The Temple of Heaven glowing at golden hour beside imperial walls, Beijing
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Beijing · North China

Imperial China

Six hundred years of empire, a wild stretch of the Wall to yourselves — and golf played in its shadow.

Ideal Length
4–5 nights
Golf
2–3 rounds
Best Season
Apr–Oct
Pairs With
Hangzhou · Shanghai
Where Beijing fits in a journey
The Journey

Begin where China began.

Every empire leaves a capital, and none left one like Beijing. The Forbidden City sits at the centre of the city's grid; the Great Wall rides the ridgelines an hour to the north. This is where a first journey through China should open.

Our Beijing is quieter than the one most visitors see: the Forbidden City brought to life by an expert English-speaking guide, the Wall on a stretch the tour buses never find, and the hutong lanes in between for courtyard cafés and the best roast duck of your life. The golf belongs to the same landscape — at Topwin on Yanqi Lake, fairways run beneath the Wall as it rides the ridgelines above, and at Reignwood Pine Valley, Nicklaus fairways climb the Jundu Mountains.

The Golf

Fairways in the shadow of the Wall.

Beijing's best golf hides in the mountains north of the city — private, immaculate and all but unknown to international golfers.

Golfers on a Topwin fairway with the Great Wall snaking across the mountains behind Aerial view of Topwin's fairways along Yanqi Lake, with the lakeside pagoda and the Yanshan mountains beyond A bunkered lakeside green jutting into Yanqi Lake, framed by autumn leaves The Yanqi Lake pagoda mirrored in still water beside the course Rolling fairways and autumn grasses beneath the Yanshan range at Topwin A stone bridge arching over a still stream on the course, golden willows reflected in the water Autumn fairways at Topwin beneath the Yanqi Lake pagoda, the lake glinting beyond Yanqi Lake at dusk, Topwin's lakeside greens and the pagoda beneath the Yanshan range
Signature round
Yanqi Lake · Huairou

Topwin Country Club

Lakeside fairways beneath the Yanshan range, the Great Wall tracing the ridgelines above, beside the waters where the world's leaders gathered for the 2014 APEC summit — President Obama among those to have played a round here. In autumn the course turns gold and crimson, the pagoda rising over the back nine.

Designer
Ian Woosnam
Setting
Great Wall lakeside parkland, Yanqi Lake
Claim to fame
Obama's Beijing round, APEC 2014
Pair with
The Great Wall at Mutianyu, 20 minutes away
Caddies and players walking a Reignwood fairway beneath the jagged Jundu peaks Bunkered fairways at Reignwood Pine Valley beneath the craggy Jundu Mountains The white château clubhouse of Reignwood Pine Valley beneath the Jundu Mountains
A private round
Jundu Mountains · Changping

Reignwood Pine Valley

Set in the mountains near Badaling, Reignwood Pine Valley is one of China's most private and prestigious golf clubs — a Nicklaus mountain-parkland layout where elevated tees, sculpted bunkering and fast, guarded greens unfold below the Jundu Mountains. Membership is closely held; we arrange guest play on your behalf, with caddies, forecaddies and a quiet clubhouse lunch to follow.

Designer
Jack Nicklaus / Nicklaus Design
Setting
Jundu mountain parkland
Best season
Apr–Oct
Pair with
Great Wall, Forbidden City, private Beijing dining

A third round is easily woven in — parkland and lakeside courses across the Jundu foothills and the city's north, chosen for your dates and the season. We'll recommend the right pairing when we design your journey.

Lacquered slices of Peking duck served in a tiered wooden presentation box, condiments in its drawers
After the Round

The day does not end at the 18th.

Beijing's best evenings are built around private tables: crisp-skinned Peking duck, quiet courtyard dining, old-city wine rooms, and seasonal northern Chinese menus arranged away from the obvious tourist circuit.

For golfers, it moves instead into the kind of dinner that makes Beijing feel personal — booked, briefed and waiting by the time you've putted out.

Signature Experiences

Beijing, arranged privately.

Built on relationships on the ground, set up for your party alone — never an excursion from a brochure.

The Great Wall snaking over ridgelines at golden hour
Beijing · The Wall

See the Great Wall without the crowds

Years on the ground have taught us exactly which stretch to climb, and at which hour — a private guide, and the ramparts all but to yourselves as the light goes gold.

See Details
Grey-tiled hutong rooftops stretching toward the Drum Tower under a blue sky, Beijing
Beijing · Hutongs

The hutong neighborhoods of Old Beijing

Into the grey-brick lanes around the Drum and Bell Towers with the people who grew up in them — the capital as it actually lives.

See Details
Lacquered slices of Peking duck served in a tiered wooden presentation box, condiments in its drawers
Beijing · Chef's Table

The Peking duck chef's table

Beijing's most famous dish done properly — lacquered over fruitwood and carved before you at a private courtyard table.

See Details
The Forbidden City's courtyards in early light
Beijing · Forbidden City

Visit Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City

Across the world's largest square and through the Meridian Gate with an expert historian — six centuries unlocked in a morning.

See Details

These are a beginning, not a menu — tell us what your party loves and we'll find its Beijing equivalent.

Where You Stay

An address in the heart of the capital.

Not a tower by the ring road — a base a short walk from the Forbidden City, part of the journey itself.

Beijing · In the CityThe Peninsula Beijing

The Peninsula Beijing

Beijing, China

Prefer a hutong courtyard, a modern landmark on the central axis or a night in the mountains at the foot of the Wall? Alternatives, room categories and the level of comfort you choose are set out in your private proposal — every address booked entirely on your behalf.

Extend the Journey

Beijing is the beginning.

Most of our guests open in the capital, then let the country change around them. Two natural next chapters:

A stone bridge over misty West Lake with the Leifeng Pagoda beyond, Hangzhou
4.5 h by high-speed rail

Jiangnan & Modern China

West Lake calm, garden resort golf and the Bund — the classic counterpoint to the capital.

Explore →
Naxi rooftops with Jade Dragon Snow Mountain glowing at sunset, Yunnan
3.5 h by air

South of the Clouds

Snow-mountain fairways, the Tea Horse Road and China at its most distinctive.

Explore →
Journeys Featuring Beijing

Where Beijing fits in a journey.

Beijing rarely travels alone — it opens a longer route. Two of our sample journeys begin here; the full day-by-day shape of each lives on its own page.

A palace-style clubhouse above bunkered fairways, misty hills behind

The Iconic China

6 Nights · 3 Rounds · All Private Clubs
Beijing · Shanghai · Hangzhou

Imperial China, Great Wall golf, Shanghai's wild links and a tea-plantation finale in Hangzhou — the natural first journey.

From $5,230 per golfer.View Full Itinerary
World's Largest Club
A championship fairway at Mission Hills, the world's largest golf club

Shenzhen & Guangzhou

3 Nights / 4 Days · 3 Rounds
Lion Lake · Foshan · Mission Hills

Two rounds at the Guinness-record Mission Hills and a Challenge Tour test at Foshan — golf's biggest stage, an hour from the Canton Fair.

From $2,300 $2,450Introductory rateView Full Itinerary

Or build Beijing into your own.

Add days, swap rounds for culture, bring non-golfers — every journey is designed from scratch. Tell us about your party and we'll shape the route around you.

Plan Your Journey
Start Planning

Begin your journey in Imperial China.

Tell us a little about your trip and a travel designer will reply within one business day — with no obligation.

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