3 guides, each rated 1 to 5 with the reason — and two lists per place, where you are comfortable and where to pay attention. Nowhere is called dangerous; the specific thing is what helps.
Extremely safe for street crime, and comfortable to walk at night. The friction is bureaucratic and digital: you need a visa arranged in advance for most nationalities, the internet is filtered so plan for Google, WhatsApp and Instagram not working, and Forbidden City tickets sell out days ahead and require passport registration. Air quality is genuinely poor on some winter days.
Comfortable: Beijing
The tea-house scam near Wangfujing and Tiananmen: an art student invites you to a ceremony and the bill is enormous
Unlicensed taxis at the airport
Jiankou Great Wall — the unrestored sections, where people fall every year
Extremely safe for street crime, day or night, and women travelling alone report few problems. The frictions are practical: many Western apps and sites are blocked and a VPN needs installing before arrival, payment without Alipay or WeChat is genuinely difficult, and taxi drivers rarely read Latin script — have your destination in Chinese characters. Air quality is poor on some winter days.
Comfortable: the Bund · the French Concession · Jing’an · Xintiandi · the metro at any hour
the "tea ceremony" and "art student" approaches on Nanjing Road — a friendly English-speaking stranger, a bill for hundreds of dollars at the end of it — the city’s one persistent scam
unlicensed taxis outside the stations — use Didi or the official rank
crossing the road on a green man — electric scooters are silent and do not stop
Very safe on the street at all hours. The frictions are the same as the rest of China: Western apps are blocked without a VPN installed beforehand, and payment without Alipay or WeChat is hard work. At the Terracotta Army, the unofficial guides at the car park are selling tours you can book inside for less. Winter air quality is genuinely poor.
Comfortable: the city walls · the Muslim Quarter · the Bell Tower district · the metro
the Terracotta Army car park — fake ticket sellers, unofficial "museums" on the approach road, and a long walk sold as a shuttle
the Muslim Quarter food street at peak hours — dense enough that bags want holding in front
Mount Huashan’s plank walk — it is a via ferrata with a harness and a two-hour queue, not a footpath
The ratings are this site's own, from the guides' authors and the corrections readers send in; they are not an index. Read the general advice in travel safety tips.
