Beijing Travel Guide | Great Wall of China (Mutianyu), Summer Palace, Cherry Blossoms & Smart Hotel Robots

After 100 countries and two trips to China already, we found ourselves flying back for round two—this time heading straight for the capital, Beijing.

We flew from Bangkok through Shanghai and landed in Beijing right in the middle of cherry blossom season, staying at a smart hotel complete with a food-delivery robot. From there, we hiked the Great Wall of China at Mutianyu with a local friend as our guide, wandered the imperial gardens of the Summer Palace, chased blossoms through Yuyuantan Park, and explored the 798 Art Zone's industrial-turned-artsy streets.

If you're planning your first trip to Beijing or want to know what to expect from flights, visas, eSIMs, the Great Wall, and getting around the city, this guide covers our full experience—including the mistakes we made so you don't have to.

✈️ Getting to Beijing: Bangkok → Shanghai → Beijing

We started our journey at Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok, flying to Beijing with a layover in Shanghai. Our first flight was with Shanghai Airlines, followed by a 4 hour 40 minute layover in Shanghai, and then a second flight to Beijing with China Eastern Airlines.

We booked all of our flights, hotels and trains through Trip.com rather than the airlines' own websites. In China, most local booking sites only accept local currency and can be difficult for international travellers to use. Trip.com's app and website were user-friendly and accepted our own debit and credit cards from home. This wasn't a sponsored mention—it's simply what worked best for us as international travellers in China.

As Canadians, we didn't need a visa for this trip. Canadian passport holders can currently get a 30-day visa-free entry for tourism, though you do need a return or onward flight out of China to qualify.

Immigration was processed in Shanghai, so our bags went straight through to Beijing and we didn't need to recheck them. If you're entering China for the first time, you'll also need to fill out an arrival card online in advance, which generates a QR code linked to your passport.

📱 Getting an eSIM Before Arriving in China

China has significant internet restrictions, so we strongly recommend getting an eSIM before you land rather than relying on local Wi-Fi. We used Billion Connect, and it worked amazingly well—full 5G, with access to WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook and other apps that are normally restricted in China.

Our tip: Use our code FOLLOW for $3 off your first Billion Connect purchase. Having reliable data from the moment you land makes navigating immigration, taxis and maps far easier.

🚕 Airport to City Centre: Didi via Alipay

From Beijing airport, we booked a cab through Didi (China's version of Uber), paid via Alipay, for the ride into the city centre. It cost us only around $9 USD for a journey of more than 20 kilometres—very cheap for the distance.

We arrived in early spring, and the entire drive was lined with cherry blossoms. Beijing sits in the northern part of China, and the trees, wide roads and general atmosphere reminded us strongly of Canada in springtime—just with a distinctly Chinese aesthetic of traditional architecture and script along the way.

🏨 Our Smart Hotel in Beijing (With a Robot!)

We stayed 3 nights in a smart hotel in Beijing, and it was full of small surprises: robes, slippers, a complimentary minibar restocked daily with water, Coke and Sprite, a smart toilet (our favourite part of travelling in East Asia), and in-room panels to control the lights, mood and curtains.

The room itself wasn't huge, but it had everything we needed. We paid approximately $57 USD per night, which included breakfast for two—and the breakfast buffet turned out to have an excellent variety of hot and cold, spicy Chinese dishes.

The real highlight, though, was the hotel's delivery robot. When we ordered McDonald's one evening, a robot brought it straight to our door—our first time experiencing this. The hotel also offered free laundry (washer and dryer), and changed our robes and slippers daily. If it's within your budget, we'd absolutely recommend a smart hotel stay like this in Beijing.

🧱 The Great Wall of China at Mutianyu

The main reason we came to Beijing was, of course, the Great Wall of China—one of the 7 wonders of the world, and our 6th wonder checked off personally.

We were lucky enough to be joined by Echo, a licensed local tour guide we'd originally met while travelling in Laos back in 2024. She picked us up from our hotel and drove us to the wall, though the trip still took about 2 hours from downtown thanks to weekend traffic—locals travel to the wall on weekends too.

We entered through the Mutianyu entrance rather than the more famous (and far more crowded) Badaling entrance. Mutianyu is considered the best-preserved section and is still the second most-visited entrance, but noticeably less packed than Badaling. Both entrances are more than an hour from downtown Beijing.

