Forbidden City (The Palace Museum, Beijing) Step inside Beijing’s world-famous Forbidden City, also known as the Palace Museum, once home to 24 emperors. With your entry ticket, you can skip the lines and explore grand courtyards, golden-roofed halls, and hidden gardens while uncovering centuries of imperial history.
Tiananmen Square Visit Tiananmen Square, Beijing’s most iconic landmark and the world’s largest public square. With your reserved admission, experience the atmosphere of this historic site and admire surrounding monuments such as the National Museum, the Great Hall of the People, and the Monument to the People’s Heroes.
Seeing the Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City are a must. Give yourself plenty of time to visit the monuments because you have to go through multiple layers of security. If you take purse, slings, camera bags then your security experience will be longer.
I had entered wrong passport number and operator helped out getting me in talking to security.
We bought tickets through Larry and had a great time exploring the wonders of the Forbidden City. Larry provided detailed information and guidance about best time to visit and how to get to the palace grounds. His guidance helped us avoid the crowds. His service and follow ups were caring, thoughtful and enhanced our experience and vacation.
This booking is a MUST to get to the Tiananmen Square. The lines are long and crowds are insane (though friendly). Thus your operator took care of all logistics and explained to us verbally and pictorially how to get to the easiest check points and navigate the logistics. Thanks!
Larry kindly sent the instructions beforehand, and also was available for a phone call to fix my reservation, when at the gate it appeared I had myself given the incorrect passport number.
Our guide Larry gave very useful tips before our tour that helped us avoid queues and get in and explore easily!
Can’t say enough about the exceptional service that was provided, fantastic communication before and even during the excursion when I ran into problems caused by me giving incorrect passport info, they sorted it out on the spot. Can’t praise highly enough, highly recommended.
The guide gave us clear communication and instructions on what to expect the day of our visit, no complaints!
Everything online and well explained! Super recommended! Especially about the time and the entrances to use
Mina was great, as was the driver, very accommodating and helpful! Would book again if back in China!
The Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square are amazing, but the Queues are unbeliveable. You have to really conisder whether it is worth it with Children when it is hot.
Very convenient, they booked both tickets for us and explained very well how to go there. Fast customer support when needed. Highly recommended
Family enjoyed the experience very much and would recommend to other friends and family. Thank you again and I would leave good feedback online! Take care 😃
Everything went very well! The whole experience was smooth and well organized. Our contact was very attentive and made sure we had all the necessary information before and during the tour. We really appreciated the availability and attention to detail. Highly recommended!
The instructions were fine, along with a map provided by the Tour company. I didn’t quite understand when booking with Tripadvisor how this would all work, but it was through a Local contact. But she was very responsive and easy to work with.
This was a very seamless, easy process. Great communication from the company. No issues!
Better to join a tour. Bring an umbrella and expect to wait in line for at least an hour to get on the cable car.
An instruction with detailed descriptions of what's included and how best to visit to minimize queues — sent to my email on request about a day before the tour.
Easy to book, prompt communication and simple instructions to follow. Highly recommended. Will definitely use Viator again
Larry is amazing and really prompt with all the information and help. But overall pricing seems a little expensive for what you get (my opinion ofcourse)
We had a great experience. It was very clear how to best access the Forbidden City. Great recommendations regarding the timings etc. It was very straightforward and we enjoyed the day.
We had tickets to both Tianamen Sq and the Forbidden City - some of the instructions were a little unclear however the guidance provided about joining at the East gate was spot on.
Great experience thank to the huge help given us by Larry, who managed and solved in a terrific way the hard time due to the restrictions and closures due to Trump's visit during our days of stay in Beijing. He constantly gave us updates on both WhatsApp and WeChat and we had no issues at all in this way.
Quite confusing what entrance to go to. Read up before you go. You cannot go to Tiannemen Square from Forbidden city - you need to talk around. Consider doing this first, then going to Forbidden city. It is VERY large. Bring water and good walking shoes along with sunscreen. Tour ticket guy was super helpful and responsive! Thank you.
Efficient process with quick and helpful WhatsApp responses from Larry.
Larry was great coordinating the tickets for my wife and I. We received them the day before and had no issue with admittance into the square or forbidden city. We followed his entrance advice as well and saved a lot of time. Would 100% recommend if looking to just secure tickets for anyone visiting from outside of China!
