featured in: Time Out Beijing / The Beijinger
Show on map铁手咖啡制造总局 · Wudaoying
The specialty roaster that put Beijing on the map: Yunnan beans roasted in house.
Tip: Order the Yunnan filter and sit in the back courtyard: the prettiest corner of the lane.
🚇 Yonghegong Lama Temple — Linea 2
Featured in: Time Out Beijing / The Beijinger
Show on map铁手咖啡 · Xiushui
The brand's roastery and lab, with open cuppings and alternative brew methods daily.
Tip: Ask about the daily cupping: if there is space they add you at no charge.
🚇 Yonganli — Linea 1
Featured in: The Beijinger
Show on map旅行者咖啡 · Beiluoguxiang
A minimal concrete bar inside a hutong: precise espresso and a queue of locals.
Tip: Standing bar and no wifi: people come for serious coffee, not to work on a laptop.
🚇 Nanluoguxiang — Lineas 6 y 8
Featured in: Time Out Beijing / The Beijinger
Show on map独奏咖啡 · Gulou
American vintage and dark wood, one of the city's first independent roasteries.
Tip: The original branch is on Yangmeizhu Xiejie in Dashilan, with a hutong-view terrace.
🚇 Shichahai — Linea 8
Featured in: Time Out Beijing / The Beijinger
Show on map札哈咖啡 · Gulou Dongdajie
A two-storey German-run courtyard with rotating art shows and the best breakfast around.
Tip: German breakfast runs until 4pm: perfect if jet lag kept you in bed.
🚇 Shichahai — Linea 8
Featured in: Time Out Beijing
Show on map云游驿 · Yonghegong
A long-standing French bistro next to the Lama Temple, with aged beef and proper coffee.
Tip: They open early and close late: the only spot on the block still serving after 10pm.
🚇 Yonghegong Lama Temple — Lineas 2 y 5
Featured in: The Beijinger
Show on mapBarista · Wudaoying
A small hutong bar with light roasts and Yunnan and Ethiopian beans rotating weekly.
Tip: Only five stools: take your cup and walk the lane down to the Confucius Temple.
🚇 Yonghegong Lama Temple — Linea 2
Featured in: The Beijinger
Show on map% Arabica · Sanlitun
The globally hyped minimal Japanese bar, with the most photographed queue in Sanlitun.
Tip: The Kyoto latte is the one worth queueing for: everything else you get cheaper elsewhere.
🚇 Tuanjiehu — Linea 10
Featured in: TikTok viral / Time Out Beijing
Show on map% Arabica · Wangfujing
The same white bar but five minutes from the Forbidden City: the perfect recovery stop.
Tip: It is the closest non-chain coffee to the Forbidden City's north exit.
🚇 Wangfujing — Linea 1
Featured in: Time Out Beijing
Show on mapSOE COFFEE · Tuanjiehu
Single origin espresso specialists, roasting their own and running guided cuppings on Saturdays.
Tip: Ask for the Yunnan lot of the month: they always have one you cannot buy anywhere else.
🚇 Jintaixizhao — Linea 10
Featured in: The Beijinger
Show on mapPeet's Coffee · 798
A two-floor cafe among the galleries, with big windows facing the brick chimneys.
Tip: Sit upstairs by the window: the best spot to watch 798 without walking in the sun.
🚇 Wangjing South — Linea 14
Featured in: Time Out Beijing
Show on mapCave Cafe · 798
A cafe tucked inside a 798 industrial vault, all brick walls and workshop light.
Tip: It sits at the end of Qixing Lu behind the galleries, which is why it never has a queue.
🚇 Wangjing South — Linea 14
Featured in: The Beijinger
Show on mapCafe Flatwhite · Liangma River
An Australian cafe beside the Liangma River, the trendiest summer promenade Beijingers walk at dusk.
Tip: Get it to go and walk the Liangma riverside: at dusk it fills with locals.
🚇 Liangmaqiao — Linea 10
Featured in: The Beijinger
Show on mapMellower Coffee · Shuangjing
A Chinese specialty chain famous for its melted-marshmallow latte and nitro cold brew.
Tip: The sundae latte with torched marshmallow is the one in every video: order it iced.
