The world’s largest preserved royal palace is astonishingly vast

Seven wonders within Beijing Summer Palace, China

The Chinese imperial family’s sprawling summer retreat, during the final Qing Dynasty, features ornate residential, ceremonial and religious buildings in a leafy lakeshore setting.

1 Meander along the Long Corridor

Come as early as you can (the grounds open at 6am, 6.30am in winter) or you’ll be elbowing your way along this popular 728-metre covered walkway with views over Kunming Lake. Take your time to study any number of the 14,000 painted panels that cover the ceiling and depict scenes from Chinese history, literature and opera, folk tales and Buddhist stories, as well as notable Chinese landscapes. In between are bursts of flowers and fluttering birds.

2 Take a walk around Kunming Lake

At the end of the Long Corridor you’ll come upon the Marble Boat, a house-sized stone folly inlaid with European glass and bricks. Further around the lakeshore is the start of West Causeway, lined with willow and mulberry trees and incorporating a delightful little humped bridge. On the eastern shore, Seventeen Arch Bridge, lined by stone lions each with its own facial expression, connects you to one of the lake’s islands. The further you walk, the fewer the people, the more the peace.

3 Shop in Suzhou Market Street

This ersatz marketplace was designed so the imperial family could pretend-shop, with the court eunuchs and servants acting as shopkeepers. Although what you see now is a modern recreation of the destroyed original, it’s the only example of an imperial-era market in China. Dozens of shopfronts (tavern, apothecary, bank, silk shop and various souvenir shops) are interspersed with pavilions on both sides of a canal spanned by eight bridges. Kitschy, but entertaining.

4 Admire the woodwork of the Hall of Benevolence

The Hall of Benevolence and Longevity (two merits hoped for in emperors) is the Summer Palace’s main reception hall complete with Dragon Throne from which, most infamously, Dowager Empress Cixi issued edicts. It has opulent Qing Dynasty adornments, with red and gold lacquered walls and eaves with blue undersides lavish enough to merit cricking your neck. The courtyard sports statues of mythological creatures including a hoofed, one-horned qilin, which looks like a fluffy, misshapen unicorn.

5 Potter around the court buildings

Many other court buildings where the imperial family lived are embedded in courtyard gardens planted with magnolias and peonies, and are worth visiting just for their fanciful names, such as the Hall of Joyful Longevity and Garden of Virtue and Harmony. Each has a wealth of decorative detail. Heralding Spring Pavilion is one of the least eye-catching buildings but gives you views over the lake and towards the huge hillside Tower of Buddhist Incense.

6 Hike up Longevity Hill

It’s not much of a hike, but this 60-metre hill gets your heart going on steep, uneven steps. It’s dotted with buildings: follow the central axis through several gateways, and you pass the Hall of Dispelling Clouds before reaching the summit’s Sea of Wisdom Temple. The latter is adorned with a thousand small Buddhas and green and yellow tiles but surprisingly offers no views, which are best acquired at the nearby, octagonal Tower of Buddhist Incense.

7 Get alternative in the Four Great Regions

This complex on the back of Longevity Hill often gets overlooked so will afford you as much peace as the often-packed Summer Palace provides as you wander past a wonderland of red-and-white pagodas. The more austere Tibetan architectural style sets it apart from the rest of the ensemble; the layout represents the four continents of Buddhist cosmology. Summer Palace restaurants are expensive and unexciting, so bring a picnic: this is the elevated spot in which to enjoy it.

The writer travelled at his own expense.