Beijing is the capital city of China, but only the second largest city (beaten by Shanghai), with a population of 20 million. With a history of more than 3,000 years, it has been an integral part of China’s history. Being the capital city for about 850 years, it is one of the Four Great Ancient Capitals of China.

We arrived in Beijing by CRH high speed train from Xi’an, 1200 kilometres, which it can cover in 4.5 hours. We reached speeds of 309 kilometres/hour on our journey! An interesting fact for you: the Shanghai Maglev is currently the fastest train in the world reaching speeds of 430 kilometres per hour.

We loved Beijing, spending five days in this glorious city. Here are our favourite things to do, our best of Beijing with kids.

THE BEST OF BEIJING WITH KIDS

THE FORBIDDEN CITY

The Forbidden City was the Chinese Imperial Palace from the Ming dynasty to the end of the Qing dynasty, from 1420 to 1912. It can be found at the heart of the city of Beijing, China. During this time it was forbidden to enter without special permission of the emperor, hence its name ‘The Forbidden City’. It is the world’s largest palace complex and covers 74 hectares.

We spent a day at the Forbidden City touring this enormous complex of palaces, temples, and smaller exhibits. It certainly warrants a full day as there is so much to see. Our tour took us through the main sights, through wide open courtyards, into several of the palaces, as well as the Treasury Garden.

There is a tremendous sense of history as you tour the Forbidden City in the heart of Beijing.

Read more: The Forbidden City in Beijing

TIAN’ANMEN SQUARE

Right in the heart of Beijing and flanked by stern 1950’s style Soviet buildings, the world’s largest public square (440,000 square metres) is Tian’anmen Square. Here is the symbolic centre of the Chinese universe. Mao conceived the square to project the enormity of the Communist Party, and during the Cultural Revolution he reviewed parades of up to a million people here.

It has been the sight of several demonstrations in recent history. The most recent took place in 1989. For several weeks students and protestors occupied the square demonstrating for freedom of speech and freedom of the press. About one million people occupied the square at one point. On June 4, 1989 the conflict escalated into violence, when the military forcibly tried to remove demonstrators from the square. Hundreds lost their lives in this protest, although it is said that none of these deaths actually occurred inside of Tian’anmen Square.

Despite being a public space, the square remains in the hands of the government, a tangible air of restraint and authority remains. There are security checks to enter and there are policemen and soldiers everywhere.

HIKE THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA

Another definite must do while visiting Beijing is the Great Wall of China. We visited the Jinshanling and Simatai West sections of the wall with Great Wall Hiking and spent several hours hiking this extraordinary feature, one of the “new seven wonders of the world”. Our hike took us firstly on the crumbling, unrestored sections of the wall close to Simatai West and later on the more restored sections closer to Jinshanling.

Read more: Hiking the Great Wall of China with Kids

THE HUTONGS OF BEIJING

Hutong’s are narrow streets or alleys, commonly associated with northern Chinese cities, most prominently Beijing. In Beijing, hutongs are alleys formed by lines of siheyuan, traditional courtyard residences. We enjoyed an hour’s walk through some of Beijing’s hutongs in Nanluogu Xiang, catching glimpses through gateways of courtyards and traditional residences within. Our walk ended at the Drum and Bell Towers, which sounded the start and end of every day during times gone past. We climbed to the top of the Bell Tower giving us great views of the hutongs below.

VISIT SOME TEMPLES…

Beijing is packed with temples. We picked two to visit during our stay, the Lama Temple and the Confucius Temple. Fortunately for us, and our legs, these two temples are located next to one another.

The Lama Temple is a large complex of Buddhist temples, the most renowned Tibetan Buddhist temple outside of Tibet.  Clouds of incense scented smoke filled the air as people worshipped and paid their respects. This is a beautiful temple well worth exploring.

The nearby Confucius Temple was built in 1302, and is the place where people paid their respects to Confucius during the Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties. Confucius (551-479BC) spent his life trying to stabilise society according to traditional ideals. By his own measure he failed, but over time he has become one of the world’s most influential thinkers. Dave loves Confucius quotes and i’ve included a few for you here…

Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated.

It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop.

Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but rising every time we fall.

I hear and I forget, I see and I remember, I do and I understand

The will to win, the desire to succeed, the urge to reach your full potential…these are the keys that will unlock the doors to excellence.

THE SUMMER PALACE

This was the Emperor’s escape from city life during the intense summer heat.  The Palace is built on a hill surrounded by beautiful terraces and gardens, overlooking an enormous man-made lake (created by 100,000 workers). We spent the best part of a day at the Summer Palace, wandering through the terraces and gardens, and enjoying an hour on a pedal boat on the lake.

Our favourite part of the day was the time we spent on the lake as it offered fantastic views of the Palace and grounds. Wear a good pair of shoes to the Summer Palace as there is a lot of walking!

EAT PEKING DUCK

You cannot visit Beijing without eating Peking Duck! On our first night in Beijing we waited forty minutes to get a table at a popular Chinese Peking Roast Duck restaurant, Siji Minfu Restaurant (Dengshikou). It was definitely worth the wait. We ordered our Peking Duck and watched as one of the chefs carved the duck, serving the meat to us on small plates. We made up ‘pancakes’ with the duck, hoisin sauce, cucumber and spring onions. It was absolutely delicious, so good we went back for more on another evening.

THE TEMPLE OF HEAVEN

Built in 1420, the Temple of Heaven used to be the place where the emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties went to worship Heaven and offer sacrifices to pray for bumper harvests and favourable rain. The whole area is 273 hectares. It is a lovely area to wander and sit under the trees watching the world go by.

JINGSHAN PARK

Jingshan Park is a public park immediately north of the Forbidden City. Formerly a private imperial garden attached to the the grounds of the Forbidden City. It affords amazing views of the city, really giving you a sense of the scale of this area.  It is an easy walk to Jingshan Park after visiting the Forbidden City and well worthwhile.

WHERE WE STAYED

We spent six nights at the wonderful Beijing Red Walled Garden Hotel. It is a small boutique hotel, with rooms all centered around a tranquil central courtyard, right in the heart of the vibrant city of Beijing. The hotel was beautiful with traditional decoration and friendly staff. This is a hotel I would highly recommend to other travellers to Beijing. We would not hesitate to stay here again.  

KEEP READING:

Top Tips for Travelling to China

Top 6 Things To Do in Xi’an with Kids

Cycling and Kung Fu in Yangshuo with Kids

Have you visited Beijing with kids? What were your highlights?

Updated Post July 2018