Originally Posted by House

My former home airport!

Not even Air China has an Arrivals lounge at PEK T3. There are no showers landside that I am aware of in the terminal. There are no Priority Pass lounges landside at PEK. You can't access the Departures level without leaving China. And you can't do that without a boarding pass for a flight departing PEK that day.

There is a transit facility of sorts (the Hourly Hotel) on the second floor, one floor up from Arrivals but below Departures. I've never been to it or used it but maybe worth investigating. Details are at
http://en.bcia.com.cn/server/service/lounge.shtml - note that the T3E lounge is airside - the T3C lounge is the one you want.

Assuming you are heading into town, your best bet - especially at that time on a Sunday - is to head to your hotel or accommodation. Journey time will be under 30 minutes on a Sunday morning. A taxi (taxi rank in the basement) will get you into town for under 100RMB and you can get cash from the HSBC ATM in the Arrivals hall. They won't care if you smell, and the hotel will have showers and the like available in most cases, even if your room isn't ready. Have the phone number for your accommodation available in case your driver doesn't know the address (call them, tell them you are in a taxi and hand the phone to the driver).

You could also take the train into town, then switch onto the subway, but distances on the subway are long, trains are crowded and the taxis at the train station in town (Dongzhimen) are sharks who will likely overcharge you. You don't even save much money this way (5 pounds perhaps). And you will need a shower afterwards given the heat at this time of year, regardless of whether you took one at the airport.

If you absolutely must get a shower at PEK then get a free shuttle bus at ground level to one of the two airport hotels - the Hilton and the Langham. Both are very good but day rooms won't be that cheap.

Enjoy! PEK is a fascinating place.