China’s capital shifts between imperial scale and a hyper-digital present where daily life runs at speed. Here’s how to spend two days in Beijing, moving through its landmarks, hutongs and street-level rituals.

Arriving in Beijing feels less like moving forward in time and more like side-stepping into a version of it that is already in mid-sprint. It’s a city that moves with remarkably little friction.

The shopping malls glow late into the night, and daily routines – booking tickets, hailing rides or finding a meal – are all handled through apps that replace cash, queues and even small talk.

But that’s not the Beijing most visitors pack for. A city with this much historical weight is often reduced to its greatest hits: the golden rooftops of the Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square and the Great Wall draped over the hills like a mythical, stone-scaled beast.

If you spend a little time at street level though, it becomes something else entirely. In the hutongs (ancient alleyways) that curl around the old imperial core, residents sweep courtyards, bicycles rattle over uneven paving stones and breakfast stalls send up steady clouds of steam from dumplings.

With Australians now able to visit China visa-free for up to 30 days, it’s an unusually easy moment to experience the ancient capital where imperial history and a digital present sit just a few streets apart. This is our ultimate two-day Beijing itinerary.

Day one: Touring the city’s icons

Start the day with a breakfast food tour, the most efficient way to get acquainted with Beijing’s sensory logic. The Peninsula Beijing, the city’s resident ‘grand dame’ of luxury, is famous for its proximity to the iconic sights, but its real secret is a little black book of local guides. Among them is Garth, an Australian who turned a gap year into a 14-year residency.

The tour slips away from the hotel’s marble lobby and into the nearby hutongs to sample jianbing, a crisp, savoury breakfast crepe that is arguably the city’s greatest culinary export. You’ll find yourself gorging on dumplings, ‘tofu brains’ and other breakfast dishes locals eat daily.

The route winds through narrow lanes lined with siheyuan (courtyard homes), of which only about 1000 remain, for an unvarnished glimpse of old Beijing, caught between the cracks of a rapidly rising skyline.

From the hotel, it’s a five-minute drive or 30-minute walk to the Forbidden City. For 600 years, this was the residential enclave of the Ming and Qing emperors, a place designed to make you feel very small and the occupant feel very powerful.

Everything here is dictated by obsessive symmetry; a rhythmic repetition of red walls and gold-tiled roofs that stretches across the complex. From there, it’s a short walk to Tiananmen Square, one of the largest public city squares in the world.

At its centre is the Monument to the People’s Heroes, with Tiananmen Gate to the north, topped by Mao Zedong’s portrait. Entry is free, but tickets must be booked well in advance as they often sell out.

After a long day of eating, walking, and no doubt dodging crowds at the sights, retreat to The Peninsula Spa to decompress. It has quite a global reputation with Chinese, Ayurvedic and European therapies all featuring on the menu.

It’s the perfect place to scrub off the city’s frenetic energy. Once your treatment is finished, don’t rush to your room; instead, take a lap through the thermal bathing facilities to ensure the relaxation actually sticks.

If shopping is part of the plan, book a DiDi (20-minute drive) to Taikoo Li Sanlitun. Best visited in the afternoon, ‘the Village’ is an open-air complex of low-rise buildings and courtyards, with global luxury labels like Louis Vuitton and Tiffany & Co. alongside local designers.

It functions more like a public square than a traditional mall, making it one of Beijing’s more unexpected pockets to simply drift and watch the city’s hyper-modern fashion subcultures collide.

No trip to Beijing is complete without Peking duck. Another concierge recommendation leads to Li Qun Roast Duck Restaurant, a 10-minute drive from the hotel. Tucked down a narrow alley behind plastic strip curtains, it doesn’t look like much at first, but inside it opens into a dining room strung with red lanterns, where staff glide between tables carrying burnished, whole roast ducks. The duck is carved tableside and served with a DIY assembly line of house-made pancakes, sticky hoisin, fresh vegetables and crunchy eggplant.

Day two: food, architecture and hands-on fun

It’s an early start for the 90-minute drive to the Great Wall of China. The hotel’s tour (72 hours’ notice required) includes a guided walk and, if the weather plays nice, a helicopter ride for a dizzying view of this seventh wonder from above.

It’s open year-round, but there is something undeniably cinematic about watching chunky snowflakes settle across the ancient ramparts.

On the drive back, stop at the Summer Palace (tickets available at the entrance), a UNESCO World Heritage site and one of China’s largest and best-preserved imperial gardens.

Once a lakeside retreat for royals, it’s set around Kunming Lake, where brightly patterned mandarin ducks drift across the water, and the Seventeen-Arch Bridge links the shoreline to Nanhu Island.

Go behind the scenes with The Peninsula Academy’s dumpling-making class (72 hours’ notice required), which begins at a wet market. After gathering fresh ingredients, you’ll head back to the hotel’s Cantonese restaurant, Huang Ting.

Under the watchful eye of a dim sum chef, you’ll learn the art of seasoning, rolling and folding dough before sitting down to a set menu of beef short ribs with preserved lemon, Boston lobster, and of course, your very own handmade creations.

Suite dreams: how to get to Beijing

The new Aria Suites from Cathay Pacific make the journey to Beijing via Hong Kong feel smooth from the start, with sliding privacy doors, lie-flat beds and oversized entertainment screens.

During the layover, relax at The Pier First Class Lounge, offering complimentary 15-minute massages and a dining experience by Hong Kong’s renowned Cantonese restaurant Mott 32, before the final leg to Beijing.