Short answer
Three days is enough for the Beijing most people come for — the Forbidden City, one section of the Great Wall, the Temple of Heaven and an afternoon in the hutongs — on one condition: you accept that this city runs on advance bookings. The Forbidden City caps daily visitors, releases its tickets on a fixed schedule, sells nothing at the gate, and shuts one day a week.
The structure that holds up: Day 1 the imperial axis (Tiananmen, the Forbidden City, Jingshan, the lakes). Day 2 the Great Wall, which is a full day no matter what a tour company tells you. Day 3 the Temple of Heaven at opening, the old streets around Qianmen, then the hutongs or 798.
Do not bolt the Summer Palace onto Day 3 unless you drop something. It sits in the far north-west, the Temple of Heaven sits in the far south, and the crossing between them eats the afternoon. Pick one.
The booking window is the itinerary
In Beijing you decide where to go, then discover the tickets for that day were released a week ago and are gone. Build the plan around the release windows, not the other way round.
| What | When tickets appear | The catch |
|---|---|---|
| Forbidden City | Released about 7 days ahead, in an evening window | No same-day sales at the gate; closed Mondays except public holidays; booked per passport |
| Tiananmen Square | Free reservation, roughly 1–7 days ahead | A separate booking from the Forbidden City; bring the physical passport |
| Temple of Heaven | 1–7 days ahead on the official ticketing channel | Monument courtyards closed Mondays; the surrounding park stays open |
| Summer Palace and other parks | Up to 7 days ahead | Real-name — your passport is the ticket |
| Great Wall high-speed train | Rolling release weeks ahead on 12306 | Sells out on weekends and holidays; your passport is your ticket |
Day 1 — the imperial axis, walked south to north
Day 1 sits on one straight line: the 7.8 km Beijing Central Axis, inscribed by UNESCO in 2024, which runs from the Drum and Bell Towers through Tiananmen to Yongdingmen. You walk the middle of it.
- Start at Tiananmen East on Line 1, exit BYou come up at the east checkpoint, which is faster than walking in from Qianmen. Bring the physical passport, not a photo of it.
- Cross the square, then head for the Meridian GateThe Meridian Gate is the only entrance. If you have a palace ticket and no interest in the square, the east moat route along the Tongzi River skips the square's security queue entirely.
- Walk the palace south to northPeak season (April–October) it opens at 08:30 and closes at 17:00, last entry 16:00; in winter it closes at 16:30, last entry 15:30. Give it three to four hours.
- Exit at the Gate of Divine Prowess and climb JingshanThe hill directly north gives you the classic view back down the golden roofs and the whole axis. Ten minutes up, and the best photograph in Beijing.
- Walk or ride west to Shichahai and HouhaiThe linked lakes and the hutong lanes around them are where Day 1 ends — bars, courtyard restaurants, and the Drum and Bell Towers at the northern end of the axis.
Day 2, the Great Wall
Pick the section before you pick the transport. Badaling and Mutianyu are the two realistic day trips from the city, and they trade off differently.
| Badaling | Mutianyu | |
|---|---|---|
| Distance | About 70 km north-west | About 70–75 km north-east |
| Rail | High-speed train from Beijing North or Qinghe, 20–30 minutes, second class in the low tens of yuan | None — no station serves the section |
| Bus | Bus 877 from the Beitucheng area, about ¥12 with a card, 1.5–2 hours | 916 Express from Dongzhimen to Huairou, then an H-line minibus or ride-hail |
| Character | Most restored, most crowded, easiest to reach | Longer, quieter walk, better views, harder to reach |
| Extras | Cable car to the ridge | Cable car or chairlift up, toboggan down; a park shuttle |
Whichever you choose, treat the return as the critical leg. Buses back from the wall stop running in the mid-to-late afternoon, and missing the last one turns a cheap day out into an expensive taxi. Check the last departure at the stop before you start climbing.
Day 3, Temple of Heaven, old streets, hutongs
The Temple of Heaven is the reason to set an alarm on your last day. The park opens at 06:00 (06:30 in winter) and the monument courtyards do not open until 08:00, and that two-hour gap is the best thing in Beijing. The cypress avenues fill with retirees doing tai chi, dancing and painting characters on the paving with water.
Buy the combo ticket, not the park ticket. The park ticket covers the trees; the combo adds the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests, the Echo Wall and the Circular Mound Altar, which are what you came for. The monuments run 08:00–18:00 in peak season and 08:00–17:00 in winter, and close on Mondays while the park stays open.
