I'm planning a trip to Beijing. I've reviewed most of the threads here, and they've been tremendously helpful in figuring out where to go, what to do and where to stay.

Now that I've gotten oriented, I'd like to ask for some advice about how to sequence things. My significant other and I arrive from the US at 2:40pm on 7/1 (probably quite jetlagged) and we're leaving 7/6 at 5:00pm. I have some meetings in the afternoon on 7/2, but we are otherwise open. We'll be staying at the Hilton Wangfujing. We'd like to see some of the highlights, and also get some more authentic experience with the local culture. Here are some things I think we'd like to see:

Forbidden City / Tiananmen
Great Wall at Mutianyu
Some type of Hutong tour
See olympic stadium (happy to just see the outside unless it's worth going in)
Summer Palace
Lama Temple
Temple of Heaven

How does this list sound? What are we missing? Any advice on how to sequence? Also, we'd like to make sure we get some kind of reasonable exposure to the local culture / food / way of life -- not just the tourist stuff. Any advice on how to do this?

Thanks for any help you can provide!

You probably need to block a day for the Great Wall, so that's one day.

Forbidden City/Tiananmen is a combo effort, probably a long morning/part of afternoon. You can walk west from your hotel to the east FC entrance, tour the city, then exit the south entrance to Tiananmen Square, and look around. Then get lunch.

Summer Palace is another part of a day--you might combine that with a trip to the olympic park in the afternoon or evening.

Temple of Heaven and Lama Temple are a good half-day (or less) excursion too--and they're on the same subway line, so relatively easy to hit both. You might even be able to do both on the afternoon of the FC day, if you have enough energy.

Doubt if you will be jet-lagged coming from US--maybe a little tired, but avoid the temptation to take a long rest when you arrive. You should get to your hotel around 4:30 pm, so get set up and then take a late afternoon stroll down Wangfujing, see the night market with the weird eatables, then have a decent dinner (somewhere else ) and relatively early to bed.

Do the FC on the morning of the 2nd--if you get there when it opens (around 08:30), you'll have plenty of time to see it then have lunch then do your afternoon meetings. The FC is always crowded so going on a weekend isn't going to make any difference. BTW to correct the poster above, there is no "east entrance" to the Forbidden City--the east gate access closest to your hotel is to the large forecourt, not the FC proper. I recommend you do NOT use this approach, as it robs you of the full experience. Instead, do the classic thing. Put on good walking shoes, and by 07:30, get to Tiananmen Square itself for a walk around--most of the buildings ringing the square are better for looking from outside. Then about 08:15 walk under Chairman Mao's portrait into the forecourt from the south approach and all the way back until you can't go any further. That's the FC. Ticket booths off to the left. By now it should be opening up. Spend the morning working your way front to back, exit out the north gate. There should be taxis lurking around, though you may have to walk down the street a bit--head right (east). If your feet can stand it and time permits dep on meeting schedule, meander back on foot to the hotel.

Mutianyu: Weekends more crowded esp beginning 09:30. Whatever day, you choose, leave the hotel by 07:00 (06:30 is better) and get out there early before the tour groups and heat arrive. Takes about 1.5 hours each way but generally you can be back in town in time for (late) lunch and then do something else in the afternoon. Maybe have driver drop you off in the Drum/Bell Tower areas for some on-foot exploration around there and in the adjacent hutong area of Houhai, dinner around there. Hutongs are best done on foot or by bike (my favorite) but you can get one of those pedicab tours there. Skip Prince Gong's Mansion if in the vicinity.

Summer Palace: Block out a 1/2 day, not the same day as the GW in your case. Do it in morning and maybe Lama Temple in the afternoon. SP is a lot of walking, can easily spend a few hours there.

Temple of Heaven--Best earlier in the morning when the park surrounding is full of natives doing their daily routines. Enter south gate, out east gate. Only need about 2-ish hours. Don't put on the same day as FC, GW, or SP for geographic and time reasons.

Olympic Stadium--Don't bother going inside, you only get the Bird's Nest sense from the outside. Actually most impressive at night. You can have a taxi or driver make a stop there for some photos while en route to somewhere else in the city, maybe between SP and next place.

Local Culture--Most every evening after dinner around 7 pm in warm months, Beijingers like to come out by the neighborhood en masse, and congregate in public parks (near entrances), etc. You'll see the folk dance corner, the jitterbug corner, the rollerblade demonstration area, the aerobics group, the oglers, etc. etc. All very Beijing and completely free to watch (or join in!). It's social time and continues on until 9-10 pm. The North Gate of Workers' Stadium has lots of groups, but most areas of the city have their "spot". You'll also see in the hutong areas another version of local culture. Weekends in major public parts usually have places where people meet up and have "sing-a-longs" of traditional Chinese songs (Purple Bamboo Park near the Zoo/National Library is very good for this, but far from the only place this happens).

You might also check out this organization: http://www.chinaculturecenter.org/tours/beijing.php which I can personally vouch for. They are no longer as cheap as they once were, but differ from commercial tour organizations in that for anything where they have a guide, they use somebody who is actually expert and can give useful information, and often meet Real Beijing locals. They are geared to expats but visitors are welcome. You might look into a Backstreet Walking tour or something like that--not sure if their July offerings are up yet. They may have a thin schedule since many expats leave in July/Aug.

Nah, it can easily be combined with one or two other sites. I recommend having drivers drop people off (in the sense that they are done for the day and the tourists are on their own) at the Summer Palace, 798, Wudaokou, etc on the way back from the Great Wall. In the case of the Summer Palace, as long as you get inside before the doors close (5p, I think), you can stay for quite a while.