How to book Forbidden City tickets

Pick a visit day and set the booking alarm

Start with two possible dates. The museum usually closes on Mondays, with exceptions announced for statutory holidays. Check the museum’s opening notices and put the date you care most about first. If you plan to book the Great Wall or train tickets around it, leave one Beijing day flexible until your palace order is confirmed.

Count back seven calendar days in China Standard Time (UTC+8). For a Saturday visit, the release is the previous Saturday at 20:00 Beijing time. Convert that instant to the timezone on your calendar. Have an email inbox you can open and the passport information for everyone going, including children, before the release.

Main admission

¥60 from April through October and ¥40 from November through March at the published adult rate.

Optional galleries

The Treasure Gallery and Gallery of Clocks are ¥10 each under the museum’s published prices. Select the ones you want when the portal offers them.

Special exhibitions

Open the individual listing. A special exhibit can have separate availability, a separate reservation or a temporary closure.

Book on the English site with a passport

1. Open the museum’s English ticket site. Choose Sign in, enter an email you can access, and select Get a verification code. Enter the code from your inbox, accept the site terms and sign in. The English site creates the account after email verification. Do this before release time so you can open the calendar as soon as tickets go on sale. If a domestic booking screen rejects your overseas number, go back through the museum’s English Visit → Book Tickets link.
2. Set the visit date and choose a session. Select Book tickets, then Visit Date. Choose the date, ticket quantity and the available morning or afternoon session, then follow Next. If you want a gallery or exhibit, look for Select an exhibition after entering the visitors. Read the calendar as the date of the visit, even if you are booking from a different timezone.
3. Add each visitor separately. At Enter visitor information, select Passport where the form asks for the document type. Enter the traveler’s name and passport number as printed on the document. Check the spelling and number beside each traveler, especially when the booker is adding several people. If the site says a passport number has already been used for a ticket, check Order and any booking made for that person before adding them again.
4. Review and pay. At Confirm your order, check the date, session, visitors and selected galleries. Choose a payment option offered for that order. Look for Credit Card or WeChat/Alipay Payment if offered in that order. If you select Apply for on-site payment, confirm that it creates an accepted reservation and follow its instructions. The museum’s same-day ticket rule still applies.
5. Find the order again. Read Reservation result, then open Order in the top menu of the English booking site. Confirm the date, session and everyone listed. If the order still asks for payment or is waiting for acceptance, follow that order’s instructions before treating it as booked. Save the booking confirmation and order reference offline. Pack the original document used for each visitor. The passport is what staff can check against the order.

Before your visit, the posted session rules allow morning ticket checks through noon and afternoon checks from 11:00. Plan around your booked session and the last entry shown for your date. The museum’s general hours list final entry at 16:00 in high season and 15:30 in low season. Use the date-specific notice when posted and allow time for the walk and security queue.

Get to the right gate and show your original passport

For a museum-only visit, save these map pins in order: 东华门 → 东筒子河路 → 午门 (Donghua Gate → East Tongzihe Road → Meridian Gate). From Donghua Gate, follow the outside road south toward Meridian Gate. Donghua Gate is an approach landmark and a museum exit. Enter the museum at Meridian Gate. If the east approach is restricted, the museum also lists 西华门 → 西筒子河路 → 午门 (Xihua Gate → West Tongzihe Road → Meridian Gate). Follow any on-site diversions. If you are also visiting Tiananmen Square, check its separate access and security arrangements.

1. Keep the passports and order reference accessible before joining the queue.
2. At Meridian Gate, follow staff to the manual ticket-check lane if you have a foreign passport or the automated lane cannot read your document.
3. Cross-check the order with staff if one traveler’s passport does not match the record. Move on only once everybody’s entry is confirmed.

The visit runs south to north. Plan to leave via Shenwu Gate (神武门) for Jingshan Park across the street, or Donghua Gate (东华门) for the east side. Set your onward pickup or walking plan using that exit.

Recover from sold-out sessions, a failed payment or the wrong passport

The date or session sold out

Try the other session or your backup date in the official calendar. The museum’s posted rules say it does not sell same-day tickets. Some travelers report being helped at the counter, but that is no guarantee of admission. Contact the museum before relying on any walk-up option.

The payment stalled

Check your order list and bank or wallet activity. If the payment is pending, wait for the order status or contact the museum with your reference before paying again. A payment notification by itself cannot tell you who is on the booking.

A name, passport number, date or session is wrong

Check the original order and contact ticket support before canceling. The museum rules say issued tickets cannot be moved to a different session or transferred to someone else. If you need to buy again, check availability first and use the original booking channel for any refund.

You need help from the museum

Use bookingticket@dpm.org.cn for ticket enquiries or the ticket line 400-950-1925 from within China. Beijing’s hotline lists English service from 08:00 to 20:00. Start with the order reference and what went wrong.

If this is your last day in Beijing and you still have no confirmed ticket, continue with Jingshan Park for a view over the palace roofs, or spend that time on the Drum Tower and Shichahai walk.

Sources

• Palace Museum English booking and ticket notices
• Palace Museum current opening notices and booking rules
• Palace Museum visitor notice · approaches to Meridian Gate
• Palace Museum English visitor information and map
• Beijing government guidance on overseas numbers and staffed passport check