Castles in China to Visit
35 listings in one city, 10,483 reviews at a weighted 4.837, and two palaces whose tickets carry your passport number. Entry costs 60 CNY and 30 CNY at the gate; the median listing here is 80.12 EUR.
This catalogue tracks 35 listings in China, and every one of them starts in Beijing. What they sell is neither a queue jump nor a discount, because neither thing exists here. A ticket to the Forbidden City carries the number of the passport you will hand over at the gate, goes on sale exactly seven days before the visit at 20:00 Beijing time, and cannot be bought at the door on the day: the Palace Museum keeps no public ticket window at all. The Summer Palace, north-west of the centre, runs a different clock under a different administration. That is the shape of the Chinese problem, and it is why one of these 35 listings confirms your booking on the spot while 34 of them let you cancel for nothing.
The cheapest listing in the Chinese catalogue costs 2.63 EUR and it is not a ticket to anything. It is a tip-based walking tour with a token booking fee, one of three listings here priced under 10 EUR, and a page that advertises from 2.63 EUR has described a genre rather than a palace. Take those three out and the median is 80.12 EUR, with the first quartile at 30.65 and the third at 113.84. The top of the range is unusually low for this site: the dearest Chinese listing is 192.66 EUR and nothing at all runs past 250, where the catalogue as a whole holds 50 products above 500. There are no helicopter transfers here and no country-house lunches. Twelve of the 35 are private tours, which in Beijing means a guide and a car for the day, and most of the rest are seats on a coach.
Set that against the counter. Entry is fixed by the two administrations and it is cheap: 60 CNY at the Palace Museum from 1 April to 31 October and 40 for the rest of the year, 30 and 20 at the Summer Palace. The gap between those figures and 80 EUR is a guide, a vehicle for a full day, and the booking itself. Only the booking cannot really be handed over, because it has to be made against your own passport number, and that is the part travellers discover last.
One country, one city, two palaces. Five of these 35 listings put both of them in the same day and the rest pick one, which is the first real decision anyone makes about a week in Beijing.
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Castles Experiences in China
Two Thousand Treasures in a Concubine's House, and a Guide in Spanish
Three and a half hours along the Central Axis with an English or Spanish guide, and the Treasure Gallery, 2,000 objects in a former concubine residence.
A Hall Built Without Nails, and 700 Years of Alley in Nanluoguxiang
A private day that adds the hutongs to the palaces, with a roast duck lunch between. On Mondays the Summer Palace or the Lama Temple stands in for the palace.
Every Stop Timed to the Minute, Including the Two Shopping Ones
Two hours in the palace, one at the Temple of Heaven, ninety minutes at the Summer Palace, back at five. A medicine shop and a pearl market are on the route.
If Only the Square Shows for Your Date, the Palace Is Sold Out
Three tickets sold separately: the palace, the square, or both. No paper and no QR code, you go in on your passport. The Forbidden City is shut on Mondays.
Ten People or the Date Moves, and Your Passport Details Must Match
Departs at 8:30, or 11:30 with Tiananmen Square added. Book over a week ahead and the tickets are bought online; book later and you queue with the guide.
Enter Any Time Between 6:30 and 15:30, and Stay Until They Close
The main ticket buys the lake and the landscape; the combined one opens Dehe Garden, Suzhou Street and the tower. The inner gardens shut before the park does.
The Canal the Court Used to Reach the Garden, If You Want the Boat
Two hours at the Temple of Heaven, or eight covering the Lama Temple, duck for lunch and the Summer Palace, with the Imperial Canal cruise as an optional extra.
Lunch Is Optional, the Palace Is at Half Past Eight, Home by Six
An 8am pickup, two hours in the Forbidden City before the crowds thicken, and the Chinese lunch left as an option rather than billed to everyone.
The QR Code Comes a Week Early and Is Checked Inside, Not Just at the Gate
A regular ticket covers the lakes and pavilions; the combination one opens the opera house, the tower, Suzhou Street and the museum, all shut on Mondays.
Four Architectures in One Temple, and the Jade Stop Is Declared
Han, Mongol, Manchu and Tibetan building in one temple, then the Summer Palace and the pandas. A jade store and a tea house are also on the route.
Nine Hours, Four Imperial Sites, and the Pearl Market in Between
Nine hours covering the square, the palace, the Temple of Heaven and the Summer Palace, with a Chinese lunch. Pickup is from hotels inside the 4th Ring Road.
Ratings collected by Viator, Tripadvisor and Civitatis