The Summer Palace is bigger than you think

Most people arrive at the Summer Palace expecting a palace. What they get is a 290-hectare imperial garden with a lake in the middle, a hill on the north side, and enough walking paths to ruin an otherwise pleasant day. I have watched travellers try to "do" it in three hours and come out limping.

So let me save you the pain. There is a right way to walk this place and a wrong way, and the difference is entirely about which gate you enter and which direction you circle the lake.

Enter from the north, not the east

The East Palace Gate is the famous one, closest to the metro, and it is where almost every tour bus unloads. It is also the worst place to start. You walk straight into the ceremonial halls, there is no view of the lake, and by the time you reach the water you are already tired.

Take the metro to Beigongmen station on Line 4 instead and go in through the North Gate. It costs you nothing extra and buys you a completely different experience. The northern side is the quieter half: Suzhou Street, the little canal village rebuilt for the Qianlong emperor, and a gentle climb up to the Buddhist Incense Tower before the crowds have even formed.

The route I actually recommend

Here is the loop. It takes about four hours at an unhurried pace.

• North Gate in, then Suzhou Street on your left. Ten minutes is enough unless you want to buy things.
• Climb Longevity Hill to the Tower of Buddhist Incense. It is a real climb, maybe 250 steps. Go early, while it is still cool.
• Come down the front of the hill through the Hall of Dispelling Clouds.
• Turn right and walk the Long Corridor, all 728 metres of it, west to east. This is the best part of the whole garden and it is flat.
• At the end of the corridor, take a boat across Kunming Lake to South Lake Island, or keep walking along the West Causeway if the boats are not running.
• Exit by the New Palace Gate or the West Gate and find a taxi.

What the Long Corridor actually is

Guidebooks describe it as a covered walkway with painted beams, which undersells it badly. It runs the length of Longevity Hill's southern face, right along the water, and every one of its beams is painted with a different scene. Some are landscapes, some are episodes from classic novels, some are birds and flowers. There are said to be more than 14,000 paintings in total.

What I like is that it does two jobs at once. It shelters you from rain and summer sun, and it frames the lake perfectly. On a clear day the water, the far hills and the Seventeen-Arch Bridge line up like a scroll painting.

Timing, tickets and the small stuff

Go on a weekday if you possibly can. Weekends in spring and autumn are genuinely unpleasant around the main halls. April and May are the best months, with the peonies and the willows coming out; October is a close second.

Book your ticket in advance through the official WeChat account and bring your passport, because foreign visitors still need to show ID at the gate. The entrance fee is modest and there is a small extra charge for the Tower of Buddhist Incense and for the boats.

Wear shoes you can walk in for four hours. Bring water, because the kiosks inside are overpriced and the queues are long. And if you have any interest in the Empress Dowager Cixi, who basically treated this garden as her personal retirement project, read a page about her before you go. Half the buildings here only make sense once you know who paid for them and why.

If you only have two hours

Skip the hill. Enter at the North Gate, walk down to the lake, take the Long Corridor east to west, and leave. That is 90 minutes of the best scenery in Beijing and you will still make your lunch reservation.

One last thing. The Summer Palace is at its most beautiful in light rain, when the lake goes grey and the hills disappear into mist. If the forecast is bad, do not cancel. Just bring an umbrella.

Originally published on 71Asia Tours blog.