Beijing + China in 5 Days on a Budget
Five days: Beijing, two day trips, then Xi’an
If you’re on the 240-hour visa-free transit rule (about 55 nationalities qualify, provided you hold a confirmed onward ticket to a third country), five days uses roughly half that ten-day window, and the useful detail most travelers miss is that cross-province travel is now allowed within one transit: Beijing to Xi’an counts as a single visa-free stay, not a second entry. This plan spends four days around the capital, then puts you on a Day 5 train to see the Terracotta Army. Want the deep in-city version instead? See the 5-day Beijing itinerary , which spends all five days on the capital’s temples and museums.
| Day | Focus | Rough spend pp |
|---|---|---|
| Day 1 | Forbidden City, Jingshan Park, Tiananmen Square | ¥230-330 |
| Day 2 | Great Wall at Mutianyu | ¥350-550 |
| Day 3 | Tianjin day trip by high-speed rail | ¥120-200 |
| Day 4 | Ming Tombs, Olympic Green | ¥210-310 |
| Day 5 | Train to Xi’an, Terracotta Army | ¥350-500 |
Book these before you go:
- Forbidden City tickets : real-name, released 8pm Beijing time exactly 7 days out.
- Mutianyu Great Wall transport or tour : sort the ride before your early Day 2 start.
- Xi’an Terracotta Army tours and transport : book the high-speed train and a site guide ahead, both sell out around holidays.
Set up and test a VPN before you fly, since you can’t reach most providers’ sites once you’re behind the Great Firewall, and link a foreign Visa or Mastercard to Alipay or WeChat Pay before departure, or tap a foreign contactless card straight at the metro turnstile instead.
Day 1: Forbidden City, Jingshan, Tiananmen
Forbidden City tickets require real-name booking tied to your passport, released online at 8pm Beijing time exactly seven days ahead, and they sell out fast for weekends. Entry is ¥60 peak (April-October) or ¥40 low season, closed Mondays except holiday Mondays; budget three to four hours. Climb Jingshan Park (¥2) right after for the best rooftop view over the palace in the city. In the afternoon, book a separate WeChat mini-program slot for Tiananmen Square, passport required again, with airport-style security at the gate. Dinner at Siji Minfu for Peking duck, ¥154-259 a bird, better value than the tour-group prices at Quanjude.
Day 2: the Great Wall, and only the Great Wall
Mutianyu , about 90 minutes out, suits most first-timers best: well restored, a cable car up (¥100 one-way/¥140 return), a toboggan down, and fewer tour buses than the busier alternative, Badaling. Arrive at opening either way, and pack your own food since the wall’s stalls are thin and overpriced.
Day 3: Tianjin, a genuine second city
A high-speed train covers the distance in about 30 minutes for ¥55-70 each way. Colonial-era European architecture along the Hai River, goubuli baozi (steamed buns, ¥20-40 for a set) for lunch, and you’re back in Beijing well before dark.
Day 4: Ming Tombs and Olympic Green
Morning: the Ming Tombs, ¥60 peak/¥20 low general admission, individual tombs extra (Changling ¥30-45, Dingling ¥40-60, roughly ¥95 combined), no reservation needed. Afternoon: Olympic Green, free to walk and photograph the Bird’s Nest and Water Cube from outside.
Day 5: the train to Xi’an
Take a morning high-speed train to Xi’an, 4-6.5 hours depending on the service, and spend the rest of the day and the following morning at the Terracotta Army before continuing your trip onward from there. This is the point where the itinerary genuinely leaves Beijing behind, and it’s the strongest use of a five-day transit window: the same 240-hour clock covers both cities, as long as your eventual onward ticket out of China is still confirmed and dated inside that window. Pack light for this leg; you won’t be back in Beijing to pick anything up.
Can you really do Xi’an on the same visa-free transit as Beijing?
Yes. China’s 240-hour transit rule now allows cross-province travel within the connected regions on a single visa-free stay, so a Beijing-to-Xi’an routing counts as one transit rather than a second entry, provided the whole trip and your final onward ticket still fit inside 240 hours from arrival.
Getting around on this 5-day plan
The metro covers Days 1, 2, and 4’s in-city sights, English-signed, ¥3-10 a ride by distance. Tap a foreign contactless card at the turnstile or use the Alipay/WeChat transport QR code. For Days 3 and 5, Beijing South Railway Station connects directly to the metro network for both the Tianjin and Xi’an trains.
Keep your actual passport on you every day, not a photo of it; it’s checked at gates in Beijing and again in Xi’an, and once more at boarding if you’re leaving China on the transit-visa clock.