PedalerPaddler

Hi y'all
Which hotels do you recommend in Beijing that is convenient to
1) Forbidden city
2) Tian’anmen square
3) especially the Great Wall.

I was told to best stay near downtown Beijing and take a train to the Great Wall. My concern is we are not familiar with train system. What is the simplier but not too expense means to get to the Great Wall. Thanks

kja

The subway in Beijing is extremely easy to use, with both oral and written information in English and several other languages.

The Forbidden City is across a street from Tian'anmen Square.

From Beijing, you can visit several different segments of the Great Wall. You would do well to consult a good guidebook or two to decide which segment(s) you want to visit.

jobin

I would venture to say that Beijing has more hotels than any other city in the entire world. And you can be sure that many cater to every budget.

PedalerPaddler

Thanks y'all (from Texas

JPDeM

The train to the Great Wall leaves from the North train station which is adjacent to the Xizhimen subway station. However it is not the best section and is quite touristy. The "easiest" section and not so crowded would be Mutianyu. To get there you need to hire a river which will cost about $100 for the day. There are buses but it is not simple. Alternatively some hostels run tours.
About the hotel, you need to give us a budget.

kja

I found it VERY easy to get from Beijing to Badaling by bus (I don't think the train went there while I was in China, and would imagine that the train would be even easier than the bus), and while there were many other tourists there, it was absolutely stunning, with the wall running along ridges as far as the eye could see in multiple directions. I don't know how JPDeM defines "best" and I'm very glad that I don't have to decide which of the two sections of the wall I saw were "best." (I also saw the Great Wall at Huangyaguan; it was VERY different and much harder to reach. I can't say which was a "better" experience; I can say that if I could only do one of these two, I personally would choose Badaling, not because it was necessarily "better," but because it was at least as good and would have left me with more time and money to see Beijing's other treasures.)

I didn't go to Mutianyu, but believe it can be easily reached by public transportation from Beijing for mere dollars -- no reason to spend $100 for a driver!

BTW, many people seem to recommend using drivers while in China. FWIW, I found my moments on public transportation priceless -- the chance to see the interactions among locals and even, on occasion, to have them engage me in mimed "conversations", rather than traveling through the "bubble" of a driven car, was something I really treasured.
Enjoy!