Beijing tips?

I hope to visit Beijing in two weeks using the transit visa waiver. I'd like to visit the Forbidden City and Summer Palace, several temples and The Great Wall. Oh, and I want to eat. A lot.

I've read that a good VPN and alipay are musts. I've also heard people struggle to access sites like google even with a vpn, and heard of people struggling to get alipay to work. I'll try to exchange currency and get a map and guidebook just in case things go wrong, but I'm a bit more reliant on technology than I'd like to admit.

I'd love to join a group tour, just to have the help and insight, but most of what I've found online are expensive private tours. Some of the walking tours people recommended are on hiatus.

Any recommendations or insight are welcome! Any dos and don'ts? Things you wish you'd known prior to your trip? Hotel or guide recommendations?