A Step-by-Step Guide to Visiting the Forbidden City in Beijing

The Forbidden City (now the Palace Museum) is among the world’s largest palace complexes. You probably heard a lot about it and can’t wait to visit. Figuring out how to buy tickets, which route to take and what not to miss is quite difficult. Therefore, I developed this detailed guide to answer your questions before your visit.

For additional information on planning your trip to China, check out my tips and itineraries.

Detailed information about the public transportation in China.

Practical guide for visiting Beijing.

Built at the beginning of the 15^th century this palace complex served, as the main Imperial city of the Ming and Qing dynasties. The city was forbidden for the commoners to enter, that’s how it got its name. Anyone trespassing would be executed on the spot. From 1911 the Emperor lived in the inner court (North) area, while the rest of the palace complex became a museum. While in 1924 the last Emperor was evicted.

The City is now the best preserved palace complex in the world. In 1984 it was enlisted, as the UNESCO World Heritage site.

Practical Details for Visiting the Forbidden City

How to Get to the Forbidden City

The route for a visit of the Forbidden city goes from South to the North simply because you are only allowed to enter from South and exit from the North side of the city.

If you are coming after visiting the Tiananmen square, you will have to cross the street through underground passage. The passage will be on your left, towards the west.

You can also come to the city from the Tiananmen East or Tiananmen West metro stations located nearby.

After getting out of the forbidden city in the North, it is difficult to find transport, as there is no metro station immediately closeby. So I suggest to visit Jinshan park and/or Beihai park and walk to the Beihai North metro station.

Tickets for the Forbidden City

Forbidden Palace ticket price: 60 yuan (high season), 40 yuan (low season).

Treasure Gallery ticket: 10 yuan

Gallery of Clocks ticket: 10 yuan

Note: If you wish to purchase the last two additional tickets (I recommend it), do so upon purchasing your main ticket to avoid queuing. But you can also get these tickets inside. Just make sure to be at these ticket offices before 3.30 pm, as the two museums close at 4pm, an hour before the whole site closes at 5pm. In winter they close even earlier, as the City closing time is 4.30pm.

Purchasing Forbidden City Tickets Online

It is highly recommended to purchase Forbidden City tickets in advance. There are two options for this:

You can reserve your ticket online at the official site. This is a huge hassle, because tickets sell out very fast. They are released 7 days before the visit date at 8pm China time. The exact time is important, as you should be buying immediately after release – they are sold out in less than an hour. You have more chance to grab your tickets for a weekday, as weekends are always busier.

You should better make an account before you plan to get tickets (not to lose time on the day you are booking) and indicate your passport number. You can pay using your international bank card (Visa, Mastercard or American Express available) or WeChat or Alipay.

You can also purchase tickets through WeChat mini program – this is another official source.

Purchasing Forbidden City Tickets at the Ticket Office as a Foreigner

The problem is that at the security gates the guards are announcing that everyone needs a reservation, as this would otherwise complicate the issue with local tourists, which are the absolute majority. So you may not be able to pass the security without a reservation number, which comes with a ticket. You have two options, how to avoid this issue:

Make a reservation of the Tiananmen square: This will get you through the security gates of the Forbidden Palace too. It’s free, but requires advance reservation using official website or via WeChat, which is not always easy.

There’s also an option to get this registration done using GetYourGuide, Expedia or Viator. They charge about 30 yuans. If you can’t manage via WeChat, this can still work out better than booking a tour, which is significantly more expensive.

Once you pass security with your Tiananmen square reservation, you will have to go through several gates before you see the ticket office. That confused us quite a lot, as I expected to find it somewhere at the very entrance. But we passed three gates and still didn’t see the ticket booth. So we found a guard and showed him the Google translate with the question on how to find the booth. Apparently, we still had to pass a big courtyard, before we got to the ticket booth on our right-hand side.

Get in through the side gate: You have to walk along Nanchizi ave and take the first left leading to Donghuamen – East Prosperity Gate. While you can’t get in from here, you should follow the signs along the walls to the Meridian Gate – the main gate. At this gate, there’s a foreigners ticket booth, from where you can buy your tickets without reservation. This worked for many people, despite the fact that security guards kept telling them it’s impossible.

