Beijing Travel Guide 2026: Great Wall, Hutongs & Hyatt Regency Wangjing Review

🛫 Planning a similar trip? 🏨 Book hotels with Agoda | 📱 Stay connected with Airalo (10% off) | 🎟️ Book tours & activities on Klook

📸 Follow our journey: Instagram @angeandzee | TikTok @angeandzee

We said goodbye to family in Hong Kong and boarded an Air China flight to Beijing — a city Zee hadn’t set foot in for more than 20 years.

That fact hung over the entire trip in the best possible way. Twenty years is long enough for a city to become almost unrecognisable. Long enough for the streets you remember to have been replaced by highways, for neighbourhoods to have been swallowed by development, for a place that existed vividly in memory to reveal itself as something both deeply familiar and entirely new. Beijing in 2025 is not the Beijing of the early 2000s — and standing in it again after two decades away is an emotional experience that no amount of travel preparation quite readies you for.

This is the story of that return.

Getting There: Air China on 25,000 Aeroplan Points

We flew from Hong Kong to Beijing with Air China, redeemed entirely on Aeroplan points — 25,000 points plus approximately $200 CAD in taxes and fees for the two of us.

Air China is a Star Alliance member, which means its flights are bookable through Aeroplan — Canada’s most powerful frequent flyer program. The Hong Kong to Beijing route on Air China represents solid Aeroplan value, particularly given that cash fares on this busy corridor can be meaningful depending on timing and demand.

For Canadian travellers building an Asia itinerary, the Aeroplan and Star Alliance combination opens up an enormous range of intra-Asia routing options that would be expensive in cash. Hong Kong to Beijing is one of many examples where Aeroplan points convert efficiently into flights that serve the itinerary rather than dictating it.

For our complete Aeroplan strategy and how we used points across the full 100-day trip, read our how we saved $20,000 guide.

Arriving in Beijing: Zee’s First Visit in Over 20 Years

There is something particular about returning to a place after a very long time — especially a place that carries the weight of earlier life. Beijing for Zee wasn’t just a destination on an itinerary. It was a city that had existed primarily in memory for two decades, preserved in the specific amber of how things were rather than how things are.

The experience of arriving was emotional and nostalgic in equal measure. The city that greeted us was simultaneously the place Zee remembered and a completely transformed version of it — bigger, faster, more modern, more complex than the city of 20 years ago, yet with threads of familiarity woven through it that surfaced unexpectedly. A street layout here. A smell there. The particular quality of Beijing’s light on a clear morning.

We’d encourage any traveller with a personal connection to a city they haven’t visited in years to make the return trip. The experience of seeing somewhere through both memory and fresh eyes at the same time is unlike any other kind of travel. It’s disorienting and moving and wonderful all at once, and Beijing — a city of extraordinary scale and history — gave Zee’s homecoming the backdrop it deserved.

Hyatt Regency Beijing Wangjing: Our First Night Hotel Review

The Booking: World of Hyatt Free Night Certificate

We used a World of Hyatt free night certificate for our first night in Beijing at the Hyatt Regency Wangjing — covering what would otherwise have been a meaningful cash outlay and giving us a comfortable, high-quality landing point after the flight from Hong Kong.

The Wangjing district in northeastern Beijing is a modern, predominantly residential and tech-industry area — home to the Chinese headquarters of several major international companies and a large Korean expat community that gives the neighbourhood a distinctive multicultural character. It sits away from Beijing’s historic tourist core, which means it’s not the right base if you want to walk to the Forbidden City — but for a first night arrival stay with excellent local eating options and a quieter atmosphere than the city centre, it works well.

The Room: Modern, Spacious and Authentically Beijing

The Hyatt Regency Wangjing’s rooms were a genuine pleasure — clean, modern, well designed, and spacious by the standards of what we’d become accustomed to across Asia. The interiors had a contemporary quality that felt freshly maintained, with design touches that acknowledged the Beijing context without being gimmicky about it.

The beds were comfortable, the layout gave us genuine space to exist rather than just sleep, and the overall feeling of the room was of a property that takes pride in its product. After the honest caveat we had to register about the JW Marriott Hong Kong’s older rooms, it was refreshing to check into a space that felt current and considered throughout.

The rooms carried an atmosphere that felt authentically local — not in a boutique-hotel-trying-to-be-authentic way, but in the organic way of a well-run international hotel that is genuinely part of its city rather than a generic box dropped into it.

The Service: Outstanding English-Speaking Staff

The service at the Hyatt Regency Wangjing was outstanding — the most immediately striking aspect of the stay. Staff were warm, genuinely helpful, and spoke excellent English throughout, which matters practically in Beijing where navigating the city without Mandarin can be genuinely challenging.

