Beijing has been a capital, on and off, for most of the last eight hundred years, and the centre of the city still carries the weight of that. At its heart sits the Forbidden City, the vast palace complex from which Ming and Qing emperors ruled, with its red walls, yellow-tiled roofs and nine hundred or so buildings, and just south of it lies Tiananmen Square, one of the largest public squares in the world. The city's grid of boulevards and ring roads is laid out around this axis, and anyone who has looked at a map will see the logic.
The afternoon trip described here goes north-west to the Ming Tombs, the burial ground of thirteen of the sixteen Ming emperors, set in a broad valley ringed by mountains about fifty kilometres from the city. The site was chosen according to feng shui principles, with hills to the north and a stream to the south, and it is reached by the Sacred Way, a long avenue lined with pairs of stone animals and officials, including lions, camels, elephants and horses, which seem to stand guard over the valley. The tomb of the Wanli emperor, Dingling, has been excavated, and visitors can descend into a vast underground palace. The site is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Riding in Beijing needs a clear head about the rules. Motorcycles face strict controls in the city centre, with registration and licensing rules that make it nearly impossible for visitors to ride their own bike. Traffic is heavy, the ring roads can be jammed at any hour, and signage is mostly in Chinese. If you travel here, the metro is cheap, clean and efficient, and taxis and ride-hailing apps are plentiful. The air can be hazy, particularly in winter, and the best weather is in spring and autumn.
Fuel and food are no issue in a city of this size. The hutongs, the old alleys around the Drum Tower and Houhai lake, are full of small restaurants, and Peking duck is of course the dish to try, carved at your table with crisp skin, pancakes and sweet bean sauce.
If you can, walk the lanes of the old city at dusk, when the lanterns come on and the cooking smells drift out of doorways.