Forbidden City Opening Hours

Forbidden City is open all year round, but its opening hours are subject to change between slack and peak seasons. When it occurs to holidays, the opening hours may be longer or shorter. If there is an important event or some special occasion, the Forbidden City opening hours may also change. Please pay attention to the latest notice on the Forbidden City’s official website before your visit.

 Note: Forbidden City is closed on Mondays except for Chinese legal holidays.

Forbidden City, Beijing

 

	April to October (Peak Season)	November to March (Slack Season)
Opening Time	8:30	8:30
Last Ticket Time	16:00	15:30
Last Entry Time	16:10	15:40
Closing Time	17:00	16:30

 In the Forbidden City, Clock Gallery and Treasure Gallery have their own separate tickets. Their opening hours are the same as above.
 

April 1st- October 31st:
Deposit Hours: 08:30 - 16:00
Claim Hours: 09:30 - 17:10

November 1st -March 31st:
Deposit Hours: 08:30 - 15:30
Claim Hours: 09:30 - 16:40

 Location of Luggage Deposit: the Palace Museum Visitor Service Center on the west side of Duanmen Square
Locations of Luggage Claim: the east side of Gate of Divine Prowess & the north side out of Gate of East Prosperity

After security check, visitors can keep their items and deposit large luggage at the Palace Museum Visitor Service Center on the west side of Duanmen Square for free by presenting their entry ticket. Staff will deliver luggage to the locations of luggage claim, so retrieve it before 17:10 (peak season) or 16:40 (off season) after exiting.
 

Except legal holidays in China, Forbidden City is closed on every Monday. If the holiday, like Chinese New Year, National Day, Mid-Autumn Festival, Dragon Boat Festival, and so on, falls on Monday, Forbidden City would be open as usual. You can have a visit on such days.

Read more about Public Holidays in China.
 

Meridian Gate, Entrance to Forbidden City

 

No, it does not open on Mondays during the summer vacation. At the very beginning as Forbidden City was closed on Mondays, it was still open on the legal holidays as well as the summer vacation of July and August when it came to Monday. Later, in order to better protect the cultural heritage and to save more time for the restoration of ancient architecture and cultural relics, Forbidden City began to be closed on Monday all year round since June 2018, and only the legal holidays are the exception.
 

The Forbidden City opening time is at 8:30 in the morning. However, tickets are on sale at 8:00, even earlier on holidays. In some fine days, people start to line up for tickets at 7:30. Thus it would be late and you may waste some time queuing if you get there at 8:30.  

Generally speaking, the number of visitors to Forbidden City increase on weekends, holidays and summer vacation. For example, during Chinese New Year, the grandest festival in China, Forbidden City received 116,000 people on a single day once in 2015. Later, the number of visitors was restricted to at most 80,000 one day, but there are still a large amount of visitors in peak times. The best choice is to get there as earlier as possible. With fewer visitors, you can have a better experience.

Before going to visit Forbidden City, remember to book the ticket online with your passport number in advance. When you get there, you can enter directly with your passport to save time. The ticket booking is available on this website. Forbidden City hours of the morning session is 8:30-12:00 and of the afternoon session is 12:00-16:10. You’d better book the morning ticket and arrive there earlier.
 

The Forbidden City opening time is shorter than most scenic spots in China. In summer, it is still bright at 17:00. Why does Forbidden City close so early?
 

There are not a few superstitions about Forbidden City that related to supernatural stories, which says the death of many people for unwarranted charge there makes Forbidden City full of supernatural events in the evening or at night. Those are groundless rumors.

To close early is to prevent from stealing. In 1950s, a person hide in a toilet while Forbidden City was in a mess to close. He stole a relic made of gold at night and broke it to sell off for money. In a result, the precious relic was damaged even if the thief was arrested then. Since this case happened, the Forbidden City opening hours was shortened to avoid such things.

Meanwhile, Forbidden City is quite large, staff need much time to check relics and devices after closing; and if visitors lost there, they can be found early. All these things would be difficult when it is getting dark. So early close is beneficial to the safety of both visitors and collections.
 

Visitors can enter Forbidden City only from Meridian Gate, and come out from East Prosperity Gate or Gate of Divine Prowess. People usually leave Forbidden City from Gate of Divine Prowess after visiting main architectures on the central axis. The straight-line distance from the southernmost Meridian Gate to the northernmost Gate of Divine Prowess is 961 meters (3,153 feet), and a hurried and cursory glance spends at least one hour. If people enter Forbidden City after 16:00, they cannot finish the visit certainly.

 Futher Reading：
Are there Toilets in the Forbidden City?   

Imperial Icehouse: Currently a restaurant in the Forbidden City