One ticket covers the sights, and the wall is the best of them

The old town itself is free to walk into. A single combined ticket covers the wall and the museums inside — the draft banks, the escort agencies, the courtyard mansions — and it is valid for more than one day, which suits a two-night stay.

Start on the wall for the layout of the grid and the roofs, then pick three or four courtyards rather than all of them. Shuanglin Temple's painted clay figures, outside town, are better than most of what is inside.