Once you are at the ticket office, make sure to say that you are not with a tour group and pay using cash (I am not sure if it works with the card, so bring cash to be on the safe side). Buying your ticket is pretty easy and a quick process here, it took us a few minutes.

Note: Don’t follow anyone, who tells you they will get you in. I have heard of the so called teahouse scam, where they take you to the teahouse and charge exorbitant prices. If necessary, purchase from reputable travel agencies.

Travel Agency Tours Including the Forbidden City Tickets

While I normally don’t prefer to join group tours, in case of Forbidden City, it may be needed. If you don’t manage to get tickets on the official website or WeChat and don’t want to risk getting the ticket at the ticket office (see the detailed guidance above), you may have to join tours. Problem is, These tour agencies also need to obtain tickets from the same source – they don’t have many shortcuts, as there are no official ticket resellers – therefore you can’t be sure they will be able to. So this is unfortunately still not a surefire way, although you have a better chance with this:

• GetYourGuide tour does not include a ticket, however they get you to the ticket office to purchase it yourself. So practically you will purchase the tickets at the ticket office (as you are allowed as a foreigner), it’s just they will get you there. And of course provide the full guided tour.
• Trip.com offers several options, but only tours, unless you are a disabled person. You can book a private tour or a group tour.
• Klook also offers guided services of the Forbidden city and Jinshan park.
• Expedia also offers small group tours.
• Small group tours are available on Viator as well. You can find private ones too.

Comprehensive Map of the Forbidden City

While planning my trip, I was rather confused about what to visit inside the Forbidden City, as I like planning everything in advance and not missing the things I want to see. People kept saying, that you won’t be able to see everything anyway, so you have to choose. I didn’t want to just visit the major buildings, so I looked for the most comprehensive map of the area I could find.

This map from TravelChinaGuide seemed was the most useful from what I found and it helped quite a lot. With this map we explored all the major places we were interested in.

How Much Time do You Need at the Forbidden City?

If you follow the route below and want to see most of the things around, it will take you from 4 hours to the whole day, depending on your pace. If you have the time, I would definitely allocate a full day, as there’s so much to see and do here.

The Palace is immense with 980 buildings consisting of 8,700 rooms. Many tour groups visit the 6 central halls and don’t bother with other areas. However, I definitely suggest to explore much more than that. My guide below is designed to maximize your day at this magnificent palace complex.

We did spend the whole day here and made sure we explored all parts we were interested in – entered at about 9.30 and exited by about 4.45 pm (almost at the closing time) and headed up the Jinshan park to see the views over the Forbidden City.

The Sightseeing Route of the Forbidden City

You could simply go straight through the major halls from South to North and finish your route in 2-3 hours. However, below I will give you the details of how to explore other parts as well.

Outer Court (South Side)

We entered the Meridian Gate at about 9.30am. The crowd at that time was manageable.However, an hour later far more people, and especially tour groups arrived. So, as other travel guides suggest, arriving early will really give you some time with a bit less crowds. By 10.30am the place was absolutely packed.

We also climbed up the Meridian gate. It has some lovely corridors. Plus, it provides some nice views, if you have time and energy to do so. As one of the travelers commented, climbing the Meridian gate now may require a prior reservation. There is no information on this online, so let me know if you recently tried to climb the gate and managed. 

To get a good picture of the Gate of Supreme Harmony and of the water bridges, after you pass the Meridian Gate, you should go to the left or right of it, where you will find less people and will actually be able to breathe 😊 By the way, the gate has large pair of bronze lion statues in front of it.

Another way to hide from the crowds time after time is to go to the smaller buildings on the right and left of the main courtyards. It gets quite suffocating, after being here for a while with so many people. So, do check out the Hall of the Literary Glory (see on the map on the right side of the Gate of Supreme Harmony). This actually consists of two main buildings, with the first containing porcelain and ceramics gallery. The second building is also very interesting with the green roof. This used to be imperial library or Confucian Hall. We did like it and there were very few people around.

We also noticed these lovely ladies nearby, who were more than happy to pose for us.

On the West side, you will find the Hall of Martial Valor (or Military Eminence). It houses paintings and calligraphy gallery.

