Don't miss this great opportunity. Take a taxi to Forbidden City, Temple of Heaven (with nearby Pearl Market, Summer Palace (and even better, Old Summer Palace)or Behai Park. You could visit one each day and explore surrounding areas at the same time. I assume you will visit the Great Wall with your husband. I really liked Mutianyu which is a little further than Badaling. I hired a car with driver and had a lovely day. Just be sure to take the card with your hotels name and have the hotel write the place you wish to visit in Chinese for the taxi driver. Leave some time free for massage.

your hotel will be able to arrange some excursions for you, either privately or with larger groups..

lots to do in beijing... get a guidebook and read up..

You will do fine, Beijing is easy. Get a guidebook with place names in Chinese characters and a phrasebook ditto. Don't leave the hotel without its card which will have its name in characters and a map. Learn the metro system - with the traffic gridlock in Beijing these days you're better off underground.

If you can manage Amiens, etc. you can easily manage Beijing. There's plenty of signage in English; the metro maps are bi-lingual and announcements are in English; and when you walk up to the ticket window at a palace or temple everyone knows you want to buy a ticket. Prices and opening times are prominently displayed.

Don't take a hotel tour as they will be ridiculously overpriced as you can get around more quickly and have more control by using the (admittedly crowded) metro (subway), which costs a mere ¥2 per journey. If you're near the airport then you can just take a cab or hotel shuttle to the airport and board the Airport Express which will whisk you into town in under 20 mins for ¥25.

If you take taxis simply make sure you have the characters for your destination written down to show the driver, and the hotel card to show for the return journey. Unfortunately there seem to be a lot of novice drivers around at the moment, so be prepared to hop out if the driver looks confused. Have the phone number of your destination, too, if possible as driver's will typically call (no charge) for directions. If the taxi card on the dashboard shows the driver's number as beginning with 26 or above he may have not much clue. 29 means he's been driving perhaps a month, and really doesn't know where anything is at all. Find another cab.

There's so much to see in Beijing that a week is nothing. But getting around the city is tiresome, so pick an area, go to it and tackle a cluster of nearby or metro-linked things, and then go back.

It really is pretty straightforward, and there are thousands of foreigners getting themselves around the city without a word of Mandarin even as we speak (type).

Start looking up destinations on Google Maps, and their relationship to your hotel. And have a look at the (surprisingly for Wikipedia) accurate metro map here:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/05/Beijing-Subway_en.png

As others are suggesting, I think you'll find Beijing surprisingly easy to visit on your own - go and enjoy!

You've gotten some great advice already. If you would find it helpful to hear about other's experiences, there are several female Fodorites (myself included) who have visited Beijing and other parts of China solo; you can search this board for our trip reports.

JulianPM,
If you want to make it really easy on yourself, I can recommend Gerry from China HIghlights, who could take you around with a driver for a day. He's very personable and interesting to talk to as well. I'm not sure what that would cost because I didn't break it out separately, but my impression was that it was reasonable. Maybe just book one or two days to handle the major sightseeing stuff...that way you save your energy for sightseeing, not wasting time trying to figure out how to get somewhere, walking a long way just to reach the site, etc. He does not take you on any shopping stops unless you want him to. If interested, contact Michael Hu at China Highlights to arrange.

Then, on my own, I'd pick a couple of hutongs known for shopping and restaurants and wander around there. There's one near the Lama Temple that was interesting and the other was Nan Luogu Xiang. We also enjoyed the cooking class we took through Black Sesame Kitchen that was located there. Another cooking school that got great reviews was Hutong Cuisine, but they were filled when I was there. You also could walk around the 798 Art District easily on your own. I didn't have time to visit the major shopping areas, but that would be fun too.

Thank you all for your encouragement.

Juliann--I have traveled to Beijing a few times with my husband and have had days to myself as he was busy with business.
I am pretty much same as you! But with the help of hotel personnel, I found Beijing to be a great tourist city. Lots and lots to see.
I actually used taxis often because I found them to be quite affordable. The taxi drivers do not speak one word of English and thus is a little bit of challenge, But the hotel personnel would write everything I needed for me and I would ask the drivers and almost always it worked out well.

One important tip---remember to have Yuans in smaller denominations. The first time I took a taxi, I had a 100Y and taxi driver had no change as it was early morning.

Buses are crowded, but extremely cheap, so if you are brave you can use those too and see a whole lot of town just by riding in one.

Subway system is good and easy too, but it seems does not cover the entire city, but you should give it a try.

I usually took the taxi to one major sightseeing place and then wandered around the area on foot. Very safe and lots to see.
Most young people speak English, so in case you need help seek out some youngsters and they are happy to help.
Enjoy Beijing to the fullest.
Once when I felt kind of lost and no taxi would take me back to hotel, I walked to a nearby hotel and asked to help. They were able to guide me in a very helpful manner.
Thus, I have had great experience and hope you will too.

Thank you.

I am not as brave as I was in my youth or maybe it is my imagination works better. I guess part of it is realizing I could not read a word of Chinese and after trying to learn it for the last 6 weeks I am not sure my pronunciations were even close on the few phrases I thought I could say. I had some guide books but did not know how accessible public transportation was. If taxis are not expensive, I might take that idea. I tend to avoid guided tours when I can because I like poking into things that peak my interest.

