Forbidden City Tickets: How to Book with a Foreign Passport

Choose a booking route

The Klook listing checked for this guide included admission and guided packages in different languages. It warns that orders require reconfirmation; dates beyond the official seven-day window are pre-sales, and an order may be cancelled and refunded if tickets cannot be secured. Choose your visit date and package on Klook: the link opens the listing, not a preselected ticket. If you add a guide, check that the package includes English guiding and main admission.

When tickets open, and what admission costs

Tickets open seven days before the visit at 20:00 Beijing time (UTC+8), according to the museum’s booking notice. For example, a November 10 visit opens on November 3 at 20:00 Beijing time. Convert that time to your home time zone before setting a reminder.

The museum normally closes on Mondays, with public-holiday exceptions. Check the selected date and current closure notices. The official English visitor page lists these standard adult prices and hours:

Visit season	Main admission	Opening hours	Last entry
April 1–October 31	CNY 60	08:30–17:00	16:00
November 1–March 31	CNY 40	08:30–16:30	15:30

The Treasure Gallery and Gallery of Clocks each cost CNY 10 extra at the standard rate. Compare any third-party total with these official prices. Admission-only options may include a service charge; gallery bundles and guided packages add different inclusions.

Your session matters as well as the closing time. Morning tickets must be checked by 12:00; afternoon ticket checking starts at 11:00. These are the museum’s published session rules. Leave time to walk to the entrance and clear security before your cutoff.

Travelling with children? Check the passport and concession steps below before choosing adult tickets for the whole family.

How to book with a foreign passport

Have every visitor’s passport and access to your email ready. Use the document you will carry on the visit, including for children.

1. Open the official English booking site and sign in by email. Request the verification code from the site. If it does not arrive, check spam and confirm the email address before requesting another.
2. Choose the date, session and ticket quantities. Check that everyone in your group fits the same visit window before continuing.
3. Enter each visitor’s details. Choose the passport document option and copy the details from the passport. Recheck the name and document number against the original, especially similar-looking letters and numbers.
4. Review the order and any gallery or exhibition choices. Make sure an optional extra has not replaced the main admission you need.
5. Complete the offered payment process and inspect the reservation result. Save the booking reference, date, session and visitor list. If payment or confirmation remains pending, resolve that before treating the visit as booked.

The official booking portal is the source for this sequence. We checked its public booking information; we have not placed a test order or tested payment with a foreign card.

If a Chinese-language form rejects your overseas phone number, switch to the museum’s English site. The Beijing government’s response to this exact problem directs foreign visitors there and confirms passport booking. Do not enter a made-up Chinese number.

Booking for children or a group with different documents

If a child-ticket form rejects the passport number, try the official English booking site. Confirm the child’s fare eligibility before switching to an adult ticket.

The museum’s English ticket-information page lists these concessions. Check the category available for your child’s document and the proof required for your visit:

Age	Published concession	Before paying
6 and under	Free admission	How to include the child in your reservation; the accompanying adult still needs admission.
Student aged 7–18	CNY 20 main admission with a student ID or school letter	Whether your child’s proof is accepted and which document to bring. Age alone does not establish the student concession.

The Chinese visitor page separately scopes its general under-18 free policy to Chinese citizens, including the specified Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan and foreign permanent-resident categories. Those are different eligibility rules. If the English form has no suitable option, ask museum support which category to use, giving the child’s age, document type and visit date. Confirm whether a separate child reservation is required; a zero price is not, by itself, confirmation of admission.

If one person books for the group, review the visitors listed in the final record, not just the purchaser’s name. The museum uses mainland identity cards for mainland visitors and accepts passports among its document options for other visitors. Keep each person’s correct document type and number; the purchaser’s account is not a substitute for a companion’s reservation. Official identity rules.

Save a copy of the confirmation for each person. If orders are separate, check that their dates and sessions match before arranging a shared tour. Do not cancel a confirmed booking merely to try merging the group into one order.

