How to Plan a Beijing itinerary 6 days?

When you get 6 days in Beijing, the first 4 days can be spent discovering the city itself, covering all the highlights including Forbidden City and Great Wall. As for the last 2 days, you may go to some cities nearby, such as Pingyao, Xi’an and Luoyang by high speed train. The below Beijing itinerary 6 days takes Pingyao as the example.
 

Forbidden City is the must-see at the very center in Beijing. Next to it, there is Tiananmen Square to the south, Jingshan Park to the north, and Beihai Park to the northwest. We recommend you to visit the 4 together at the beginning of your Beijing itinerary 6 days.

Get to Tiananmen Square and walk around the world’s largest urban square at first. Then you can walk north to Forbidden City through Tiananmen Tower. Forbidden City, sacred and inviolable, is also very large with a large number of palaces insides, and at least 2-3 hours are needed for a visit. Getting out from Gate of Divine Prowess, the north gate and the main exit of the Forbidden City, you will see Jinshan Park is just on the other side of the road. You may have lunch first before going there. It is popular for taking a whole view of Forbidden City on the top of the Jingshan Hill inside. After getting down, you may go to Beihai Park to go boating on the lake, see lakeside landscapes and the landmark White Dagoba.
 

On the 2nd day of the Beijing itinerary 6 days, you could keep visiting other attractions in the downtown. Century-old Beijing Zoo is visit-worthy, especially when you travel with kids. It has a special hall for cute pandas, where you can observe these cute animals at close distance.

Then Summer Palace, the best preserved royal garden in China, is the next recommended stop, with beautiful lake, hill and elegant ancient buildings. Afterwards, you shall have lunch near Summer Palace, or on the way to Yonghe Temple, or near the Yonghe Temple on arrival.

In the afternoon, visit Yonghe Temple, the old Tibetan Buddhist temple in the capital, which was firstly built as a prince’s residence in the late 17th century. Lastly, we recommend you to enjoy an amazing Kung Fu Show performed in the evening at Red Theater to conclude the day.
 

The Great Wall of China cannot be missed during your 6 days in Beijing. You can go to visit Mutianyu Great Wall in this morning, the most beautiful section in the northeast suburb of Beijing. In addition to old and majestic walls with watch towers, the relatively less tourists enable you to tour on it more comfortably. Badaling, the best section and the most famous section of Great Wall, is usually full of people on holidays. On non-holidays, you can visit Badaling Great Wall as an alternative.

The food provided by restaurants nearby the Great Wall is not very well and a little expensive, so we recommend you to go back to the downtown for lunch. You may head directly to Shichahai Hutongs for lunch, where many local delicacies are available. After lunch, you can have a leisurely walk around Shichahai, a famous Hutong area with many local folk residences, Siheyuan or Courtyards. Prince Gong’s Mansion is a well-known historical site in Shichahai. It is the largest Qing prince’s residence complex, which witnessed the heydays and decline of Qing Dynasty (1644 - 1911 AD). After the sun sets, you may move on to the Houhai Bar Street still in Shichahai, to get a taste of the Beijing night life.
 

Today is the 4th day of the Beijing itinerary 6 days. You may continue to explore Beijing in the morning and then set off to Pingyao after lunch. Go to Temple of Heaven first, the venue to worship the Heaven for good harvest in ancient times. In the morning, you may also see many local people doing exercises there. Then go to Qianmen, the old city gate remains. Not far away from Qianmen, Dashilar Street is recommended for foodies and shopping of Chinese specialties. It is a six centuries old commercial street, full of old architecture, old brands shops and restaurants.

At noon, we recommend you try Peking Roast Duck as your lunch. In the Qianmen area, there are two restaurants of famous roast duck brands. One is Quanjude’s Qianmen branch on Qianmen Avenue, east to Dashilar. It is open during the time of 11:00-13:30 & 16:30-19:00 every day, and it costs CNY 195 per person on average. The other is Bianyifang’s Xianyukou branch on Xianyukou Food Street, opening during 11:00-21:00 at the average price of CNY 140 per person.

After that, you may take the high speed train to Pingyao at Beijing West Railway Station. The train D2005 departing at 15:29 and arriving at Pingyao Ancient City Railway Station at 19:33 is a good choice.
 

Pingyao is one of the four most famous ancient towns in China and once the financial center of China, dated back to more than 600 years ago. You can tour its City Wall, one of the best-persevered city walls in China; Rishengchang Former Bank, the earliest rudiment of modern bank; Ancient Ming-Qing Street, a time-honored commercial street lined with old-style Chinese private banks, old pawnshops, and shops selling herbs, meat, cigarettes, silks, sundries, etc. You can also visit Ancient Government Office, Temple of the City God, and attractions else in the ancient city.
 

In the morning, there are two high speed trains running from Pingyao Ancient City Station to Beijing West Railway Station. They are train D2002 departing at 8:41 and arriving at 12:52, and D2004 running from 10:14 to 15:01.

Upon arrival, you may go for a stroll on Wangfujing Street if time permits. There is a tributary snack street for you to taste various local snacks at the last hours of your 6 days in Beijing. Remember to leave for the airport or railway station for your next destination on time.

If you prefer Xi’an instead of Pingyao on your Beijing itinerary 6 days, you can take the 5-6 hours’ high speed train to Xi’an for the Terracotta Army, Xi’an City Wall, Giant Wild Goose Pagoda, Shaanxi History Museum, etc. For the trains, you may take G663 departing at 15:45 from Beijing West Railway Station, and it would arrive at Xi’an North Railway Station at 21:23. As for the return trip, G26 running from Xi’an North to Beijing West from 9:18 to 13:50, and G656 from 10:03 to 15:33, or later trains are all feasible.

If you prefer Luoyang, the high speed trains from Beijing West Railway Station to Luoyang Longmen Railway Station spend you 4-4.5 hours. G663 scheduled at 15:45 to 19:40; G665 from 16:00 to 20:11 are good choices. In Luoyang, you can visit the most popular attractions – Longmen Grottoes and Shaolin Temple. To go back to Beijing, you may take G656 running from 11:44 to 15:33, or G658 running from 14:17 to 18:26.

Further Reading:
An Ultimate Guide for Layover in Beijing
Long Layover in Beijing – How to Spend 1 to 6 Days in Beijing?