What's a sufficient time to stay in Beijing?
 

We are planning to visit Beijing next month and have planned to stay 6 nights. A friend of my wifes recently returned and commented that she thought 6 nights is too long. She also complained about the food. We thought 6 nights is sufficient as we enjoy walking around the places we visit and don't have to sightsee at monuments, temples etc all the time we are at a place. We plan to visit the Great Wall and a the Ming and Qing burial sites. Is 6 nights enough or too much? We enjoy a leisure pace and are both in our 60's and experienced travelers. Thanks

I think it's appropriate. I've stayed 4 nights and I wish I'd stayed longer. Take just the main sights - If you want to see some secluded, ie. less touristy parts of the Great Wall, it could take up the whole day. Then, Summer palace is another whole day option, the Forbidden palace takes up half a day... and there's so much to see apart from that, not to mention strolling around and simply enjoying the city.

There are enough in Beijing to see if you stay for 2 weeks. 6 nights is not too long, and there are all kinds of food in the Chinese capital - good and bad. You should ask what food that person had, and who arranged it.

I agree -- 6 nights is not too long. There are plenty of sites to see from wooden temples, to the Great Wall, to the modern art scene. Also, the food is some of the best we had in China. Definitely seek out the Peking Duck and homemade, hand-pulled or knife-cut noodles. Delish!
Enjoy your trip!

Temple of Heaven, The Back Lakes, Hutong (alleys) Walks are some great areas to walk around and mingle with locals.

It depends on what you want to see and experience, but for what its worth, I had 6 days and did not see everything I hoped to see. I ate some wonderful (and extremely affordable) mealsly. You might find my very long trip report of some use - my time in Beijing was at the beginning and end of the trip. To find the report, just click on my name.

Enjoy!

Thanks everyone. After reading your comments and taling it over with my wife, we are going to keep to our original plan. My wife spoke to her friend and she does not care for Chinese food. We both enjoy it and are looking forward to our trip. Thanks again

We just had 2 nights and we could have easly doubled or trippled that, we used a Guide and that made it very easy and enjoyable, look at my trip report.
His contact is [email protected]