Wow! Thanks everyone, that's a lot of good information. I started taking Mandarin Chinese lessons from a tutor in October so I will have about 6 months under my belt come May. We are "go-go" travelers, so I think we can fit in the Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square and the Summer Palace in the one day. And sounds like we'll avoid Silk Road.

Question - On our trip to the Great Wall we are going to avoid Badaling and head for Jinshanling to get dropped off, then hike to Simatai. Does anyone know if taxis are available and waiting there at Simatai for hire back to Beijing?

We didn't intend to hire any tour guides on our trip. Does the sun really set at 4:30 in mid-May? I would have expected later.

Thanks again.