Flights to Beijing International

Beijing – experience of a lifetime

Beijing is the Forbidden City, the Imperial Palace, the Great Wall, Tian'anmen Square and so much more that it is impossible to list it all. For more than 2,500 years, the city has been a place of diverse coexistence.

The best time to visit Beijing is from April to October. Throughout the year, temple fairs, theater festivals, art exhibitions and numerous festivals and sporting events take place. Of particular note are the International Beer Festival, the Daxing Watermelon Festival, the 798 Art Festival, the Grand View Garden Fair, the International Music Festival and the Longqing Gorge Ice and Snow Festival.

Between 21 January and 21 February, the New Year Festival is celebrated on the first night of the full moon. In February/March, the following full moon is welcomed with a lantern festival. The "Golden Week" commemorates the founding of the People's Republic of China from 1 to 7 October.

A visa is required to enter China. It must be applied for at the embassy before travelling and is valid for a maximum of 30 days. When applying for the visa, passports must still be valid for at least six months and have at least two free pages for visa stamps. Vaccinations are not compulsory, but vaccination against hepatitis A, typhoid, tetanus and diphtheria is recommended. Tap water is not of drinking quality and it is advisable to drink water only from bottles available for purchase or to boil, filter or disinfect it before consumption.

Travel to China: budget and transport

The cost of living in restaurants and supermarkets are much cheaper than than in the US. You can get a Chinese lunch for about 30 CNY. A beer costs about CNY 7 and soft drinks about CNY 4. Restaurants offering international cuisine are often more expensive.

From the airport, an airport shuttle bus will transfer arriving passengers into the city. Depending on the district, fares for an adult range from between CNY 15 to 30 per trip. Using the airport buses, the fare is between CNY 4 and CNY 6. Other alternatives are the Express Railway, which costs around CNY 25 per journey/adult, or a taxi, which costs around CNY 100 to 200, depending on the distance.

Cheap accommodation can be found in guesthouses or backpacker hostels for about CNY 60 per night. In a 3* hotel, prices amount to around CNY 240 per night/person.

Local transport in Beijing is quite cheap. The metro fare for adults is about 3 CNY, the cheapest bus fare is about 1 CNY. For trips by taxi, a basic fee of about 20 CNY is charged, which includes the first 3 km. Each additional km costs approx. 2.50 CNY.

Airport Beijing Capital International Airport PEK

Beijing Capital International Airport (Běijīng Shǒudū Guójì Jīchǎng) is the main airport of Beijing (Peking), capital city of the People’s Republic of China. Beijing Shoudu Guoji Jichang means  “Peking’s Main International Airport “.

Peking (Beijing) airport, opened on 02.03.1958, is an important airport in the north-east of Beijing and was the first airport of the Chinese People’s Republic. It is 20 km north-east of the city centre in the district of Shunyi, more precisely, in the enclave of the district of Chaoyang in Beijing. It is located 25.35 km from Tiananmen Square in Beijing City.

Since 1997 Beijing airport has replaced the airport in Hong Kong as the busiest airport in the People’s Republic of China. According to passenger numbers in 2005, Beijing Airport is at place 2 in Asia and 14 worldwide. In 2004 it was also the busiest airport in Asia counting the number of  flights handled, taking the place of Tokyo International Airport (Haneda), which it overtook in this year.

Beijing International Airport is the main hub of Air China and China Xinhua Airlines. China Southern Airlines and other airlines operate international and domestic flights from Beijing. 11 domestic and 55 foreign airlines operate more than 5000 regular flights to 88 cities in China and 69 cities outside China. Operating at Beijing airport are, for example, the airlines Air China (Bangkok, Delhi, Frankfurt, Hiroshima, Kathmandu, Munich, New York-JFK, Phuket, Rome-Fiumicino, Shenzhen, Singapore, Zhoushan), Air France (Paris-Charles de Gaulle), All Nippon Airways (Osaka-Kansai, Tokyo-Narita), British Airways (London-Heathrow), China Airlines (Taipei-Taiwan Taoyuan), China Eastern Airlines (Hangzhou, Los Angeles, Nanjing, Weifang, Wuhan, Yinchuan), China Southern Airlines (Amsterdam, Changchun, Chengdu, Hanoi, Manila, Phnom Penh, Xiamen, Xi’an, Zhenzhou, Zhuhai), Hainan Airlines (Brussels, Changsha, Chongqing, Dongying, Qingdao, Yinchuan), Korean Air (Daegu, Jeju, Seoul-Incheon), Qantas (Melbourne, Sydney), Scandinavian Airlines System (Copenhagen, Stockholm-Arlanda), Shenzhen Airlines (Shenzhen, Wenzhou, Wuxi) und Xiamen Airlines (Fuzhou, Jinjiang, Wuyishan).

 

• URL: Official website
• Nearby cities: Shunyi (7 km), Tongzhou (19 km), Peking (24 km), Mentougou (45 km), Huangcun (46 km), Langfang (64 km)

Location

At the moment there are no city trains or underground routes, but the extension of the Beijing Subway to the airport began in June 2005 and is also due to be completed ready for the Olympic Games in 2008. At the moment many parts of the city are accessible by bus and Airport-City Shuttles.