Summer Palace Beijing: Tickets, Buying with a Passport, Gates and Route

You do not need to book the Summer Palace (颐和园, Yíhéyuán) in advance. As a foreign visitor you can walk up to a ticket window with your passport and buy a ticket on the spot, with no reservation and no Chinese phone number, paying in cash, with a BEIJING PASS card or with a Visa or Mastercard; card payment is offered at the East, North and New Palace Gates. From November to March admission is 20 yuan and the through ticket, which adds four sights inside the park, is 50 yuan; from April to October the prices are 30 and 60 yuan. The easiest way there is metro Line 4: Xiyuan station for the East Palace Gate, or Beigongmen station, which puts you right at the North Palace Gate. Plan on about three hours inside.

The short answer: price, buying and hours

• Booking ahead. Not needed. Online tickets can be bought 1–7 days ahead, but the online system needs a mainland Chinese mobile number, so most foreign visitors simply buy at the gate with a passport.
• Which ticket. The through ticket (联票, liánpiào) covers admission plus the Tower of Buddhist Incense, Suzhou Street, the Garden of Virtue and Harmony and the Summer Palace Museum. Without the museum, single tickets are always cheaper; the museum plus the tower or Suzhou Street breaks even; the museum plus any two of the other three makes the through ticket cheaper, by 5–15 yuan. Skip it on a Monday (see below).
• Opening hours. From 1 November to 31 March the park opens at 6:30, stops letting people in at 18:00 and closes at 19:00; from April to October it is 6:00, 19:00 and 20:00. The sights inside keep shorter hours, covered in the next section.
• Visitors aged 60 and over. Foreign visitors aged 60 or older get in free after showing a passport.
• Getting there. Line 4 to Xiyuan for the main East Palace Gate, then about 500 metres on foot; or Line 4 to Beigongmen for the North Palace Gate.

If you have one free half-day in Beijing, take Line 4 in the morning, buy a through ticket at the East Palace Gate, and follow the half-day route further down. For how the Summer Palace fits into a full stay in the city, see our Beijing travel guide.

Tickets, the through ticket and opening hours

The card above has all the numbers. Here is what they mean for your visit.

Admission or through ticket. Admission gets you into the grounds: the lake shore, the Long Corridor, the causeways, the Seventeen-Arch Bridge and most of the outdoor views. The through ticket adds four places with their own gates: the Tower of Buddhist Incense (佛香阁, Fóxiāng Gé) on Longevity Hill, Suzhou Street (苏州街, Sūzhōu Jiē), a canal lined with copies of southern shopfronts, the Garden of Virtue and Harmony (德和园, Déhé Yuán), the old imperial theatre, and the Summer Palace Museum; bought one by one, these four cost 10, 10, 5 and 20 yuan. In both seasons the through ticket costs 30 yuan more than admission, while the four add-ons bought separately come to 45 yuan at those single prices. So the rule is: without the museum, single tickets are always cheaper; the museum plus the tower or Suzhou Street breaks even; the museum plus any two of the other three makes the through ticket cheaper, by 5–15 yuan. If you only want the tower, or the tower and Suzhou Street, buy admission and single tickets for those; ask at the window where the single tickets are sold on the day. For most first-time visitors the tower is the one worth paying for: it is the largest building in the park, about 40 metres high, and the view from its terrace over Kunming Lake is the picture most people come for.

Mondays. The four sights inside, plus courtyards such as the Hall of Dispelling Clouds (排云殿, Páiyún Diàn), close on Mondays unless the Monday is a Chinese public holiday; the main park stays open. On a Monday, buy admission only and spend the day on the lake and the causeways. Better still, swap days: the Forbidden City is also closed on Mondays other than public holidays, while a Monday works well for the Great Wall.

The inner sights close early. The tower, Suzhou Street, the theatre and the museum run 8:30–17:00 from November to March, with last entry at 16:30, and 8:00–18:00 from April to October, with last entry at 17:30. The main gates open much earlier, at 6:30 in winter, so an early start gives you the lake and the Long Corridor before the inner sights even open. If you arrive after lunch in winter, go to the tower first.

Discounts. The park lists a discounted ticket of 15 yuan (30 yuan for the through ticket) for young people aged 6–18 and for students up to undergraduate level. Children under 6 or under 1.2 metres tall enter free. The rules do not say whether a foreign student card counts, so show it at the window and ask. The free entry for visitors 60 and over is spelled out for foreign visitors with a passport, which is the one discount you can count on.

