This is a beautiful street with Zhengyangmen in the backdrop. The street is bustling with street food kiosks and restaurants, with different alleys along the main street with more food options. We enjoyed our visit here though it feels solely catered for tourists as shops are mostly the big local brands. It was a little crowded on Friday night here. For food, we recommend the matcha/tea soft serve, lamb skewers and soup dumplings.

This area has several names Qianmen Dajie 前门大街 or Dashilar/Dashilan 大栅栏 and is actually created for tourists to browse in comfort along its wide tree-line thoroughfare free of vehicular traffic. All its shops have exquisitely designed frontages and displays enticing visitors to browse inside. There is a tram slowly moving up and down the middle of this avenue and is free to ride. Candy and souvenir, eateries, hotels, shoe shops, clothes etc line both sides of this avenue. An interesting display is life-size moving "mannequin" of an elderly lady working on a traditional stone rice mill. The features of her face are so eerily life-like! Do not miss the side lanes of this street to enter the hutongs! If you start at the south end this 1 km street ends up at an imposing building 正阳门箭楼 or 南门。I'm checking this up from Baidu map 3D version. Please correct me if I'm wrong on the names. Thanks.

Qianmen Street is simply one of the BEST things you can see in Beijing. We walked down it before heading into Tiananmen Square and spent a lot longer on the street than we originally planned! They have a load of independent food stalls and clothing stores, from local goods to global. They have side streets that you can get lost in, as you wander in and out of various markets and malls. We actually bought a hand-painted, framed piece by a Beijing native from her independent market stall, which was stunning. The buildings are awe-inspiring and you feel like you’re in a different world. We ended up eating in Quanjudge to eat some original Beijing duck, and that too was mouth watering. This is a must see if you’re in Beijing and very easy to add to your itinerary, you won’t regret it!