Tickets and logistics: Entry to the wall was 15 CNY per person. From there, you can choose a shuttle bus from the city (bundled with entry), an entry-only ticket, a cable car up, and even a toboggan ride back down. We opted for a round-trip cable car ticket, which we found cheaper and more convenient than the toboggan option. You don't need to show your ticket at the cable car—just your passport, since your details are linked to it when you buy your ticket.

The wall itself was built over 2,000 years ago and spans an astonishing 21,000 km across multiple mountain ranges, originally to defend against invasions from the north. Walking it, we passed 15–20 watchtowers on the Mutianyu side alone, with some sections steep enough that you're genuinely climbing rather than strolling. Coming during cherry blossom season meant we got to experience blossoms right on the wall itself—a combination we didn't expect and won't forget.

Our tip: Come as early in the day as possible to beat both the crowds and the midday sun—we went around noon and felt it. On the way out, look for the free stamp booths near the exit, where you can get a colourful souvenir stamp on your ticket—a nicer keepsake than a magnet.

🍓 Roadside Strawberries Near the Wall

On the drive back down from the wall, we stopped at a small roadside stall and picked up half a kilo of fresh strawberries and some blackberries—some of the best strawberries we've ever had. The vendor even gave us a bowl for free so we could eat them in the car.

🎨 798 Art Zone

On Echo's recommendation, we ended our day at the 798 Art Zone, a huge art district built into a former industrial area. Old factories have been converted into quirky souvenir shops, vending machines, coffee houses and street art—similar in spirit to Graffiti Alley in Toronto, but on a much larger scale.

Entry is free, and in spring the area is full of magnolias and cherry blossoms alongside the street art. You can also rent small, cute electric cars to drive around the zone, starting from 18 CNY for the first 30 minutes.

🏯 Summer Palace: Beijing's Imperial Gardens

On our third day, we decided to explore the city by metro rather than Didi, given how bad Beijing traffic can get. Getting to the Summer Palace took two metro transfers—one short, one about 40 minutes long—for a total of just 6 CNY.

Entry is 30 CNY per person for basic admission, or 60 CNY for a full package covering additional attractions inside. We opted for admission only. Payment is via Alipay or WeChat, and you'll need your passport on hand—it gets checked at nearly every attraction in China.

The Summer Palace was the royal retreat for emperors during the Qing Dynasty and is considered the best-preserved imperial garden in China. We entered through the North Palace Gate, climbed the aptly named Longevity Hill, and made our way down to Kunming Lake—the 6th largest freshwater lake in China, and remarkably, entirely man-made, originally built as a reservoir over 3,500 years ago.

The lake was full of ducks, swans and fish, with traditional Chinese boat rides available if you want one. Our personal highlight was spotting a mandarin duck—genuinely one of the most colourful, striking ducks we've ever seen.

Accessibility tip: If you're travelling with senior citizens, young children, or have mobility concerns, exit through the East Gate instead of retracing your steps over the hill—it's a fully accessible walkway along the lake.

🌸 Yuyuantan Park: Cherry Blossoms Without the Hype

Our next stop was Yuyuantan Park, a peaceful pocket tucked into the middle of the city and famous for its seasonal cherry blossoms. Entry costs 10 CNY per person, and inside we found not just cherry trees but peach blossoms and several other varieties we couldn't identify, plus a lake with a tower resembling a mini CN Tower, ducks, cranes and fish.

We also spotted an older woman practicing Tai Chi peacefully by the water—a lovely, unbothered moment amid all the visitors.

Our honest take: after visiting Japan during cherry blossom season, we found China's blossoms just as beautiful—without the inflated prices Japan sees during peak bloom (we noticed costs there run roughly 5x higher during the season). Blossoms in Beijing aren't confined to one park or street either; they're genuinely everywhere, starting right from the airport.

Etiquette tip: we saw several visitors sitting on low branches and plucking blossoms off the trees. Please don't—wherever you encounter cherry blossoms, admire them without touching so everyone else can enjoy them too. We also grabbed a sakura-pink cotton candy inside the park for 20 CNY—almost too pretty to eat.

🎟️ Tiananmen Square & Forbidden City: Book Ahead or Miss Out

This is our biggest lesson learned in Beijing: we tried to visit both Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City (Palace Museum) on the same afternoon and couldn't get into either.

