10 Best places to stay in Beijing

If the sky’s the limit this is Beijing’s best luxury hotel, offering priceless views of the Forbidden City and palatial guest rooms equipped with every luxury imaginable, from grand four-poster beds to Dyson-branded hairdryers.

Built from the ground up in 2018, it’s a small hotel by Beijing standards (around 70 rooms) which means service always feels warm and personal. The Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square are both comfortably walkable from the hotel’s front door, making it a great location for first-timers to the city.

A see-and-be-seen cocktail bar and steakhouse share a glam terrace with killer Forbidden City views.

The nicest of Beijing’s few youth hostels, this welcoming little place is big on boutique charm. Neat, spotless rooms – dorms or twins – adjoin a cafe restaurant reserved for guests and filled to the brim with fresh flowers.

Calm and serene (it’s not a place to party). Peking Station Hostel would suit solo female travellers and couples on a budget. Staff are clued-up and helpful; they’ll even walk you to the subway.

The hostel is a ten-minute walk from Beijing’s main train station, and twice that to Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City, making it a decent budget base for the central sights.

A purpose-built sanctuary that draws its design cues from traditional Beijing siheyuan (quadrangle mansions), The PuXuan is hands-down one of the city’s most stylish hotels.

Inward-facing courtyards create a wonderful feeling of seclusion, with windows artfully positioned to frame views of the world outside, such as the tapering eaves of hutong rooftops, or the grand pavilion atop Jingshan Park.

As a base for sightseeing, you couldn’t ask for a more central location; a subway station is just beyond the hotel’s entrance, and you can reach the malls of Wangfujing or the gentrifying alleyways of Dongcheng District on foot.

Taking up 22 floors of a downtown skyscraper, Jen targets China’s hip young lifestyle set with all-white, tech-forward rooms, an incredible gym over two floors, and even a microbrewery.

North-facing rooms frame floor-to-ceiling views of Beijing’s most iconic modern building, the twin-legged CCTV Tower.

A co-working cafe and free business facilities makes it a great choice for travellers who like to mix work with sightseeing.

Conveniently, Jen connects below ground to the subway, with Tiananmen Square and the central sights just five stops away.

Part of the former Grand Hotel de Pékin dating to 1917, this elegant property has long been popular with overseas visitors.

European classicism is evident from the chandeliers and antique furnishings in the lobby, and this sophisticated period styling extends throughout the rooms and suites. If you didn’t know you were in Beijing, you could almost be in Paris.

Afternoon tea or a cocktail in the Writer’s Bar, with its baronial French windows and 1920s wooden dancefloor, is de rigueur. Located near Tiananmen Square, the hotel is close to the main central sights.

Housed in an eye-catching glass cube designed by Japanese architect Kengo Kuma, this is one of Beijing’s most design-oriented hotels. Minimalist rooms are dressed in blonde woods and white furnishings, with spa-style bathrooms and wooden tubs.

The location, right in the middle of Beijing’s main nightlife district, is ideal for night owls and fashionistas.

The pick of the hotel’s in-house restaurants is Jing Yaa Tang, serving traditional wood-fired Peking duck alongside the greatest hits of regional Chinese cooking.

Stylish and sharp-suited, New World Beijing has every flourish you’d expect from a five-star hotel, and room rates that often come in considerably cheaper than its big-name rivals.

It’s also one of the few international-standard hotels within walking distance of the Temple of Heaven and its vast arena of sculpted parkland – ideal for a morning jog or stroll. Tiananmen Square is about the same distance away in the opposite direction.

Among the hotel’s standout features are a wellness floor with pool, sauna and spa, and a stylish rooftop lounge bar, a rarity in the capital.

Upgraded to an all-suite hotel in 2016, the long-established Peninsula offers a near-perfect blend of upscale comfort and centrality.

All that space, superior service and amenities don’t come cheap, but if the price is within your range this is one of Beijing’s safest hotel bets.

The prime Wangfujing location, close to the major central sights, is perfect if you’re coming for sightseeing.

Among the hotel’s standout features are a rooftop bar (summer only) and Huang Ting Cantonese restaurant, designed to replicate an ancient Beijing courtyard home.

Hands-down one of China’s swankiest hotels, Rosewood is a cut above in every department, from its designer amenities to its on-trend restaurants.

For seasoned travellers with a discerning eye, the details at Rosewood will dazzle and delight: tailored suits for all staff, intriguing books in the guest rooms, crystal glassware in the minibar.

The location, perched on the third ring road, is low on local colour, but the hotel is only a few subway stops from the main central sights and Beijing’s more walkable hutong neighbourhoods.

A secret sanctuary in the hutongs, The Orchid is one of the best options to get a feel for traditional Beijing life.

The owners have restored and built upon a Qing Dynasty-era courtyard home, adding gardens, restaurants and a terrace bar with majestic views of the Drum and Bell Towers, looming above the eaves of courtyard rooftops.

Petite guestrooms come with Chinese tea sets and mobile phones, and there are larger ‘dispersed’ suites dotted about in nearby alleyways.

Enclosed by a grid of strollable lanes, and close to Houhai Lake and the Lama Temple, the Orchid makes a wonderful base for sightseeing on foot.