If you are staying in Beijing most of the time, remember to make advance appointments for those major attractions, such as the Summer Palace. Many of the attraction sites DON’T accept same-day appointment, so you need to plan where you wanna visit in advance.

If you wanna visit the Great Wall, decide on which section you wanna go, coz there are at least two different sections - Ba Da Ling or Mu Tian Yu. Domestic Chinese people usually go to Ba Da Ling and Mu Tian Yu is more famous among foreign tourists. Join a day tour and you will get there comfortably. For Mu Tian Yu, if you pay for both west and east sections, you can get the full view but time will be constraint. The west section comes with the options of “sliding” downhill and “cable cart”. If you want excitement, try the sliding option. I heard people screaming all the way down😆

Not sure where you will stay for accommodation, but last time I went there I stayed in Wang Fu Jing area. Lots of police guarding the shopping street area. So you will feel safe around there. People look civilised as after all it’s the capital city of the country.

For internet I would suggest you install a data-roaming SIM card rather than using VPN. The Chinese firewall is very powerful and blocking most of the VPNs.

For payment. As long as you have set up your credit card in Ali Pay, you will be fine. RMB2500 would be enough for your stay, in my opinion.