transit via pek in january

Question

I hold a Swedish passport and will be travelling from Bangkok (BKK) via Beijing (PEK) to Frankfurt and then further to Zürich on 6th Jan. Our layover in PEK will be 13 hours long, so we're hoping we can leave the airport and go to the city for a few hours. Can you please confirm if I need to apply for a visa for this before travelling or at the PEK airport? My girlfriend has an American passport, do the same rules apply for her? Can you point me to where I can read more about this as well? Many thanks for help!

Carl · Answer

Hi, good news for you. From Jan. 1 2013,  you are not required visa to transit in Beijing for up to 72 hours. You can visit Beijing freely as you like. Your girlfriend is also visa exempted.

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Transit via PEK in January