The Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square Need Reservations: Booking Beijing's Main Sights with a Passport (as of November 2026)

The most confusing thing about sightseeing in Beijing is that many of the main sights (parks such as the Summer Palace and the Temple of Heaven aside) require advance reservations in your own name. The Forbidden City is essentially reservation-only (as of November 2026, foreign passport holders can also buy same-day tickets at the entrance ticket office, but they can sell out), and even though Tiananmen Square and the National Museum are free, you can't get in without a reservation. Foreigners can book with a passport, but release times and entry rules differ from place to place. This article summarizes the reservation rules for the key sights, based on official information as of November 2026.

Three rules that apply everywhere

1. Bring the original passport you booked with. ID is checked at the entrance, and copies or photos won't get you in.
2. Book through official channels. The Palace Museum states plainly that it "does not authorize any third-party resale."
3. Enter your number and name exactly as in your passport. Even one wrong character can stop your booking from matching at the gate.

The Palace Museum (Forbidden City)

Book through the official "故宫博物院" (Palace Museum) mini program or the official ticketing site (ticket.dpm.org.cn). Foreigners can book with a passport, and one ID can book only one ticket per visit date. Once purchased, the date, time slot and visitor can't be changed, so settle your plans before booking.

There are two time slots, morning and afternoon. Morning tickets must enter by 12:00 that day; afternoon tickets can't enter before 11:00. It's safest to book the Treasure Gallery and Clock Gallery together with your main admission.

Unused tickets can be canceled without penalty through the original channel until 24:00 the day before your visit. After that (including on the day), it counts as one "爽约" (no-show); three within 180 days and you're barred from booking for 60 days starting the next day.

A note on discounts. Under the official ticketing policy, free admission for under-18s applies to "Chinese citizens (including residents of Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, and foreigners with permanent residence)." That reads as excluding children on ordinary foreign passports, so check the official announcement for details.

In busy periods, slots fill up the moment booking opens at 20:00 seven days ahead. Fix your Forbidden City day first, then work backward and set an alarm for booking day.

Tiananmen Square

Tiananmen Square is free, but requires a reservation in your own name. According to the Tiananmen Area Management Committee (September 2026), both individuals and groups must book 1–7 days before the visit on the Tiananmen Square reservation platform. Foreigners can book with a passport.

On the day, enter at the date, time slot and security checkpoint you booked. Bags are screened, and the authorities ask visitors to "bring no bags, or as little as possible." To watch the flag-raising ceremony, book its dedicated time slot.

National Museum of China

On the east side of Tiananmen Square, the National Museum is also free and requires a reservation in your own name.

• Booking: up to 7 days ahead; slots are released daily at 17:00
• Entry slots: 9:00–11:00, 11:00–13:30, 13:30–16:00 (13:30–16:30 for the third slot from Jun 1 to Oct 31)
• Hours: 9:00–17:00 (last entry 16:00), closed Mondays (except public holidays). Until 17:30 (last entry 16:30) from Jun 1 to Oct 31
• Entrance: visitor entrance at the North Gate

There's an English booking page for foreigners (pcticket.chnmuseum.cn/museum-en/), and the museum itself directs foreign inquiries to it. Limits apply: once a week per account, up to 5 people per booking, and the same ID at most 4 times a month and once a day. Remember that canceled bookings still count toward the limit. Three no-shows and you can't book for 30 days.

The Summer Palace, the Temple of Heaven and other parks

According to the Summer Palace's official website, peak season (Apr 1–Oct 31) is 30 yuan for admission or 60 yuan for the combined ticket (including paid sites inside), and off-season (Nov 1–Mar 31) is 20 yuan or 50 yuan. Inside, the Tower of Buddhist Incense, the Garden of Virtue and Harmony, Suzhou Street and the Summer Palace Museum are closed on Mondays (except major holidays), so if you go on a Monday, basic admission is enough.

The Temple of Heaven is 15 yuan for admission or 34 yuan for the combined ticket in peak season (Apr 1–Oct 31), and 10 yuan or 28 yuan in the off-season (Nov 1–Mar 31). The combined ticket includes the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests, the Echo Wall and the Circular Mound Altar. The main sights such as the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests are closed on Mondays (except public holidays), so a Monday visit is mostly a walk in the park. Foreigners aged 60 and over get in free on showing their passport.

As of November 2026, you can enter the Summer Palace and the Temple of Heaven without booking ahead. There's no need to fix your plans days in advance as you do for the Forbidden City or the National Museum. Rules can change, though, so it's worth checking each park's official website before you go.

If you'd like to buy in advance, there are two ways:

1. Trip.com: You can buy tickets in advance for Beijing parks such as the Summer Palace and the Temple of Heaven. It has a non-Chinese interface (a Japanese version is available), which makes it the easiest option for travelers from abroad.
2. The WeChat Official Account (公众号) "畅游公园": You can buy Beijing park tickets in advance. A WeChat account is required.

Neither is mandatory; buying on the spot is fine.

Tips for planning your bookings

• Keep museums off your Monday. The Forbidden City and the National Museum are both closed on Mondays.
• The Forbidden City, the National Museum and Tiananmen Square combine easily into one day. All three have entrance checks, though, so leave time for moving between them.
• If a mini program is hard to use, try the official website. Some places, like the National Museum, provide English pages.
• Tickets can often be found in WeChat. Many sights in China sell tickets through their own WeChat mini program or Official Account (公众号). Try searching for the sight's name in WeChat.
• Save screenshots. Make sure you can view your booking confirmation offline.

Final thoughts

Beijing isn't a city where you can drop in on the big sights on a whim — but the flip side is that once your bookings are in place, your days become much more predictable. Rules change from time to time, so treat this article as information current as of November 2026, and confirm the details on each site's official page.