Use the original notes below for booking details, transport context and route-specific cautions.
Use the original notes below for booking details, transport context and route-specific cautions.
Use the original notes below for booking details, transport context and route-specific cautions.
Use the original notes below for booking details, transport context and route-specific cautions.
Day 4
Day 4: Ruins And Campuses
Yuanmingyuan / Old Summer Palace (3h) → Tsinghua University (2h, see caveat) → Bird's Nest & Water Cube exterior (evening, optional) Daily Route Sketch1Yuanmingyuan2Old Summer Palace3Tsinghua University4Bird's Nest5Water CubeStop 1YuanmingyuanStop 2Old Summer
Use the original notes below for booking details, transport context and route-specific cautions.
Use the original notes below for booking details, transport context and route-specific cautions.
Use the original notes below for booking details, transport context and route-specific cautions.
Use the original notes below for booking details, transport context and route-specific cautions.
Day 5
Day 5: The Summer Palace Day
Summer Palace (4h) → Peking University (2h, same caveat) Daily Route Sketch1Summer Palace2Peking UniversityStop 1Summer PalaceStop 2Peking University Give the Summer Palace its half-day. The classic 3-hour line: East Palace Gate → Renshou Hall → Wenchang Gall
Use the original notes below for booking details, transport context and route-specific cautions.
Use the original notes below for booking details, transport context and route-specific cautions.
Use the original notes below for booking details, transport context and route-specific cautions.
Use the original notes below for booking details, transport context and route-specific cautions.
Day 6
Day 6: The Great Wall
Mutianyu (recommended) — or Badaling + Ming Tombs, the classic pairing Daily Route Sketch1Mutianyu2BadalingStop 1MutianyuStop 2Badaling The Chinese-guidebook classic is Badaling plus the Ming Tombs: the grandest restored section (now under 30 minutes from the
Use the original notes below for booking details, transport context and route-specific cautions.
Use the original notes below for booking details, transport context and route-specific cautions.
Use the original notes below for booking details, transport context and route-specific cautions.
Use the original notes below for booking details, transport context and route-specific cautions.
Stay Here
Suggested Bases.
Accommodation ideas are framed by route logic: easy arrivals, calm mornings and realistic transfers.
Luxury
Luxury Stay
Coming soon. Real hotel picks will be added after the booking partner content is ready.
Mid-range
Mid-range Stay
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Budget
Budget Stay
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Full Notes
Original Planning Detail.
Last verified: July 2026
Book These Before You Fly
Forbidden City — released 7 days ahead, passport details required, closed Mondays, sells out in season
Tiananmen Square — separate free advance reservation to enter
Prince Gong’s Mansion — booking required, closed Mondays
Great Wall transport for Day 6 — shuttle or driver, a day or two out
Tiananmen Square (1.5h) → Qianmen Street lunch (1.5h) → Forbidden City (3h) → Jingshan Park (1h)
Stop 1Tiananmen SquareStop 2Qianmen StreetStop 3Forbidden CityStop 4Jingshan Park
The ceremonial heart in one sweep. Early to the square (flag-raising tracks sunrise — arrive an hour ahead if you’re doing it), monuments and mausoleum, then south to Qianmen’s old shopping street for lunch — Quanjude’s flagship is here, and locals’ pick Siji Minfu does comparable roast duck at kinder prices. Afternoon through the Forbidden City south-to-north, then straight up Jingshan Park’s hill for the whole-palace panorama in the best light of the day. Hutong wandering at dusk if energy holds.
Today is walking plus one bus hop (2/59/120 from Dashilar back to Tian’anmen East). Sort your transit card or Alipay transport QR first thing.
Day 2: Temples And Ghost Street
Temple of Heaven (2.5h) → Lama Temple (2h) → Confucius Temple & Guozijian (1.5h) → Gui Street (2h)
Stop 1Temple Of HeavenStop 2Lama TempleStop 3Confucius TempleStop 4GuozijianStop 5Gui Street
South-gate-in, north-gate-out at the Temple of Heaven puts the Circular Mound, Echo Wall and the Hall of Prayer in narrative order — and morning means the park’s tai chi and dance crowds are the opening act. Line 5 from Tiantan Dongmen (A2) to Yonghegong (C) delivers you to the Lama Temple’s incense clouds; the Confucius Temple and Guozijian across the road are the scholarly calm after. Dinner on Gui Street: a kilometre of lanterns, crayfish and hotpot that runs 24 hours — the queue at Hu Da is the landmark.
