Written by Emily Peng (Yale University), Student Correspondent for CET Beijing, Spring 2026
Waking up on a Saturday morning at CET Beijing with nothing to do is a rarity. But when studying abroad, it’s always good to expect the unexpected, and I always try my best to be prepared! So, if you’re in Beijing (hopefully with CET doing language study) and have no plans during the weekend, these are my foolproof recommendations. Of course, this is not a comprehensive list of activities to do in Beijing, but these are some of the activities I’ve been able to do when I’m not in classes! Better yet, a lot of these recommendations are activities that are already built into the semester through CET. Trust me, it’s really nice to be able to sightsee without needing to plan it!
Climb A Mountain!
Beijing is known for being a large city with countless historical sites dotted across its geography. But amongst other things, Beijing also is surrounded by mountains. One of which is Fragrance Mountain, or 香山 (Xiāngshān). It’s a little less than a half an hour drive from campus, which makes it a perfect way to get away from the hustle and bustle of the city and into the trees with fresh air. The hike is a ton of stairs, which makes it akin to a StairMaster workout, but the feeling of reaching the peak of the mountain is quite rewarding. It took us about three hours to hike to the top and back down, all of which were spent taking photos and chatting away in Chinese.
Visit Tiananmen and Qianmen Street
Of course, when in Beijing, visiting Tiananmen, or 天安门 (Tiān’ānmén), is a must. About two weeks ago, CET was able to score tickets for us to go and visit Tiananmen! We learned earlier in the day that Tiananmen (and Qianmen Street, which I’ll get to soon) is on Beijing’s Central Axis, or 北京的中轴线.
The Central Axis first began to develop in the 13th century, or during the Yuan Dynasty, and now runs for 7.8 kilometers through Beijing. Tiananmen is located under the center of the Central Axis. It’s one thing to see Tiananmen through photos, but seeing it in person and getting to experience the atmosphere and seeing the reactions of Chinese people is hard to even put into words.
But before visiting Tiananmen, we stopped by Qianmen Street, or 前门大街 (Qiánmén dàjiē), to get lunch. I get peckish when walking a lot, so eating some delicious Beijing Fried Sauce Noodles, called 炸酱面 (Zhá jiàng miàn), and some candied fruit skewers—糖葫芦 (tánghúlu)—was the perfect thing to satiate my stomach. The street itself is beautiful, dotted with lanterns and charming restaurant signs, and incredibly lively with thousands of people weaving in and out of gift shops, restaurants, and food vendors.
Grab A Coffee
I’m unfortunately lactose intolerant. But, against my assumptions, many coffee shops near campus do not have alternative milk options, such as oat milk. So, one has to venture further into Beijing to find suitable beverages to sip on while studying!
Every Wednesday afternoon, my classmates and I like to find a new coffee shop to do homework at. We often use Little Red Notebook—also known as 小红书 (Xiǎohóngshū)—to locate new and cozy study spots.
One of the coffee shops we went to is called ROOM. My classmates and I studied there for almost three hours, and I was thrilled to be able to finish my homework while sipping on a matcha oat latte!
Visit Temple of Heaven
This past weekend, my classmates and I got to go to the Temple of Heaven, also known as 天坛(Tiāntán), through CET! A few days before we went, we got a crash course on what the Temple of Heaven is and what it represents. I was excited to see the Temple of Heaven for myself, especially since I learned that this is where many Chinese emperors have walked so they could pray to the heavens.
I will say, my main two takeaways are that the Temple of Heaven is quite beautiful, but also that the cats of the Temple of Heaven are incredibly adorable.
CET Beijing has been busy. Afternoon classes have already started, as well as one-on-ones, so my afternoons are usually spent in class discussing social media and news, and in one-on-ones reviewing the previous morning’s vocabulary and grammar. Time management has become quite the important skill this past month, but I think I’m starting to get the hang of it.
One very interesting development during my time here is that within the first three weeks of being under CET’s language pledge, I started to dream in Chinese. I’ve been dreaming in it consistently ever since. Going about my day-to-day activities and exploring Beijing on the weekends with the added constraint of having to do it in Chinese has immersed me in language learning in a way that I’ve never experienced before. I promise I haven’t been doing “extra” work on the side to make this happen—just abiding by the language pledge and making sure to do my homework on time to avoid my teachers’ ire (just kidding they’re all very nice) has been enough for something to click in my brain.
While learning Chinese in the classroom is vital to the study abroad experience, the only reason why I know I’m improving my Chinese is by going out and exploring Beijing with my classmates. Only using Chinese to discuss, plan, and gossip outside the classroom has been quite the experience (with a little bit of struggle and a lot of laughs) but it’s truly rounded out my experience so far in China with CET Beijing.
So, if you ever catch yourself wanting to visit Beijing, think about doing it with CET. It’s an intensive language program, yes, but there’s plenty of fun to be had outside of class!