Visiting the Forbidden City: Tickets, Timing and the Route I'd Take
Published 2026-11-02 · 71Asia Tours
I have been through the Forbidden City more times than I can count, and I still get a small jolt walking through the Meridian Gate into that first vast courtyard. It is the largest palace complex on earth, 720,000 square metres of it, and twenty-four emperors lived here over five hundred years. It is also, fair warning, one of the most heavily visited sites in the world. Whether your day there is magical or miserable depends almost entirely on three things: when you booked, when you showed up, and which way you walked. Here is how I handle all three.
Book before you fly, because tickets genuinely sell out
This is the part that catches people out. The Forbidden City caps daily visitors at 60,000 and every ticket is tied to a passport. You cannot buy one at the gate. Tickets go on sale seven days ahead, at 8pm Beijing time, and popular dates in spring and autumn can disappear within the hour.
Foreigners have two realistic routes. The official one is the Palace Museum's own ticketing website, which has an English version and takes passport numbers directly. The easier one is Trip.com, which resells official tickets for a small markup and is friendlier if you are booking a whole week of things at once. Either way, have your passport ready when you book, because the name and number have to match exactly at the entrance.
One more thing: the palace closes every Monday, except during Chinese public holidays. I have watched too many travellers stand confused outside the closed gates on a Monday morning. Check the day before you build your Beijing schedule around it.
What it costs
- High season (April to October): 60 yuan
- Low season (November to March): 40 yuan
- Treasure Gallery, in the northeast corner: 10 yuan extra
- Clock and Watch Gallery: 10 yuan extra
The two add-on galleries are, in my opinion, the best ten-yuan purchases in Beijing. The Treasure Gallery sits in the quiet Ningshou palace compound, and the Clock Gallery holds the Qianlong emperor's absurd collection of European mechanical clocks. Both are also in the calmer eastern half of the palace, which brings me to strategy.
Entering: the south gate only, and no re-entry
Everyone enters through the Meridian Gate at the south end and everyone exits either the north gate or the small east gate. You cannot walk backwards, and once you leave, that is it. Security is an airport-style X-ray at the gate. Large suitcases are not allowed in, but there is a free luggage transfer service that will move your bag to the exit you plan to leave from, which is genuinely useful if you are heading to the train station afterwards.
Do not bother renting an audio guide unless you like walls of text. A better option is downloading the free audio tour from the Amap or grabbing any of the decent guide apps; or simply reading my route notes below and letting the buildings speak for themselves.
The route I actually take
The classic walk goes straight up the central axis: Meridian Gate, the three great ceremonial halls, the emperor's private quarters, out the north gate. That axis is where ninety per cent of visitors go, so it is a slow-motion queue by ten in the morning. Here is the trick: enter at 8:30 when the gates open, march straight up the axis in the first hour while it is still walkable, and then swing east into the side courtyards where the crowds thin out dramatically.
Three hours is the honest minimum. Four to five is comfortable. If you try to do it in ninety minutes, you will remember nothing except the backs of other people's heads.
Where the quiet corners are
- The Treasure Gallery compound in the northeast, which most day-trippers skip entirely
- The exhibition halls along the east wing, where temporary shows and restored quarters absorb surprisingly few visitors
- The western wall path, a long stretch where you can walk beside the moat-side ramparts with barely another soul
- The garden at the north end just before the exit, best in the last hour when tour groups have already funnelled out
Food, toilets and other practicalities
There is a cafeteria near the middle of the palace, and the famous restored ice cellar serves decent dumplings and, in summer, the palace's own branded ice cream. Prices are reasonable for a major attraction. Toilets are plentiful, squat and western mix. Bring water in summer; the courtyard heat is no joke, and shade is scarce on the axis.
Photography is fine everywhere, though tripods bother the guards. Drones are banned over the whole historic core of Beijing, so leave the gear in the hotel.
After you walk out the north gate
Cross the road, pay the small entry fee at Jingshan Park, and climb the twenty minutes up to the pavilion on the hill. This is the one view you cannot skip: the entire golden-roofed palace laid out beneath you, axis running dead straight to the south. I have watched sunset from up there in winter, when low light turns the roofs amber, and it is the single best photograph you will take in Beijing. The palace looks best from above anyway, which is fitting, since that was exactly how its architects intended it to be seen.
Written by the team at 71Asia Tours, a China-based tour operator with licensed Spanish- and English-speaking guides. Browse all tours · About us · Our guides · Reviews · FAQ