Be there at 20:00
Release is 20:00 Beijing time, seven days out. For a fixed date in a busy month, treat that as an appointment rather than something to do when you remember.
Beijing ticket planning
Forbidden City tickets for foreign visitors
By TravelerLocal editorial teamPublished Information checked
In short
How do foreign visitors book Forbidden City tickets?
Book in advance on the museum's own channel: the release opens at 20:00 Beijing time seven days before your visit date. Book with the passport you will carry, because entry is by scanning the same document at the Meridian Gate. The museum is closed all day Monday except on statutory holidays. The main ticket is 60 RMB from April 1 to October 31 and 40 RMB from November 1 to March 31, with last admission at 16:00 and 15:30 respectively.
Review attraction ticket rulesApplies to
Foreign visitors planning Forbidden City, Tiananmen-adjacent sightseeing, Beijing museums, hutong days, Great Wall days, and first-time landmark itineraries.
Check before you rely on it
Prices, hours, the Monday closure and the 20:00 release were read off the Palace Museum's own pages on July 25, 2026. Statutory holidays override the Monday closure, gallery closures rotate, and a busy date can sell out at the moment of release. Open the museum's page before you build the day around it.
Forbidden City planning is where many first-time Beijing trips meet real-name booking, passport checks, security, time slots, and landmark fatigue.
Decision guide
Protect the day around the ticket
The ticket is only one part of the visit. The day also has security, distance, meals, weather, and recovery.
One passport, start to finish
Entry scans the document used for the booking. Same passport, same details, carried on the day.
Not on a Monday
Closed all day Monday except statutory holidays, and the Tiananmen-Duanmen walking route closes with it.
Arrive well before last admission
Last admission is 16:00 in peak season and 15:30 in low season. The Treasure and Clock galleries stop earlier, at 16:10 and 15:40.
Saveable checklist
Forbidden City day checklist
1.Set an alarm for 20:00 Beijing time, seven days before your date.
2.Book with the exact passport you will carry; entry scans that document.
3.Do not plan the visit for a Monday unless it is a statutory holiday.
4.Add the 10 RMB Treasure or Clock Gallery ticket at booking if you want them.
5.Plan to enter at the Meridian Gate and exit north or east.
6.Do not pair with the Great Wall on the same day.
In short
Forbidden City questions
Release time, prices, the Monday closure, last admission, and the passport at the gate.
When do Forbidden City tickets go on sale?
Booking opens at 20:00 Beijing time seven days before the visit date, on the museum's own channel. Tickets must be booked in advance. If you look six days out, the release for that date has already happened.
How much is a Forbidden City ticket?
The main ticket is 60 RMB from April 1 to October 31 and 40 RMB from November 1 to March 31. The Treasure Gallery and the Clock Gallery are 10 RMB each, separate from the main ticket. Read on the museum's own pages on July 25, 2026.
Is the Forbidden City closed on Mondays?
Yes. It closes all day on Mondays year-round, except on statutory holidays. The walking route from Tiananmen through Duanmen to the Meridian Gate is closed that day too.
What is the latest I can still get in?
Last admission is 16:00 in peak season, with the museum closing at 17:00, and 15:30 in low season, closing at 16:30. The Treasure and Clock galleries stop admitting earlier, at 16:10 and 15:40.
Do I need my passport for the Forbidden City?
Yes. Entry is by scanning the identity document used for the booking, so book with the passport you will be carrying and bring that same passport to the Meridian Gate.
Can I use my passport to book Forbidden City tickets as a foreigner?
Yes. The museum's own Visitor Notice names the passport for non-mainland visitors, alongside Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan travel permits and the foreign permanent-residence ID. One document can hold only one ticket per visiting day, so a passport is one person, one day, one entry.
Do I need the original passport to enter, or is a photo enough?
The original. The museum checks the original of the exact document used for the booking at the gate, with facial recognition used only for a live match that it states is not stored. A photo or a copy will not clear the gate, so carry the passport you booked with.
Can I buy a Forbidden City ticket on the day I visit?
No. The museum states it sells no same-day tickets. The main ticket and the Treasure and Clock galleries all release at 20:00 Beijing time seven days before the visit date, so there is no on-site window to fall back on once that release has passed.
Can I visit Forbidden City and Great Wall on the same day?
For most first-time visitors, that is too much. Each can anchor a day because distance, security, tickets, weather, and fatigue compound.
Beijing first-time guide
Use the Beijing page for airport, first night, landmark rhythm, and payment setup.
Open guideAttraction ticket checks
General China passport and ticket rules for foreign visitors.
Open guideItinerary pacing
Use the itinerary hub before stacking major sights and rail transfers.
Open guideRead on the museum's pages · July 25, 2026
What the Palace Museum publishes
These are the rules the museum states itself. Each block links the page it was read from.
The Palace Museum
Booking opens at 20:00 Beijing time, seven days before your visit date
Tickets have to be booked in advance. The earliest you can book is 20:00 Beijing time on the seventh day before the date you want. Check six days out and the release has already happened.
Entry is by scanning the identity document used for the booking. Book with the passport you will be carrying, and carry that same passport to the gate.
Open source: Palace Museum home page, visiting panelPage read
Closure day and route
Closed all day on Mondays, year-round, except on statutory holidays.
- Everyone enters through the Meridian Gate (Wumen). Visiting runs one way, south to north.
- You leave through the Gate of Divine Prowess (Shenwumen) or the East Prosperity Gate (Donghuamen) — not back the way you came.
- The walking route from Tiananmen through Duanmen to the Meridian Gate is open Tuesday to Sunday, 08:00 to 16:00, and closed all day on the Monday closure day.
