Beijing in 5 Days on a Budget (With Daily Costs)
Five days in Beijing: the full sightseeing set
Five days lets you add a museum-and-temple day to the palace, wall, and hutong core without ever feeling rushed. Here’s the full spine with costs for each day. Want a tighter trip? See the 4-day cut; the 6-day plan adds a market afternoon and the Ming Tombs.
| Day | Focus | Rough spend pp |
|---|---|---|
| Day 1 | Tiananmen, Forbidden City, Jingshan Park | ¥230-330 |
| Day 2 | Great Wall at Mutianyu | ¥350-550 |
| Day 3 | Temple of Heaven, hutongs, Houhai | ¥90-190 |
| Day 4 | Summer Palace, 798 Art District | ¥45-70 |
| Day 5 | Lama Temple, National Museum, Wangfujing | ¥65-85 |
Book these before you go:
- Forbidden City tickets : real-name, released 8pm Beijing time exactly 7 days out.
- Mutianyu Great Wall transport or tour : arrange the ride before your 7:30am start.
- Your hotel : a Dongcheng base covers Days 1, 3, and 5 on foot.
Also note the Lama Temple on Day 5 now requires timed-entry booking online for everyone, foreigners included, so don’t assume you can walk up there either.
Day 1: Tiananmen and the Forbidden City
Morning: Security and reservation at Tiananmen Square (no ticket cost, just the booking), then Meridian Gate for the Forbidden City, ¥60 peak / ¥40 low season, morning or afternoon slot fixed at booking, three to four hours.
Early afternoon: Jingshan Park, ¥2, for the view over the palace roofs from Wanchun Pavilion.
Evening: Peking duck at Siji Minfu near the palace, ¥154-259 for the full bird, better value than Quanjude or Da Dong at ¥300-600pp.
Roughly ¥230-330pp.
Day 2: the Great Wall at Mutianyu
Skip Badaling, the nearest section and by far the most crowded since every tour bus routes there. Mutianyu , about 90 minutes out, is well-restored and much emptier.
Morning: Depart 7:30-8am. Shared van round trip roughly ¥150-300pp. Entrance ¥45, shuttle ¥15 return, cable car up and toboggan down together ¥100-140. Hike down to skip the toboggan fee.
Lunch: Noodles or roujiamo near the entrance, ¥30-50.
Evening: Jianbing (¥8-15) or zhajiangmian (¥20-35).
Roughly ¥350-550pp, the most expensive day, purely on transport.
Day 3: Temple of Heaven, hutongs, and Houhai
Morning: Temple of Heaven, ¥15 park-only or ¥34 combined (peak), worth the extra for the Hall of Prayer.
Lunch: Dumplings or noodles nearby, ¥20-35.
Afternoon: Wudaoying or Fangjia hutong, not Nanluoguxiang, which has gone full craft-beer-and-souvenir strip.
Evening: Houhai lakeside, a paddleboat (roughly ¥40-80/hour) or just the bars, pay only for what you drink.
Roughly ¥90-190pp, the cheapest sightseeing day.
Day 4: Summer Palace and 798
Morning: Summer Palace, ¥30 peak / ¥20 low, half a day around Kunming Lake.
Lunch: Near the East Palace Gate, ¥30-50.
Afternoon: 798 Art District, free galleries (Line 14 to Wangjing South, then a short taxi or walk).
Evening: Sanlitun for a livelier night, or an early dinner if you’re tired.
Roughly ¥45-70pp plus whatever you spend at Sanlitun.
Day 5: Lama Temple, the National Museum, and Wangfujing
Morning: Lama Temple, ¥25 flat, book your timed slot in advance since walk-ups are turned away regardless of nationality now. Give it 90 minutes for the halls and the giant sandalwood Buddha.
Lunch: A noodle shop near Yonghegong, ¥20-35.
Afternoon: National Museum of China on Tiananmen Square’s east side, free entry with an online time-slot reservation, easily two hours for the bronze and ancient-China halls alone.
Evening: Wangfujing for the walk and the shopping street, but treat the scorpion-and-starfish skewer stalls as a photo op, not dinner, they’re priced for tourists and locals don’t eat there. Get a real meal at a side-street noodle or dumpling shop instead, ¥25-40, and politely decline anyone nearby offering a “traditional tea ceremony,” a well-worn scam that ends with a bill in the hundreds of dollars.
Roughly ¥65-85pp for the day, food aside.
Is Wangfujing worth an evening on a budget trip?
For the walk and the shopping street, yes, it costs nothing to wander. For dinner, no: the lit-up scorpion and starfish skewers are staged for tourist photos, not a real meal, and locals eat elsewhere. Walk it, then eat at a side-street noodle shop instead.
How do you get around for five days?
The metro runs ¥3 short hops to ¥5-10 across town. Tap a foreign contactless card at the turnstile or use the Alipay/WeChat transport QR code, pick one. DiDi elsewhere, link a foreign card through Alipay or WeChat rather than directly in the DiDi app.
If Wangfujing is on your list, walk it for the street and the shopping, then eat somewhere else entirely. The skewer stalls are built for the camera, not the stomach.