For international visitors arriving in China for the first time or returning after many years, having hotel staff who can bridge the language gap confidently and helpfully is not a small thing. The team at the Wangjing handled every interaction with the kind of attentive professionalism that made us feel well looked after from the moment we arrived — important when you’re jet-lagged, emotionally stirred by the arrival context, and needing someone to help you orient to one of the world’s largest cities.

The Location: Wangjing District

The Wangjing area around the hotel is quiet and residential in character — a meaningful contrast to the intensity of central Beijing that served us well for a first-night arrival stay. Near local restaurants that gave us an immediate taste of Beijing neighbourhood eating, easily navigable, and calm enough to decompress after the journey from Hong Kong.

The honest note: Wangjing is not well positioned for Beijing’s major historical attractions. The Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square, the hutong neighbourhoods, and the Temple of Heaven all require meaningful transit time from this part of the city. For a single arrival night it’s perfectly fine — for a multi-night Beijing base focused on sightseeing, a more centrally located property would serve you better.

Exploring Beijing: What We Did and What You Should Know

The Great Wall of China

There is nothing that adequately prepares you for the Great Wall. You’ve seen the photographs, you know the scale intellectually, you understand that it’s one of the most significant human constructions in history — and then you stand on it and all of that prior knowledge becomes almost irrelevant because the reality exceeds it.

The Wall winds across the mountains in both directions as far as you can see, disappearing into haze on the horizon, and the combination of its physical presence, its age, and the landscape it inhabits creates an experience that is genuinely difficult to describe without resorting to clichés. We’ll try anyway: it is extraordinary. Go.

There are multiple sections of the Wall accessible from Beijing, ranging from the heavily restored and tourist-dense Badaling to the more rugged and less crowded Mutianyu and Jinshanling sections. We’d recommend Mutianyu for most visitors — well preserved, accessible, with a cable car option for the ascent and a toboggan run for the descent that adds an unexpected element of fun to the experience.

Book your Great Wall tour in advance through Klook — organised transport from Beijing makes the logistics significantly easier than navigating independently, and guides add meaningful historical context to what you’re standing on.

Tiananmen Square

Tiananmen Square is one of those places that exists at the intersection of history, politics, and physical scale in a way that makes visiting it a complex and layered experience. The square itself is vast — genuinely vast, in a way that photographs don’t convey — framed by the Gate of Heavenly Peace with Mao’s portrait, the Great Hall of the People, and the National Museum of China.

Walking through it in 2025, with Zee’s memories of an earlier Beijing as a backdrop, was quietly charged. The square carries weight that you feel regardless of your prior knowledge of its history. It is a place that demands to be taken seriously, and we took it seriously.

Entry is free but requires ID registration. Go early in the morning for the flag-raising ceremony if you want to see the square at its most ceremonial — crowds gather well before dawn and the atmosphere is unlike anything else in the city.

The Hutong Neighbourhoods

If the Great Wall shows you what China built over centuries to keep the world out, the hutong neighbourhoods show you how Beijing’s people actually lived within those walls — and in some cases still do.

The hutongs are Beijing’s ancient alleyway neighbourhoods, networks of narrow lanes lined with traditional courtyard residences (siheyuan) that date back to the Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties. Many have been demolished over decades of development; those that remain are precious — living fragments of old Beijing that the city has chosen to preserve rather than replace.

Walking through the hutongs around the Drum Tower, Nanluoguxiang, and the Shichahai lakes area was one of our favourite experiences in Beijing — and the one that most clearly bridged Zee’s memories of an earlier city with the Beijing of today. The scale is human here, the pace is slower, and the sense of history is tangible in a way that the grand monuments of the city don’t always provide.

The hutongs are also excellent for eating — small local restaurants, traditional snack vendors, and independent cafés are woven through the alleys in a way that makes wandering and eating simultaneously the obvious strategy.

Local Food: Beijing at the Table

Beijing’s food culture is distinct from the southern Chinese cooking that dominates most international Chinese restaurant scenes — heartier, wheat-based, and built around flavours that reflect the northern climate and culinary tradition.

Peking duck is the obvious starting point and it lives up to its reputation — but the broader Beijing food landscape is worth exploring beyond the famous dish. Zhajiangmian (noodles with fermented soybean paste), jianbing (savoury crêpes eaten for breakfast), lamb skewers at Muslim street food stalls, and the full spectrum of dumplings and dim sum available in the city’s neighbourhood restaurants all reward the curious eater.

