Beijing Experts - advice

[kapitan]

Will have to make a trip to Tianjin, never did like going to China, but since have a job to do, might as well make full use of it....

To Tianjin, I plan to fly into Beijing and either catch a train to Tianjin Xingang or get my people to send a taxi to pick me up.... after job is done, will then book a night stay at a hotel in Beijing, spend a day sightseeing and since SQ flight departs at 1600 hours, will then also have the next day free until about 1300 hours.

Now Beijing experts, what sights should I hit if I only have such short time in Beijing.... done some research, and it appear that it is quite easy to move around with the subway and taxis are not so expensive anyways...

[jhm]

If you haven't been to Beijing before, then the usual sights:

* Forbidden City
* Temple of Heaven
* Great Wall
* Wandering around the Qianmen / Daishilanr area
* etc

will fit into your day and a half of time free for sightseeing. You may also want to visit whateevr buildings were constructed for the Olympics (I haven't been to Beijing since before then).

Definitely go for taxis - inexpensive (at least when I was last there) and honest too (from my experience - you get a metered receipt etc). You can use the subway but there's still a lot of walking required as the stops are quite far apart.

Unless you want the points/stay credits/etc, maybe consider a converted siheyuan (four sided courtyard) hotel as something unique to Beijing ?

[9V-JKL]

How about the Central Axis tour. Start from the Birds Nest at the North end and go straight down South through the Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square and end up at Dianmen gate. Its all 1 straight line. Most of the key sites are on the axis

[Kyo]

All of the above, and I also somehow think you'll enjoy Houhai Beer Garden