Beijing on a Budget: Prices and Free Days
What a day in Beijing actually costs
A full sightseeing day here, one paid ticket, transport, and three meals, runs roughly ¥150-350 per person, cheap by any major-capital standard. The catch isn’t the price, it’s the booking window: the Forbidden City sells out weekend slots within minutes of releasing, while plenty of the best things in the city, a park view, a hutong walk, an art district, cost next to nothing and need no reservation at all. Here’s what everything actually costs, followed by what’s genuinely free.
| Sight | Price | Hours | Time needed | Booking lead |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Forbidden City | ¥60 peak (Apr-Oct) / ¥40 low | Closed Mondays (except holidays) | 3-4 hrs | 7 days, real-name, 8pm release |
| Great Wall (Mutianyu) | ¥45 entrance + ¥100-140 cable car/toboggan | Daylight hours | Full day incl. transport | None, book transport ahead |
| Temple of Heaven | ¥15 park / ¥34 combined (peak) | Daylight hours | 2-3 hrs | None |
| Summer Palace | ¥30 peak / ¥20 low | Daylight hours | Half day | None |
| Lama Temple | ¥25 flat | Daylight hours | 1-1.5 hrs | Mandatory timed booking, all visitors |
| Jingshan Park | ¥2 | Daylight hours | 30-45 min | None |
Check Beijing hotel rates on Booking.com before picking a neighborhood, and book Forbidden City tickets and tours well ahead of your dates, since the official site releases in a narrow seven-day window.
What’s actually free in Beijing
Jingshan Park is technically ¥2, close enough to free that it belongs on this list: climb to Wanchun Pavilion for the best rooftop view over the Forbidden City in the city. The hutongs cost nothing beyond the walk, skip Nanluoguxiang’s craft-beer strip and try Wudaoying or Fangjia instead for the real thing. The 798 Art District is free to wander (metro Line 14 to Wangjing South), and the Olympic Green’s Bird’s Nest and Water Cube cost nothing to photograph from outside. Wangfujing’s pedestrian street is a free walk too, just skip the scorpion-skewer stalls on the night snack street, they’re priced for tourist cameras, not a real meal.
Which paid ticket is worth it on a tight budget?
The Forbidden City, without question. ¥60 for three to four hours inside nearly 1,000 buildings is cheap for what you get, and it’s the one sight here you genuinely can’t fake with a free alternative. The Great Wall at Mutianyu is the second must-pay: skip Badaling, the closest section and the most crowded by far, since every tour bus in the city is aimed at it.
Do you need cash if everything takes Alipay or WeChat?
Mostly no. Sit-down restaurants and every sight on this list take Alipay or WeChat Pay once you’ve linked a foreign card, and since September 2024 you can also tap a foreign contactless Visa or Mastercard straight at the metro turnstile. Still carry ¥300-500 in cash; small street stalls and rural spots sometimes can’t take either.
Getting between everything on this list
The metro reaches nearly every sight above except the Great Wall itself: around 29 lines, English signage throughout, fares from ¥3 for short hops to ¥5-10 across town. A shared van or tour minibus to Mutianyu runs roughly ¥150-300 per person round trip, the priciest single transport cost of a Beijing trip, but it’s the day the Wall earns regardless of the fare.
Budget the Forbidden City and the Great Wall as your two real expenses, then let everything else, the park view, the hutongs, 798, be the free days that bring the trip’s average cost down. For a full write-up of the free stuff, see 13 cheap and free things to do in Beijing ; for a day-by-day plan, the 3-day itinerary covers both big-ticket days plus a genuinely free one.