China's Historical Sites: Where to Go and How to Book

For a first trip, the classic pairing is Beijing and Xi'an: the Great Wall, the Forbidden City and the Temple of Heaven in Beijing, then the Terracotta Army and the City Wall in Xi'an, about four hours apart by bullet train. Three sites need real planning. The Forbidden City sells no same-day tickets and releases each day's tickets 7 days ahead at 20:00 Beijing time. The Mogao Caves in Dunhuang can be booked up to 30 days ahead, and you should book as soon as your Dunhuang dates are fixed. The Terracotta Army is sold online only, with your passport details. Most other sites below are easier, and some, like Badaling on the Great Wall, need no booking at all. Below: one short entry per site with the booking fact that matters and how long to allow, then a link to our full guide.

Which historical sites you must book ahead, and how far

Almost every big historical site in China now uses real-name tickets: the ticket is tied to your passport number, and you show the same passport at the gate. What differs from site to site is how early tickets go on sale and whether you can still buy on the day. This table sorts the sites in this guide from hardest to easiest.

The Forbidden City is the one people miss. Tickets for a given day go on sale exactly 7 days before at 20:00 Beijing time, and one passport can hold only one ticket per day. In spring, summer and autumn, the popular days often sell out quickly, so set an alarm for the release time in your home time zone. Foreign visitors book on the museum's English ticketing site, which accepts passports and international cards.

Mogao comes next, because Dunhuang is far away. If you are flying or taking the train to Dunhuang for the caves, a sold-out day wastes the whole trip. Book the cave ticket first and the transport second. In peak season the caves can also open a second, smaller "emergency" ticket when the main quota is full (more on that in the Dunhuang entry below).

The Terracotta Army is less tight, but book it anyway. The museum takes up to 65,000 visitors a day and stops selling when it reaches that number. That is rarely a problem on a normal weekday, but in early October and during school holidays you do not want to find out at the gate. If you buy the ticket yourself, use only the official channels, which you can reach from the Emperor Qinshihuang's Mausoleum Site Museum visitor guide. A booked tour, where the operator gets the tickets for you, is the other option (see the Xi'an entry below).

If this is your first time in China, Beijing plus Xi'an covers the three sites most people come for. The fastest trains from Beijing West to Xi'an North take 4 hours 10 minutes, so it works as a morning on the train and an afternoon in Xi'an. Give Beijing three or four days and Xi'an two or three.

Northern China: Great Wall, Forbidden City, Temple of Heaven, Pingyao and Yungang

The Great Wall (长城, Chángchéng), near Beijing

The Great Wall is not one place you visit but a long line of sections, and the real decision is which one. Badaling is the easiest to reach and needs no booking: you can buy at the window, and foreign visitors can pay with a passport and a foreign card. It is also the most crowded. Mutianyu is usually the better choice for a first visit, and Simatai and Jinshanling suit people who want more walking. Plan a full day from Beijing for any section. Our Great Wall guide compares the sections, tickets, cable cars and how to get to each one.

The Forbidden City (故宫, Gùgōng), Beijing

The Forbidden City was the imperial palace of the Ming and Qing emperors, and it is still the best place to understand how imperial China worked. Tickets cost 60 yuan from April to October and 40 yuan from November to March. Last entry is 16:00 in the high season and 15:30 in the low season, and the palace is closed on Mondays except on public holidays. Everyone enters at the Meridian Gate (午门, Wǔmén) in the south, and you leave by the Gate of Divine Prowess (神武门, Shénwǔmén) in the north or the East Glorious Gate (东华门, Dōnghuámén). Allow three to four hours. For the route through the palace and how to combine it with Tiananmen Square and Jingshan Park, read our Forbidden City guide.

Temple of Heaven (天坛, Tiāntán), Beijing

This is where emperors prayed for good harvests. The round, blue-roofed Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests is one of the best-known buildings in China, and the park around it fills with locals doing tai chi, singing and dancing in the early morning. Buy at the gate window (online booking usually needs a mainland Chinese phone number), and take the combined ticket, which covers the park plus the Hall of Prayer, the Echo Wall and the Circular Mound Altar: 34 yuan from April to October, 28 yuan from November to March. Foreign visitors aged 60 and over get in free by showing a passport. The park gate opens at 6:00 in the high season and 6:30 in the low season, while the halls open at 8:00 and are closed on Mondays (the park itself stays open). Go early, allow two to three hours, and see our Beijing guide for how to fit it into your days.

