Cheap flights from London to Beijing

October is the cheapest month to fly this route, and the price calendar on this page shows what each month has been doing lately. Fares tend to climb for the summer school break and again around Chinese New Year, when families travel in both directions. Midweek departures — Tuesday and Wednesday — usually undercut Friday and Sunday returns, and the same goes for the quieter weeks either side of the holiday peaks. Book a few months ahead for the busy stretches; for the rest of the year, watching the calendar for a couple of weeks before you commit is usually enough.

The airlines flying between London and Beijing range from Chinese carriers — Air China, China Southern Airlines, China Eastern Airlines, Hainan Airlines, Xiamen Airlines, Shenzhen Airlines and Tianjin Airlines — to Finnair, Etihad Airways and Turkmenistan Airlines. Some sell non-stop seats, others route you through a hub, so the same journey can mean one flight or two. What is included differs by fare type rather than by airline: on connecting tickets the hold bag is often part of the price, while the lightest fares on non-stop services may leave checked baggage as an extra. Read the fare rules before you compare, and check which London airport each option uses.

Beijing has two international airports, and they are not interchangeable. Beijing Capital International Airport sits north-east of the centre and takes most long-haul arrivals; Beijing Daxing International lies further south and handles a growing share of the traffic. Both are a long ride from the middle of the city. The airport express trains are the quickest way in when they run, with taxis and ride-hailing as the fallback, and the drive takes the better part of an hour in traffic. Check which airport your ticket names before you book a hotel, and leave extra time on the way back if you fly out during a holiday peak.

Currency

CNY (¥)

Power sockets

Type A, C, I · 220 V

Language

Putonghua

Emergency number

110, 119, 120

Driving side

right

Calling code

+86

Internet domain

.cn, .中国

Population of Beijing

21.9 M (2020)

Time zone

UTC+08 (Asia/Shanghai)

Country facts: Wikidata

• Which London airport your fare leaves from, since Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted, Luton and London City sit far apart.
• Whether your Beijing flight lands at Capital or Daxing, and how you plan to get from there to your hotel.
• What baggage is included, especially on the lightest fares and on any ticket that adds a connection.
• Whether a connecting itinerary is on one ticket or two, because separate tickets leave you carrying the risk of a missed connection.
• Visa and entry rules for China, plus how long your passport needs to stay valid.
• How far ahead you are booking, given that October is the cheapest month and holiday weeks around it fill early.