Forbidden City, Beijing: How to Book and Walk the Palace Museum

You cannot buy a Forbidden City ticket at the gate. Every visitor books a real-name ticket through the Palace Museum's own channels, sales open at 20:00 Beijing time seven days before the visit date, and foreign visitors book and enter with their passport. Once you have the ticket, the visit itself is simple: go in at Meridian Gate in the south, walk north along the axis, leave by the Gate of Divine Prowess and climb Jingshan for the view over the roofs. Allow three hours at a steady pace and closer to five if you add side courtyards and the hill. The museum closes on Mondays except on public holidays.

This page covers the palace only. The Beijing travel guide shows how it fits a three-day trip, and Tiananmen Square is the plaza you cross on the way in.

Booking: the part that decides your day

The rules below come from the Palace Museum's booking notices (dpm.org.cn and its international ticket page), checked for this update. They have been stable for several years, but read the notice again when you book.

• Release time. General admission, the Treasure Gallery and the Gallery of Clocks all go on sale at 20:00, seven days before the date you want. A daily visitor cap applies, and summer weekends, the October holiday week and school holidays are the dates that go first, so be online at 20:00 for those.
• Channels. The official website (bookingticket.dpm.org.cn) and the Palace Museum WeChat mini-program. The museum says plainly that it has no authorised resellers. A "guaranteed ticket" offer from a tour seller in late summer should make you suspicious.
• Passport. One ticket per document per visit date. The name and number must match the passport you carry; the ticket cannot be moved to another person or another day.
• Email fallback. The international page also describes an email booking route for overseas visitors who cannot use the online system, sent to bookingticket@dpm.org.cn at least one calendar day ahead with full name, passport number and visit date. Treat it as a fallback. Online booking is faster and you see the result immediately.
• Refunds. Unused tickets can be refunded before midnight on the day before your visit without penalty. Later cancellations count as a missed booking on your record.

Prices have been listed at 60 yuan from 1 April to 31 October and 40 yuan from 1 November to 31 March, with the Treasure Gallery and Gallery of Clocks at about 10 yuan each. Recent hours have been 08:30 to 17:00 in the peak season (last entry 16:00) and 08:30 to 16:30 in winter (last entry 15:30). The booking page shows the exact price and time slot for your date, and that page is what counts.

If your date has sold out, move the palace to another day of the trip rather than buying from an unofficial seller. Keep checking the official page too: refunds can release a few tickets back into the system.

The route from Meridian Gate to Jingshan

Entry is only through Meridian Gate (Wumen), the U-shaped gate at the south end. After the security check and passport scan you face a long axis, and most people make the mistake of veering off sideways in the first half hour. Stay in the middle until you have seen the ceremonial halls, then decide how much of the sides you want.

First hour: the Outer Court. Five marble bridges cross the Inner Golden Water River to the Gate of Supreme Harmony. Behind it, three halls stand on a raised white terrace: the Hall of Supreme Harmony, the Hall of Central Harmony and the Hall of Preserving Harmony. You see the throne rooms from the doorways, not from inside, and the doorway of the Hall of Supreme Harmony is where the crowd packs tightest. The corners of the terrace give better photos with less shoving.

Second hour: the Inner Court. North of the terrace the scale shrinks to living quarters: the Palace of Heavenly Purity, the Hall of Union and the Palace of Earthly Tranquility. Detour west for the Hall of Mental Cultivation, where the Qing emperors from Yongzheng onward actually worked, if it is open on your day.

Optional third hour: the side lanes. The eastern and western palace courtyards are quieter and more human in scale. The Treasure Gallery (east) and Gallery of Clocks need their own tickets, booked at the same time as admission. Exhibitions in the Hall of Martial Valour (Wuying Hall), including the ceramics gallery, also need advance booking.

Exit. The Imperial Garden sits just inside the Gate of Divine Prowess (Shenwumen), the north exit. You can also leave by the East Prosperity Gate (Donghuamen), but north is better because Jingshan Park is straight across the road. Jingshan has its own small ticket, and the climb is short. The roof view in the photo at the top is from its summit pavilion, and it is far better at 11:00 than it is after a lunch break.

Numbers worth knowing (and one that is wrong)

The palace covers about 72 hectares, roughly 961 metres north to south and 753 metres east to west, with around 980 surviving buildings. It was built between 1406 and 1420 under the Yongle Emperor, housed 24 Ming and Qing emperors until 1924, and opened as the Palace Museum in 1925. UNESCO listed it in 1987, and it became part of the Beijing Central Axis World Heritage listing in 2024. The "9,999 rooms" you will hear from guides is folklore; surveys count closer to 8,886 bays. Fires over five centuries mean a lot of what you see has been rebuilt, which matters to architectural historians more than to a first visit.

Getting there

Tiananmen East and Tiananmen West on metro Line 1 are the closest stations. Qianmen on Line 2 lets you walk the whole square first. From any of them you pass through the Tiananmen area security checks, which can take a while on busy mornings, before reaching Meridian Gate. After Jingshan, Line 8's Shichahai and Nanluoguxiang stations are a walk away through the lanes.

Large luggage is a problem at the security checks. Leave suitcases at the hotel or a station locker; a day pack is fine.

How it fits the rest of a Beijing trip

The square and the palace make one continuous morning. In the afternoon, either go up Jingshan and drift through the lanes towards Shichahai, or take the metro to Yonghe Temple if you still have the energy. Temple of Heaven works better as a separate morning. Neither Mutianyu nor the Summer Palace belongs on the same day: both are long rides in other directions, and you will reach them tired with half the afternoon gone.

Mondays are the obvious trap. If your Beijing days include a Monday, give it to the Great Wall or the Summer Palace park grounds and keep the palace for Tuesday to Sunday.

Things to confirm before you go

• Your booked date and time slot, plus the passport whose number is on the ticket.
• Whether the Treasure Gallery, Gallery of Clocks or any exhibition you want needs a separate booking (they usually do).
• Peak or winter hours for your date; last entry is an hour before closing.
• Whether a public holiday moves the Monday closure.
• Jingshan Park hours and its separate ticket.

Frequently asked questions

Can I buy Forbidden City tickets on the day?

No. The Palace Museum does not sell same-day tickets. Book on the official website or WeChat mini-program from 20:00 seven days ahead, using your passport.

How long should I spend inside?

About three hours for the central axis, four to five with side courtyards, a gallery and the Jingshan climb. Last entry is an hour before closing, so start before 10:00 if you want the full version.

Is the Forbidden City open on Monday?

It is closed on Mondays except statutory holidays. During holiday periods the museum publishes its own calendar, so check it for your dates.