Page read
| Season | Dates | Opens | Last admission | Closes | Main ticket |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Peak season | April 1 to October 31 | 08:30 | 16:00 | 17:00 | 60 RMB |
| Low season | November 1 to March 31 | 08:30 | 15:30 | 16:30 | 40 RMB |
The Treasure Gallery is 10 RMB and the Clock Gallery is 10 RMB, each separate from the main ticket.
Those two galleries stop admitting earlier than the museum does: 16:10 in peak season, 15:40 in low season.
Free admission for under-18s is written for Chinese citizens, including Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan residents, and for foreigners holding permanent residence. A visiting foreign child without permanent residence is not covered by it.
Open source: Palace Museum hours and faresPage read
The museum's own booking & ID rules · read August 2, 2026
What the museum's own rules say about booking and the passport check
The six travel sites that took this question carry no official sourcing. These rows are the museum's own published Visitor Notice, so they are what actually decides how a foreign visitor books and what is checked at the gate.
| What it means for you | What the museum states | Where in the notice |
|---|---|---|
| Booking and entry are both real-name — you cannot walk up on someone else's ticket | The museum runs real-name reservation and real-name ticket-checking, and states that every visitor without exception — including anyone on a concession fare or accompanying another visitor — must reserve under their own verified identity. A foreign visitor cannot be brought in on a booking made in someone else's name. | 参观须知 · 实名预约 |
| A foreign visitor books with a passport, and one document holds one ticket per day | Non-mainland visitors reserve with a passport, or a Hong Kong / Macau / Taiwan travel permit, or a foreign permanent-residence ID. The museum states the same document can hold only one ticket for any one visiting day — one passport is one person, one day, one entry. This is the per-passport daily limit the sourceless operator answers led with. | 参观须知 · 外籍/非内地观众证件 |
| Entry checks the original of the document you booked with — a photo or copy will not clear the gate | You must carry the original of the exact valid document used for the booking to be checked in. The museum uses facial recognition only to speed the live identity match, and states the face data is compared in real time and not stored. So book with the passport you will actually be carrying, with the details exactly as printed. | 参观须知 · 入院核验 |
| Advance-only: tickets release at 20:00 seven days ahead, and there are no same-day tickets | The main ticket, the Treasure Gallery, the Clock Gallery and exhibitions all open for reservation at 20:00 Beijing time exactly seven days before the visit date. The museum states it sells no same-day tickets, so once a date's release has passed there is no on-site window to fall back on. | 参观须知 · 放票与不售当日票 |
| Bookings split into a morning and an afternoon slot, and Monday is closed | A dated museum announcement fixes two daily slots: a morning-slot holder must clear ticket-check by 12:00, and an afternoon-slot holder may enter from 11:00. The museum is closed all day Monday except on statutory holidays, and the Meridian Gate (午门) is the only entrance. | 分时段预约公告 (Oct 24, 2023) · 参观须知 · 闭馆/入口 |
These are the Palace Museum's own published rules, read off its Visitor Notice and dated slot announcement on www.dpm.org.cn. They prove what the booking and identity rules are — a passport books it, one ticket per passport per day, the original document at the gate, no same-day tickets. They are a museum notice, not a national statute, and carry no article number, so this page states no clause. And they prove nothing about whether a ticket remains on any given date: no live availability, no queue time, and no remaining-stock figure is published here, because the notice does not state one.
Published as 故宫博物院参观须知 (The Palace Museum — Visitor Notice) by The Palace Museum (故宫博物院), on its official site 故宫博物院官网 (www.dpm.org.cn). The morning and afternoon slot mechanic is fixed by the museum's dated announcement of October 24, 2023, effective November 1, 2023.
Open source: the Palace Museum Visitor NoticeOpen source: the dated timed-slot announcementPage read
Booking channel risk
The official channel can be app-only, with no staffed window behind it
A worked example, dated, from the museum's own notice board. This is why a plan that assumes a ticket window can fail.
For its free opening day on Monday July 27, 2026, the museum's notice of July 23, 2026 said booking was possible only through its 故宫博物院 WeChat mini-program, with real-name registration, and that the ticket windows at Duanmen, the Treasure Gallery and the Clock Gallery would not be staffed that day. A visitor without WeChat had no counter to fall back on.
Open source: Notice on opening on July 27, 2026Page read
Book and ask on the museum's own channels
Official online ticketing runs at ticket.dpm.org.cn. Use it rather than a reseller, so the passport on the booking is the passport that gets scanned.
- General enquiries and ticketing help: 400-950-1925, staffed 08:00 to 20:00.
- Ticketing supervision line: 010-85007058. On-site police station: 010-65131882.
There is no visitor car park. The nearest public parking is on Jingshan Houjie and has limited spaces.
Flash photography and tripods are not allowed in exhibition halls, and some co-organised exhibitions bar photography of objects entirely.
If your group gets separated, the broadcast room is inside Jingyunmen, on the southwest side.
From the authority itself
Shown by the city, not by us
Embedded from the publisher’s own channel rather than a re-upload. Search results for any Chinese landmark are dominated by channels that took someone else’s footage; the videos here were checked back to the body that made them.
The Palace Museum
The site as the city presents it, which is worth two minutes before a visit that runs on a timed slot: knowing the scale of the place is what makes a morning or afternoon slot a real decision rather than a box to tick.
Published by Beijing Municipal Bureau of Culture and Tourism (北京市文化和旅游局) — its own YouTube channel, id UCkvkpj9ceJXqPs4Sj7jkwng on its own channel, which describes itself as “Welcome to the official channel of Beijing Municipal Bureau of Culture and Tourism.” Channel attribution verified .
This is the city authority's own promotional video, embedded from its own channel — it is not a source for anything on this page. Every figure, deadline and rule here comes from the official documents cited beside it, and those stand whatever a video shows.