Does it matter which Beijing airport I land at?
Short answer
Yes. Capital sits inside the city in Chaoyang; Daxing is far to the south with its own separate railway. They are not interchangeable.
Two airports, two directions
Capital International Airport is in Chaoyang District, inside the city's northeast, and has three terminals. It is the second busiest airport in the world by passenger traffic, which tells you what the queues are like at the wrong hour.
Daxing opened in September 2019 and sits far to the south — it covers 45 square kilometres, with a terminal of 700,000 square metres. Getting between the two is not a short hop, so a connection that changes airport needs planning rather than optimism.
How each one reaches the city
Capital is served by the Metro Airport Line, which runs from Dongzhimen via Sanyuanqiao to all three terminals at a flat fare. Airport buses run from ticket offices at each terminal, and the Airport Expressway and Airport Second Expressway carry road traffic with small tolls.
Daxing has its own airport railway line at 19 minutes, an expressway route of around 30 minutes from the south 5th Ring Road, and an intercity railway reaching it from Beijing West Railway Station in about 20 minutes.
What this means when booking
Check the airport code on the ticket rather than the city name. A cheaper fare into Daxing can cost the saving back in transfer time if your hotel is in the north or east of the city.
The reverse applies too. If your plans are in the south, or you are continuing towards Xiongan, Daxing is the closer door and Capital is the detour.
Good to know
- Capital is in the city's northeast; Daxing is far south
- Changing airports between connections is a long trip, not a transfer
By about an hour, yes. Haneda sits inside Tokyo; Narita is in the next prefecture.
Yes. Full-service airlines use Suvarnabhumi; low-cost carriers mostly use Don Mueang, 46km away with no rail link of its own.
More here than almost anywhere. The three international gateways are not alternatives to one another — they are the north, the centre and the south of a country the train needs 36 hours to cross.
Gimpo is far closer to Seoul, but almost every long-haul flight uses Incheon, so you rarely get to choose.
Yes, pleasantly. Taoyuan is the main international gateway outside the city; Songshan sits inside Taipei itself and handles domestic plus a handful of regional routes.