Getting Your Bearings
This guide covers Daxing District in Beijing and, in particular, Beijing Daxing International Airport, which sits within it. Note that "Daxing" is also the name of many other places in China, so double-check you are looking at the Beijing district before booking anything. For a visitor, the practical reality is that Daxing is a large, spread-out suburban district on the southern edge of Beijing, and the airport is its single most important gateway.
How Visitors Get Around
Daxing is not a walkable sightseeing district in the way central Beijing is. Its points of interest and transport hubs are spread out, so you will almost always rely on rail, metro, bus or road transport to move between them. The good news is that the airport anchors a genuinely well-connected network of metro, intercity rail, buses and taxis, and all of these link onward into the rest of Beijing.
Metro and Airport Express
The most straightforward way into the city from the airport is the Airport Express metro line. It is short and simple, with just three stations: Daxing Airport, Daxing Xincheng and Caoqiao.
- The platform is on Level B1 of the terminal, so you can reach it without leaving the building.
- At Caoqiao you can transfer to Metro Line 10 and Line 19, which opens up the wider Beijing metro network.
- Trains run from the airport to Caoqiao from early morning until late at night (first train around 06:00, last around 23:00), so check the time if you land on a very late flight.
- There are two classes of seat, with the ordinary seat cheaper than the business seat.
- You can pay with a BEIJING PASS transport card, an Alipay or WeChat boarding QR code, a ticket vending machine, or a staffed ticket window.
Intercity Rail
If you are heading beyond Beijing, the airport terminal itself has an intercity rail station on the B1 floor, in the same rail transit hall as the metro. Two intercity services are relevant:
- The Beijing–Xiong'an Intercity Railway, connecting to Beijing West Railway Station and Xiong'an Station.
- The Jinxing Intercity Railway, connecting to Tianjin Railway Station and Tangshan Station.
This makes the airport a useful arrival point even if Beijing is not your final destination.
Buses and Airport Shuttle Buses
Beijing Daxing International Airport runs a network of city shuttle bus routes linking the terminal to major transport hubs, large residential areas and cultural and tourism landmarks around Beijing. Destinations served include Beijing Railway Station, Tongzhou, Zhongguancun, the Capital Airport, Temple of Heaven Park and Chaoyang Park.
- Pick-up for city buses is at Gate 20 on the east side of the terminal's first floor, in the city bus waiting area.
- Buses generally operate from around 07:30 to 01:00, though individual routes vary.
- Fares fall in a modest range (roughly ¥25–50); confirm at the box office or on the airport website.
- Journeys typically take one to two hours depending on traffic.
- The Beijing Railway Station line runs around the clock, with departures timed to match peaks in arriving passengers and running as often as every 15 minutes at busy times.
- Late-night coverage is provided by the Beijing Railway Station line plus dedicated night lines to Zhongguancun and the Agricultural Exhibition Center.
- A direct service to Universal Studios runs via the East 6th Ring Road with no transfers, which is convenient if you have large luggage or are travelling with children.
Route and schedule details are published on the airport's own website, so check there before you travel, as routes and timings are periodically adjusted.
Taxis and Ride-Hailing
Taxis are metered and pick up on the ground floor of the terminal, next to the lane. Note that the pick-up area is split: the west and east areas serve passengers heading into Beijing, while the central area serves passengers heading into Hebei. Expect the journey into the city to take one to two hours depending on your destination and traffic conditions.
Ride-hailing apps such as Didi Chuxing and Shouqi also operate from the airport. The designated pick-up point is the "Online car-hailing pick-up area" on the 1M mezzanine of the P1 Parking Building. Fares are usually close to, or slightly above, taxi fares, and vary with distance, vehicle type and real-time traffic.
Walkability
Within the airport terminal, everything you need — metro, intercity rail, buses, taxis and ride-hailing pick-up — is reachable on foot indoors, which makes connections between modes relatively painless. Beyond the terminal, Daxing is a sprawling suburban district rather than a compact pedestrian area, so plan on using transport rather than walking between destinations.
Practical Summary
- Fastest and simplest into central Beijing: the Airport Express metro to Caoqiao, then transfer to Line 10 or Line 19.
- Heading to another city: use the intercity rail station on B1 of the terminal.
- Direct to a specific hotel, landmark or district: the airport shuttle buses, with the Beijing Railway Station line running 24 hours.
- Door-to-door with luggage: metered taxi from the ground floor, or ride-hailing from the P1 mezzanine pick-up area.
- Payment: BEIJING PASS, Alipay or WeChat QR codes, vending machines and staffed windows all work for the metro.