Royal Capital · Beijing 6 Days

Wander the heart of Beijing at Tiananmen Square, then enter the Forbidden City and see where emperors of the Ming and Qing lived and worked. Red walls and golden tiles make a magnificent impression — the most direct first stop for understanding Chinese history. From Meridian Gate to the Hall of Supreme Harmony, follow the central axis north through the halls where emperors were enthroned, held ceremonies and lived. Layer upon layer of red walls and golden tiles, set against the corner towers and the moat, make this the stop no first visit should skip.

The Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests is the emblem of the Temple of Heaven, with its three tiers of blue glazed tiles rising in a solemn, generous dome. The entire hall is assembled from timber mortise-and-tenon joints without a single iron nail. Visitors can admire Chinese timber construction at its most accomplished and feel the aesthetics of Eastern architecture close up. Standing on the Circular Mound Altar, the whole complex unfolds around the ancient cosmology of a round heaven and square earth, the old imagining of heaven made fully concrete.

The Summer Palace is the largest and best-preserved imperial garden in China and a World Cultural Heritage site. Originally a Qing-dynasty imperial palace and garden, it has lake, hills, pavilions and terraces in abundance and is known as a museum of imperial gardens. From Kunming Lake to Longevity Hill, walk slowly along the Long Corridor as water and hills meet pavilions one after another; climb the Tower of Buddhist Incense for the whole panorama, and you understand the name.

The highest honour in Beijing dining. A chef carves the duck at the table, and you roll the meat with spring onion and sweet bean sauce in a thin pancake for a mouthful of fragrance. It is one of the Chinese dishes most familiar and most approachable for international visitors. At a century-old establishment the chef carves at the table, separating crisp skin from meat and plating both; rolled in a thin pancake with spring onion and sweet bean sauce, it is rich but never greasy, and the most memorable Chinese meal for many visitors.

The Great Wall is the greatest ancient defensive work in the world and one of China's most famous World Cultural Heritage sites. The itinerary offers a choice of Badaling or Mutianyu so you can decide what suits you, then stand on the ramparts and feel this human marvel straddling the mountain ridges. Badaling is grand and highly accessible; Mutianyu is thickly wooded and quieter. From the wall, ridge lines rise and battlements wind away, and the pride behind the saying about true heroes surges up (cable car and toboggan at your own expense).

Hutongs are Beijing's distinctive urban fabric and the real stage of old Beijing life. The areas around Shichahai and Nanluoguxiang preserve whole stretches of traditional lanes and courtyard houses. Leave the wide arterial roads and step into the long, narrow alleys, grey walls and tiles on both sides and green trees overhead, and you feel Beijing at its most grounded at once. Turn into a small lane and you may hear pigeon whistles, catch the aroma of zhajiangmian and see elderly residents playing chess at their doorways — this is the real everyday life of old Beijing.