Where to stay in Beijing?

April 28, 2010 9:07 PM

I am a student traveling to Beijing in July. Where should I stay?

This summer I'll be studying abroad in Hangzhou, China. At the end of my stay I'll be traveling to Beijing (from ~July 1st to July 10th) with four other students and so I'm looking for recommendations on places to stay while in Beijing. As we are students, we are looking to keep the price as low as possible. Of course, we still want to stay in a convenient and safe part of the city. Factors that may be important are: There are 4 males and 1 female. We are willing to share a room/rooms. A few of us know basic conversational Chinese, but none of us are fluent.

Also, I have no idea whether this is the best idea or what the prices are comparable to but my program director said that "If you want to stay on Qinghua campus you can get double rooms for about $70 (unless they have raised the price). This is a really nice place, but it is not in the center of Beijing." So this is an option as well.

As a side note if anyone has any tips, must see places (for Beijing or Hangzhou), or other words of wisdom please feel free to comment or send me a message. Thanks!

posted by lucy.jakobs to travel & transportation around Beijing, China (9 answers total)

If you stay at Tsinghua you'll be in Wudaokou, a neighborhood filled with universities and students. It's fun, but if you're just there for 10 days seeing the sights you'll want to be closer to the city center. Wudaokou's a long and boring subway ride from most of the fun stuff. I guess I would maybe recommend a hostel located on Nanluoguxiang. It's a nice old hutong street that's fairly hip, and right in the center of the city.
posted by acidic at 9:12 PM on April 28, 2010

NOOOOOOO!!!!!!!

Yes, the hostel!!! Take acidic's advice and stay in a hostel. My friend works here, at the Red Lantern. It's in Xinjiekou, a good place to be.

I live here, I knows. Check your memail inbox.
posted by saysthis at 9:18 PM on April 28, 2010

$70/night? If so, that's ridiculous. Earlier this month, my girlfriend and I stayed at Red Lantern House, a hostel, for about $25/night. We had a private room with a bathroom. You can go cheaper, certainly, even in the same hostel. Anyway, the location was great, close to the major attractions. The food at the hostel was good and cheap, too. Both of us would highly recommend it.
posted by smorange at 9:20 PM on April 28, 2010

Yes, the others are right about the hostels. I live here too, so obviously don't stay in them myself, but visiting friends have stayed in the ones down Nanluoguxiang just round the corner - it's now become a trendy cafe and shopping area and we're also very central, just east of the Drum and Bell towers.
posted by Abiezer at 10:47 PM on April 28, 2010

Seconding Nanluoguxiang as a nice place to stay.

When I first came to Beijing, I stayed at the Confucius International hostel by the Lama temple. While not being right in the thick of things (but still close to Nanluoguxiang and Andingmen), it's a nice neighbourhood, fairly cheap and close to the subway.

The subway in Beijing is genius. It might be stacked to the rafters during rush hour, but it will get you where you need or want to go for a pittance. As long as you're inside the first ring road, you'll be able to go anywhere you want fairly quickly.
posted by flippant at 2:52 AM on April 29, 2010

I stayed at the Far East Hotel's attached youth hostel a couple of years ago, which is quite central (walk a couple of minutes to Qianmen subway station, which is a great opportunity to have breakfast from one of the many food stalls along the way) and cost a lot less than your quote.


It seems that Google maps is a bit off today because the street maps are shifted from the satellite photos - the actual GPS coordinates are here, and it shows in the satellite pictures, but the maps have it here.
posted by themel at 3:30 AM on April 29, 2010

Another hostel recommendation. I stayed at Beijing City Walls two years ago. Great staff and location. I think I spent about $10 for a dorm bed, but they have singles as well.
posted by backwards guitar at 4:30 AM on April 29, 2010

I was just in Beijing a few weeks ago. All I have to say is, beware of the scammers! If someone approaches you speaking english in the tourist areas of Beijing (especially Wangfujing and Tianmen), there's a 99.9% chance they are looking to part you with your money somehow...
posted by lovejones at 6:40 AM on April 29, 2010

Agree with everyone else about about staying in a hostel, especially if you have enough people that you can get a whole room to yourself.

I'm in Hangzhou now, so drop me an email if you have any questions.
posted by afu at 12:26 AM on April 30, 2010