The 5 best day trips from Beijing

15.02.2024 - 00:47 / lonelyplanet.com

Beijing offers a dizzying number of things to see and do, but its appeal extends well beyond the confines of the city. Within easy reach are Ming dynasty tombs, ancient villages, the Great Wall and even enthralling glass-bottom bridges dangling over a gorge – all memorable ways to spend a day.

As much as we love China's capital, all it takes is a short trip out of town, and you'll soon be immersed in stunning forested mountain surrounds. If you're looking to escape the city, here are our top five getaways.

Travel time: 1–2 hours (one-way)

Snaking along the mist-cloaked mountains into the far distance on its epic 21,196km (13,171-mile) journey, the Great Wall simply does not disappoint. In fact, great doesn't quite cut it – extraordinary, unmissable and astonishing are more fitting superlatives.

Beijing is one of the best places to access it; the trick, however, is to pick the section that best suits your tastes and needs. Do you prefer it more wild and remote? Or maybe somewhere more polished and restored? Are you here for a long hike, or is a cable-car ride more your style? 

Just 70km (43 miles) from the capital, the Mutianyu and Badaling restored sections of the wall are the most popular day trips from Beijing, and certainly the most accessible. The views are astounding, and these stretches are easy to navigate with cable cars, chairlifts and even toboggans, so they're very much geared towards the tourist buses.

At the other end of the scale, you have the lesser-visited sections: Jinshanling, Jiankou, Huanghua Cheng and Zhuangdaokou, which offer a more serene and wild experience, with half-crumbling walls that give it a more off-the-beaten-track feel.

How to get to the Great Wall from Beijing:

Badaling is by far the easiest section of the wall to reach, thanks to a new high-speed train that takes only 30 minutes. There's public transport to all the sections, but the route involves a fiddly string of bus connections; instead, aim for one of the direct tourist buses departing from Dongzhimen Transport Hub.

But if you can stretch your budget to book a private car, that is by far the best option, especially if you're in a group – you'll have the comfort of door-to-door access and a speedier trip. Expect to pay ¥500–1200 for a day trip by car from Beijing. Otherwise, consider joining an organized tour with Beijing Hikers or Wild Wall Experiences.

Travel time: 45 minutes to 1½ hours (one-way)

You've probably already paid a visit to the home of Ming dynasty emperors at the Forbidden City; now it's time to make a trip to see their final resting place at the UNESCO-listed Ming Tombs, around 50km (31 miles) northwest from Beijing.

Set at the foot of Tianshou Mountain, you'll find the underground tombs of 13 of the