China Transit Guide

Beijing 240-Hour Transit Itinerary: 3, 5 or 10 Days Without a Visa

Published 2026-10-06 · Updated 2026-10-06

Beijing 240-Hour Transit Itinerary

Beijing works well for a visa-free stopover. Both airports are 240-hour entry ports, the permitted area covers the whole municipality, and you can also travel into neighbouring Tianjin and Hebei. This guide gives a 3-day core plan, then options for 5 and 10 days, with the booking rules that catch people out.

Check official sources before travel. Checked on 6 October 2026. Confirm eligibility with the National Immigration Administration (hotline +86-12367) and your airline. Opening hours and booking rules change, so check each site before you go.

The rules for a Beijing stopover

  • Entry ports: Beijing Capital and Beijing Daxing airports (NIA).
  • Permitted area: all of Beijing Municipality. Tianjin and Hebei are also whole-province permitted areas, and the NIA allows travel across provinces within permitted areas (NIA).
  • Clock: up to 240 hours from 00:00 on the day after arrival (NIA, Nov 2025). Land on a Monday afternoon and you have until 24:00 on Thursday of the following week.
  • Onward ticket: to a third country, with a confirmed date and seat.

Run your dates through the 240-hour checker before booking.

Before you land

  • Book the Forbidden City now. The Palace Museum doesn't sell same-day tickets, caps visitors at 40,000 a day, and asks foreign visitors for a passport number when booking (Palace Museum). A traveller video on Xiaohongshu says tickets go on sale 7 days ahead and go quickly (China Travel with Frida). We couldn't confirm the release window on the museum's English page, so check it when you plan.
  • Use the English booking site. Beijing's 12345 hotline says foreign visitors can book on the museum's English site with a passport, then enter through the manual ticket-check lane at the Meridian Gate (south gate) with the same passport. Ticket hotline: 400-950-1925, 08:00–20:00 (Beijing 12345).
  • Avoid Mondays for the palace. It's open Tuesday to Sunday, and on Mondays only when they fall on national holidays (Palace Museum).
  • Order a SIM for airport pickup. Beijing's government guide explains that you can apply online and collect the card at the "Beijing Service" counter at the airport: China Unicom at Daxing, China Mobile at Capital. There's no processing fee (Beijing SIM guide).

Forbidden City: what to know

Item Detail
Opening Tue–Sun. 1 Apr–31 Oct 8:30–17:00 (last entry 16:00); 1 Nov–31 Mar 8:30–16:30 (last entry 15:30)
Ticket CNY 60 (Apr–Oct), CNY 40 (Nov–Mar)
Extra galleries Treasure Gallery CNY 10; Gallery of Clocks CNY 10
Booking Online only, in advance, passport number required

Source: Palace Museum.

Day 1: the Central Axis

The Beijing Central Axis was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2024. UNESCO lists the Forbidden City, the Drum and Bell Towers, Jingshan Hill and the Temple of Heaven among its preserved parts (UNESCO). It's a natural first day because the sights line up north to south.

  • Morning: Forbidden City, entering at the Meridian Gate. Budget at least three hours.
  • Afternoon: walk north to the Drum and Bell Towers.
  • Late afternoon: one Xiaohongshu user who took a visiting Australian friend around Beijing recommends this end of the axis for being quieter. Their tips: the small Hongen Taoist temple just north of the Bell Tower, now a museum and café, and the Drum Tower's hands-on activities, such as traditional paper-making and rubbings. They also mention watching the drum performance and the sunset from the tower, and evening film screenings. A commenter adds that these activities have to be booked through the tower's official WeChat account, "北京钟鼓楼" (白石不可). We haven't verified schedules or prices.
  • Evening: the hutong lanes around the Drum Tower have cafés and bars.

Day 2: Temple of Heaven and Summer Palace

  • Morning: the Temple of Heaven, a UNESCO site since 1998 (UNESCO).
  • Afternoon: the Summer Palace, inscribed in 1998 (UNESCO). Online booking needs a mainland Chinese phone number. Without one, buy at the entrance window with your passport using the staff-assisted service. Hotline: +86 10 62881144 (Beijing 12345).

Day 3: the Great Wall

The Great Wall was inscribed as a World Heritage Site in 1987 (UNESCO). Several sections can be visited from Beijing, and they differ a lot in crowds and how restored they are. UNESCO notes, for example, that tourist facilities and a cable car have affected the visual integrity of the Wall at Badaling (UNESCO). Check transport and opening times for the section you choose the day before.

5 days: add a slower pace

  • Day 4: a museum day, or back to the hutongs around the Drum Tower and Wudaoying, which the same Xiaohongshu user recommends for evenings (白石不可).
  • Day 5: a day trip to Tianjin. It's inside the permitted area, so no extra paperwork is needed (NIA).

10 days: Hebei too

With the full 240 hours, you can go further into Hebei, which is a whole-province permitted area. Plan to be back in time for your flight: the exit rule we can confirm is leaving from a 240-hour port in the province you entered. Exiting from another province's port isn't addressed in the official text, so our checker answers check for it. If you're planning a longer, multi-city trip, see our two-week China itinerary.

Getting around and paying

  • Metro: all 29 Beijing subway lines and 523 stations, plus line S2, accept tap-and-go with Visa, Mastercard, JCB, American Express and UnionPay contactless cards. No app is needed (Beijing government).
  • Card fees in WeChat Pay: the 3% fee on international cards is waived for every transaction under 200 yuan. If you link a card for the first time, it's also waived on daily transactions under 1,000 yuan for 60 days, saving up to 30 yuan per transaction (Beijing government).

For setting up payments in advance, see how foreigners pay in China.

Checklist

  • Run your dates and ports through the checker
  • Book the Forbidden City (not on a Monday) with your passport number
  • Plan the Summer Palace as a walk-up with your passport, or book with a Chinese number
  • Order a SIM for airport pickup, or arrange an eSIM
  • Add a contactless card to your phone or bring the physical card
  • Keep your last day free of anything you can't move

Traveller reports we referenced

We used these Xiaohongshu posts for on-the-ground detail and wrote our own summary. Nothing was translated or copied. Rules and prices above come from official sources.

Sources

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