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want to meet at fmd_good Disco 2000
want to meet at fmd_good Route 9 Diner
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Skip the main west building entirely at first if you're there on a weekday morning. Go straight to the north wing where they rotate the special exhibitions, usually way less crowded before 10am and you can actually see the pieces. For Han stuff specifically, the gallery on the second floor is good but a lot of the best bronzes and lacquerware are actually in the basement permanent collection, people just walk past them looking for the famous jade suit. Grab a paper map at the info desk near the east entrance, the app is useless once you're inside with no signal in some halls.
The Han galleries are on the second floor of the main west building, but getting there means passing through the Bronze Age hall first, which is honestly worth an hour on its own. Enter from the east side if you can, the security line at the main north entrance on Jianguomen Inner Street can eat 40 minutes on weekends. For Han specifically, don't skip the jade burial suit and the bronze galloping horse, both are in the same wing and easy to find once you're up there. If you only have one visit, book the free timed ticket online the night before, they release slots at midnight and morning ones go fast.
Nobody's mentioned the audio guide situation. The English one is free with your passport deposit at the counter just past security on the ground floor, and it actually covers the Han wing well. I'd grab it because the placard translations in the older halls are patchy.
One thing that trips people up: the museum has two separate buildings connected by a tunnel on level 2, so you can do the main west building for Han and then cross over to the north wing without going outside. Guards sometimes wave you the long way, just ask for the lianlang (connecting corridor).
Also, the crowds thin out dramatically after 2pm. If you can handle a late start, the Han galleries are almost peaceful by then.
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are 38 yuan pastries at Sweet Lab in Beijing normal for 2026?
Sweet Lab's croissants sell out by 10am
get the plain butter one, skip the fancy toppings
38 is normal for that kind of place, not tourist tax
Yeah, 38 gets you a proper French-style pastry at most nice bakeries here, though neighborhood shops still sell decent ones for 10 to 15.
Agreed, and the rent on that Sanlitun-side street is what really drives it, so 38 is fair for the area.
Fair, plus the landlord just hiked it again this spring.
Same at places like Bake Shop near Guomao, 30 to 40 is just what a proper croissant runs now, so you're not being singled out.
Pretty much, and the location does most of the work. Anything inside the Third Ring with a marble counter and a pastry case tends to start around 30 and climb. Out in Wudaokou or along the university strip you'll still find the same croissant for 20.
mostly rent, and the 38 holds til you hit the 5th Ring
Shunyi charges the same now, rents caught up
yep the price sits fine with me but it depends on the pastry too, some of the little ones there barely justify it. the fancier layered ones cost more to make so 38 makes sense
Right, the laminated ones with real butter are the only ones that earn the price. The little choux or tarts are mostly labor and cream, so those feel steep. Stick to the flaky stuff and it balances out.
true, nobody's marking up for a foreign face there. the tell is the menu being in chinese first with english underneath, tourist spots flip that. 38 is just what a butter croissant costs in this city now
tourist spots dont even print prices half teh time