Beijing Subway Guide: Lines, Key Stops, Ticket Prices 2026

Your no-fuss guide to riding Beijing’s metro like a local, from fares and lines to tapping in with your card

Heading to Beijing and wondering how to get around this massive city? The subway is your best bet. It’s cheap, fast, and goes almost everywhere you’ll want to be, which makes it the most budget-friendly way to see the city without sitting in traffic.

With more than 500 stations spread across 27-plus lines and over 900km of track, it’s one of the biggest metro networks in the world. That sounds intimidating, but it’s surprisingly easy to use once you’ve got the basics down, and now that foreign cards work at the gates, you don’t even need to queue for a ticket.

Here’s everything you need to know before your first ride.

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Table of Contents: Beijing Subway Guide

1. Beijing Subway Map
2. Main Beijing Subway Lines & Key Stops
3. Beijing Subway Suburban Lines
4. Why Choose the Beijing Subway?
5. Beijing Subway Operating Hours
6. How Much Does the Beijing Subway Cost?
7. Use Your YouTrip Card to Tap In & Out
8. Other Ways to Pay: Beijing Subway Ticket Types
9. How to Get to the Airport
10. Beijing Subway Tips for First-Time Riders
11. Beijing Subway FAQs

Beijing Subway Map

Image Credits: Beijing Subway

The network looks intimidating on paper, but it’s logical once you’re in it. Lines are numbered and colour-coded, every station has signs in both Chinese and English, and onboard announcements are bilingual too.

Grab a free paper map at any station, or download an offline app before you land so you can plan routes without burning data:

• Explore Beijing: clean offline map with route planning
• MetroMan Beijing: fare and travel-time estimates built in
• The official Beijing Subway app for live service updates

Related Guide: Here’s a WeChat Pay guide for foreigners in China

Main Beijing Subway Lines & Key Stops

Most of the big-ticket sights sit on a handful of central lines. Here’s where the ones you’ll actually use will take you:

If you’re temple-and-palace hopping, Lines 1, 2 and 4 cover most of it. Line 8 is the one for the Olympic sites.

Related Guide: Here’s an Alipay guide for foreigners in China

Beijing Subway Suburban Lines

Want to get further out? Several lines reach the suburbs and satellite towns. The Changping, Yizhuang, Fangshan and Daxing lines connect outer districts to the city core, and the Daxing line links up with Daxing International Airport. They run on the same fare system and the same ticketing, so there’s nothing extra to learn, just longer rides.

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 Venturing further into China? Don’t miss the best things to do in Shenzhen

Why Choose the Beijing Subway?

A few reasons it beats the alternatives:

• It’s cheap. Most rides across the city cost 3 to 6 RMB (~S$0.57 to S$1.14). You’d pay many times that for the equivalent taxi trip.
  
• It skips the traffic. Beijing’s roads jam up badly. The subway doesn’t.
  
• It’s everywhere. With 500-plus stations, you’re rarely more than a short walk from one.
  
• It’s tourist-friendly. Bilingual signs, English announcements, and easy card payment now that foreign cards are accepted at the gates.

Related Guide: Here are the best things to do in Shanghai

Beijing Subway Operating Hours

The subway runs roughly 5 AM to 11 PM daily, though exact first and last train times vary by line (first trains generally between 5:00 and 5:40 AM, last trains between 10:30 and 11:30 PM). If you’re catching a late dinner or an early flight, check the last-train time for your specific line in the app before you set off.

Trains are typically busiest on weekday mornings (around 7–9:30 AM) and evenings (around 5:30–8:30 PM), especially on the central lines. Travel off-peak if you can, it’s a much calmer ride.

Related Guide: What To Do In Guangzhou: Ultimate Travel Guide

How Much Does the Beijing Subway Cost?

Fares are distance-based, so the further you go, the more you pay. It’s still incredibly affordable by Singapore standards:

Most trips around the city centre land between 3 and 6 RMB (~S$0.57 to S$1.14). There’s no flat fare cap, so a long haul out to the suburbs costs a little more, but even then you’re rarely paying more than the price of a coffee. The airport express lines are priced separately (more on those below).

 Want every fare to cost less in SGD? Here’s how to get the best SGD to CNY rate.

