The resort (daily 5.30am-6.30pm; ¥30 combined ticket for the park and the palace), surrounded by a ten-kilometre wall, occupies the northern third of the town's area and is larger than the Summer Palace in Beijing. This is where, in the summer months, the Qing emperors lived, feasted, hunted, and occasionally dealt with affairs of state. The palace buildings just inside the front entrance are unusual for imperial China as they are low, wooden and unpainted; simple, but elegant, in contrast to the opulence and grandeur of Beijing's palaces. It's said that Emperor Kangxi wanted the complex to mimic a Manchurian village, to show his disdain for fame and wealth, though with 120 rooms and several thousand servants he wasn't exactly roughing it. The same principle of idealized naturalness governed the design of the park . With its twisting paths and streams, rockeries and hills, it's a fantasy re-creation of rough northern terrain and southern Chinese beauty spots that the emperors would have seen on their tours of inspection. The whole is an attempt to combine water, buildings and plants in graceful harmony. Lord Macartney, visiting in 1793, noted its similarity to the "soft beauties" of an English manor park of the Romantic style.

The main gate is in the south wall, off Lizhengmen Dajie, but it's also possible to enter about halfway up on the eastern side. Covering the whole park and its buildings takes at least a day, and an early start is recommended. It's at its nicest in the early morning anyway, when a vegetable market sets up just outside the front gate, and old people practise tai ji or play Go by the palace. The park is simply too big to get overcrowded, and if you head north beyond the lakes, you're likely to find yourself alone.