If booking, payment or confirmation fails

What you see	What to do next
Your date is not yet available	Check the seven-day release window and Beijing time. Return when that date opens.
Your date is sold out	Check another session or day and recheck the official site later. There is no promised cancellation-release time or guaranteed walk-up alternative.
A payment appears in your bank app, but no confirmed booking appears	Check your account’s order record first. Save the transaction reference and contact the booking channel before paying again.
A third-party order is awaiting confirmation	Ask the seller when admission will be issued and what happens if it cannot secure tickets. Keep the itinerary flexible until it confirms.
A passport is reported as already booked	Look for an existing reservation through any channel used by your group. Ask that channel to resolve it before making another order.
Your full name will not fit, or the form rejects its characters	Confirm that you selected the passport document option and try the official English site. If the problem remains, ask support how to enter the name. Do not invent a Chinese name or omit part of your name just to submit the form.
You entered the wrong visitor or date	Contact your booking channel promptly. Do not assume the gate staff can edit the booking or transfer it to another person.

For museum ticketing questions, the visitor page lists bookingticket@dpm.org.cn. Treat this as a help contact, not an automatic reservation by email. The municipal government lists 400-950-1925, with English support from 08:00–20:00 Beijing time; a Chinese 400 number may not connect from every overseas carrier.

If plans change, cancel through the channel you used. For official bookings, cancelling an unused ticket before midnight on the day before the visit avoids a no-show record under the museum’s personal-booking rules. Third-party packages have their own cancellation terms; a museum refund rule does not establish your seller’s refund deadline.

The museum’s public policy is advance booking with no same-day ticket sales. If you need assisted booking, ask museum support what is available for your visit date and every member of your group before travelling there. Do not assume that assistance offered to one passport holder also covers their companions. If you cannot obtain confirmation, use Beijing’s other sights to make a backup day.

Go to Meridian Gate, not the museum's north-side address

Meridian Gate (午门 / Wu Men), on the south side, is the entrance. Bring the original passport used for the booking. The municipal guidance directs passport visitors to the manual ticket-checking channel. A screenshot or passport photocopy should not be your substitute for the original document.

If you are already booked, ask for manual ticket checking, rather than joining a ticket-enquiry queue. You can show staff: “我们已预约，使用外国护照。请问人工验票通道在哪里？” — “We have a reservation and foreign passports. Where is the manual ticket-checking lane?” Follow the lane staff direct you to; it does not bypass security.

For a palace-only visit, the museum describes approaches along the east or west moat roads to Meridian Gate. Donghua Gate is an exit, even though you can approach the southern entrance from its side. After visiting, leave through Shenwu Gate (神武门) on the north side or Donghua Gate (东华门) on the east. Museum access guidance.

If directions say to go via Donghua Gate, use it as an approach point and continue along the moat road to Meridian Gate. You do not enter the palace through Donghua Gate. Follow current signs and allow time for walking and security; this route is not a promise of a shorter queue.

The map destination to save is 故宫博物院午门, rather than just the museum’s postal address. See the Beijing tourist map before choosing the rest of the day’s stops. Jingshan Park is across from the north exit and has separate admission.

What about Tiananmen Square?

A Tiananmen Square reservation does not reserve the Palace Museum. Beijing’s published square FAQ allows visitors with a Palace Museum reservation to show that record rather than make a duplicate square reservation. That guidance dates from 2022: check the current square booking service for your date, particularly for the flag-raising period or holiday access. The Tiananmen gate tower is a separate attraction.

Before leaving your hotel

• Check that every visitor has confirmed admission for the correct date and session.
• Carry the original passports and save the booking information offline.
• Check museum notices for temporary closures and follow the current entrance route.
• If joining a tour, use its meeting point and time; it may meet before the museum entrance.

For the rest of your stay, use the Beijing three-day guide and things to do in Beijing.

Sources and scope

Official visitor information, public booking instructions and the linked Klook listing were checked on September 23, 2026. Prices above are official standard admission prices, not a live inventory or package quote. No purchase or on-site admission test was performed.

• Palace Museum: English visitor information, prices and help contact
• Palace Museum: official English booking portal
• Palace Museum Youth: English ticket prices and concessions
• Palace Museum: Chinese booking and entrance rules
• Palace Museum: session entry policy
• Beijing government: foreign phone numbers and passport booking