Beijing, Xi'an & Shanghai: A 7-Day Itinerary That Actually Books (2026)

Beijing: Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square

Book the Forbidden City's morning slot and clear security for Tiananmen Square early — the square requires its own reservation, and the two together fill the morning. Entry to the palace is through the Meridian Gate's manual ticket-check channel: nothing to print, the gate checks the physical passport you booked with. Admission is ¥60 April–October (¥40 in winter); the palace is closed Mondays.

The palace complex rewards three to four unhurried hours — central axis first, then whichever side galleries you have energy for. Afterwards, spend the late afternoon in the hutong lanes north of the palace at street level: this is the old Beijing that doesn't need a reservation.

Dinner is the classic: Peking duck. Siji Minfu (四季民福) is the consensus first-timer pick at roughly ¥160–220 a head; most branches take no reservations and queues run long, so arrive when doors open for a sitting.

Beijing: Mutianyu Great Wall

Mutianyu (慕田峪长城) is the first-timer's wall: restored, spectacular, and far less crowded than Badaling. It sits about 70 km from central Beijing — 1.5 to 2 hours each way — so treat it as the full day it is. Entry is ¥45, with a cable car and chairlift up and a toboggan run down; in the March–November season the site opens at 7:30 on weekdays.

Transport options, lift-price details, and the exact on-site choreography are in our dedicated Mutianyu day-trip guide — the short version is to leave the city by 07:30 and walk the wall before the midday tour buses arrive.

Evening back in Beijing: rest your legs. Tomorrow is the last Beijing day, and Day 4 starts early.

Beijing: Temple of Heaven and the Summer Palace

Today needs no reservations at all — both of these went back to buy-at-the-gate in June 2024. Start at the Temple of Heaven (天坛): the through-ticket covering the park plus the Qinian Hall, Echo Wall, and Circular Mound is ¥34 in peak season. Go early — the morning park life of dancers, singers, and card games is half the show.

Afternoon: the Summer Palace (颐和园), the imperial lakeside garden in the northwest of the city. Park entry is ¥30 in peak season, ¥60 for the joint ticket that includes the interior sights. Two to three hours covers the lakefront corridor and the hill.

Tonight, pack for an early start — and if you haven't eaten your duck yet, this is the evening for it.

the 4.5-hour train, then Xi'an's wall and the Muslim Quarter

Nearly all G trains to Xi'an leave from Beijing West station (北京西站) — check your ticket, as a few services use other stations. First departures are around 06:35; on a departure before 09:00, the roughly 4.5-hour run (fastest trains do it in about 4h10m) has you at Xi'an North (西安北站) by early afternoon. Second class is ¥515 on the standard services, first class ¥824. Arrive about 60 minutes before departure: stations run airport-style security, and most automatic gates can't read foreign passports, so use the staffed manual channel (人工通道).

Xi'an North sits directly on Metro Line 2: about 25 minutes, and you step out at the Bell Tower (钟楼) in the dead center of the old city. Check into your hotel and head for the City Wall (城墙).

The wall is Xi'an's signature move: a complete 13.74 km Ming-era rectangle you can cycle on top of. Enter at the South Gate, Yongningmen (永宁门) — one stop from the Bell Tower on Line 2 — for ¥54, rent a bike on top (¥45 for 3 hours; bring your passport for registration plus a small cash deposit), and ride the full loop in about two hours as the light goes gold.

Evening: the Muslim Quarter (回民街), a ten-minute walk from the Bell Tower. It's a free, open street district at its liveliest after dark, with stalls running to around 23:00. Eat your way through it: roujiamo (肉夹馍 — the original meat sandwich, beef or lamb here), biangbiang noodles, and yangrou paomo (羊肉泡馍), the crumbled-bread lamb soup locals treat as the city's dish.

Xi'an: the Terracotta Army

The Terracotta Army (兵马俑) is ¥120, and the ticket includes the Qin Shi Huang mausoleum site (Lishan Garden) with a free shuttle between the two. You booked this 7 days ago (10 days ahead for statutory holidays) — the museum's only official channels are its website and WeChat account, and the website still wants a Chinese phone number for verification, which is why many foreigners book the same fulfilled tickets through Trip.com instead.

Getting there — there is no direct metro, whatever some 2026 guides claim. Easiest: the direct tourist shuttle (around ¥25–30) from several city points including the Bell Tower area, about an hour, longer in traffic. Cheapest: Metro Line 2 to Line 1 to Line 9 to Huaqingchi (华清池), then local bus 602 or 613 to the site — around ¥10 total but over two hours with transfers.

Budget 2–3 hours for the three pits. A common order that works: Pit 1 first for the full-scale shock of the ranks, then Pit 3 (the command post), then Pit 2 for the close-up kneeling archer displays. Ticket check-in runs 8:30–17:00 in the main season — go early, before the tour-group wave.

Back in the city by evening, take Metro Line 3 or 4 to Dayanta for the Big Wild Goose Pagoda (大雁塔). The squares around it are free, the North Square runs free fountain shows most evenings (times shift with maintenance and season — check the same day), and the adjacent Datang Everbright City (大唐不夜城) pedestrian street is the standard, and genuinely great, free Xi'an night out.

the 6.5-hour train, then the Bund after dark

The Xi'an North to Shanghai Hongqiao (上海虹桥) leg is the long one: 1,509 km, fastest trains around 6.5 hours, second class ¥652–795. Take a morning departure — there are dozens of G trains daily — and you're in Shanghai by late afternoon with zero transfer drama, because Hongqiao station sits directly on Metro Lines 2, 10, and 17.

Line 2 runs from Hongqiao to People's Square and East Nanjing Road in 35–50 minutes for about ¥5. Check in, then walk to the Bund (外滩) after dark: the colonial waterfront on one side, the full Pudong skyline lit up across the river on the other. It is the single best free thing on this whole route, and it needs no ticket, no reservation, and no plan.

Shanghai: old town, then one tower or the Concession

Morning: Yu Garden (豫园) and its surrounding bazaar for the Ming-dynasty garden and soup dumplings, then the Bund again in daylight — morning light on the colonial facades is a different show from the neon night.

Afternoon, pick one: cross to Lujiazui (陆家嘴) for a single observation deck — Shanghai Tower (¥180, the highest), Jin Mao (¥120, the art-deco one), or Oriental Pearl (¥220, the retro one); doing more than one wastes your last afternoon on overlapping views. Or skip the towers for the French Concession: start at Wukang Mansion (武康大楼) and drift the plane-tree lanes with a coffee.

With a flight out of Pudong the next morning, this evening is for whatever you missed — our full Shanghai 3-day itinerary has the complete menu, including the Zhujiajiao water-town half-day that becomes possible if you extend.