Seeing Beijing in a day? You must be kidding. It is technically possible to see the big names -- the Forbidden City, Temple of Heaven, Summer Palace, and Great Wall -- in as little as 3 days, but you'll need at least a week to get any sort of feel for the city. People spend years here and still fail to see everything they should.
But if a day is all you have, we want to help you make the most of it by providing a ready-made itinerary that allows you to have a satisfying trip.
We've left the Great Wall out of the itineraries below, as it requires a full day in itself, or better yet, an overnight stay to allow for spectacular late afternoon and early morning photography. The traffic in Beijing means that the only sensible way to tour the city is to tackle the sights in groups. We take you to the central sights on the first day, the north of town on the following day and to the less-visited south of town on the third day.
