Booking Attractions on a Foreign Passport
Can a foreign passport get you into the Palace Museum on the day? No, and that is the part people get wrong. The museum sells no same-day tickets, online or at the gate. Book seven days ahead at 20:00 Beijing time on the English booking site, using a passport number and an email address.
The short version
- The Palace Museum releases tickets seven days ahead at 20:00 Beijing time. There is no same-day sale.
- The official English channel, bookingticket.dpm.org.cn, uses an email verification code and passport details. A Chinese phone number is not required for this route.
- Tickets are ¥60 from April to October and ¥40 from November to March. Closed Mondays except statutory public holidays.
- The National Museum of China is free but requires a booking released seven days ahead at 17:00.
- Tiananmen Square needs its own reservation, separate from any palace ticket.
Can you buy Palace Museum tickets at the gate?
No. The museum does not sell tickets for the same day, at the gate or online. Every visitor books in advance under their real name, and foreign visitors book with a passport.
You will find claims online that a foreign passport gets you in through an on-site window when the online allocation is gone. That conflicts with the museum's own pages, which state that no same-day tickets are sold. We did not find an official source supporting the on-site route, so do not build a day around it.
When do tickets go on sale, and do you need a Chinese phone number?
Release is seven days before the visit date at 20:00 Beijing time, and the Treasure Gallery and the Gallery of Clocks release at the same moment. If you want either, book them in the same session as the main ticket and check availability as you pay.
On the phone number question, the answer depends on the channel. The official English booking site, bookingticket.dpm.org.cn, reached from the museum's English pages at intl.dpm.org.cn, signs you in with an email verification code and asks for each visitor's passport details. No Chinese mobile number is involved on that route. We did not verify the phone requirements for the other sites covered below, so treat the palace as a confirmed case rather than the rule.
Prices are ¥60 from April to October and ¥40 from November to March. The two galleries are ¥10 each on top.
Closed Mondays, except when the Monday is a statutory public holiday. The museum also posts temporary closure notices, so check its announcements for your dates rather than trusting a calendar.
Entry is at the Meridian Gate with the original passport used for the booking.
What about the National Museum and Tiananmen Square?
The National Museum of China is free and booking is mandatory. Release is seven days ahead at 17:00 Beijing time through the museum's WeChat mini-program, with passport details entered at booking. Bring the passport you booked with.
Tiananmen Square requires a separate reservation, opening one to nine days ahead and released in batches daily at 12:00. A palace ticket does not cover the square. The two bookings are independent, so confirm both before you travel.
Which Great Wall section can you book late?
Badaling is ¥40 in peak season and ¥35 off season, booked seven to ten days ahead. According to a published summary of the reservation systems, Badaling also sells tickets on site, which leaves it as the section to try when a decision is late. That summary is secondary rather than official, so confirm against the official notice on the day.
Mutianyu is ¥45, with a night tour around ¥200 including the cable car. Reservations open 30 days ahead, which is longer than the palace window. If your dates are already fixed, book Mutianyu early and keep Badaling as the fallback.
What about the Terracotta Warriors?
The site is real-name booked in advance, and a passport is the document to book with. Ticket price and release time could not be verified against an official page for this page, so we are not quoting a figure. Check the museum's own channel for the day you plan to visit.
What should you set up before you land?
Payment, before the release night rather than during it. The official channels work with WeChat Pay, Alipay or a UnionPay card, and international card acceptance is uneven. A failed payment at 20:00 costs you the date.
Then the details. Book under the passport you will carry, and enter the number carefully. Real-name bookings are tied to the document, so a typo is a problem at the gate rather than at the keyboard.
In what order should you book?
If your Beijing dates are fixed, work in this sequence.
Palace Museum on release night, because it has a fixed seven-day release window and no same-day sale. National Museum in the same week, at 17:00. Tiananmen Square when the one-to-nine-day window opens. Great Wall last, after the time-sensitive releases, because Badaling retains an on-site option.
If the palace is gone for your dates, do not spend the day refreshing. Take a Great Wall section or a museum with confirmed availability and keep the palace for another trip.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
I tried to buy Forbidden City tickets on the day with a foreign passport. Where can I get them?
You cannot, for that day. The museum sells no same-day tickets. Book seven days ahead at 20:00 Beijing time on the official English site, and if your date has passed, choose another date or another site.
Do I need a Chinese phone number to book Beijing's museums?
For the Palace Museum, no. The English booking site takes an email verification code and passport details for each visitor. The National Museum books through a WeChat mini-program, and we could not verify whether a phone-free route exists there, so confirm that before you rely on it.
What happens if the Palace Museum is sold out for my dates?
Book a different date if your schedule allows, since release is rolling at seven days. If not, check current availability for Badaling or Mutianyu, and note that the museums release on their own schedules.
Do I need a separate reservation for Tiananmen Square?
Yes. It opens one to nine days ahead, released daily at 12:00, and a palace ticket does not include it.
Reservation rules reviewed 21 October 2026 against the cited sources, including secondary summaries of official notices. Release times and prices change; the official channel for your date decides.