How Locals Actually Chill on a Beijing Weekend
- Bite Escape-Lin
- Nov 6, 2025
- 3 min read
Updated: 3 days ago
Beijing is not only ancient walls and grand palaces. It is a living city where around twenty million people move at their own speed. When Friday night arrives, office lights fade, hutongs light up, and the smell of barbecue drifts through the alleys. Older Beijingers wrap themselves in towels at the bathhouse and get ready to relax for real.
Weekends here are not just about checking off landmarks. Many people prefer to slow down, soak in hot water, spend a few hours with animals in the countryside or hike along wild mountain ridges where the Great Wall still follows the shape of the hills.
If you are curious how locals really unwind, these three ideas are a good place to start.
1. Bathhouse Time on a Slow Beijing Weekend
A Beijing bathhouse is not a spa and not a hot spring resort. It is its own kind of place. For around 350 RMB you can usually stay five or six hours on a weekend, and even longer on a weekday. Inside you move between hot pools, steam rooms and saunas. You can get a full body scrub, drink tea, snack on fruit and then sink into a big reclining chair where people often fall asleep without meaning to.
The mood is very relaxed. No one pays much attention to anyone else. People talk quietly, scroll on their phones, or simply close their eyes and listen to the soft background sounds. It feels very down to earth and very “tang ping” in the best possible way.
If you add a video here, it can work well as a small window into what a real bathhouse day in Beijing looks like.
2. A Forest Escape Outside the City
Not every weekend in Beijing needs to be about cafés and hotpot places. Sometimes people just want to step outside the ring roads for a few quiet hours, feel some wind on their face and stand on real grass instead of pavement.
Areas reachable from Beijing Chaoyang Station make this especially easy. A short high-speed train ride, followed by about ten minutes in a car, brings you to quiet ranches and fields where locals ride horses, learn simple basics or simply spend time around animals. There is plenty of room to walk, breathe and let your shoulders drop.
What surprises many first-time visitors is how peaceful it feels. There is no city noise, only open views, sunlight and the steady rhythm of hooves touching the ground.
Many outdoor spots near Chaoyang Station are popular among locals, especially the ranch areas where people ride horses or spend time with animals. If you want to read more about outdoor options in Beijing, you can check our overview of local outdoor activities.
3. Hiking the Wild Great Wall
Walking on the wild Great Wall is very different from visiting places like Badaling or Mutianyu. For background information, Jiankou is one of the most famous wild sections of the Great Wall. The stones here are broken in places, the paths can be steep, and the mountains seem to stretch out without an end.
You follow narrow ridges that have not been fully restored. The wind brushes past your ears and valleys open up on both sides. At some parts you use your hands to help you climb. On loose gravel you might slide a little and laugh at yourself. Every so often you stop, stand still and just look at the view for a while.
It is not polished, not crowded and not especially easy, which is exactly why many locals love it. The wild sections feel honest and a bit rough, and that roughness makes the sense of space and freedom even stronger.
A Softer Side of the City
A Beijing weekend does not need complicated plans. A long soak in a bathhouse, a quiet walk near horses and fields, or a day on the wild Great Wall can already reset your mood. These simple moments show a softer side of the city that many visitors never see. If you are looking for a slower, more local rhythm, these are three very real ways people here choose to chill.
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