So I'm heading through Beijing in April. I have a 10 hour layover from 4 am to 2 pm, then on the way back a 16ish hour layover from 6 am to midnight. Any recommendations of places not to miss and how to travel to them the easiest and cheapest way?
Traveling to Bangkok for 3 days as well, Phi Phi Island for 4 and Bali for 5. Any advice on activities or attractions is appreciated. And vaccines that are necessary (getting conflicting reports online)?
Traveling with 3 adult females in mid twenties.

Make sure you apply for a visa ahead of time to be a allowed into Beijing during your layover

I read you could get up to 72 hour layover visa at the airport and there was no need to apply in advance. Any word on that?

Make sure that’s true. It didn’t pertain to me when I was in Shanghai and I was stuck in the airport for 10 hours. It could have been bad luck for us at that time with the language barrier.
For vaccines, I went to an immunisation clinic at a pharmacy and was advised on which vaccines to get. It cost less than an actual immunisation Clinic

Wow, that would be unfortunate to get stuck at the airport. It says Shanghai, Beijing, etc I should be good for a 24 hour one but I'll call a travel agent to make sure. Thank you.
And that's great, I'll check out the pharmacy imm. Clinic

I’ve heard horror stories about delayed connectors out of Beijing and therefore not being able to board flights in Vancouver because of no visa. I’ve just googled it and it says Canadians are allowed anywhere from 24-72 hours. This is the whole reason we were so afraid to book our son’s flight to japan connecting in China. Does anyone know how it actually works?!?

Rebecca VandenBeukel yes my friend got a 24 hour visa no problem at the airport in Beijing

Alberta Health Services has a free travel clinic in downtown Edmonton. They can advise on vaccinations you should get for particular destinations. They charge cost recovery for "specialty" vaccines. They got us up to date on all the basic vaccines, like polio, diphtheria, etc for no charge. For Bali they recommended hepatitis, typhoid (if I remember right) and because we were spending time in very rural areas, Japanese encephalitis. They were very good at laying out all the recommendations and options.

Thank you Ron that's very helpful!

Emily
Kat

I did the 72 hour free visa and was completely fine. Just have to show your onward ticket !

We had a 9-hour layover in 2014. We did not get a visa, and it was assigned when we got there with no problems. We arrived around 6am and our departure was at 3:50pm. We did a Great Wall tour through a private tour guide. We loved it and it was the perfect amount of time. They got us back around 1pm, which was enough time to get back through customs. We flew with Air China.

We used this guide but you can find other guides and reviews on this page too.
https://tourguides.viator.com/tour-guide-lily-mei-29169.aspx

Thanks, she has some good prices. I messaged her.

Great Wall or Forbidden City!

You will need visa for China airport has area to rest and sleeping cubes

https://www.facebook.com/Kanya-Beauty-Room-1111133028914806/
For the ladies since you will be in Thailand

I was just in Beijing for a layover. Yes get the 72 hour transit visa! It is next to customs. All you need is to prove that you have a flight leaving beijing. She will mark it on your customs form and then you go wait in line for customs.

Thank you!

Rebecca VandenBeukel if you have time go to kho san road in bangkok as well we asiatique market and the wat pho temple

Bring your own mosquito net and clothes they can't bite through ,especially at Patong Beach where the full moon party is. Kata Beach is really fun

For the Beijing layover then first one try and stay close to the airport but the second one I recommend a tour. I haven't done any before but if you look on trip advisor you can get some really good feedback for the tours because these places make sure you'll make you flight and see the attractions you want to see ! For Thailand I say get rabies vaccination (I got all mine that were recommended and I've now done 10 Asian countries and most are for life). For Bangkok it really depends what you're interested in, I feel like one night you'll make it to koh San road (party road) and for temples and such try and get up at sunrise as it's going to be so much cooler and a lot less crowded! Are you staying in hostels ?

We're staying in hostels in Bangkok and then air bnbs for the rest

For info on travel vaccines go on
https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/.../destinations/traveler/none/canada
Most pharmacies will do a travel consult for around $25 and provide you everything you need and they will check your immunization records.

I had a 8 hour layover in Beijing with my kiddos in February. We had a private driver/guide take us to the Great Wall. He was amazing and reasonably priced. Message me if you’d like his info