Summer Palace

A royal pleasure retreat in northwest Beijing, this sprawling collection of pagodas, temples, towers and bridges flanking Kunming Lake was the favourite playground of the notorious Empress Dowager Cixi in the late 19th century, who would retire here in summer to escape the stultifying heat of the Forbidden City. It was she who commissioned the Marble Boat – a wasteful folly now a mandatory photo stop after visitors have tramped the length of the ornately carved, covered Long Corridor on the north shore of the lake. My other must-see sights are the 17-arch bridge and the resplendent Tower of Buddhist Incense with its commanding perch on Longevity Hill.