I can understand your anxiety, but I think that once you are there you will realize that Beijing is quite manageable. You do not need to be able to read or speak Chinese. The metro system in Beijing is extremely easy to use (and has signs and announcements in English). Just follow some of the excellent advice above (like making sure you have your hotel's card with you).

Julian--I just noticed that your hotel will be near the airport, so you will be quite far from some of the sightseeing places. Not sure if taxi will be a good idea, since the traffic in Beijing is pretty bad early mornings and at rush hour. Actually the truth is it is bad all day!
So sometimes it takes quite a bit of time to reach the other end of town.
Thus, you should consult your hotel personnel and find the best way to go sightseeing. I am guessing your best bet may be the subway since it is faster.
Take your guide books with you. Hope the hotel will provide you with a map in English. We had trouble finding maps in English in various places.
One very important tip: Many public rest rooms dont have toilet paper, so make sure you always carry some in your purse. In addition there are almost no paper towels to dry hands in rest rooms. Thus be prepared. Large hotels, sightseeing places and large restaurants have good bathrooms, but often you may not like what you see, thus be prepared!

Thank you everyone for the advice. I am stocking up on tissues and hand santizer to bring with my enthusiam.

You can buy tissues in Beijing, and help yourself to the hotel TP, I take 1/2 a roll daily and it doubles as seat covers and paper towels in a pinch.

Pretty much anything you can buy in a drugstore in the US you can buy in China, at least in the cities. Maybe not the same brands (I saw more UK influence than US), but the same type of product.

Ditto going to Great Wall on your own. If also going with husband, go to a different area. Worth the trip. I would go with organized group that does daytrip. Nice to be with other people and you will stop for lunch at a place that has huge shopping area with outrageous prices. Do not buy anything. I speak from experience since I bought a bracelet...amazingly overpriced and fake! But the trip will be a lovely day. I did it and loved it. Also did another "sights of Beijing" bus tour. Really good and made it easy to get from place to place. To me, worth the extra money so I did not have to do the logistics by myself. I could not learn the NYC subway or bus system in a few days and it is all in English.

For the simplest possible approach to the Great Wall, to reach relatively little-visited scenic sections, and to do so in the company of a few locally based foreigners or their visitors from overseas, try:

http://www.beijinghikers.com/

Admittedly you can get yourself to the Great Wall for as little as ¥8 each way, but your ¥400 or so gets you a start from a location only halfway back into town from the airport, more atmospheric Great Wall sections, some company that speaks your language, and often lunch at a nongjiayuan (farmer's place) is included, etc. You just need to be prepared to do a little walking and bring appropriate footwear. These trips are well-run, and include no shopping, tipping, or other shenanigans.

Otherwise for out-of-town trips join made-for-Chinese weekend bus tours that leave early morning from Xuanwu Men and a few other locations. Costs are properly Chinese, you're delivered directly to the site with no shenanigans either, told what time to come back, and left to explore for yourself. There are some Great Wall destinations, and prices are typically under $150 including the entrance fees even for far-flung destinations such as the Eastern Qing Tombs. Trouble will be a very early start (although that means swift travelling) only to go all the way back out of town again on the bus.

As for city bus tours, right now the buses spend more time stopped than moving. If you actually want to get around and get much done, you need to use the subway, regardless of the fact that on some routes and at some times of day it's fairly crowded.

As for toiletries, keep an eye on:

http://twitter.com/beijingair

and bring N95 masks. The air is not what it was in January, but its appalling state would make headlines anywhere else in the world.

Beijing hikers looks great. I wish I had known about it.

<<<I guess part of it is realizing I could not read a word of Chinese and after trying to learn it for the last 6 weeks I am not sure my pronunciations were even close on the few phrases I thought I could say>>>

You'll be fine! The trick I used was to print out the Chinese characters and English translations for a dozen places I wanted to see or questions I knew I would want to ask. All I had to do was point to the right little section on my single piece of paper and I was good to go. Keep a card for your hotel and all you have to do is show that to a taxi and you're good to get home. The staff at your hotel desk will also write out the characters for any places you want to go, again just show that to a taxi driver and you're set.

Go for a stroll in the silk/pearl markets, it was overwhelming but entertaining as could be. Assume that everything in the stalls is fake or dang close to it and bargain accordingly. You simply bargain with a little calculator and most of the shopkeepers speak at least enough English to try to convince you to buy something.

I have a trip report out with details of what I saw/did in Beijing and it might be helpful for you. I'm fairly sure I included the name for the driver who took me out to the Jinshanling section of the Great Wall, he was absolutely fantastic and it was great to be able to just sit and ask him questions. It's a little more expensive than going with a group but you get to set your own schedule.

Random bit of trivia, I remember reading that you give and receive business cards with both hands and NEVER put them in a back pocket or fold them up. It's a representation of a person and is to be treated with respect.


Don't worry about your pronunciation for things like hello, please and thank you. They will understand what you're trying to say and appreciate the effort. Beyond that, the metro is in English and you can accomplish more than you would ever think with a smile, patience and charades. Keep your hotels card on you since it will have it's name/address in characters. Just remember, you're not lost you're just waiting for a taxi.

If I could do it then you can certainly do it.