See & do · Museums
The Palace Museum (Forbidden City)
Opening hours
- Monday: Closed
- Tuesday: 8:30 AM – 4:30 PM
- Wednesday: 8:30 AM – 4:30 PM
- Thursday: 8:30 AM – 4:30 PM
- Friday: 8:30 AM – 4:30 PM
- Saturday: 8:30 AM – 4:30 PM
- Sunday: 8:30 AM – 4:30 PM
Massive palace complex & museum featuring tours, art exhibits & restaurants.via Google
The world's largest preserved imperial palace complex, containing thousands of ancient wooden structures and priceless dynastic artifacts.
- Good to know
- Requires booking tickets online days in advance using a passport; expect to spend at least a half-day walking the central axis.
Reviews from Google
The Palace Museum is beyond beautiful massive, majestic, and full of history. I could spend hours just admiring the details and imagining life in ancient China. Definitely one of the most unforgettable places I’ve visited. Ancient history, stunning palaces, and incredible cultural beauty all in one place. The Palace Museum truly shows the grandeur of old China. So worth the visit ❤️
Visited The Palace Museum and it was easily one of the most impressive historical sites I visited in Beijing. The scale, architecture, and history of the Forbidden City are incredible, and walking through the different courtyards and halls really gives a sense of how vast and important this place once was. One important tip is to buy tickets in advance, especially through platforms like Trip.com, because tickets can sell out and it may be difficult to get same day entry. Planning ahead definitely makes the visit much smoother. I’d also highly recommend visiting during winter, early spring, or late autumn. Beijing can get extremely hot during warmer months, and since most of the visit involves walking outdoors with limited shade, the heat can become quite exhausting. I visited during a warmer period and definitely felt that cooler weather would have made the experience much more comfortable. Overall, a must visit in Beijing and an unforgettable cultural experience.
One of the most breathtaking, immersive historical experiences I’ve had in recent memory. The rentable audio guide was certainly helpful, but it was the sheer size and scale of the ancient city that led me to spend the better part of four hours wandering throughout the stone roads and beneath the timeworn gates. The fact that it was crowded with visitors honestly made the experience even more authentic, as though the four hundred year-old palaces had returned to life. The weather, too, was perfect. Couldn’t have asked for a better day to visit!
Definitely worth going, but do go there latest by 3pm because even though last entry is at 4pm, they start to close off some of the rooms/palaces at 4.30pm which was what happened to us. The place is also huge, so spending 2-3 hours would be good if you want to see everything. But you’ll have to either go super early, or go after 2pm where we heard most tours would have left by then. For foreigners, if you failed to get tickets online, you can get them at the ticket counter on the actual day, as that’s what we did. We walked in to the ticket counter going by the east gate side (which still eventually brings you to meridian gate but we read it has lesser crowd compared to coming from the south).
If you visit Beijing, the must have thing is here and the great walls. Highly recommend to buy a ticket in advance, please spare your time since it's gonna take a long walk and waiting queue. You can reserve a ticket via official website or third party app such as klook.