🚇 Shuangjing — Linea 10
Featured in: TikTok viral / The Beijinger
Show on mapManner Coffee · Xueyuanlu
The Chinese chain that charges less if you bring your own cup: decent espresso, local prices.
Tip: Bring a reusable cup: they take five yuan off at any branch in the country.
🚇 Xitucheng — Linea 10
Featured in: The Beijinger
Show on mapM Stand · Chongwenmen
Brutalist concrete design and signature coffees: the most photographed chain in China.
Tip: The dirty coffee, espresso poured over cold milk unmixed, is what made the brand famous.
🚇 Chongwenmen — Lineas 2 y 5
Featured in: TikTok viral / The Beijinger
Show on map济安斋咖啡书吧 · Yangmeizhu Xiejie
A cafe and bookshop inside a restored Qing pharmacy, on Dashilan's independent design hutong.
Tip: Yangmeizhu Xiejie packs ten design shops into 500 metres: give it a whole afternoon.
🚇 Qianmen — Linea 2
Featured in: Time Out Beijing
Show on map啡域咖啡 · Sanlitun
A neighbourhood bar facing the Workers' Stadium, refuge from the fashionable queues.
Tip: It is a hundred metres from Sanlitun but half the price, with tables always free.
🚇 Dongsishitiao — Linea 2
Featured in: The Beijinger
Show on map喜茶 · Zhongguancun
The brand that invented cheese-foam tea and set off China's modern tea craze.
Tip: Order the grape tea with salted cheese foam: the drink that made the brand famous in 2016.
🚇 Haidian Huangzhuang — Lineas 4 y 10
Featured in: TikTok viral
Show on mapModernista · Baochao Hutong
An art deco hutong cafe-bar with live jazz, absinthe and tango nights on Thursdays.
Tip: Thursdays bring a tango milonga with a free class at 8pm: a local community secret.
🚇 Shichahai — Linea 8
Featured in: Time Out Beijing / The Beijinger
Show on map要潮人民咖啡馆 · Qianmen
A retro-socialist styled cafe on the Qianmen pedestrian street, with enamel mugs and old posters.
Tip: The enamel mugs with 1960s slogans are for sale: the best cheap souvenir around.
🚇 Qianmen — Linea 2
Featured in: The Beijinger
Show on map三里屯太古里 · Chaoyang
The open-air complex where China launches its flagships: colour-block architecture and global brands.
Tip: The north side holds luxury, the south street brands: start with whichever you need.
🚇 Tuanjiehu — Linea 10
Featured in: Time Out Beijing
Show on map北京SKP · Dawanglu
The department store with the world's highest sales per square metre: absolute luxury.
Tip: Claim your tax refund on floor 6 before leaving: there is a dedicated tourist desk.
🚇 Dawanglu — Lineas 1 y 14
Featured in: Time Out Beijing
Show on map北京SKP-S · Dawanglu
The concept annex with robot sheep and sci-fi scenography: retail built like a museum.
Tip: Entry is free and the installations change twice a year: the best free museum in town.
🚇 Dawanglu — Lineas 1 y 14
Featured in: TikTok viral / Time Out Beijing
Show on map国贸商城 · Guomao
Three levels of luxury beneath the financial district towers, wired straight into the metro.
Tip: The basement food court runs on office prices: the cheap way to eat in Guomao.
🚇 Guomao — Lineas 1 y 10
Featured in: Time Out Beijing
Show on map王府井大街 · Dongcheng
Beijing's oldest shopping street, mixing century-old heritage shops with the flagships of modern Chinese brands.
Tip: The heritage shops sit on the west side, the international chains on the east.
🚇 Wangfujing — Linea 1
Featured in: Time Out Beijing
Show on map王府中环 · Wangfujing
Quiet luxury two blocks from the Forbidden City, with a terrace over the imperial roofs.
Tip: Go up to the top-floor terrace: it is free to enter and looks over the Forbidden City roofs.
🚇 Wangfujing — Linea 1
Featured in: Time Out Beijing
Show on map潘家园旧货市场 · Chaoyang
Three thousand stalls of antiques, calligraphy, jade and porcelain: China's biggest flea market.
Tip: Come Saturday or Sunday at 6am: that is when the out-of-province dealers arrive.
🚇 Panjiayuan — Linea 10
Featured in: Time Out Beijing
Show on map秀水街 · Jianguomen
Six floors of silk, made-to-measure tailoring and competitive haggling: the diplomats' classic.
