What's the must-see thing in Beijing?

The Forbidden City. Built between 1406 and 1420 under the Yongle Emperor, this 72-hectare complex along Chang'an Avenue held 24 emperors across two dynasties. The numbers matter less than what hits you at the Meridian Gate entrance around 8:30am, when the morning light turns the glazed roof tiles from burnt orange to a wet copper. The Hall of Supreme Harmony sits at the far end of a stone courtyard large enough to hold 100,000 people, and on a June morning with 93% humidity and 24°C drizzle, the marble railings feel slick under your palms. Tickets cost 60 CNY ($8.86) from April through October, 40 CNY ($5.91) November through March. You need to book on the Palace Museum WeChat mini-program at least 3 days ahead, and bring your passport. The daily cap sits at 30,000 visitors, which means afternoons tend to be calmer than mornings now. Budget 3 hours minimum. The western route through the concubine quarters is quieter than the central axis.

The Temple of Heaven sits 5 km southeast of Tiananmen Square in Beijing's Chongwen district. The Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests, that triple-gabled circular building from every Beijing postcard, was first built in 1420 and reconstructed after a lightning fire in 1889. What photographs miss is the acoustic engineering. Stand at the centre of the Echo Wall's circular courtyard and clap once. The sound returns to you 3 times from the curved stone, a trick of Qing-dynasty geometry that still works after 500 years. The surrounding park covers 273 hectares, and before 8am it belongs to retirees practicing tai chi, couples waltzing to portable speakers, and amateur opera singers whose voices carry across the cypress groves. The combined ticket runs 34 CNY ($5.02). Go early, walk the park first, then enter the prayer hall around 9am when the first tour buses are still unloading at the south gate.

The Summer Palace, 15 km northwest of central Beijing in Haidian district, is the one where you feel the weather. Empress Cixi rebuilt it in 1888 using funds originally earmarked for the imperial navy, and the result is 297 hectares of Kunming Lake wrapped in willows, stone bridges, and covered walkways. The Long Corridor runs 728 metres along the lakeshore with 14,000 painted scenes on its crossbeams, each one different. On a humid June afternoon the lake surface goes flat and grey, the air smells of lotus mud and warm stone, and the covered walkway keeps the drizzle off while you walk. Take Metro Line 4 to Beigongmen station, a 40-minute ride from central Beijing. Entry is 30 CNY ($4.43) peak season, 20 CNY ($2.95) off-peak. A dragon boat ride across Kunming Lake costs 10 CNY and saves your legs for the climb up Longevity Hill.

If you have 2 days, do the Forbidden City on the morning of day 1, walk south to Tiananmen Square (free entry, bag check required), then take a taxi to the Temple of Heaven for late afternoon when the park empties. Day 2 is the Summer Palace, full morning. If you have only 1 day, the Forbidden City alone is worth your time. Skip the Great Wall on a first-day itinerary. Badaling is 70 km northwest and the round trip eats 5 to 6 hours minimum. Save it for day 3 when your body has started adjusting to the jet lag. Worth noting, the Metro covers all three sites and costs 3 to 9 CNY per ride, but station signage is in Pinyin and Mandarin only, so download Baidu Maps before you land. Google Maps does not work in China without a VPN.