Beijing.

Student life splits between the campus bubble of Haidian and the nightlife of Chaoyang, so quiet study nights and glossy nights out are both close by. Wudaokou, wedged between Tsinghua, Peking University and Beijing Language and Culture University, has a large Korean student community alongside its international crowd, plus bars that are noticeably cheaper than the venues in central Beijing. When you want a bigger night out, Sanlitun holds around seventy percent of the city's bars and clubs, alongside international brand stores and the old diplomatic quarter.

• Base your social life around Wudaokou, where student bars are cheaper than downtown.
• Head to Sanlitun for the city's biggest concentration of bars and clubs.
• Expect a large Korean student community in Wudaokou, with signage to match.

Beijing student budgets stretch further outside the centre. A casual lunch runs around 4 to 5 dollars, and a cheap one bedroom flat away from the centre is roughly 510 dollars a month, with a monthly local transport budget closer to 30 dollars. Subway fares themselves start at 3 yuan for short hops and rise to about 7 yuan for a 40 kilometre trip. Mobile payments dominate everyday spending, with Alipay and WeChat Pay together covering close to ninety percent of transactions, so set one up before your first grocery run.

• Budget close to 500 dollars a month for a cheap flat outside the centre.
• Subway fares start at 3 yuan and rise to about 7 yuan for longer trips.
• Set up Alipay or WeChat Pay early, since they cover most daily spending.

Most exchange students start in a university dorm before deciding whether to move into a shared flat. Beijing Language and Culture University keeps a dedicated dorm building for its large international cohort, and your host university's office is the contact point for a room. Renting privately costs roughly 510 dollars a month for a small flat away from the centre, more if you want to be near Wudaokou or Sanlitun. Platforms such as Ziroom and Lianjia list managed rooms, though most listings are only in Chinese, so line up help before you view.

• Apply for a dorm through your host university's international office as early as you can.
• Budget from around 510 dollars a month for a small flat outside the centre.
• Line up Chinese speaking help before viewing private listings, which are rarely in English.

The Beijing Subway is one of the largest metro systems anywhere, thirty lines and more than 900 kilometres of track across over 500 stations, so most of the city is a ride away. Fares are distance based, starting at 3 yuan for short trips and reaching about 7 yuan for a 40 kilometre journey, paid with a Yikatong card or a QR code in a transport app. The same Yikatong card also gives half price bus fares and short-term unlimited passes if you are travelling heavily for a few days.

• Get a Yikatong card or a transport app QR code before your first subway ride.
• Fares run from 3 yuan for short hops to about 7 yuan across the city.
• Use Yikatong for half price bus fares if you are riding buses often.

Beijing holds one of the world's great clusters of universities, most of them a few metro stops apart in Haidian. Tsinghua and Peking University both rank among the world's top fifteen and run well organised exchange programmes across engineering, sciences and humanities. If intensive Mandarin is the goal, Beijing Language and Culture University specialises in teaching Chinese to international students and hosts one of the largest international cohorts of any Chinese university. Whichever campus you land at, apply through your home university first, then complete registration with the host institution's international office.

• Tsinghua and Peking University both rank in the world's top fifteen universities.
• Beijing Language and Culture University is the country's specialist for intensive Mandarin.
• Most major campuses cluster in Haidian, a few metro stops apart from each other.

For a full semester you need an X1 student visa; anything under 180 days uses the X2. Your host university sends an admission letter plus a JW201 or JW202 form, and you take both to a Chinese embassy or visa centre back home. Requirements and fees swing a lot by nationality, so check your own local embassy rather than trusting a mate from another country.

The bit people forget: an X1 visa only gets you in the door. Within 30 days of landing you must convert it into a residence permit at the local Public Security Bureau (Entry-Exit office), which means a health check and passport photos. Miss the deadline and the fines are real.

• X1 visa, stays over 180 days, needs JW202 + admission letter
• Residence permit, apply within 30 days at the local PSB
• Medical exam, required for the permit, budget €50–80
• Rules vary by nationality, always check your own embassy

Beijing eats extremely well, from imperial roast duck to street corner breakfasts. Peking duck is the dish to get right: order it at a specialist like Siji Minfu or Dadong for the classic three-stage serving of crispy skin, sliced meat wrapped in pancakes, and a final broth from the carcass. Beyond the set-piece meal, the hutong lanes around the Drum and Bell Towers hold generations-old courtyard neighbourhoods that are now full of small cafes and snack stalls, a good contrast to the imperial museums and temples that fill the rest of the day.

• Order Peking duck at a specialist like Siji Minfu or Dadong for the full ritual.
• Wander the hutongs around the Drum and Bell Towers for old courtyard neighbourhoods.
• Beijing holds eight UNESCO World Heritage Sites, so pace your sightseeing across the semester.

Where you live shapes the whole exchange: studenty Haidian, historic Dongcheng or nightlife heavy Chaoyang. Haidian, especially Wudaokou, is the classic student base, packed with universities, Korean-run cafes and cheap places to eat. Dongcheng keeps the hutong alleys around the Drum and Bell Towers, the most walkable and atmospheric part of old Beijing. Chaoyang, once the city's diplomatic quarter, now holds roughly seventy percent of Beijing's bars alongside embassies and the Sanlitun shopping strip, so it is the obvious pick for a livelier base.

• Haidian, especially Wudaokou, is the classic student base near every major university.
• Dongcheng's hutongs around the Drum and Bell Towers are the most atmospheric old streets.
• Chaoyang holds around seventy percent of the city's bars, centred on Sanlitun.

Few cities travel as well as Beijing. The Great Wall's restored sections at Mutianyu and Jinshanling are both within day-trip range and far less crowded than the stretch near the city centre. High-speed rail fans out from here across northern China: Tianjin, with its foreign concession architecture, is half an hour away, and Datong, 250 kilometres west, holds the fifteen-hundred-year-old Yungang Grottoes and their tens of thousands of Buddhist carvings. Xi'an and its Terracotta Army sit further out again, reachable on the same high-speed network through Beijing North station.

• Hike a quieter stretch of the Great Wall at Mutianyu or Jinshanling.
• Take the half hour train to Tianjin for its concession-era streets.
• Reach the Yungang Grottoes near Datong, 250 kilometres west, by high-speed rail.

A little preparation saves a stressful first week in Beijing. Google, Wikipedia and most foreign apps are blocked by the country's internet filtering, so arrange a VPN before you fly rather than after landing. Alipay and WeChat Pay between them cover close to ninety percent of mobile payments in China, so set one up as soon as you arrive and keep some cash for the very first day regardless. Winters are cold and dry, so a proper coat and a room humidifier are worth packing rather than buying once you are settled.

• Install a VPN before you fly, since Google and Wikipedia are blocked locally.
• Set up Alipay or WeChat Pay on arrival, since cash is rarely accepted.
• Pack a proper coat, since Beijing winters run cold and dry.