Beijing

Tiananmen Square is where Mao Zedong announced the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949. The square is dominated by the red Tiananmen Gate and Mao’s enormous portrait, which you’ll see everywhere. Every morning at sunrise, there’s a flag-raising ceremony, and on the first day of the month, it’s done with a military band. The square is also home to the Monument to the People’s Heroes, a 38-metre granite obelisk in the centre, and the Mausoleum of Mao Zedong, where people still queue to pay respects.

Once home to China’s emperors, the Forbidden City has more than 800 buildings and nearly 10,000 rooms. This vast imperial household opened to the public in 1949, and it’s remarkably well-preserved. The Hall of Supreme Harmony, covered in thousands of dragon motifs, hosted grand ceremonies, while the Palace of Heavenly Purity was where emperors lived, with bedrooms and private halls. Walking through the courtyards and along the red walls, it’s easy to feel the scale and ritual of life here.

Built in the mid-18th century for the Qing emperors as a retreat from the heat of the Forbidden City, the Summer Palace is a vast imperial garden centred on Kunming Lake and Longevity Hill, both man-made. The lake was modelled on Hangzhou’s West Lake, with islands, bridges, and long covered walkways. Scattered around are pavilions, temples, and a recreated riverside street designed to look like a traditional market town. Later restored under Empress Dowager Cixi, it became her favoured residence. Today, it’s worth visiting not just for the palaces themselves, but for the long lakeside walks, shaded courtyards, and the sense of space that feels very different from central Beijing.

Built in the early 1400s, around the same time as the Forbidden City, the Temple of Heaven was where emperors prayed for good harvests. The vast park contains several ceremonial buildings, the most striking being the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests with its blue-tiled roof and intricate wooden ceiling. The original hall was destroyed by lightning in 1889 but rebuilt soon after. Other highlights include the Hall of Abstinence, where emperors fasted before rituals, and the Circular Mound Altar — a three-tiered marble platform symbolising heaven itself. Today, the park is as much about everyday life as it is about history: locals gather here in the mornings for tai chi, dancing, and music.

Just behind the Forbidden City, Beihai Park is one of Beijing’s oldest and best-preserved imperial gardens. It’s quieter than some of the larger tourist spots, with lakes, pavilions, and tree-lined paths perfect for a stroll — the central White Dagoba on Qionghua Island is a highlight here.

Sitting on the east side of Tiananmen Square, the National Museum of China is one of the largest museums in the world, covering both Chinese history and art, from ancient artefacts to modern works. The exhibitions are vast, so you could easily spend a full day here, though most visitors focus on a few sections that interest them. English signage is available in key areas, but a guide or audio tour can help make sense of the collection.

Shichahai is a chain of three lakes just north of the Forbidden City, surrounded by old hutongs, temples, and courtyard houses. It’s a popular spot for walking, cycling, or renting a paddle boat in summer, while in winter the frozen lake often turns into an ice rink. Around the water, there are plenty of cafés, restaurants, and teahouses, along with a stretch of lively bars — many with live music in the evenings. The side alleys are worth exploring as well, with small shops selling antiques, snacks, and local crafts.

One of Beijing’s oldest hutongs — the city’s traditional narrow alleyways lined with courtyard houses — Nanluoguxiang has kept its Ming dynasty street layout while changing completely in character. Today, the lane is dotted with cafés, bars, boutiques, and souvenir shops, drawing a mix of tourists and young locals. It runs from Drum Tower East Street down to Ping’an Street, and it’s usually packed in the evenings when the lights come on. The old courtyards are still there behind the modern shopfronts, so you get a contrast between Beijing’s past and its current street life.

Inside the grounds of Beijing Zoo, the Beijing Aquarium is one of the largest inland aquariums in the world. Its seven exhibition halls cover everything from tropical fish and coral reefs to Chinese river life and endangered species, such as the Chinese sturgeon. There are also daily dolphin and sea lion shows. It’s a popular stop for visitors with kids, though if you’re mainly after wildlife, the zoo itself is the bigger draw.

First opened in 1981 within the Confucian Temple, the Capital Museum relocated to a purpose-built modern building in 2006 to accommodate its growing collection. It holds over 200,000 cultural relics; approximately 5,000 are typically on display at any given time, featuring a diverse range of items including porcelain, jade, calligraphy, paintings, coins, and Buddhist statues.

Once considered the most magnificent of China’s imperial gardens, Yuanmingyuan was filled with palaces, lakes, and pavilions, as well as rare plants and artworks collected from across the empire. It was destroyed in 1860 by British and French troops during the Second Opium War, and again suffered damage in 1900 during the Boxer Rebellion. What remains today are ruins — stone foundations, broken archways, and scattered carvings — set among lakes and quiet parkland.