Enter by the East Gate (Line 5, Tiantan Dongmen, exit A2) and walk the axis south, the original sacrificial order with no backtracking. The South Gate (Line 8, Tianqiao, exit C) works if you want to start at the Circular Mound Altar.
The afternoon, three ways
- Old Beijing: Qianmen and the Dashilan lanes, then north to Nanluoguxiang and the Drum and Bell Towers.
- Modern Beijing: 798 Art District, a 1950s Bauhaus factory complex turned into the country's biggest contemporary art cluster. Galleries are mostly free.
- The gardens: the Summer Palace instead, a half-day north-west on Line 4 to Beigongmen.
Getting between the stops
The metro covers almost everything on this itinerary, and it is immune to Beijing traffic. These are the stations that matter.
| Sight or task | Station | Line |
|---|---|---|
| Tiananmen Square, Forbidden City | Tiananmen East / Tiananmen West | Line 1 |
| Wangfujing | Wangfujing | Line 1 |
| Temple of Heaven, East Gate | Tiantan Dongmen | Line 5 |
| Summer Palace, north gate | Beigongmen | Line 4 |
| Nanluoguxiang hutong | Nanluoguxiang | Lines 6 and 8 |
| Shichahai, Houhai | Shichahai | Line 8 |
| Bus 877 to Badaling | Beitucheng | Lines 8 and 10 |
| 916 Express to Huairou (Mutianyu) | Dongzhimen | Lines 2 and 13 |
| Train to Badaling | Xizhimen (Beijing North) | Lines 2, 4 and 13 |
Payment is the other half of this: bind a card to Alipay or WeChat Pay before you fly and you can scan your way through gates, buses and taxis without cash.
Where to base yourself
Dongcheng, Wangfujing, Dongsi, Nanluoguxiang, puts you inside the imperial core, within a couple of metro stops of Day 1 and Day 3. Xicheng and Shichahai trade a little convenience for courtyards and lakes, and Sanlitun and Guomao are the modern city with a longer ride to the sights. One thing to check before you book anywhere: not every hotel in China can register a foreign passport, so ask the property in writing before you pay.
Frequently asked questions
Is three days enough for Beijing?
For the classic first trip, yes, the Forbidden City and the axis, one Great Wall section, the Temple of Heaven and the hutongs. It is not enough to add the Summer Palace and the Ming Tombs as well.
Do I have to book the Forbidden City in advance?
Yes. There are no same-day tickets at the gate, entry is by passport, and the daily cap means popular dates go quickly. Tickets are released roughly a week ahead in an evening window. If your date is gone, cancelled tickets are sometimes re-released.
Which Great Wall section should I pick?
Badaling if you want the easiest logistics, a high-speed train from the city in about half an hour, and do not mind crowds. Mutianyu if you want a longer, quieter walk and will deal with a bus plus a transfer. Both are full days once you count the travel.
Can I do the Forbidden City and the Temple of Heaven on the same day?
Physically yes, and they sit on the same axis. But it is a heavy day: three to four hours in the palace plus two to three at the temple, with a metro or taxi hop between them. With only three days, keep them separate.
Is Tiananmen Square free, and does it need a reservation?
The square is free, but a real-name reservation through the official channel is the published requirement, booked with passport details roughly one to seven days ahead. Reports vary on how strictly it is enforced, so book it; it costs nothing. Carry the physical passport either way.
What can I do on a Monday?
Not the Forbidden City, and not the monument halls at the Temple of Heaven, both close on Mondays except on public holidays. Monday suits the Great Wall, the Summer Palace, 798, or the hutongs and the lakes, none of which shut.
How do I pay for tickets and transport?
Alipay or WeChat Pay, with a foreign card bound to the account, covers almost everything, metro gates, buses, taxis, restaurants and most attraction bookings. Carry a few tens of yuan in small notes as a fallback, and expect some official booking channels to run in Chinese only.
Related reading
Opening hours, closing days and ticket windows were compiled from the Palace Museum's published visit notice, the Beijing municipal government's English park pages for the Temple of Heaven, and official Beijing subway and airport operator information, cross-checked against independent 2026 visitor guides. Prices, release times and Monday closures are set by each site and do change, confirm the current notice for your date on the official channel. Current as of September 2026.