Originally Posted by jiejie

Sorry, but you get a different customized plan than our 1-day'er. Here's something that ticks all your boxes:

Sunday afternoon, assume after lunch: Lama Temple first. Just get a taxi to take you there, it's on the north inside of the 2nd Ring Road. That's good for about an hour or so. Then out the gate and across the street, sort of, walk down Guozijian Street which is a nice old hutong. Confucius Temple is up on the right. I'm not a big fan of this place since I think it is especially cold and dead and would pass it by, in favor of a more interesting walk to nanluoguxiang, turn left and go all the way to Gulou Street, turn right and go to the Drum Tower which you'll run into. Check out the little square in teh back between Drum/Bell Towers, and some of the neighborhoods behind. Then, as it will be later in the afternoon, go into the Houhai area and look around some of the hutong housing there, then back around the lake for dinner. No private car/driver required.

Monday: Tiantan (Temple of Heaven) EARLY in the morning--entering by the south gate is best and preferably around 7 am this time of year. In the interstitial park area between road drop-off and Tiantan itself is a most interesting range of social activity and exercise, definitely traditional Beijing/China and worth seeing for a few minutes. Visit Tiantan, then out the east gate to catch Line 5 subway; change at Chongwenmen to Line 2 subway west to Qianmen stop. (it will be crowded but taxis will be impossible to get at that time of morning). See Qianmen and Arrow Towers on the southend, then cross over to SW corner of Square but go one more street west, then turn right. You'll see the back of the Great Hall of the People and then the Egg (Ntl Center for the Performing Arts). A most interesting juxtaposition. Cross under Chang'an blvd and turn right, heading for Chairman Mao. Go inside the gate and all the way back until you get to ticket booth for Forbidden City. Do your south-to-north walk-through. By now it will probably be about 1 pm. Head over to Oriental Plaza for a late lunch--if you want something quite nice, Made in China at the Hyatt or some of the other restaurants and cafes in there are fine. Then about 3 pm, Wangfujing subway west to Muxidi, exit C. Capital Museum, one of Beijing's best. Make sure to see the top floor with the Old Beijing Customs, then other galleries as per your interests (bronzes and porcelains are quite good). No private/car driver required for this day either.

Tuesday: Great Wall + Summer Palace. Easiest to do this by private car/driver to do both on same day. With car/driver, I'd recommend Mutianyu GW. Get an early start again, leave hotel by 7 or 7:30. From your hotel location, at least you don't have to slog through central traffic so that would help. Morning there, then lunch, then SP in the afternoon--you can dispense with driver once he drops you off at SP.

You don't want to go to any of the Big 3 sites (GW, FC, SP) on a weekend if you can avoid it, which is why I didn't put them on Sunday. Tiantan is best first thing in morning. Watch the weather forecast: if Monday is going to be beautiful and Tuesday crappy, switch those days around.

Evenings: didn't fill these in, but probably at least once over in the expat area. You might want to catch some sort of Chinese-y show like acrobats or kung fu. Touristy, but they can be fun.