China · Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region
Where to Stay in Beihai, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region
Beihai is a port city on the Gulf of Tonkin in Guangxi, southern China, an old treaty port with a famous colonial street.
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Where to stay in Beihai
The right area depends on your trip — here's what each neighbourhood is best for.
Where you stay in Beihai turns on the old town or the beach. The streets around the old consulate street keep the arcades, the cafés, and the harbour within a walk, and staying downtown suits anyone here for the history. The old arcades shade the street.
Rooms sit near the harbour front. Out toward the silver beach and the newer resorts, the city meets the warm sea. A room by the beach trades the old town for the sand, the water, and the boats out to Weizhou.
The warm gulf opens past the edge. If you want the old street, stay downtown; if you want the sea, take a room by the beach. Either way, the coast is close at hand.
About Beihai
Beihai is an old treaty port on the Gulf of Tonkin.
What is Beihai known for?
It keeps a long street of nineteenth-century arcades and foreign consulates from its days as a trading port, and its long silver beach and the volcanic island of Weizhou draw crowds to the warm southern sea, while ancient Han tombs lie in the ground nearby. The tide runs warm on the sand. Old street and sea mark the city.
What are the main landmarks in Beihai?
The old street lies at the heart of Beihai. The long row of arcaded shops and foreign consulates, built in the treaty-port days, runs near the water, the emblem of the city, in the old town. A volcanic isle rises offshore.
Weizhou island draws visitors to its cliffs and church, while the silver beach and the ancient Han tombs of Hepu mark the coast around.
What is the history of Beihai?
Beihai has looked to the southern sea for ages. Nearby at Hepu, two thousand years ago, ships set out on the old sea road to the west, trading pearls and gold, and great Han tombs from those days still dot the land. The port slept for long centuries.
Only in the eighteen-hundreds did Beihai wake again, when it was opened as a treaty port and foreign powers came to trade. The foreigners built along the shore. Britain, France, and Germany raised consulates, churches, and a customs house in a long row by the water, and their arcaded street still stands as the old town.
The sea gave the city a new life. In later years Beihai turned to fishing, pearls, and the warm-water tourists drawn by its silver beach and the volcanic isle of Weizhou. The old consulates still line the street.
Beihai keeps its old town and its sea on the Gulf of Tonkin.
Where is Beihai?
Beihai lies on the Gulf of Tonkin in southern Guangxi, in the far south of China. The city sits on a low peninsula by the warm shallow sea, with the volcanic island of Weizhou offshore, near the border with Vietnam. Flat coast reaches inland.
The warm gulf spreads to the south.
What is the climate of Beihai?
Warm, damp subtropical weather rules the year in Beihai. Hot, wet summers and mild winters cross the coast, and the summer brings rains and the odd typhoon off the gulf, while the winters stay soft and warm. Sea breezes cool the shore in summer.
The coast stays warm through the year.
How do you get to Beihai?
Beihai lies on the Gulf of Tonkin in southern Guangxi. High-speed trains and the expressway run to it from Nanning inland, and an airport links the city, while ferries cross to Weizhou island. Boats reach the coast and the isles around.
Most arrive by rail from Nanning.
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Updated August 2026