Home to over 200,000 Muslims and 70 Mosques, Beijing is the top tourist destinations in China for overseas Muslims. IslamiChina has summarized the following Beijing Muslim travel tips to our Muslim brothers and sisters to travel Beijing during a short period of time.

Tour Itinerary Planning

For Muslim Business Travelers

If you are a Muslim and you are on business here in Beijing and you have one day off to tour around Beijing, we suggest to arrange a visit to the Great Wall of China, the Tian’anmen Square and Forbidden City, once the tour is over, you may join the local Muslims at Niujie Mosque for Salat prayer. If you have two days, you may arrange one day visiting Tian’anmen Square, Forbidden City, Temple of Heaven, join local Muslims at Niujie Mosque for Salat prayer. You may visit the Great Wall of China and Summer Palace on the second day.

For Muslim leisure travelers

5 Days and 4 Nights Beijing Muslim Tour is the best choice for Muslim leisure travelers because this tour itinerary allows you to have enough time to know both Beijing’s culture heritages as well as Muslim heritages. You are not in a hurry to get around Beijing from one place to another. Please check IslamiChina’s Beijing Muslim Tour 5 Days for details.

Accommodations

Being the capital city of China, Beijing has a great variety of hotels to offer to all kinds of travelers. For Muslim travelers, the most convenient way is to stay at hotel which offers Halal food. Here is IslamiChina’s suggestion for hotels in Beijing.

4-star Beijing Ningxia Hotel

Ningxia is the short name for Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region. Hui is the largest Muslim ethnic group in China. Beijing Ningxia Hotel is invested and managed by Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region. Halal food is served at all its restaurant (both Chinese and Western restaurant. Ningxia Hotel is located within Beijing’s second ring road and close to Andingmen Subway Station.

4-star Beijing Xinjiang Hotel

Xinjiang is the shor name for Xinjiang Uyhur Autonomous Region. Uyhur is the second largest Muslim ethnic group living in Northwest China’s Xinjiang. Xinjiang Hotel is invested and managed by Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. All restaurants in Xinjiang Hotel serve Halal food. Xinjiang Hotel is located in West Beijing’s Haidian District and close to Beijing Zoo.

5-star Xiyuan Hotel

Xiyuan Hotel has a Halal restaurant which serves lunch and dinner. For a group consisting over 16 people, Xiyuan Hotel will offer Halal breakfast.

Halal Restaurants

As a matter of facts, Beijing local snacks are Beijing local Halal snacks because most Muslims in the old days are in the food business. The Baikui Laohao Halal Restaurants has the largest collections of all Beijing local Halal snacks. As China is a huge country, food in different areas or regions have very distinctive flavors. Halal restaurants in Ningxia Hotel serves typical Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region Halal food while restaurants in Xinjiang Hotel serves typical Xinjiang Halal food. The best Beijing local food can be found at Hongbinlou Halal Restaurant. The Waggas Halal Restaurant located to the North of Beijing Sofitel in Beijing’s Central Business District offers delicious local Beijing Halal meals.

Mosques

There are over 70 mosques located in both urban and suburban areas of Beijing. Among which, the 900 year old Niujie Mosque is the best. The current buildings of Niujie Mosque is left from the Ming dynasty. The second most famous mosque in Beijing is the Ming Dynasty built Dongsi Mosque which can reached by Subway Line 5. Another mosque which is worth visiting is Nandouya Mosque which was totally rebuilt a few years ago on the originally site of the old Nandouya Mosque in traditional Chinese courtyard architectural style.

Money Exchange

You can exchange traveler's checks or cash at most banks, and most 5-star and 4-star hotels always have a money exchange counter. You can also get a cash advance on your credit card on ATM machine. The exchange rate all over China are the same fixed by Bank of China. To change money, you have to have your passport at hand. If you want to change money in a hotel, you usually have to be a guest there. Sometimes if you are not a guest in a hotel but need to change money there, you can just say a random room number, but this doesn't always work. Remember to keep the exchange slip well because you need this slip to change the Chinese Yuan back to your currency if you do have this need at the end of the tour. At present, the RMB is not exchangeable on the International market, so it is only usable within the country. So when you are changing money, don't change too much, because it is difficult to change back into other currencies. To change RMB back into your home currency, you must retain the exchange slips that are given to you at the bank or money exchange counter.