Pingyao Ancient City (平遥古城, Píngyáo Gǔchéng), Shanxi

Pingyao is a walled town where people still live, with courtyard houses, old bank buildings and a full ring of city walls. You do not need a ticket to walk in, eat or stay inside the walls. You need the town pass only to enter the paid sights: it costs 125 yuan, covers 22 sites including the city wall and the Rishengchang draft bank, and is valid for 3 days. Stay one night, ideally in a courtyard guesthouse, so you can see the streets in the evening after the day-trippers leave. Our Pingyao guide covers where to stay and the two temples outside the walls.

Yungang Grottoes (云冈石窟, Yúngāng Shíkū), Datong

Yungang is a cliff of Buddhist caves cut when Datong was the Northern Wei capital, with 45 major caves and more than 59,000 carved figures. The giant seated Buddhas here are some of the oldest large stone carvings in China. Tickets are 120 yuan from April to October and 100 yuan from November to March. All tickets are sold online with real names, up to 15 days ahead, and the on-site ticket window closed in 2025. Same-day tickets are not sold, so book at least a day ahead; the site offers English online booking for foreign visitors. A direct shuttle runs from Datong South station to the caves for 10 yuan (tickets are sold via WeChat; ask at the stop). Allow two to three hours. Our Datong guide adds the Hanging Temple and the old city.

Xi'an, Luoyang and Dunhuang

The Terracotta Army (兵马俑, Bīngmǎyǒng), Xi'an

Thousands of life-size clay soldiers were buried to guard China's first emperor, and looking down into Pit 1 is a high point of most China trips. The official name is the Emperor Qinshihuang's Mausoleum Site Museum. The ticket is 120 yuan all year and also covers the Lishan Garden (the emperor's tomb park), with a free shuttle between the two. The famous bronze chariots are in the Lishan Garden, not in the pits area, so do not leave without them. Foreign visitors book with passport details and show the original passport at the gate. Last entry is 17:00 from 16 March to 15 November and 16:30 from 16 November to 15 March, and there is no weekly closing day. To get there by public transport, take Metro Line 9 to Huaqingchi station, exit C, then a short bus ride (613 or 602). Allow half a day including travel.

The pits make much more sense with someone explaining them. If you would rather not handle the metro, the bus and the booking yourself, the alternative is a guided Terracotta Army day tour with hotel pickup, where the operator books the entry ticket for you; these are listed on Klook. Check that the tour includes the entry ticket and the Lishan Garden before you pay. Huaqing Palace is on the same road, and our Xi'an day trips guide covers it and the imperial tombs further out.

Xi'an City Wall (西安城墙, Xī'ān Chéngqiáng)

Xi'an still has its full Ming-dynasty city wall, 13.74 km around. The best way to see it is by bike from the top. Tickets are 54 yuan, sold only through the official mini program "西安城墙景区" (Xi'an City Wall Scenic Area) or approved large travel platforms, up to 7 days ahead, with no ticket windows on site. The ticket is real-name, so check that the channel you use accepts your passport before you pay. Bikes rent on the wall for about 45 yuan plus a 100 yuan deposit, and a full loop takes under two hours. The South Gate (Yongningmen) entrances open 8:00–22:00, so a late-afternoon ride into the lights works well. Our Xi'an guide puts the wall, the Muslim Quarter and the museums into a two- or three-day plan.