The Forbidden City requires tickets booked at least 8 days in advance—ours were sold out by the time we tried. Tiananmen Square requires a registration made at least 1 day in advance; a police officer stopped us at the entrance and confirmed we couldn't enter without it. Both spots were packed with tourists and police checking reservations.

Our tip: If Tiananmen Square or the Forbidden City are on your Beijing itinerary, book your tickets and registrations well ahead of time—ideally before you even land. And carry your passport everywhere; you'll need it at metro exits, ticket counters, the Great Wall, and pretty much every major attraction in China.

🌫️ The Mysterious White "Snow" All Over Beijing

From the moment we left the airport, we kept noticing white, cotton-like fluff drifting through the air and coating the ground—it genuinely looks like snowfall, but it isn't. A local friend explained that certain trees release this cottony fluff during spring, and it blankets the entire city, giving everything a slightly hazy, dusty look.

Health tip: if you have pollen allergies, be aware of this and consider wearing a mask during spring visits.

🛍️ Shopping & VAT Refunds

Near our hotel, we found a pedestrian-only shopping street that reminded us strongly of Nanjing Road in Shanghai, lined with international and local brands, food courts and pop-up stores. From here you can also see one of Beijing's tallest towers—a 108-floor office building.

As international tourists, we were eligible for up to a 9% VAT refund on purchases. That said, when we compared prices on an item from Lululemon, it was still around $50–60 USD more expensive than back home in Canada—even after the refund, it wasn't worth buying there.

✨ Our Beijing Tips

• ✈️ Book flights, hotels and trains through Trip.com—local Chinese sites often only accept local currency and can be hard to navigate as a foreigner.
• 🛂 Canadians get 30 days visa-free entry, but you need a return or onward flight booked.
• 📱 Get an eSIM (we used Billion Connect, code FOLLOW for $3 off) before you land—internet access is restricted otherwise.
• 🚕 Didi (via Alipay) is a cheap, easy way to get from the airport to the city centre.
• 🧱 Choose the Mutianyu entrance over Badaling for the Great Wall—better preserved and less crowded.
• ⏰ Visit the Great Wall as early in the day as possible to avoid crowds and midday sun.
• 🎟️ Book Forbidden City tickets at least 8 days ahead, and register for Tiananmen Square at least 1 day ahead—both sell out or require advance registration.
• 🪪 Carry your passport everywhere—metro exits, attractions, and the Great Wall all require it.
• 🚇 The metro is the cheapest, most reliable way to get around Beijing—traffic can be brutal.
• 🌸 Don't touch or pluck cherry blossoms, in China or anywhere else—let others enjoy them too.
• 😷 If you have pollen allergies, be prepared for the tree-fluff "snow" that covers the city in spring.
• 🛍️ Compare prices before buying international brands—VAT refunds don't always make up the price gap.

💰 Our Beijing Costs & Prices

• 📱 Billion Connect eSIM: Use code FOLLOW for $3 off your first purchase
• 🚕 Airport to city centre via Didi: Approximately $9 USD (20+ km)
• 🏨 Smart hotel (3 nights): Approximately $57 USD/night, breakfast for two included
• 🧱 Great Wall (Mutianyu) entry ticket: 15 CNY per person, plus a separate cable car round-trip ticket
• 🎠 798 Art Zone: Free entry; electric car rental from 18 CNY per 30 minutes
• 🏯 Summer Palace entry: 30 CNY (basic admission) or 60 CNY (full package)
• 🚇 Metro to Summer Palace (2 transfers): 6 CNY total
• 🌸 Yuyuantan Park (cherry blossom park) entry: 10 CNY per person
• 🍭 Sakura-style cotton candy: 20 CNY

Prices are based on our trip and may vary depending on the season, availability, booking date, room category, exchange rates and the exact service booked.

🎥 Watch Our Beijing Adventure

Beijing gave us a bit of everything: 3,000 years of history at the Great Wall and the Summer Palace, a completely modern side at the 798 Art Zone, and cherry blossoms wherever we turned—on the Great Wall, in the parks, and even drifting through the city as tree fluff.

We learned a few lessons the hard way (book Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City well in advance!), but between the smart hotel robot, the incredible Great Wall hike with a local friend, and Beijing's efficient metro system, this capital city won us over.

This is just the beginning of our second China trip—we're hopping between multiple cities, both modern and traditional, over the coming weeks. Next stop: Changsha, where a special guest who has travelled to 123 countries joins us.

100 countries down, and our journey around the world continues. 🌎✈️