There is no ticket office window at the Forbidden City. Since real-name booking became mandatory, every visitor \u2014 Chinese or foreign \u2014 must reserve a timed-entry ticket in advance, and passports are checked against tickets at the gate. That sounds intimidating, but the system is easy once you know the rules. This guide covers everything for 2026.<\/p>\n
International booking platforms such as Trip.com<\/a> bundle the ticket with a small service fee \u2014 admission from US$13.93<\/strong> \u2014 but they accept international cards and passports smoothly, which the official booking site often does not. For most foreign travelers this small premium buys a lot of convenience.<\/p>\n Tickets are released exactly 7 days in advance at 20:00 Beijing time<\/strong> on the official booking channels. Popular dates \u2014 weekends, holidays, first sunny week of spring \u2014 can sell out within minutes. If your travel dates are fixed, set an alarm for the release, or simply book through Trip.com or Klook, where allotments are secured in advance and you can still find tickets days later.<\/p>\n On the day, skip the ticket queue and go straight to security: show your passport (and the e-ticket QR code on your phone as backup) at the Meridian Gate (Wumen)<\/strong>, the only entrance. Exits are at the north Gate of Divine Prowess and the east Gate of Glorious Harmony.<\/p>\n Take Metro Line 1 to Tiananmen East<\/strong> or Tiananmen West<\/strong>, pass through security into Tiananmen Square area, and walk north under the Tiananmen tower and the Duanmen gate to reach the Meridian Gate \u2014 allow 20\u201330 minutes for the walk and checks. Large suitcases are not allowed inside; a free luggage drop-off service operates near the entrance.<\/p>\n Ready? Check ticket availability for your dates on Trip.com<\/a>, or compare with Klook’s Palace Museum tickets<\/a> \u2014 both are reliable and email instant confirmation. For seasonal hours, see our Visitor Guide<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Palace Museum sells no tickets at the gate \u2014 everything is booked in advance under your passport. Here are the 2026 prices, the 7-day booking window and the fastest way for foreign visitors to get in.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":40,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-84","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tickets-booking"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/palacemuseumbeijing.com\/ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/palacemuseumbeijing.com\/ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/palacemuseumbeijing.com\/ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/palacemuseumbeijing.com\/ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/palacemuseumbeijing.com\/ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=84"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/palacemuseumbeijing.com\/ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/palacemuseumbeijing.com\/ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/palacemuseumbeijing.com\/ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=84"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/palacemuseumbeijing.com\/ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=84"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/palacemuseumbeijing.com\/ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=84"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}The 7-day booking window<\/h2>\n
What you need to book<\/h2>\n
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Getting to the gate<\/h2>\n
Quick tips to skip the line<\/h2>\n
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