We ate in local restaurants throughout our stay, guided partly by Zee’s memories of earlier favourite dishes and partly by the instinct that has served us well across the whole trip — walk away from the tourist menus, find where locals are eating, point at things that look interesting, and trust the process.

Practical Information for Beijing

Getting there: Air China and other carriers fly from Hong Kong, with connections from major international hubs. We flew on 25,000 Aeroplan points plus $200 CAD in taxes — excellent value for the routing. Book through the Aeroplan portal for Star Alliance redemptions.

Visa: Canadian passport holders require a visa to enter China. Apply well in advance through the Chinese consulate or visa application centre — processing times vary and last-minute applications are stressful. China has expanded its visa-free access for certain nationalities in recent years so check current requirements before applying.

Getting around: Beijing’s subway system is extensive, affordable, and efficient — the primary way to navigate the city. A transit card (similar to Hong Kong’s Octopus) loaded with cash handles all subway and bus fares. Didi (China’s Grab equivalent) works well for point-to-point trips but requires a Chinese phone number to set up — organise this in advance or ask hotel staff for assistance.

Connectivity: This is critical for Beijing — China’s internet firewall blocks Google, WhatsApp, Instagram, and most Western apps. Download and configure a reputable VPN before you arrive in China — once you’re there, downloading one becomes significantly more difficult. We used Airalo for our e-SIM data — get 10% off with our link — but the VPN is a separate and essential step for accessing your usual apps.

Payment: China is almost entirely cashless — WeChat Pay and Alipay dominate. International visitors can now link foreign credit cards to WeChat Pay and Alipay, which we’d strongly recommend setting up before arrival. Some tourist-facing establishments accept international credit cards but don’t rely on it. Having WeChat Pay configured makes daily life in Beijing dramatically easier.

Where to stay: The Hyatt Regency Wangjing works well as a first-night arrival property — comfortable, outstanding service, free on a Hyatt certificate. For a multi-night sightseeing base, look for properties closer to the city’s historic centre. Check options on Agoda.

Tours: Book the Great Wall, Forbidden City, and other major Beijing experiences through Klook — organised transport and guided options make logistics significantly easier and add valuable context.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Beijing worth visiting in 2026? Absolutely — Beijing is one of the great cities of the world and its combination of imperial history, modern energy, extraordinary food, and sheer scale makes it a compelling destination for any serious traveller. The logistical preparation (VPN, WeChat Pay, visa) is worth the effort.

How do you get from Hong Kong to Beijing cheaply? Air China flies the route regularly and is bookable on Aeroplan points as a Star Alliance carrier. We paid 25,000 Aeroplan points plus approximately $200 CAD in taxes — excellent value. Cash fares vary significantly by season and booking window.

Do you need a VPN in Beijing? Yes — configure one before you arrive. Google, WhatsApp, Instagram, and most Western apps are blocked in China. A VPN running on your phone restores access to your usual apps and is essential for navigation (Google Maps), communication, and posting content.

Is the Hyatt Regency Beijing Wangjing good? Yes — outstanding service, modern and spacious rooms, and a quiet residential location with good local restaurants nearby. Not ideal as a multi-night sightseeing base due to distance from central attractions, but excellent as a first-night arrival stay especially on a free night certificate.

Which section of the Great Wall should you visit from Beijing? Mutianyu is our recommendation for most visitors — well preserved, less crowded than Badaling, with cable car access and a toboggan descent. Book transport from Beijing through Klook.

How do you pay for things in Beijing as a foreign visitor? Link your foreign credit card to WeChat Pay or Alipay before arriving — this is now possible for international visitors and makes cashless payment seamless throughout the city. Some tourist attractions accept international cards directly but WeChat Pay covers everything.

Final Thoughts

Beijing gave us two things simultaneously — one of the most historically and culturally overwhelming travel experiences of our entire 100-day journey, and a deeply personal moment of return that no itinerary could have fully planned for.

Standing on the Great Wall. Walking through Tiananmen Square. Disappearing into the hutong alleyways where old Beijing still breathes. And doing all of it alongside someone for whom this city carries 20 years of memory and absence — it made everything more vivid, more charged, more meaningful than a first visit alone would have been.

The Hyatt Regency Wangjing gave us an excellent first night landing — modern, spacious, outstanding service, covered entirely by a free night certificate. A strong start to what became one of the most memorable chapters of the trip.

For our full points and savings strategy across the 100 days, read our how we saved $20,000 guide. For the Hong Kong chapter immediately before this, our Hong Kong local experience guide has the full story.

This was part of our 100-day Asia adventure.