Buying a ticket with a passport

This is the part that worries most visitors, and at the Summer Palace it is simple. The city government's official answer for foreign visitors is that you can go to the service window at the entrance of the park with your passport, and staff will help you buy a ticket; you do not need a real-name reservation and you do not need to give a phone number. You can pay with Chinese yuan in cash, a BEIJING PASS card (Beijing's transport card for foreign visitors, bought with a passport), or a foreign bank card such as Visa or Mastercard. All seven gate areas sell tickets, but the park names only the East Palace Gate, North Palace Gate and New Palace Gate areas for card payment. If you plan to pay by card, use one of those three, and carry a little cash in case a card reader is not working.

Buying online. Beijing's city-run parks sell tickets on a platform called Changyou Gongyuan (畅游公园, "Enjoy the Parks"), at bjgyol.com.cn, which has an English switch under "Language" in the top right; it also runs as a WeChat account and mini program, and foreign visitors can register with a passport. The Summer Palace's own WeChat account (search "颐和园") sells the same tickets, 1–7 days ahead. The catch: the first time you use it, the system verifies a mainland Chinese mobile number, and foreign numbers are not accepted. If you have a Chinese SIM, online buying works and you enter by scanning the ticket code and showing the passport you booked with. If you have an eSIM or roaming plan from home, do not spend time on it; buy at the window. The city government's guide to buying park tickets walks through the online process.

When the window queue matters. There is no booking cap to plan around, and weekday mornings outside Chinese holidays rarely need any planning. On public holidays and during Golden Week the queues at the main gate get long; arrive at opening time, use the North Palace Gate instead of the East, or see our Golden Week guide for which days to avoid. If something goes wrong on the day, the Summer Palace's 24-hour hotline is +86 10 6288 1144, with English service from 8:30 to 17:00.

Getting there, and which gate to use

The Summer Palace is in Haidian district in the northwest of Beijing, about 15 km from the city centre, at 19 Xinjiangongmen Road. The park has seven gate areas: the East Palace Gate, Wenchang Gate, North Palace Gate, North Ruyi Gate, New Palace Gate, South Ruyi Gate and West Gate. Three of them matter for most visitors.

East Palace Gate (东宫门, Dōnggōng Mén), the main gate. Take Line 4 to Xiyuan station, then walk west along Tongqing Street for about 500 metres. This is the formal entrance, with the palace halls right inside, and the start of the classic route. It is also where tour groups arrive, so it is the busiest gate from mid-morning.

North Palace Gate (北宫门, Běigōng Mén). Line 4's Beigongmen station is right outside. You come in at the back of Longevity Hill, next to Suzhou Street, and reach the tower from behind. This is the gate with the shortest walk from the metro, and a good choice if you want to see the hill first and finish by the lake.

West Gate. It is served by the Xijiao Line (西郊线, Western Suburban Line), a tram-style line. It is useful mainly if you are coming from the Fragrant Hills or want to start on the quiet west side of the lake.

New Palace Gate (新建宫门, Xīnjiàngōng Mén). This gate on the southeast side is near the Seventeen-Arch Bridge and is a natural exit if you finish on that side of the lake. There is no metro station right at this gate; if you leave here, use a map app to find the nearest Line 4 stop or take a taxi.

The metro ride. Line 4 runs north–south through western Beijing, with stops including Xidan and Beijing South Railway Station, so from most central hotels it is one line or one change. You can tap a Visa, Mastercard, JCB or American Express card straight on the metro gate without buying a ticket first; our China metro guide explains the other ways to pay. From the centre of Beijing, allow about an hour door to door. Last trains differ by line and station, so if you stay for sunset and dinner and are changing lines on the way back, check your connection on our Beijing last-train times page. For metro routes and your day's stops on your phone without data, the WaysChina app is our offline metro and trip-planning helper, covering 10 Chinese cities including Beijing.

By taxi. A taxi or DiDi from the centre is easy outside rush hour; show the driver "颐和园东宫门" for the East Palace Gate or "颐和园北宫门" for the North Palace Gate so you are dropped at the right side of a very large park.

Inside the park: a half-day and a full-day route

The Summer Palace is big, and the main mistake is walking back and forth. The layout is simple once you know it: Longevity Hill (万寿山, Wànshòu Shān), 58.59 metres high, sits on the north side, and Kunming Lake (昆明湖, Kūnmíng Hú), about 220 hectares, fills the south and takes up three-quarters of the park. The Long Corridor (长廊, Cháng Láng) runs along the foot of the hill on the lake shore, 728 metres long with 273 sections, the longest covered walkway in any Chinese garden. Every route below is built from the park's own suggested routes from each gate, which take two to three hours each, with three hours as the recommended visit.