Use Your YouTrip Card to Tap In & Out

Here’s the part that makes things easy for visitors. Since 13 September 2024, the Beijing subway accepts overseas-issued Visa and Mastercard contactless payments at the gates, which means you can tap in and out with your YouTrip card (physical or virtual) just like you would on the MRT back home. No queuing for tickets, no transit card to top up.

Even better, you’ll pay in CNY at YouTrip’s wholesale exchange rate with zero foreign transaction fees, and the amount auto-converts when you tap. That’s a noticeably better deal than letting your bank card handle the conversion, and far less hassle than carrying a wad of cash to a ticket machine.

To ride, just hold your YouTrip card to the contactless reader at the gate, then tap the same card out at your destination so the system can calculate your fare. Use the same card both ways every time.

Related Guide: Find out more here

sign up for a free YouTrip card here

Other Ways to Pay: Beijing Subway Ticket Types

Prefer not to tap your card, or travelling with someone who doesn’t have one? You’ve got options:

Top-ups go in multiples of 10 RMB and the balance maxes out at 1,000 RMB (~S$190). You can get your YiKaTong deposit and remaining balance refunded when you return the card at a service centre.

How to Purchase a Physical YiKaTong or Hutong Card

Here are some service centres where you can apply for, top up, and return a YiKaTong or Hutong card:

Image Credits: Travel China Guide

Buy a physical card at subway station service counters, convenience stores, or the customer service centre at Dongzhimen station (foreigners can show a passport here to set one up). Pay the 20 RMB deposit, load some credit, and you’re good to go. Refund it at the same service counters before you fly home.

How to Purchase a YiKaTong or Hutong E-Card Online

You can also skip the physical card and add a transit e-card to your phone. The 北京一卡通 (Beijing Yikatong) app lets you apply for a digital card, while travellers often add a transit card through Alipay or WeChat Pay for tap-and-go straight from the phone.

These are handy if you’d rather not handle a physical card, though honestly, with foreign contactless cards now accepted, tapping your YouTrip card is the simplest route of all.

 The Hutong card works in Guangzhou too. Here’s the ultimate Guangzhou travel guide if it’s on your route.

How to Get to the Airport

Both of Beijing’s airports are connected to the subway by dedicated express lines.

Getting to Beijing Capital International Airport

Take the Capital Airport Express, which links the airport to Beixinqiao and Dongzhimen stations in the city. It’s a flat 25 RMB (~S$4.75) each way and takes around 20 to 30 minutes, making it the fastest, most predictable way to the airport (no traffic to worry about).

Getting to Beijing Daxing Airport

The Daxing Airport Express connects Caoqiao station to Daxing International Airport in about 20 minutes. Fares are distance-based: 10 RMB (~S$1.90) for short hops, rising to 25 RMB (~S$4.75) and 35 RMB (~S$6.65) for the full run, with a business-class seat at 50 RMB (~S$9.50). You can tap in with your YouTrip card here too.

 Flying onward in China? Chengdu and its pandas are worth the detour.

Beijing Subway Tips for First-Time Riders

A few things worth knowing before you go:

• Security checks at every station. Bags go through a scanner on entry, so leave a couple of extra minutes, especially during busy periods.
  
• Use the same card to tap in and out. The gates won’t open on exit if you tapped in with a different card.
  
• Download an offline map app like Explore Beijing or MetroMan before you land, since some Western apps don’t work without a VPN in China.
  
• Mind the crowds. Rush-hour trains get shoulder-to-shoulder. Travel off-peak if your schedule allows.
  
• Limited step-free access. Many older stations are stairs-only, so factor that in if you’ve got heavy luggage or mobility needs.

 Subway sorted? Free up a day for Shanghai Disneyland if you’re heading east.

Beijing Subway FAQs

Tap In, Tap Out & Let The Savings Ride

Whether you’re heading to the Forbidden City, the Great Wall day-trip departure points, or straight to the airport, the Beijing subway is the cheapest and easiest way to move around the city. And with foreign contactless cards now accepted at the gates, there’s no reason to fumble with tickets or cash. Just tap your YouTrip card and go.

Not a YouTrooper yet? Singapore’s go-to multi-currency wallet helps you save with great FX rates and zero fees. Skip the money changer and get a free YouTrip card + S$5 YouTrip credits with <YTBLOG5> .

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