The hook
The imperial capital, laid out on a grand ceremonial axis, where you cross the enormous walled Forbidden City the emperors ruled from, then dive into the grey courtyard-house lanes that still survive between the towers.
01Why it's worth it
Beijing was built as the ritual centre of the empire, and the bones of that plan remain: a north-south axis running through the vast Tiananmen square to the Forbidden City, the moated palace complex of golden roofs and endless courtyards where two dynasties of emperors lived hidden from their subjects, among the largest palace complexes ever built. Around it lie the imperial altars of the Temple of Heaven, the lakeside Summer Palace, and the surviving hutongs, the tight grey lanes of single-storey courtyard homes that were once the whole city and are now pockets of older life among the highrises. It is a heavy, monumental, sometimes hazy megacity, and it takes patience, but the concentration of imperial history is unmatched, and the food, from Peking duck to street snacks, is a pleasure.
02How to experience it
Book the Forbidden City in advance and go early; walk it straight through the axis. Balance the monuments with a slow wander or rickshaw through a hutong neighbourhood, and see the Temple of Heaven early when locals exercise there. Use the Great Wall as a day trip out.
From the locals
There's a real argument in the China threads about whether the big cities are worth the days, and both sides are worth hearing. The case against: "my best advice is to get out of the cities as soon as possible. Many tours are Beijing–Xi'an–Shanghai–Chengdu. The cities are great, but in the end not that different from those in the rest of the world. By far the most interesting stuff lies in between." The rebuttal, from someone who found that badly wrong: "if you have never been to China, going that route would be the best. There is a wealth of cultural history dating back thousands of years in those cities."
One practical warning everyone repeats: "almost all of the large western websites are blocked in China, so don't expect anything related to Google or Facebook or Twitter to work." Sort a VPN before you arrive, not after.