The North Garden Hotel Beijing Wangfujing

This was an excellent choice for a very short stay in Beijing. The hotel was clean and well staffed with people at reception who spoke English well. There is also a tour agency within the hotel but there is no push to use them. The hotel is very close to the Wangfujing subway station on line 1 so there is no problem dragging your bags to and from station to get to/from the airport. You'll have to carry your bags up from the station but there is an escalator going part of the way down. When exiting Wangfujing station take exit B and exit to the left to come out closest to hotel. There is also a Bank of China between the hotel and the Wangfujing subway station where you can conveniently change dollars for yuan or yuan for dollars. The hotel was clean, the bed and pillows comfortable and the included breakfast buffet (open at 7am) was very good and located in a nice atrium. Chopsticks are at the tables but silverware is available at the bread station. The hotel rooms had air conditioners that worked quickly to cool the room and you control temperature, which isn’t always the case. They had wash cloths in addition to hand towels and bath towels. They had toothbrushes and toothaste, hair dryers, soap and shampoo, room safe, closet with hangers, plenty of 220 outlets (bring a converter or two). The hotel is next to the police station and I felt very safe day or night. Look up the “Art Scam” and “Tea/Beer scam” before going to Wangfujing market area. I was approached about every 15 minutes by people who spoke excellent English trying one or the other scam. You can chat and get information from these people but do not go anywhere with them. They can seem very genuine. Tiananmen is known for this, also, Since the Wangfujing shopping area is right around the corner, there are plenty of eating options. The first side street off Wangfujing from the hotel has the local food stands and souvenir shops with scorpions, bugs, etc. to eat. One of the first side streets from the hotel off Wangfujing had very good Chinese food with my favorite a steamed dumpling place with cold beer and photos of what they have above front counter with English descriptions. Overall, I was very pleased and would stay there again. It was under an hour from me to take my backpack and large roller bag to the Airport terminal on the subway. If you enjoy a morning walk, it might be better to get a hotel closer to a park where you can people watch. Don’t try to call a taxi/DiDi from the front of the hotel. Cars can’t go down that street. You need to go to either corner to get your cab. I used the corner to the East of the Hotel just past the police station. Be sure to download the DiDi app and connect your credit card to it. I had no trouble using Bank of America Travel Visa and DiDi is awesome with no worries about getting taken by illegal taxis. Since you’ll have multiple charges to the same Chinese company (DiDi) you may have to call your credit card company after using it a couple of times and ask them to note the DiDi company so they don’t block it. I notified my card company I was traveling to China but they still blocked card until I called them again. While the price for location was great by Wangfujing area for food and shopping, the proximity to Tiananmen and the Forbidden City wasn’t important since they can be accessed easily from any hotel near a subway station. SInce this review is on Google Maps, I'll tell you Google maps do not work in China. If you are planning to "favorite" locations in China, you may have to use another map app. I used Apple maps without problem. Pretty much anything Google was blocked except my translate app. I could still get my gmail by using the Apple mail app and connecting to my gmail account but couldn't use the Gmail app directly. Many recommend a VPN app on your phone to bypass these issues but I didn't do that.