Despite having lived in China for over a year, I just figured this out today as I flew into Beijing Capital Airport for the n-th time. If you want to exchange money, do so AFTER going through customs. Outside of customs (as you turn right) there will be an Agricultural Bank and an ICBC both of which will give you decent rates and NO commission. Whereas the Travelex offices and others that are before customs (ie/ near baggage claim) will charge 40 RMB commission, though they will speak English at a much higher level... Not that it's really needed.

Hope this helps. Cheers

Thanks Jamoldo!

I will be taking my family to Beijing next week and that is useful info.

any other good tid bits?

-Price of a cab to, say, the Westin?
-How bad are the crowds going to be duriing National week?

how do the banks compare with airport atm's?

~150

We've discussed this before so you might want to do a search, but the key takeaways:

-hotels that cater to business travelers are CHEAP
-the tourist sites that Chinese like (e.g. Tiananmen, the Qianmen Quanjude, Houhai, etc) are crazy
-the places that people like myself frequent are empty (because we do our best to get out of Dodge)
-weather should be good; only 40% chance of unbreathable air

AOK, I don't really know. I think ATMs give you a good rate but often charge transaction fees (unless you have some deal in which you don't get charged). I do know that the Agricultural Bank and ICBC thing is an open secret as both are in plain site and prominent outside of customs, but there is never a line whereas within Customs...

Echoeing our resident Beijing expert, most tourist sites will be packed to the gills. So if you're going to the Great Wall, I' d avoid Badaling and Mutianyu (I avoid Badaling anyway), and try to get a guide to take me to a "Wild Wall" (unrestored parts of the wall where there aren't too many crowds) site (something I've always wanted to do).

Hmm, other things... Eat lots of good food? Tough to say without being more specific. Places like Sanlitun (where regulars go to drink) might be a bit more empty, I remeber that was the case last year.

Is Agricultural Bank and an ICBC still a good option for exchange of money?
we will be arriving late at night , around 11 so i want to see if they will still be open or of there is any other options .

thanks !

TMK all of the banks on the arrivals level charge a Y50 fee to change money. However, the reverse ATMs do not (there are only 2 or 3 in each terminal so you might need to ask). That said, assuming your primary bank is friendly (in terms of fees), true ATMs are still the best way to get money. Personally, I use whatever ATMs are most convenient without regard to brand.

well i just looked into my bank and they do charge a fee - its $5 per transaction..and thats not counting any other fees from local bank . so if the reverse ATMS ( is that the name of the bank? ) don't charge any fees then it will be cheaper to just with draw money directly there...are there any other ATMs that do charge a fee from the local bank i am assuming but they will still be cheaper than exchange /ATM machinese in the arrival level before customs.

also i wanted to get an 'estimate' of how much should i withdraw /exchagne. we will be there for one day and one tour to GW. the hotel is pretty much paid for via points and i think i may have to pay some little tax then pretty much food and any other souvenirs we wana buy. i think the tour from my recollection is 90 dollars ...so would 200 dollars be enough? just wanted to get some thoughts as i don't wana with draw too much and then have to re-deposit and all that stuff ....

thank you !

I might be using the wrong term, but the machines to which I'm referring convert physical bank notes from one currency to another.

If your travel picks up, I recommend getting an account a bank or credit union that doesn't charge you to use off network ATMs... carrying around large sums of cash is an unnecessary burden IMO.

oh k ! i see what your saying, so after arrival/customs i should find these 'reverse' machinese that i can put in $100 and get a converted money w/o a fee. so its not a traditional ATM or an exchange booth where they charge u a fee.

Price of a cab to the Westin? 150RMB? Not really. Depends on which Westin. Should be half that to the Westin on ring road 3 north.

All discussion about fees is irrelevant. what counts is the net exchange rate that you get. In some cases you are better off paying fees for a good exchange rate.
The exchange rate of the banks at the Beijing airport is very close to what one would get in the city but it is much faster. Unlike most airports in the world, it is actually a good place to exchange.

When I pull money out of ATMs, I always get within a few basis points of the WSJ rate.

Since Y50 is higher than almost every out of network ATM fee under the sun, I wouldn't say the airport is a good place to exchange money, but IIRC one of the departures level bank branches does not impose this fee.

The banks do not charge any fee to exchange currency.

Really? I didn't know about this development because I haven't even tempted those waters in about 2 years, but in the past it was Y50 across the board (waived for transactions over Y50,000 iirc).

1) In my view, an ATM card is the best way to get cash. The Chinese ATMs do not charge a fee; the fees are from your bank. Obviously try to minimize those if you can. There are plenty of ATMs after customs. Don't worry.

2) China uses cash a lot more, and credit less, than the US. You can use credit at more expensive places, but you'll often be hit with high foreign exchange fees. If you want to buy things at a street market, you'll need cash. Taxis? Cash. Drivers? Usually cash. Good news is food is generally cheap, and so are souvenirs.