BEIJING · CHINA
From the gate to the Great Wall.
Capital Airport transfers, private drivers and layover tours that turn a Beijing connection into a day on the Great Wall, inside the Forbidden City, and through the old hutong lanes, back at the terminal before your gate closes.
The three you fly in for
The sights worth leaving the terminal for.
Plenty of cities have a palace and a market. The Great Wall on the ridge, the Forbidden City on the axis, and the hutong lanes between them belong to Beijing alone, and all three are an easy transfer from the airport.
The wonder
The Great Wall at Mutianyu
The most-walked restored section sits about ninety minutes north of Capital Airport, its watchtowers strung along a green ridge with a cable car up and a toboggan down. It is the one stretch of Wall that fits a long layover, and the reason most travellers leave the terminal at all.
- 1 MuBus: Mutianyu Great Wall ENG/ESP/RUS Guided Bus Tour
- 2 Mubus: Mutianyu Great Wall Bus Tour with Summer Palace Options
- 3 Beijing:Mutianyu Great Wall Private Trip with English Driver
The palace
Inside the Forbidden City
Twenty-four emperors ruled from this walled city at the dead centre of Beijing. Nine thousand rooms run north along a single axis, gate after gate, from the Meridian Gate to the imperial garden. Half a millennium of dynasties behind one ten-metre wall.
- 1 Beijing: Forbidden City Tour(Group/Private)-Tickets Included
- 2 Beijing: T-Square & Forbidden City Group or Private Tour
- 3 All-Inclusive Tour: Tiananmen Square, Forbidden City, Great Wall
Old Beijing
The Hutong Lanes
Step off the ring roads and the city turns into a grid of hutong, grey-brick alleys of single-storey courtyard homes, some six centuries old, threaded between the Drum Tower and the lakes. Walking and rickshaw tours run the ones still lived in.
- 1 Beijing Hutong Walking Food and Beer Tour at Hidden Restaurants
- 2 Temple Heaven, Summer Palace, Lama Temple, Hutong Bus Tour
- 3 Temple of Heaven, Summer Palace, Lama Temple, Hutong Tours
If you only leave once
The one run more layovers are built around.
If your connection only buys time for a single thing in Beijing, more travellers pick this than anything else on the list.
The classics
Beijing's Most Popular Tours
The Great Wall at Mutianyu, the Forbidden City, the layover runs and the door-to-door transfers. The trips travellers book most from the airport.
Where to begin
The runs a Beijing stop is built around.
The Great Wall at Mutianyu, the Forbidden City, the layover tours, the airport transfers, the Summer Palace and the hutong lanes. The places most travellers plan a stop around, and the best way to reach each from the gate.
Between flights
How long is your layover?
Beijing rewards a long connection: China’s visa-free transit now gives many travellers up to 240 hours to leave the airport and explore. How far you get comes down to the clock, so start with the time on your boarding pass.
The Great Wall
Which wall do you walk?
The Wall runs for thousands of kilometres, but only a handful of sections are a clean ride from the airport. Mutianyu for the restored ramparts and the cable car, Badaling for the history and the crowds, Jinshanling for the wild, broken towers and the long ridge walk. The near ones fit a layover; the far ones want a full day.
Compare the Great Wall sections →Wheels down
From the terminal to the city.
Capital Airport (PEK) sits an hour northeast of the centre; Daxing (PKX) an hour to the south. A pre-booked driver waiting at arrivals with your name on a board beats the taxi queue and the language gap, straight to your hotel, or straight to the Wall.
See airport transfers & drivers →The palace
The largest palace on earth.
The Forbidden City held twenty-four emperors across five centuries behind a ten-metre wall and a wide moat. Nine thousand rooms step north along one dead-straight axis, hall after hall, from the Meridian Gate to the imperial garden. It sits at the exact centre of the city, a short transfer from the Wall.
Forbidden City tours →Old Beijing
The city behind the boulevards.
Step off the six-lane ring roads and Beijing turns into a maze of hutong, grey-brick lanes of single-storey courtyard houses, some six hundred years old, strung between the Drum Tower and the lakes. Walking and rickshaw tours thread the ones still lived in, past the old gateways and the corner noodle shops.
- 1 Beijing Hutong Walking Food and Beer Tour at Hidden Restaurants
- 2 Temple Heaven, Summer Palace, Lama Temple, Hutong Bus Tour
- 3 Temple of Heaven, Summer Palace, Lama Temple, Hutong Tours
By pace
Pick your speed through the city.
Beijing fits the time you bring. A slow morning in the lanes, the classic Wall-and-palace day, or a full layover sprint that lands the highlights and still makes the gate.
The classic day
The Wall and the palace.A morning on the Mutianyu ramparts, the Forbidden City axis after lunch, a Peking duck dinner to finish. The Beijing everyone pictures.
Beat the clock
Everything, before boarding.A private layover dash that lands the Great Wall and a city sight and still has you back at the gate, with the guide, the driver and the visa-free paperwork handled.
Layover tours
Wheels down, Wall by lunch.
These are built for the connection. A guide and a private car meet you inside the terminal, sort the visa-free transit paperwork, run you out to the Great Wall or the Forbidden City, and have you back at check-in with margin to spare. No taxi queue, no language gap, no missed gate.
See all 20 layover tours →By landmark
Pick where you want to stand.
The Great Wall for the ridge-top walk. The Forbidden City for the imperial axis. The Summer Palace for the lake. The Temple of Heaven for the morning quiet. Tiananmen for the sheer scale. The hutongs for the city that came before.
By type
Or pick how you get around.
A layover tour if the clock is tight. A private transfer if you just need the ride. A driver for the day if you want to roam. The Wall, the city, the lanes, or a night at the acrobatics.
Plan it
Three days between flights.
A long visa-free transit is enough for the headline city. Here is a three-day run that hits the Wall, the palace and the lanes without a wasted hour.
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