The Canal the Court Used to Reach the Garden, If You Want the Boat

Three sites that have almost nothing in common: the Temple of Heaven, built for state ritual; the Lama Temple, a working Tibetan Buddhist monastery; and the Summer Palace, built for pleasure.

Two options at booking.

The Temple of Heaven tour runs 2 hours. The group meets at Tiantandongmen station and walks the imperial complex, with the history of the Ming and the Qing and the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests, and ends at the main entrance.

The full tour runs 8 hours and starts early at the same station. The Temple of Heaven first, the largest imperial temple complex in China. Then the Lama Temple, the most important Tibetan Buddhist monastery in Beijing, where Han and Tibetan architecture meet and the Maitreya Buddha stands 18 metres, carved from a single sandalwood trunk. Lunch is at a local restaurant, and the dish is Peking duck.

The afternoon is the Summer Palace, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the garden they call the royal garden museum: the paths along Kunming Lake, and the Long Corridor with its painted panels.

There is an optional cruise on the Imperial Canal, the waterway the court used to reach the Summer Palace by boat. Anyone who would rather not take it has free time in the grounds instead.