Beijing China Complete Guide 2026: Forbidden City, Great Wall, Summer Palace, Temple of Heaven
Browse more guides: China travel | Asia destinations Beijing China Complete Guide 2026: Forbidden City, Great Wall, Summer Palace, Temple of Heaven TL;DR I spent two weeks in Beijing across the 2024 visa policy expansion, and the city I arrived in was not the Beijing I had imagined from old guidebooks. China rolled out a 30-day visa-free policy for 12 countries (later expanded), kept the 144-hour transit visa for 54 nationalities, and the result is that a capital once locked behind paperwork is now reachable on a long weekend. Beijing rewards that access. Within a single metro ride you can move from the Forbidden City's 980 buildings to a Hutong noodle stall to the 2008 Olympic Bird's Nest lit up for the evening. The setup before arrival matters more than the packing list. Foreign cards still fail at most counters, so I linked my Visa to WeChat Pay and Alipay before the flight, both of which now accept international cards under the 2024 international link program. I also ...