After much deliberation, it appears that we have decided upon a visit to the Great Wall at Mutianyu. We will hire a driver to take us there. But, we are wondering what to do with the remaining half day. The consensus seems to be overwhelming that the Ming Tombs are a waste of time. Has anyone combined Mutianyu with the New Summer Palace? Or does anyone have any better ideas? Thanks!

ming tombs....total waste of time....summer palace is excellent....the two in one day would be tight (palace and wall)

Yes, I agree that the Wall and Summer Palace would be tight, but do-able if you get a very early start. The Summer Palace covers a very, very large area and is best experienced by just strolling around with a map. It's a 30-40 minute cab ride (shouldn't be more than 70 yuan, less than US$10) from the city centre.

Depends how much time you'll have in Beijing - there are plenty of other attractions to fill in what's left of the day. If you can set aside another day for the Summer Palace, you could easily spend your afternoon walking along the Back Lakes, say from Jingshan Park (just north of the Forbidden City) as far as the Drum and Bell Towers, then taxi back to your hotel. For this, a guide would be a hindrance rather than a help, and you should ignore the rickshaw offers. The Drum Tower in particular is worth the small entry fee.

I agree with Neil Oz. The back lakes area is lovely,we enjoyed that very much.

No Ming Tombs, the other suggestions are all lovely and doable. For architecture, the Temple of Heaven in the city is worth spending a couple of hours.

I spent a leisurely morning at the Temple of Literature. The grounds and temples were beautiful! After exploring, it was nice to sit on a bench with a cup of green tea and people watch.

I concur with others--the Great Wall at Mutianyu followed by the Summer Palace made for a wonderful day for my husband and I just 2 weeks ago.....ENJOY!

jrlaw-the Summer Palace is truly the highlight of Beijing, particularly if you're going there in the springtime-just gorgeous-you need to spend some time here, and I mean hours or most of a day, and NOT combined with the
Great Wall.

So I second NeilOz's suggestion to fill up what remains of your Great Wall day doing something else-like the Drum Tower (good idea) or the Temple of Heaven. The Great Wall will take longer than you think, depending on tourist traffic at the Wall and highway traffic-if you get back in the early-mid afternoon, the Temple of Heaven can fit in nicely, as it doesn't really take all that long to appreciate.

One more thing-if you go to the Temple of Heaven in the afternoon, you can segue on over to the Hong Qiao Market (otherwise known as the Pearl Market) right after, as HQ is very close to Temple of Heaven. HQ Market sells a variety of no-name goods from Asian manufacturers-pearls are on the top floor-and they are NOT all fake-you need to bargain hard, and you can get pick up some lovely gifts here)-also sporting goods, watches, etc.-it's a lot of fun, and highly recommended.