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Xicheng District, Beijing — Area Guide & Where to Stay
Xicheng District is a central borough of Beijing, holding the western half of the old imperial city.
About Xicheng District
Where to stay in Xicheng District
The right area depends on your trip — here's what each neighbourhood is best for.
Xicheng District puts you beside Beijing's old core. The borough runs from the moated edge of the Forbidden City out through hutong lanes and lake shores, so a room here reaches the Palace Museum, the Capital Museum and the trading streets on foot rather than by long transfer. Rooms cluster near the lakes.
Base yourself west of the palace.
About Xicheng District
What are the main landmarks in Xicheng District?
Xicheng holds Beijing's grandest set piece. The western half of the Forbidden City and its Palace Museum sit inside the borough, and southward the Mausoleum of Mao Zedong and the Monument to the People's Heroes stand where the great square opens, while the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception rises among the older streets. Museums take up the remaining ground in Xicheng.
The Capital Museum, the Geological Museum of China and the Beijing Lu Xun Museum draw study crowds, and the Mei Lanfang Memorial Museum keeps a great opera name alive.
What is the history of Xicheng District?
Xicheng took shape as the western wards of imperial Beijing. Its lanes grew around the court's western lakes and grain markets, and the borough later gathered the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, the Beijing Anhui Guild Hall and the Pagoda of Monk Wansong as the walled city spread outward. The court sat at its edge.
Old guild halls and the residences of painter Qi Baishi and opera master Mei Lanfang survive among the modern streets, tying the district to Beijing's craft and stage traditions.
Where is Xicheng District?
Xicheng District covers the western inner-city ground of Beijing. It spreads from the moat of the Forbidden City across a low plain of hutong lanes, ringed lakes and broad avenues, wrapping the Palace Museum on its western flank and running out toward the office towers of Financial Street. Lakes break the grid.
The land lies flat.
Good for
More areas in Beijing
Updated July 2026