Tip: Open at 20 per cent of the asking price: the real number lands near 30.
🚇 Yonganli — Linea 1
Featured in: Time Out Beijing
Show on map大栅栏 · Xicheng
The fifteenth-century shopping lane where Beijing's oldest heritage shops are still open and still trading.
Tip: Enter via Langfang Ertiao and leave by Yangmeizhu Xiejie: the route locals take.
🚇 Qianmen — Linea 2
Featured in: Time Out Beijing
Show on map琉璃厂东街 · Xicheng
The calligraphy street: brushes, ink, stone seals and antique books since the Qing dynasty.
Tip: Order a stone seal with your name in Chinese: they carve it in an hour for very little.
🚇 Hepingmen — Linea 2
Featured in: Time Out Beijing
Show on map创可贴8 · Nanluoguxiang
Cult T-shirts built from Beijing pop icons: metro tickets, enamel flasks and old slogans.
Tip: The 1990s metro ticket design is the bestseller: the least touristy souvenir in the city.
🚇 Nanluoguxiang — Lineas 6 y 8
Featured in: Time Out Beijing / The Beijinger
Show on mapUbi Gallery · Wudaoying
A contemporary jewellery and ceramics gallery in a hutong, with one-off artist pieces.
Tip: Everything comes from Chinese and Dutch artists in runs under ten pieces: nothing repeats.
🚇 Yonghegong Lama Temple — Linea 2
Featured in: Time Out Beijing
Show on mapBeijing Postcards · Yangmeizhu Xiejie
Historic maps, archive photographs and books about Beijing, made by two local historians.
Tip: They run historical walks through the Dashilan hutongs: book on their site a week ahead.
🚇 Qianmen — Linea 2
Featured in: Time Out Beijing / The Beijinger
Show on map瑞蚨祥 · Dashilan
The 1893 silk house that dressed the Qing aristocracy: made-to-measure qipao in three days.
Tip: A made-to-measure qipao takes three days: order it on day one and collect before you fly.
🚇 Qianmen — Linea 2
Featured in: Time Out Beijing
Show on map同仁堂 · Dashilan
The 1669 imperial pharmacy that supplied the Qing court: herbs, ginseng and free consultations.
Tip: The ground floor offers free Chinese medicine consultations: they read your pulse on the spot.
🚇 Qianmen — Linea 2
Featured in: Time Out Beijing
Show on map吴裕泰茶庄 · Wangfujing
An 1887 tea house famous for its jasmine: they also sell green tea ice cream on the street.
Tip: The matcha ice cream at the street window costs pennies and queues with locals all summer.
🚇 Wangfujing — Linea 1
Featured in: Time Out Beijing
Show on map三联韬奋书店 · Longfusi
Beijing's intellectual bookshop, the first in all of China to open 24 hours a day.
Tip: The basement has a reading room with plugs and coffee: the best shelter on a rainy day.
🚇 Dongsi — Lineas 5 y 6
Featured in: Time Out Beijing
Show on map模范书局 · Yangmeizhu Xiejie
A movable-type bookshop in a restored Qing house: rare books and antique printing presses.
Tip: Their Zhonggu church branch in Xisi is even better: a chapel turned bookshop.
🚇 Qianmen — Linea 2
Featured in: Time Out Beijing
Show on map侨福芳草地 · Chaoyangmen
A bioclimatic mall under a glass pyramid, holding 500 original artworks including Dali pieces.
Tip: The Dali sculptures are spread along the walkways and free to see: ask for the map at the desk.
🚇 Hujialou — Lineas 6 y 10
Featured in: Time Out Beijing
Show on map北京坊 · Qianmen
A restored block beside Qianmen with design bookshops, Chinese brands and view terraces.
Tip: The top-floor terrace looks straight at Zhengyangmen gate: free and almost nobody goes up.
🚇 Qianmen — Linea 2
Featured in: Time Out Beijing
Show on map隆福寺 · Dongcheng
The old temple market reborn as a creative district: indie brands, art and rooftops.
Tip: Head to the Longfu Dasha rooftop at sunset: the whole Forbidden City, and it is free.
🚇 Dongsi — Lineas 5 y 6
Featured in: Time Out Beijing / The Beijinger
Show on map