Half-day route (about 3 hours): East Palace Gate to the Seventeen-Arch Bridge

1. East Palace Gate and the palace halls. Go in through the main gate to the Hall of Benevolence and Longevity (仁寿殿, Rénshòu Diàn), where the court was held, then past the Hall of Jade Ripples (玉澜堂, Yùlán Táng) and the Hall of Happiness and Longevity (乐寿堂, Lèshòu Táng) on the lake shore. These are quick: 20–30 minutes.
2. The Long Corridor. Walk west along it. Look up: every beam is painted with small scenes from history and stories. You do not need to walk all 728 metres; you leave it halfway, where it meets the gate below the Hall of Dispelling Clouds.
3. Hall of Dispelling Clouds and the Tower of Buddhist Incense. Climb straight up the central axis of Longevity Hill. The steps are steep, so take your time. Your through ticket or tower ticket is checked at the tower. Allow 40 minutes including the view.
4. The Marble Boat (石舫, Shí Fǎng). Come back down to the corridor and continue west to its end, where the stone boat sits at the water's edge.
5. Boat across the lake. From the Marble Boat pier, take the ferry to South Lake Island (南湖岛, Nánhú Dǎo), then walk across the Seventeen-Arch Bridge (十七孔桥, Shíqīkǒng Qiáo) to the east shore and the Bronze Ox, and leave by the New Palace Gate. The park puts this version at about 2.5 hours.

When the boats are not running (roughly early November to mid-March, see the seasons section), walk the lake the other way: from the Marble Boat go back along the Long Corridor to the east shore, then south along the East Causeway to the bridge. This adds a good half hour of walking. The other short option is to skip the lake crossing: from the tower, go over the hill to Suzhou Street and leave by the North Palace Gate, which the park puts at about 2 hours from the East Palace Gate.

Full-day route (5–6 hours): North Palace Gate to the East Palace Gate

With a whole day, start at the back of the hill and end at the palace halls. The park's own route from the North Palace Gate goes: Suzhou Street, the Four Great Regions (四大部洲, Sì Dà Bùzhōu) Tibetan-style temple on the north slope, the Tower of Buddhist Incense, the Hall of Dispelling Clouds, the Long Corridor, the Marble Boat, a boat to South Lake Island, the Seventeen-Arch Bridge, the Bronze Ox, the East Causeway, then the Wenchang Gallery area, the Hall of Happiness and Longevity, the Hall of Benevolence and Longevity, and out through the East Palace Gate, about 3 hours at a steady pace. To fill a day, add:

• The Garden of Virtue and Harmony, the three-storey imperial theatre near the East Palace Gate, included in the through ticket.
• The Summer Palace Museum, also in the through ticket, a good place to sit indoors on a cold or very hot afternoon.
• The West Causeway, the long willow-lined path across the western side of the lake. It is quieter than the north shore and has the classic view back to the tower across the water.
• A slow lunch break. There are snack stands and small restaurants inside, but choice is limited; many people bring food. Our Beijing food guide has better places to eat back in the city.

Audio guides and guides. Audio guides in 19 languages are handed out at the East Palace Gate, North Palace Gate, North Ruyi Gate and New Palace Gate; the South Ruyi Gate only takes them back. Guide service desks at the East, North and New Palace Gates offer human guides in several languages including English. The park does not list prices for either, so ask at the desk. If you would rather have someone handle the transport and the explaining for a whole day, for example the Summer Palace and the Old Summer Palace together, small-group tours from GetYourGuide or Klook are the easy option; tickets here are sold at the gate anyway, so check what the tour price includes.

Kunming Lake by season, and the Summer Palace in winter

Boats. The lake boats usually run from about mid-March to early or mid-November; in 2025 they started on 12 March and both small and large boats stopped for the winter on 3 November, and in 2026 they started on 14 March. The park announces the stop date each autumn, so if you are visiting in November, check the latest notice from the Beijing Municipal Administration Center of Parks or ask at the gate before planning on a crossing. There are two kinds: small six-seat electric boats you drive yourself, from piers at Wenchang Pavilion, the Hall of Jade Ripples and the Octagonal Pavilion, and ferries that link the Marble Boat, South Lake Island, the Bronze Ox and other piers. In 2026 the small boats ran 8:30–17:30 with ticket sales ending at 16:30, and the ferries ran 8:30–17:30, so do the lake crossing before late afternoon. Boats stop in winds of force 4 or above and in heavy rain, which happens often in Beijing's windy spring. The official notices do not list boat fares, so check the price at the pier.

