The Best Things to See and Do in Beijing in Winter

Ethereal dumplings wrapped in delicate sheets of dough, chilli-rich chicken stir-fry, and braised pork ribs slathered in sticky sauce – China is a gourmet paradise. But you don’t have to stick to the restaurants – at Beijing Cooking School, they teach you to whip up Sichuan, Cantonese or local Beijing dishes for yourself. Join a market tour to see how chefs choose their ingredients, then head back to the airy kitchen for a masterclass in slicing, sizzling and saucing. Obviously, you’ll get the chance to tuck in when you’re done, too.

Beijing’s Atmosphere bar floats 80 storeys above the city: an otherworldly place where live jazz plays and cocktail shakers rattle, while you look down upon lesser skyscrapers, twinkling in the cloudy night. When it’s freezing outside, a perch at the bar here warms the proverbial cockles, as you summon a tot of whisky from the bar’s impressive international line-up. Or ask if they’ll pour you a glass of baijiu, the fiery Chinese spirit distilled from grain that’s been around for about 5,000 years and has an irresistible kick, like vodka.

Still have some energy to burn after your Beijing sightseeing? Head to Latitude Trampoline Park, in the Shunyi District, and you can climb, hop and fly away your excess energy. The vast room full of interconnected trampolines is certainly the highlight, but if bouncing isn’t your thing you’ll find dodgeball courts, basketball lanes and indoor rock climbing too. As you can imagine, Latitude is a popular pick for families, and there’s even a kid-friendly zone for tots under five.

When you’ve had your fill of Beijing’s epic outdoor sights – like the Forbidden City, the Summer Palace, and the Temple of the Sun – head indoors for the city’s burgeoning 21st-century art scene. The Today Art Museum, founded 20 years ago, was Beijing’s first dedicated contemporary gallery and is still one of its most important, showcasing local artists and cultivating young talent. Exhibitions change regularly, but whether the latest is neon light installations by Zheng Da or photography by Vivian Maier, you’re bound to find something thought-provoking.

Winter evenings out in Beijing can be more social than you’d think. Sign up for the Wednesday (English language) trivia night at Plan B, and you can spend a few hours meeting other foreigners in Beijing while scrambling for the answers to head-scratching quiz questions. It’s free to enter, so there’s no pressure to do well – though the winning team gets a prize, plus a 400RMB voucher to cover off a hefty future dinner of bacon double cheeseburgers, nachos and cajun-style wings.

Beijing winters get pretty frosty, but you’ll find an antidote to the chill at Din Tai Fung. This restaurant, which has multiple outlets in Beijing, is celebrated for its xiaolongbao (soup dumplings), little bundles of deliciousness filled with tender meat and a rich, savoury broth. Each dumpling is made meticulously by hand, with 18 pleats. Follow them up with prawn fried rice or earthy dan dan noodles.

What’s better than warming up over a steaming cup of coffee? Doing it with a bunch of cuddly felines. At this cat cafe near the must-see Drum Tower, your caffeine hit comes with the opportunity to meet snuggly kitties, watching while they play with cat toys or curl up in straw baskets. Plenty of stronger – alcoholic – tipples are on hand if you visit in the afternoon, and after you say bye to the cats you can hang around to feast on pizza in the lobby.

To celebrate the winter season, the city hosts an Ice Lantern Festival every year at Beijing’s Longqing Gorge. Roll up and admire more than 400 ice sculptures: extravagant likenesses of temples, dragons, and ice castles that you can hardly imagine were chiselled by hand. While you’re here, take a look around – there are other must-photograph attractions, from dance performances to firework displays. All that and endless rainbows of colorful lights makes for a multi-sensory celebration of the icy season.

Every year, when Houhai Lake freezes over, the Shichahai Skating Rink springs into action. The lake has history – with origins in the Yuan dynasty (1271–1368) – and its natural, tree-lined beauty draws people in all seasons. But in winter everyone steps out, not least because skating is good value – a couple of dollars for as long as you want. And if you don’t fancy practising to be the next Dancing on Ice winner? No problem – for a few dollars more you can rent a sleigh, muffle up, sit back and do a few laps in luxury style.

Every Wednesday night at the Modernista, a swanky bar in the the narrow streets of Baochao Hutong, they host swing nights. Professional instructors in balboa, the California dance style of the 1930s, will soon have you out on the floor – this is an all-out dancing affair. It’s very social, so even if you don’t dance, you can still warm up with a glass of mulled wine at a cosy table and people watch. One way or another, on the dancefloor or at the bar, you’re going to beat the chill.

In the bleak midwinter, freshly made mulled wine finds its way onto the menus of restaurants and bars citywide, drawing frozen Beijingers in for a head-spinning thaw. Establishments including the Rug, beside Chaoyang Park, send the soul-warming tipple out in pitchers that are just perfect for sharing with friends over a long, lazy brunch of lattes and eggs benedict. Afterwards you can get your coats on and take in the snowy beauty of the park and its stark winter trees.