Beijing Capital International Airport PEK

Are you thinking about saving a bit of money and having a long layover in China’s Beijing Capital Airport (PEK) and you’re worried if there is anything to do there to stop the boredom of 10 hours of waiting for your next flight?

Well, luckily this article is for you if you are staying in PEK for 3 hours or 23 hours. If you’re thinking about staying there for a shorter period or longer than this you might have a little bit of trouble but more about this later.

Everything in this article is written by myself after a recent flight where I had a 10-hour layover, after and before 10-hour plus flights. (Gatwick to Beijing to Melbourne on Air China). It was very stressful to find any information about the airport and there were a few things we wished we had known before arriving in Beijing. So I’m going to share the information I found out.

Transferring from another flight in PEK Airport

When looking for information about whether my bags were getting transferred or not, and how easy it was to transfer, not knowing about the security was the most stressful part.

Are your bags going to be transferred for you in PEK Airport?

I can’t say for certain as each flight is different but from our experience, if you are flying with Air China for both of your flights there is a very high chance that they will do it for you. But this is only if it is under 24 hours for transfer time.

Transfers over 24 hours in PEK

Transfers for over 24 hours. This is a tricky one, I wouldn’t recommend it as I’m not sure about the process as it looks like you wouldn’t be allowed in the transfer terminal and believe you would have to check out at the airport and then you need to worry about visas.

Do you need a visa for transfers in PEK?

If you don’t plan to leave the Airport or you have under 24 hours of transfer time, you don’t need a visa as you will stay in the airport.

There is security again when you transfer into PEK

Just a heads up you need to go through a small but busy security gate In PEK. This has similar rules as most airport security. But it is more strict over certain things like batteries. Even though I was able to get through my 6 camera batteries which I was worried about.  But the main problem with this is that it comes after your flight. You might have liquids that you brought at duty-free in your starting country. These will not be allowed in, if they are over 100mls.
SO DON’T BUY ALCOHOL OR ANYTHING OVER 100MLS THAT YOU WANT TO TAKE TO YOUR FINAL DESTINATION FROM DUTY-FREE BEFORE PEK.

If you are planning to transfer in under 3 hours

I wouldn’t say its too tight as they will give you priority through security but it would a more stressful situation than needed. I would try and avoid it if possible.

What’s in Beijing Capital Airport (PEK)?

There is a lot of the same as you will find in most airports around the world, Duty-free, Starbucks, KFC even Costa Coffee.

A lot of these places close around 7 pm but there is at least 1 Starbucks that’s 24/7 and a Costa.

But the best thing about PEK Airport is the place to sleep and rest. These are found in Terminal 3 where international transfers are also found.

Apparently there are sleep pods and cheaper options found in PEK around Gate 40 but we were unable to find these when we were here.

Hourly Hotel PEK

Instead, we used the Hourly Hotel located inside the terminal so you are not required to check out of the airport or worry about visas. Here you can buy a room for 5 hours or even the day (which I believe is up to 24 hours)

You can also just buy a shower or access to the lounge. The showers have towels, the Lounge comes with free snacks. Coke, Coffee, biscuits, tea. ( You can pay extra for beer and noodles at reception)

We purchased the Double room which was around £86ish, $100ish or ¥780. This was 5 hours, it didn’t come with an ensuite but included a TV in the room, shower access and access to the lounge with free snacks. We had many!

There is a range of other options, sure to fit your needs and budget. You are looking at around £20 more for all day and £20 less for a single room. I believe just access to the lounge and showers is around £20 per person.

Other things you can find at the PEK Airport.

The first thing you notice is how big Terminal 3 is, the number of gates is ridiculous, in comparison to the amount of flights.

This leaves the airport seeming very quiet for the most part. This is perfect because if you walk away from the gates that flights will be taking off from you can find many empty seats which you can lie across and it didn’t seem like a problem to sleep on them, if you’re alright with this kind of thing.

Also in areas that it’s quieter, there will be no one using the charging plugs. Some are just USBs which are very common, the options with plugs are a little harder to come by but work a lot faster.

There is drinking water available, but also hot water, so if you were to buy tea bags or noodles you would be good.

Most people in the terminal are on long layovers. So you are not alone.

Thanks for reading and more travel tips check out other Funny Backpacker articles on this website!