Longmen Grottoes (龙门石窟, Lóngmén Shíkū), Luoyang

Longmen is about 1 km of limestone cliffs on both banks of the Yi River, with more than 2,300 caves and niches and over 100,000 carved figures. The highlight is the Fengxian Temple group, where the main Buddha is 17.14 metres tall. Tickets are 90 yuan and include the West Hill caves, the East Hill caves, Xiangshan Temple and Bai Juyi's tomb garden. Booking opens at 00:10 each day for the next 7 days including today, and foreign visitors book with a passport through the official WeChat account. Ticket sales stop at 17:30 from March to October and at 16:30 from 1 November to the end of February. Luoyang Longmen high-speed station is about 10 minutes from the site by car. Allow two to three hours. Our Luoyang guide adds the White Horse Temple and Shaolin.

Mogao Caves (莫高窟, Mògāokū), Dunhuang

Mogao holds about a thousand years of Buddhist wall paintings and statues in caves cut into a desert cliff, and it is the reason most people travel to Dunhuang. Visits are guided: a normal ticket gets you two short films at the Digital Exhibition Centre, then a shuttle to the cliff and a guided walk through 8 caves. Foreign visitors can take the foreign-guest ticket, which comes with a guide who speaks a foreign language, 258 yuan in the peak season and 160 yuan in the low season. The low season runs from 1 December to 31 March. Booking is only through the official "莫高窟参观预约网" (Mogao Grottoes Reservation) WeChat service account, where passport holders choose "Ticket Booking" in the menu. If the main quota is full, the emergency ticket (4 caves, no films) is sold only in the peak season, for 100 yuan. Arrive 30 minutes before your time slot: passport holders must collect a paper ticket at the window in the Digital Exhibition Centre before entering. Photos are not allowed inside the caves. Allow about half a day. More on the caves, the dunes and getting around in our Dunhuang and Silk Road guide, and the official notices are on the Dunhuang Academy website.

Jiangnan and the south: Suzhou, Nanjing and Fenghuang

Suzhou's classical gardens (苏州园林, Sūzhōu Yuánlín)

Suzhou's gardens are small walled spaces built by scholars and officials, where rocks, ponds, pavilions and windows are arranged so every few steps gives a new framed view. Start with the Humble Administrator's Garden, the largest, and add the Lingering Garden. Tickets for the Humble Administrator's Garden are 80 yuan in April, May and July to October, and 70 yuan in the other months; the Lingering Garden is 55 or 45 yuan on the same calendar. These two and the Lion Grove Garden are the only Suzhou gardens that still use real-name tickets; foreign visitors buy with a passport, online or at the gate on the day, and the booking channel is also on the Trip.com overseas app. On spring and autumn weekends, buy online the day before. Allow about two hours for the big garden and one hour for each smaller one. Suzhou is a day trip from Shanghai, but it is nicer with one night. Our Suzhou guide helps you choose between the gardens.

Nanjing: the Ming City Wall and the Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum

Nanjing was China's capital under several dynasties and again in the early 20th century. The Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum, the tomb of the founder of modern China, is free but needs a booking, and its upper area is closed on Mondays except public holidays. Book through the "南京钟山风景区" (Nanjing Zhongshan Scenic Area) WeChat account or the Meituan app; there are booking kiosks at the site, but they may not read foreign passports, so try to book online first. The climb is 392 stone steps. In the same forested Zhongshan scenic area, the Ming Xiaoling Mausoleum, tomb of the first Ming emperor and a UNESCO World Heritage site, costs 70 yuan at the gate. The Ming City Wall was built from 1366 and about 25 km of it still stands; the section around Zhonghua Gate, a huge fortified gate, is 50 yuan by day. Plan two days. Our Nanjing guide covers these plus the Nanjing Museum and the Memorial Hall.

Fenghuang Ancient Town (凤凰古城, Fènghuáng Gǔchéng), Hunan

Fenghuang is a riverside town of stilt houses, stone streets and old gates in western Hunan, and it is at its best in the evening when the riverbanks are lit. There has been no entry ticket for the town itself since 2016; you pay only for individual sights. A combined ticket for eight sights and a Tuojiang River boat ride costs 128 yuan. Fenghuang Gucheng high-speed station is about 10 km from the town. Stay one night to see the town after the day groups leave. Our Fenghuang guide covers the details.

How to link the sites into a route

China's historical sites line up well along the high-speed rail network. Three routes cover almost everything on this page.

