Choosing the Best season to Travel to Beijing?

The four seasons in Beijing are clearly demarcated from each other.

Spring
In the spring, the weather gets warmer very fast. The temperature rises up by 6-9 ℃ per month. The average temperatures in March and April are 4.5 ℃ and 13.1 ℃ respectively.

During springtime, you can feel really warm during the day and very cold in the night, as the temperature difference is 12-14 ℃. In February, it’s only a little bit warmer than in the winter, but quite windy. You cannot do without a heavy coat in this month.

In March, you can change to a lighter coat, but you may still need a sweater inside, because the central heating service in buildings will be stopped on March 15th, so it’s not so warm inside.

As it gets warm quickly between March and April, by the end of April, you may start to wear T-shirts, but still need a coat if you go out early in the morning or late in the night.

The dry and windy spring weather lifts dust in the air, and occasionally a sandstorm develops. The 1st time I experienced a sandstorm, I was really shocked by the red colour outside, and I noticed that the lights inside the buildings all turned blue. I could taste the sand and felt there were lots of it inside my mouth, my ears, my nose and my eyes.

The sand is blown everywhere. It looks like it falls down from the sky. It’s bad for your throat and your eyes to go out in this weather. You’d better wear a pair of sunglasses and a scarf on your nose and your mouth.

Summer
Summer has been really hot in Beijing these last few years. July is the hottest month. The temperature is above 30℃ most of the time. It even gets to 37℃ sometimes. People call it the sauna weather.

There is not much difference between day and night temperatures. People wear very light clothing, and even show a bit of skin in this weather. Most of local people in Beijing don’t wear socks. People with long and thick hair tend to cut it. Most ladies carry an umbrella in their hand bags: it is useful in both sunny and rainy weather.

Fortunately, most of the offices, flats and houses are air-conditioned. Some buses have air conditioning units too, but people ususally prefer to take the subway in this season.

Autumn
Autumn is cool and nice. It is sunny but not too warm. You can wear light clothes till October. As it gets colder, the day turns shorter as well. The red leaves over the nearby Xiang Mountain are an especially beautiful view. Don’t miss this sightseeing opportunity if you come to Beijing in this season : a ticket for an adult to Xiang Mountain Park only costs RMB 5.

Winter
The winter is cold and dry. The monthly average temperature is less than 0℃ for 3 months from December to February. The temperature inside is kept 15-20℃ by the heating service company. The sun becomes lazy: it shows up for less than 10 hours between sunrise and sunset.

Shops close earlier than in the summer as well. You could see some snow in Beijing; most of the times though, it melts as soon as it falls.

Although some pretty ladies wear skirts in this season, they need to wear woolen trousers inside, and long and heavy coat outside. People like to drink rice wine to warm themselves up. Hot and spicy food is also popular in this season. As it is so dry in the winter, you may need some hand cream or body lotion to moisturize your skin.