Beijing Travel Guide (Beijing, China)

Beijing requires patience and planning to do it justice. Wandering aimlessly around without a destination in mind will rarely be rewarding. The place to start is Tian'anmen Square , geographical and psychic centre of the city, where a cluster of important sights can be seen in a day, although the Forbidden City , at the north end of the square, deserves a day, or even several, all to itself. The Qianmen area, a noisy market area south of here, is a bit more alive, and ends in style with one of the city's highlights, the Temple of Heaven . The giant freeway, Chang'an Jie , zooming east-west across the city, is a corridor of high-rises with a few museums, shopping centres and even the odd ancient site worth tracking down. Scattered in the north of the city, a section with a more traditional and human feel, are some magnificent parks , palaces and temples , some of them in the hutongs. An expedition to the outskirts is amply rewarded by the Summer Palace , the best place to get away from it all.