The Beijing Subway — mainland China's oldest, opened in 1971 — is now its largest: 909 kilometers, 3.58 billion trips in 2025, and a record 13.75 million rides in a single day. Line 18 opened on 27 December 2025, and the Phase 2 plan targets 998.5 km with capacity for 18.5 million daily trips.
Beijing's subway crossed 900 km at the end of 2025, when Line 18 and extensions of Lines 6 and 17 opened on 27 December. They followed the December 2024 debut of Lines 3 and 12 — the east–west pair that finally linked the northeast corridor. Average daily ridership runs 9.8 million, peaking past 11 million on busy weekdays; the all-time record stands at 13.75 million.
For visitors the workhorses are Line 1 (Tian'anmen, Wangfujing, the CBD), Line 2 (the ring line tracing the old city wall), Line 4 (Summer Palace, the zoo, Beijing South station), Line 5 (Temple of Heaven, Lama Temple) and Line 8 (the central axis, Olympic Park). Airport expresses hang off Dongzhimen and Caoqiao.
Beijing is also China's rail capital in the literal sense: Beijing South (high-speed to Shanghai in 4.5 hours), Beijing West (Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Xi'an), Beijing Fengtai (rebuilt 2022 as Asia's largest rail station by area) and Beijing Chaoyang (northeast corridor) anchor the national high-speed grid — and Daxing airport sits on the Beijing–Xiong'an intercity line.
The subway's Phase 2 plan pushes to 998.5 km with projected capacity of 18.5 million trips a day. The Pinggu line and further Line 17 phases extend reach into the far eastern suburbs — commuter territory that will matter for hotel pricing on the city's edge over the next five years.
Fares are distance-based from ¥3; the system is fully QR-payable and foreign cards now work at gates in practice, though a transit QR in Alipay or WeChat is smoother. Signs and announcements are bilingual. Avoid 7:30–9:30 and 17:30–19:30 if you value personal space — Line 10 alone carries 1.66 million riders on a regular weekday.
For the Great Wall, the S2 suburban train to Badaling and the high-speed trains from Qinghe are the rail options; both sell out on holidays, so book ahead.
Pick your hotel by the subway map, not the sight map. Beijing's distances defeat taxis at rush hour, and the metro is where the city actually moves. The sweet spot for visitors is inside the Second Ring near Lines 2 and 5 — Dongcheng's hutong edge — where you can walk to the Temple of Heaven and reach everything else in one transfer. If your itinerary is Forbidden City plus CBD meetings, a Line 1 address saves you an hour a day. And take the high-speed train, not a flight, for Shanghai, Xi'an or Tianjin — center to center, it wins every time.
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