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Your Travel Guide

Beijing - China

Impossible to hire a car in Beijing without Chinese driving license

It is not currently possible to hire a care in Beijing unless you have a Chinese driving license. It is, however, possible to hire and car with a chauffeur. These can be arranged though travel agencies.

How to obtain a Chinese driving license:

It is possible for foreigners living in China to obtain a Chinese driving license. If you already have a driving license from a foreign country, all you have to do is take a theory test to obtain a Chinese driving license. If you don't already have a foreign driving license, you will have to sit both a practical and theory test.

Hiring a bike

In spite of the enormous number of bicycles on the road (over 600 new ones join the throngs each day), cycling remains the best way to get around the city. Cycling gives you the opportunity to see Beijing at your leisure, and to explore the hutongs (traditional alleyways), without the expense of a taxi, or effort of walking. You can hire a bike for most hotels. If you are staying in Beijing for a while, you can buy a bike for around Y250.  Hiring a bike often starts at Y100 per day.

Public transportation

If you don't want to drive a car, or cycle, you can always use taxis, buses and the metro.  The metro is efficient, fast and cheap (Y2 per journey). There are currently 4 lines, with a number of new ones due to be built by the Olympic Games. Metro stations are marked out with a big white ‘D' on a blue background.

Buses can take you many more places than the metro can, but unless you can understand Chinese characters, it will be very hard to work out where buses are going. Occasionally, stops are announced in English.

Taxis start at Y10 during the day and Y11 at night for the 1^st 3 km. They are easy to find unless it's raining, or on national holidays. Taxis drivers rarely speak English, and don't know English place names, so ideally, have your destination written down in characters.