Heshen’s outrageous mansion in the morning (Line 6 Beihai North, 300m walk; booked ahead), then the lakes: former residences, Yandai Xiejie, Drum and Bell Towers, with Nanluoguxiang as the optional crowd-surge. Rickshaw hutong tours here run published price lists — agree route and price up front and enjoy the stories. Houhai’s lakeside bars close the day. The neighbourhood’s old-school eats — grill house Juqi Huatian Kaorouji, tripe legend Dongxingshun, Yaoji Chaogan — are the dinner shortlist.
Day 4: Ruins And Campuses
Yuanmingyuan / Old Summer Palace (3h) → Tsinghua University (2h, see caveat) → Bird’s Nest & Water Cube exterior (evening, optional)
Yuanmingyuan takes the morning: enter the south gate (its own Line 4 stop), the Western Mansions ruins and zodiac fountain remains first, then the lakeshores west. Unrestored by design, it’s the counter-narrative to everything else this week.
The classic route then visits Tsinghua University’s garden campus — but be aware campus entry now requires reservation through Chinese mini-programs that are genuinely awkward with a foreign passport. If it works out, the rental-bike loop from the west gate (Lotus Pond → Tsinghua Xuetang → the old gate) is lovely; if not, swap in more Yuanmingyuan or an early evening at the Olympic Green — the Bird’s Nest and Water Cube glow after dark (exteriors only at night; Line 8, Olympic Sports Center).
Stay tonight and tomorrow in Haidian if you’d rather not commute — the Wudaokou/Zhongguancun area is the university district with Line 4 through it, and its student-driven food scene (Sichuan at Yushihu, Xinjiang skewers at Bayi Laoye) runs cheap and late.
Day 5: The Summer Palace Day
Summer Palace (4h) → Peking University (2h, same caveat)
Stop 1Summer PalaceStop 2Peking University
Give the Summer Palace its half-day. The classic 3-hour line: East Palace Gate → Renshou Hall → Wenchang Gallery → the Long Corridor → Longevity Hill’s temple stack (the front-hill building group is the ensemble piece — don’t skip it) → marble boat → out via the Ruyi Gate. Line 4 serves both entrances: Beigongmen for the north gate, Xiyuan/Yiheyuan side for the east.
Peking University’s Weiming Lake and Boya Pagoda are the afternoon in the classic route — same reservation caveat as Tsinghua. Registered and admitted, enter from the southeast gate and drift west to exit by the famous west gate. Blocked by the booking system? The Summer Palace’s quieter back hill and Suzhou Street absorb the extra hours happily.
Day 6: The Great Wall
Mutianyu (recommended) — or Badaling + Ming Tombs, the classic pairing
Stop 1MutianyuStop 2Badaling
The Chinese-guidebook classic is Badaling plus the Ming Tombs: the grandest restored section (now under 30 minutes from the city by high-speed rail: /book/) and the imperial necropolis. It works — but we’ll be straight with you: Badaling’s crowds are industrial-scale, and most international visitors rate the Ming Tombs a polite half-day they’d trade for more wall.
Our recommendation remains Mutianyu: restored but comparatively empty, forested valleys, cable car up, toboggan down, seasonal direct shuttles from central Beijing or an easy pre-booked driver round trip. On the wall by 9am buys you an hour of the Wall almost to yourself — the single best hour of this itinerary.
The Practical Layer
Pace: the built-in slack days are 4 and 5 — if the reservation systems block the campuses, you get bonus garden time rather than a hole in the plan.
Money & apps: street-level Beijing runs on QR payments and Chinese map data — set up before you land: /china/alipay-guide-for-travelers/ / maps that work in China.
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The Imperial AxisDay 1
Temples And Ghost StreetDay 2
PrincesDay 3
Ruins And CampusesDay 4
The Summer Palace DayDay 5
The Great WallDay 6
