Beijing 8 Day Itinerary - Suggestions please!

The following is my planned itinerary. Any suggestions? Thanks a million!

Any of the days can be reordered. If I missed any must-see places or should-see places, please tell me!

3/16 (Mon): Arrive in Beijing in the afternoon. Any suggestions on what to do at night?

3/17 (Tues): Tianan%26#39;men Square (Mao Museum), Forbidden City, Jingshan Park - Nighttime: Wangfujing, Night Food Market

3/18 (Wed): Great Wall - Which should I do? Mutinanyu or the Jinshanling-Simatai hike. I have a 10 year old and a 16 year old...

3/19 (Thurs): Ming Tombs, Bird%26#39;s Nest, Water Cube, Yonghegong (Lama Temple), Xidan (shopping)

3/20 (Fri) : Hutong, Drum and Bell Towers, Beihai, Silk Market?

3/21 (Sat) : Panjayuan market, Temple of Heaven, Daguanyuan (Grand View Garden), Liulichang, Tianqiao Acrobatics Theatre

3/22 (Sun) : Summer Palace, Old Summer Palace, Peking University, Tsinghua University

3/23 (Mon) : Tianjin day trip?

3/24 (Tues): ? Leave in the evening. (What to do in the morning?)

Thank you very much for your time! I appreciate your input greatly!

Beijing 8 Day Itinerary - Suggestions please!

3/16--Why not go to Wangfujing the first evening if you feel like it?

3/18--If you have active children then do the Jinshaling-Simatai hike.

3/22--Visiting both summer palaces and the universities would be a lot of walking in one day. You can spend most of the day just at the Summer Palace.

You could go to Chuandixia village one day.

The Capitol Museum is worth some time--save it for a rainy day (not very likely) or especially cold day.

I wouldn%26#39;t bother with the Ming tombs. You are getting the main sights. Not knowing your interests, it is hard to know what else might be good.

You might use the last day or morning to catch up on something you missed or return to an area you especially like.

Beijing 8 Day Itinerary - Suggestions please!

I%26#39;d agree with the last poster about the Great Wall and Ming Tombs.

3/19 you could do the Olympic sites and spend the day at the Ethnic Culture Park.

3/20 you could put Yonghegong here and walk (if you fancy) up Guo Zi Jian street, past Confucius Temple, across Andingmennei street, up into the hutongs to Drum and Bell Towers, over to Houhai lakes and down to Beihai time/legs permitting.

Silk Market and Panyiayuan depends on how savvy you are with products and haggling - not my cup of tea - and if you%26#39;re going to Wangfujing and Xidan anyway, then it%26#39;s down to whether or not you really want to do more shopping. Same goes for Liulichang - it%26#39;s a restored street, like Qianmen, nothing much original there, touristy.

Grand View Garden isn%26#39;t really worth the time - nothing special. It%26#39;s pleasant enough but you might find something more interesting. Not sure what the motivation to go to Tianjin is - it%26#39;s a bit like having a day trip to Luton from London to see the tower blocks when you could be seeing The Tower, in my opinion.

Fragrant Hills is a nice day out - gardens and pavillions - you can also go to the Botannical Gardens, Sleeping Bhudda Temple, and White Cloud Temple at the same time, plenty of local buses if you can%26#39;t find a taxi returning.

Happy holidaying!

Hi,

The BEST sightseeing route is as follow:

3/16 (Mon): Arrive in Beijing in the afternoon.

The cheaper way is that take by airport shuttle bus (RMB 16) or express subway (RMB 25) to Beijing City and then take by taxi (RMB 10/3km) to hotel. but the best way for your THREE is taking by ONE taxi at airport to hotel directly. after dinner Walk through Changan Avenue and overview the beautiful night scene around Tiananmen.

3/17 (Tues): Tianan%26#39;men Square (Mao Museum), Tian%26#39;an men City Tower, Forbidden City, Jingshan Park.

Look around beautiful Shishahai Park at night.

3/18 (Wed): Mutianyu is better and easy going.

Jinshanling-Simatai is the best but it is far away from Beijing City and NOT convenient and you will cost more money/time if you want to go. at night Tianqiao Acrobatics Theatre.

3/19 (Thurs): If you go go Mutianyu Great Wall, you can arrange Ming Tombs together in one day because not far between them. So you have NO time to Bird%26#39;s Nest, Water Cube, Yonghegong (Lama Temple), Xidan (shopping)

3/20 (Fri): Today you can go to Yonghegong (Lama Temple), Drum and Bell Towers, Bird%26#39;s Nest, Water Cube, Beihai Park and Hutong in whole day. they are adjacent. at night Silk Market

3/21 (Sat): at morning to Panjayuan market, and then

Temple of Heaven, Daguanyuan (Grand View Garden), Liulichang. Wangfujing, Night Food Market

3/22 (Sun) : Summer Palace, Old Summer Palace, Peking University, Tsinghua University.

3/23 (Mon) : Tianjin day trip. and stay in Tianjin is the best.

3/24 (Tues): take by bullet train from Tianjin to Beijing (120km) lasting just 30 minutes and shopping in Beijing and then Leave in the evening.

Thank you for all your replies! I appreciate it!