The frozen lake. In the coldest weeks the park opens an ice area on the main part of Kunming Lake. Last winter it opened on 17 January 2026 and ran, depending on the weather and ice thickness, until 4 February, from 8:30 to 17:00 with last entry at 16:30. Tickets were sold on site only, and the rides on offer were single and double ice sleds and ice bicycles. Last year the opening was announced in mid-January, so check the park's notices before you count on it this winter.

The golden light at the Seventeen-Arch Bridge. The bridge was built in 1750, is over 150 metres long, and is the longest bridge in any Chinese imperial garden. Around the winter solstice each year, the setting sun shines straight through all seventeen arches and lights them up gold. The park does not publish fixed dates; the effect depends on a clear sky at sunset in the days around the solstice, which falls on 21 or 22 December. If you are in Beijing then, watch the weather, enter well before the 18:00 winter last entry, and expect a crowd of photographers on the shore.

The rest of the year. Spring brings blossoms along the causeways and the most wind; summer is hot and crowded, but the lake is at its best; autumn is the clearest and most comfortable. Winter is cold and the trees are bare, but the park is quiet, the low-season prices apply, and the sun on the frozen lake is a different kind of view. Dress warmly from December to February: the lake shore is open to the wind.

Adding the Old Summer Palace on the same day

The Old Summer Palace (圆明园, Yuánmíngyuán) is a separate park a short ride east of the Summer Palace. It was the larger imperial garden, and it was looted and burned by British and French troops in 1860, the same year they burned the original Summer Palace; unlike the Summer Palace, it was never rebuilt. The best-known part is the ruins of the European-style palaces (西洋楼, Xīyáng Lóu), carved stone fragments lying in the grass.

Admission to the Old Summer Palace is 10 yuan, and a combined ticket that includes the European-style palace ruins and the other inner areas is 25 yuan. It opens at 7:00, stops selling tickets and letting people in at 19:00, and closes at 21:00. Buy the combined ticket; the ruins are the reason to go.

How to fit both into one day:

• Summer Palace in the morning, Old Summer Palace in the afternoon. This is the better order. You get the Tower of Buddhist Incense and the inner sights while they are open, and the Old Summer Palace stays open later. Yuanmingyuan Park station is on Line 4, south of both Summer Palace stations: from Beigongmen (North Palace Gate) it is two stops, from Xiyuan (East Palace Gate) the next stop, so check the line map in the station. If you finish the half-day route at the New Palace Gate, take a short taxi ride instead.
• Time. Three hours at the Summer Palace, an hour for lunch and the transfer, and two to three hours at the Old Summer Palace make a full but comfortable day. Do not try to add anything in the city after that.
• If you have only half a day, choose one. For a first visit to Beijing, the Summer Palace has more to see; the Old Summer Palace is for people who like ruins and history.

For other ways to use your days in and around Beijing, our 3-day Beijing itinerary places the Summer Palace in a full schedule. Pair it on another day with the Forbidden City, whose tickets must be booked in advance, the Temple of Heaven, run by the same parks authority with a similar ticket system, and the Great Wall, which is the better choice on a Monday.

A short history

The Summer Palace began as the Garden of Clear Ripples (清漪园, Qīngyī Yuán), started in 1750 under the Qianlong Emperor and finished in 1764; British and French troops burned it in 1860, and it was rebuilt in the late 1880s under the Guangxu Emperor and renamed the Summer Palace. The rebuilding is closely linked with the Empress Dowager Cixi, who used it as her residence. The park covers about 290 hectares, of which about three-quarters is water, and it was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1998.

Before you go

Carry your passport and some cash or a Visa or Mastercard for the ticket window, and take Line 4 to Xiyuan or Beigongmen. For the ticket: without the museum, single tickets are always cheaper; the museum plus the tower or Suzhou Street breaks even; the museum plus any two of the other three makes the through ticket cheaper, by 5–15 yuan. Get to the tower before the inner sights' last entry: 16:30 in winter, 17:30 in summer. Avoid Mondays if you want the inner sights. From early November to mid-March, plan to walk around the lake instead of taking the boat (check the park's notice for this year's stop date), and around the winter solstice, stay for the sunset at the Seventeen-Arch Bridge. If you have the energy, add the Old Summer Palace in the afternoon.

Last updated: October 2026