Sights

Make Room In Your Schedule

• Summer Palace. Better than the Forbidden City in my opinion.
• Great Wall -- Juyongguan and Badaling. These are the two sections we went to; the Mutianyu section might be a better choice.
• Forbidden City. It's big, so allow a lot of time to see it.
• Longqingxia. A bit touristy, but the scenery is great.
• Beihai Park. A huge park, with lots to see.
• Terracotta Warriors. If you're in Xi'an, go see them, but beware the tourist scams.
• Xi'an City Wall.
• Huang Shan. Be prepared to walk!

Stop In If You're In The Neighborhood

• Ancient Observatory. If you're nearby, it's worth stopping in.
• Kaiyuan Si. Well worth seeing if you're in Quanzhou.
• Small Wild Goose Pagoda.
• The Big Wild Goose Pagoda.
• Temple of Heaven. Not as fabulous as the name might lead you to believe, but worth seeing.
• Shaanxi History Museum.
• Great Mosque of Xi'an.
• Shihuadong Cave and nearby temples.
• Forest of Steles.
• Lugouqiao (Marco Polo) Bridge
• Jingshan Park. Not much here, but it's next to Beihai Park and the Forbidden City.
• Xiang Shan.
• Daoist Temple of the Eight Immortals.
• Gulangyu.

Your Time Is Better Spent Elsewhere

• A "tomb". What is this?
• Ming tombs. Not much worth seeing.
• Tian'an Men Square. There's nothing to see, but you'll see it anyway because you'll pass by here to get to the Forbidden City.
• Bell Tower and Drum Tower in Xi'an. They're worth seeing, but you'll probably pass by them anyway, so don't make a special trip.
• Yonghe Gong. It's probably worth seeing, but we saw it at the end of the day when we were tired.
• Tangyue Archways. You'd do better to spend more time at Huang Shan.
• Xidiguzen. "Tourist trappism" at its peak.