Beijing – Xi'an, with Datong, Pingyao or Luoyang added. This is the core first trip. You can go straight from Beijing to Xi'an, or take the longer way through Shanxi: the fastest trains from Qinghe or Beijing North station reach Datong South in about 1 hour 45 minutes, Datong South to Pingyao Gucheng about 2.5 hours, and Pingyao Gucheng to Xi'an North 2.5 to 3 hours. That adds Yungang and Pingyao for about three extra days. Luoyang is an easy add-on from Xi'an: the fastest trains to Luoyang Longmen take 1 hour 15 minutes, so Longmen fits in a long day trip or one night. Book a ticket to Luoyang Longmen, not Luoyang station: the high-speed G trains stop at Longmen, while Luoyang station mostly has slower trains. Our Shanxi route gives the day-by-day version.

Xi'an – Dunhuang, along the Silk Road. Only one direct day train links Xi'an North and Dunhuang, and it takes almost 11 hours, so most people either break the trip in Lanzhou, Zhangye and Jiayuguan or fly. Allow a week for the route. Our Silk Road route from Xi'an to Dunhuang lays out the 7- and 10-day versions.

Shanghai – Suzhou – Nanjing. This is the easiest route: Shanghai Hongqiao to Suzhou North takes about 21 minutes on the fastest trains, and the fastest trains from Shanghai Hongqiao reach Nanjing South in about an hour. Three or four days covers the gardens and Nanjing's walls and tombs. If you are doing the full Beijing, Xi'an and Shanghai loop, our Beijing, Xi'an and Shanghai classic route puts all three together. You can book these trains in English on Trip.com, using your passport details.

Before you go: passport, discounts and closing days

Carry your original passport every day. Real-name tickets are checked against the document you booked with. The Forbidden City and the Terracotta Army both check the original passport at the gate, and a photo on your phone will not be accepted. Book every ticket with the same passport you will carry.

Do not count on senior or student discounts. Discounts for seniors, children and students are decided site by site, and many are limited to Chinese citizens. At the Terracotta Army, foreign adults, including those over 60, pay the full 120 yuan. At Longmen, foreign visitors over 60 or with a foreign student card pay the full 90 yuan. The Temple of Heaven is a pleasant exception, with free entry for foreign visitors aged 60 and over.

Check the closing day for each site. There is no rule that every site in China closes on Mondays. The Forbidden City is closed on Mondays, except Mondays that fall on public holidays (but it stays closed on Chinese New Year's Eve), the halls inside the Temple of Heaven close on Mondays while the park stays open, and the Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum closes its upper area on Mondays. The Terracotta Army has no weekly closing day, and the Mogao Caves are open all year. A good plan for Beijing is to make Monday your Great Wall day.

Guides. At Mogao, a guide is part of every visit, and the foreign-guest ticket gives you one who speaks a foreign language. At the Terracotta Army, official guides can be booked by phone on +86 29 8139 9047. At the other sites, a recorded audio guide or a good guidebook chapter is usually enough. If museums are a big part of your trip, our guide to China's best museums explains how museum booking works, and our guide to religious sites covers the temples and monasteries.

Avoid the national holidays. The National Day holiday normally runs for 7 days from 1 October, the Spring Festival holiday for about 8 days from Chinese New Year's Eve, and the May Day holiday for 5 days. In those weeks, tickets for the famous sites sell out early and trains fill up. If your dates overlap, read our Golden Week survival guide and book everything as soon as sales open.

Summary

Book the Forbidden City 7 days ahead at 20:00 Beijing time, book the Mogao Caves as soon as your Dunhuang dates are fixed, and book the Terracotta Army online before you reach Xi'an. Everything else on this list can be sorted a few days ahead or on the day. Carry your original passport, expect to pay full price, and check each site's closing day instead of assuming Mondays. For a first trip, Beijing and Xi'an give you the Great Wall, the Forbidden City and the Terracotta Army in about a week; then pick Shanxi, Luoyang, the Silk Road or Jiangnan for the next trip. Open the city or landmark guide for each place for the full detail.

Last updated: October 2026