Choosing a neighborhood with an infant

Start from the hospital

With a newborn, the trips that matter most are to the delivery hospital and, later, to a pediatric clinic. Put your area into the hospital finder before you sign a lease. Travel times on this site are rough estimates from distance, so check the real route in a maps app.

Haidian

Wudaokou (五道口) is walkable and close to Tsinghua International School and the university hospitals. Apartments are often small. It can be noisy. It works well for the first year if you want a short commute.

Zhongguancun (中关村) has more residential towers and better supermarkets. It is still on Metro Lines 4 and 10.

Sijiqing and west Haidian are quieter and closer to some district maternal hospitals. They are farther from Chaoyang and from most international-school campuses.

Chaoyang

Wangjing has many foreign families and is near OASIS International Hospital. Lido and Jiangtai sit next to Beijing United Family Hospital. Tuanjiehu and Sanlitun are central, a short taxi ride from United Family clinics. Shuangjing and Guomao, south of the CBD, are a longer trip to the Haidian hospitals.

Olympic Village and Datun, between the North 4th and 5th Rings, are a compromise if one parent works in Haidian and the other in Chaoyang.

Shunyi

Shunyi is the international-school belt. Families who plan on ISB, Dulwich, or BIBA often live there. The trade-off is a long trip into the city for work and for most hospitals.

Changping, Tongzhou, and the south

Huilongguan and Tiantongyuan in Changping are common cheaper rentals, and Beijing Tsinghua Changgung Hospital is the capable hospital close to home there. In Tongzhou, the Peking University People’s Hospital Tongzhou campus is the practical public door. Fengtai, Daxing, and Yizhuang have district hospitals but a long trip to the international hospitals in Chaoyang.

In the far outer districts — Huairou, Miyun, Pinggu, and Yanqing — plan on a local public hospital or a long trip into the city. Test that trip before you open a pregnancy file.

Daily life

Look for a compound with a reliable elevator, a supermarket that delivers in the evening, and a nearby park. In Haidian, the Summer Palace, Yuanmingyuan, and the university campuses are the main green spaces. In Chaoyang, Chaoyang Park and the Olympic Forest Park are the large ones.

Informal playgroups exist, often in someone’s home. They are a common way to meet other foreign families.