Next, we followed the main route passing the Halls of Supreme Harmony, Central Harmony and Preserved Harmony. All the halls are closed off and you aren’t able to enter them. You can only get a peek inside, if you manage through all the huge tourist groups. But the exterior is beautiful, so you can sit and marvel at these amazing buildings.

The Hall of Supreme Harmony was the main site for celebrations held during the Qing dynasty. The Throne you will see inside is interesting with the golden dragon carvings on it.

The smaller building behind – the Hall of Central Harmony was the site, where the emperor stayed the night before the celebration and where he met the high-ranking persons.

Apparently, there are 10,000 dragons carved into the interiors and exteriors of these three great halls, which is fascinating. Don’t forget to look at the roofs. In the corners you will see a number of dragons preceded by the Emperor sitting on a dragon. The number of roof eaves tell you the importance of that particular building and the people living in it. The Hall of Supreme Harmony has 10 eaves (I didn’t count them, just read about this 😊).

Inner Court (North side)

Next, The Hall of Heavenly Purity was the residence of emperors, before moving it to the Hall of Mental Cultivation (which is located slightly towards the West – see below). This building later became a throne room. After this, you will see the Celestial and Terestrial Union, followed by the Hall of Earthly Tranquility, which used to be the Empress’s residence, but later on became a shrine.

Start exploring the East side of the palace with Qianlong garden and the Hall of Joyful Longevity. The Hall of pleasant sounds houses the theatre stage built in the 18^th century. After you exit the gardens, head to visit the six Eastern palaces, the passages are the most interesting for me here.

Next, do visit the Treasury (Which is located at the Palace of Tranquil Longevity e.g. Peace and Longevity). As I mentioned this ticket booth and the museum close earlier than the City closing time. It really is worth your time and the additional 10 yuans (you can buy the ticket at the entrance or at the main ticket office). When you enter, you will find the Nine dragon screen. Then you can enter the halls to marvel at the interesting golden and silver objects from the Imperial times. Do go through the whole length of the treasury.

The entrance to the Hall for Ancestral Worship, where the clock museum is located, is near the entrance to the Treasury. You can buy the tickets in front of the Hall entrance and they cost 10 yuans (or you can buy tickets in advance at the main ticket office).

After exploring the East side of the palace, head to The Hall of Mental Cultivation, where the emperors resided (after the residence was moved from the Hall of Heavenly Purity), is located on the west side of the main courtyards. It was under renovation, when we visited in 2019, however, you can visit it now.

Next, go more East to the Palace of Compassion and Tranquility, which used to be the residence of Emperor’s wife.

Finish your visit by wondering around the Imperial garden. Unlike the tranquil and cute gardens, you will find in some places in Suzhou, for instance, this is an extremely crowded, loud and small place. But you will still get an idea of how a traditional Chinese garden looked like with its many symbols, such as pavilions, water, stones, round gates.

What to Do After Visiting Forbidden City

As I mentioned above, you can’t exit from the South. You have to finish your visit in the North side of the City. After exiting the Gate of Divine Prowess, it would be rather difficult to find any transport to leave the area. The nearest metro stations are quite a long walk away and figuring out the routes of the buses is really complicated, as there is no English information online or on the spot.

I suggest heading up the Jingshan park hill. For this, you will have to cross the street. You will find the underground passage on your left after exiting the city. The Jingshan park tickets cost 2 yuans – as a foreigner you can easily buy the tickets at the ticket office. The climb of over 300 stairs is definitely worth it.

Find the rest of the information about visiting the park and other sites in Beijing here.

If you prefer not to figure out all the details following the instructions above, you can hire a local guide to explain and show everything to you. Various agencies offer private and group tours:

• You can check out Trip.com for their private tour or a group tour.
• Klook also offers guided services of the Forbidden city and Jinshan park.
• Small group tours and private ones are available via Viator as well.

See Also

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Hello I am Ket,

A traveler, planner, and sweet tooth behind Hit the Road Ket.

Travel isn’t just my passion – it’s a lifeline for my mental health. Having lived in three cities and explored 60 countries (and counting!), I created this blog to share my experiences, smart tips, and itinerary advice with fellow travel lovers.

I’m all about making the most of limited time, finding scenic routes, and turning every trip into something memorable – coffee in hand, of course.