Forbidden City Tickets for Foreigners (2026): Official Booking Guide

Begin on a Palace Museum domain

The Forbidden City is operated as the Palace Museum, so the trustworthy starting point is a current page on dpm.org.cn. The museum says it has not authorized third-party institutions or individuals to act as ticket agents for general admission, the Treasure Gallery, the Gallery of Clocks or exhibitions. A seller may offer a broader tour product, but that does not make it an official museum ticket channel.

Checked on 19 September 2026: use Book Tickets on the museum's English Visit page to open bookingticket.dpm.org.cn, the official online booking system. The English page says foreign visitors provide passport numbers during online booking. The Chinese visitor notice also directs visitors to the official Palace Museum WeChat mini-program. Links to these museum pages are in Sources below.

The English Visit page lists bookingticket@dpm.org.cn for ticketing questions. It does not describe an email reservation process, so do not send a name, passport number and visit date expecting an email inquiry to secure admission. If booking fails, ask for guidance without attaching passport details or images unless the museum specifically requires them for your case. Check the reservation result in the official booking channel; an inquiry or support reply alone is not a confirmed ticket.

Set the release time in China time

The current Chinese booking notice says general admission, Treasure Gallery and Gallery of Clocks tickets go on sale seven days before the visit at 20:00 China time. Same-day tickets are not sold. Check for newer notices covering special openings, holidays or system changes before planning around that schedule.

Convert the release time to your local time zone before the sale day and add it to your calendar. Count back seven days from the museum visit date, rather than twenty-four-hour periods from the time you check. Confirm the date and session displayed in the official booking channel.

Use the dates and availability shown in the official booking system. The current English Visit page does not publish an email reservation deadline, and sending a ticketing inquiry does not hold inventory. Plan to book when your date opens, but do not treat the release time as a guarantee that tickets will remain available.

• Check the target visit date against China Standard Time, UTC+8.
• Look for a dated opening or temporary-closure notice before committing the rest of the day.
• Do not wait for arrival; same-day admission is not sold under the current rule.
• Keep an alternate Beijing day because sold-out inventory is not a technical error.

Book with the passport you will bring

The museum uses real-name reservations. Its current rules accept a passport for non-mainland visitors and state that one document can reserve one ticket for a visit date. Enter the holder's information as the official channel requests it; do not shorten a name merely to match an old blog screenshot or another booking platform's format.

Before submitting, compare every character of the name and passport number with the document. For a group booking, check that each person has the correct document attached. An incorrect visitor identity can prevent you from using the reservation even if payment succeeds. Contact the museum if the form rejects the name format; avoid inventing abbreviations.

The passport number is sensitive identity data. Send it only through the current museum-controlled route, protect the confirmation and avoid posting screenshots that expose the number, birth date or QR code. Chinista does not collect any booking or passport information and cannot reserve a place for you.

• Use the passport that will be physically carried on the visit day.
• Check every visitor's name, document number, date and session before payment or submission.
• Store the confirmation privately and show only the part staff need.
• Do not email a passport image unless the current official instruction explicitly requires that format.

Check general admission and gallery add-ons

The current English visitor page lists general admission at RMB 60 from 1 April through 31 October and RMB 40 from 1 November through 31 March. It lists the Treasure Gallery and Gallery of Clocks at RMB 10 each. These are separate products, so a total above general admission is not automatically an overcharge; inspect which add-ons and visitor categories are selected.

Check the names of the selected tickets: the Treasure Gallery and Gallery of Clocks admit you to different collections, and some special exhibitions need a separate reservation. For a tour that includes a guide or transport, check the museum ticket value separately from the operator's service charge, what admission is included and whom to contact for cancellation.

Discount and free-admission categories have their own evidence rules. Do not assume an age or student discount applies to every passport holder because a summary mentions a broad category. Use the visitor type and document requirements displayed by the official channel for the actual booking.

• High season general admission: RMB 60 under the current official page.
• Low season general admission: RMB 40 under the current official page.
• Treasure Gallery: RMB 10 under the current official page.
• Gallery of Clocks: RMB 10 under the current official page.
• Special exhibitions may require a separate reservation even after general admission is secured.

Check Monday, seasonal hours and the one-way route

The English Visit page lists opening days as Tuesday through Sunday, with Monday closure except national traditional holidays. Other closures and dated holiday notices can change the schedule. Check the notice for your date, including any Monday opening.

Seasonal hours differ. The current English page lists 8:30 to 17:00 from 1 April through 31 October with last entry at 16:00, and 8:30 to 16:30 from 1 November through 31 March with last entry at 15:30. Verify the session and any dated notice because an entry cutoff matters more than the final closing time when planning arrival.

The official Chinese notice identifies the Meridian Gate, or Wu Men, as the visitor entrance. The visit flows south to north, with exit through the Gate of Divine Prowess or East Prosperity Gate. Do not navigate to the north gate as if it were a normal visitor entrance. Save 午门 and the approach route in Chinese, and allow time for the surrounding security checks.

• Normal closure: Monday, with holiday exceptions and dated notices.
• Visitor entrance: Meridian Gate / Wu Men / 午门 on the south side.
• Main exits: Gate of Divine Prowess / 神武门 and East Prosperity Gate / 东华门.
• Plan the route after exit; the museum is not a loop back to the entrance.

Bring your original passport and booking confirmation

Bring the original passport used for the reservation. The current museum notice says visitors must use the valid document tied to booking for inspection at the Meridian Gate. A screenshot, email or payment record helps explain the order but does not replace the identity document that the real-name reservation is built around.

Before leaving the accommodation, check the visit date, session, visitor names, selected galleries and any special exhibition reservations. Save the confirmation offline and keep the phone charged, but do not make entry depend on opening a cloud mailbox. Carry a power source if the day also depends on mobile payment and navigation.

Reach the correct approach with enough time for security and wayfinding. The Tiananmen area can have its own movement and reservation controls; a Palace Museum ticket is not a promise of unrestricted access through every nearby route. Follow current local signs and official notices rather than forcing a route saved from an older map.

• Original booking passport for every foreign visitor
• Offline confirmation showing the correct visit date and session
• Separate proof for gallery or special-exhibition reservations
• Chinese text for 午门 and the chosen approach
• A charged phone without displaying passport data unnecessarily

Check cancellation rules before changing plans

The current Chinese visitor notice says the ticket type, visit date, session and visitor cannot be changed after sale. If plans change, use the original official route to handle the ticket rather than editing a screenshot or asking a reseller to substitute another passport. The channel that created the order is the first place to look for its cancellation control.

The notice says unused tickets can be refunded through the original channel by 24:00 on the day before the visit without counting as a missed appointment. A later refund, including on the visit day, counts as a missed appointment; the current notice does not specify a 20:00 same-day refund cutoff. At most one missed appointment is counted per person per day. Three within 180 days trigger a 60-day booking restriction starting the day after the third. Check the original booking channel for the cancellation options available to your order and preserve its result; do not assume a refund is available indefinitely.

If tickets are sold out, choose another date or Beijing attraction. The museum has not authorized ticket agents, so be cautious of sellers claiming access to hidden official inventory. Do not send passport data, payment credentials or remote phone access to a stranger to secure a ticket.

• Use the original channel for cancellation or refund.
• Do not assume the visitor name, document, date or session can be edited.
• Preserve the cancellation result and refund reference privately.
• If tickets are sold out, choose another date or attraction and keep the identity requirements in place.
• Recheck a dated museum notice for holidays, weather or temporary closures.