I visited the Ming Tombs on a day tour with a Chinese group. The trip, every day available for 50 yuan at the Qianmen bus stop, also took us to the Wall at Badaling. For the tombs, we stopped at Changling and Dingling.

Changling consists of three courtyards. It's a fine place to walk around. At Dingling, also known as the Underground Palace, you can go .. underground. About seven meters below the ground there is a series of large, hollow rooms. Here the coffin of Emperor Wanli was found, together with two of his Empresses.

Because of the tour, I didn't have the opportunity to see the Great Palace Gate or the Avenue of Stone figures. My guidebooks recommend those, to see it you have to go there on your own (by taxi for example).