Everything went smoothly. The only thing to remember is that the Tiananmen ticket only gives you access to the square, nothing else like the mausoleum, museum etc. So you should book those privately. This saved us a lot of stress though since Tiananmen Square gets sold out very quickly
The forbidden city is very beautiful and also much larger than we imagined! Between that, TS and temple of heaven we walked 22,000 steps! There are many many security check points , but they go pretty fast! Your passport seems to always be your ticket! T Square is fine, but please note that you have to go under the highway thru a passage ( like a subway) but there are only stairs ! Did Not see an elevator for wheel chairs! Also note: you are not allowed inside any of the buildings at the Forbidden City! Everything is blocked off, so you really can only see the outside of the buildings and they kind of all look the same, just different sizes! The colors are beautiful!
Everything was smooth - we got the tickets and instructions via e-mail and WhatsApp day before. Thank you!
It´s already the second time I used viator for reserving/booking tickets in China and the result is very satisfying. The contact is very smooth and the response is quick. Also the local companies who organize the tickets are quick and good in response. Recommend it.
Great experience. I stupidly headed back to the entrance as I thought I could edit as I came in. My fault. The rest of the day was brilliant.
It was a bit confusing because the vouchers and instructions came in various forms. It seemed to me that every time I got a message from Viator it explained a different way to show proof of tickets. The entrance times were also confusing although now that I have experienced it, it makes more sense to me.
Visiting Tianmen Square and the Palace Museum can be a bit scary if you don't know what to expect. Strict bag controls and walk ways. But we were helped with the booking, the expectations, and the how-to's.
Amazing historic experience. We thought we had an issue with entry but it transpired we were a bit early for our reservation. Either way, Larry responded immediately when I messaged him. Great customer service.
Forbidden city is worth a visit, don't be daunted by the queue, it cleared quite fast. Do avoid weekends
Great to see. Expect long queues and make sure you see Tianamen Square BEFORE you go to the Forbidden City. It’s a long walk back if you miss it. Larry, our Viator rep was amazing pre visit and some great advice during our visit. Thank you.
Nice help and fast reply on whatsapp to book ticket for the forbidden city.
super communicative. Easy to access sites. No issues with questions or entry into the forbidden city.
forbiden city smooth entry but the tian an men sqare almost 1hour plus to enter in the afternoon .. the agent are good and give the complete detail ..
I accidentally booked Access Only tickets for the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square, thinking I had signed up for a tour. This was frustrating because these tickets can easily be purchased directly, without the added markup from a third-party vendor. The problems started right away. The meeting point was listed as a tour spot, leading me to expect a guided experience. However, the address was in Chinese, and the Viator app didn’t allow me to copy and paste it. Lacking knowledge of Mandarin, I faced major difficulties using my map system to find the location. To make matters worse, the address didn’t even correspond to an accessible drop-off point, as it was inside the Forbidden City. After a lot of confusion, we realized we only had access tickets, not a tour. The app’s instructions were unclear. One section stated that tickets would be emailed as a QR code by 9:00 p.m. the night before, while another required us to redeem a voucher at a designated point. I had been focused on the meeting point, not considering the redemption process. Ultimately, we went through security by presenting our passports, which wasn’t mentioned as an option previously, and we were allowed entry. I opted for the audio guide available on-site for 40 RMB per person, but it was a total waste of time. The audio cut out frequently, making it hard to follow along, and the signage was inadequate. Wandering around aimlessly in the freezing cold only added to the frustration. When we decided to visit Tiananmen Square, confusion again arose over the timing of our tickets, which indicated access from 8:30 to 12:30. Unclear if we could enter anytime during this window or if we had to arrive by 8:30, we ultimately decided against it due to the cold and uncertainty. I attempted to contact the tour operator via the app, only to find that the "Contact Tour Operator" button directed me to a generic page. Eventually, I discovered how to “Message Activity Provider,” but it turned out the person named Larry was merely the one who sold us the tickets, not a guide. In short, if you’re looking for tickets, consider purchasing directly from sites like Trip.com—there’s no need for Viator. If you want to enjoy the experience, I would recommend finding a better tour option, as the in-house audio guides are subpar and not worth the expense. Overall, this day felt like a waste of both time and money.
Larry was extremely nice and supportive. We had an issue with another company for this tour: we contacted them, had no reply from them until 24 hours before the tour when we had already paid Larry’s one. however, they had already blocked our passports and Larry could not proceed with his service. Despite all this confusion he was very helpful clarifying and refunded. Thank you again Larry
Tickets provided ahead of time and organiser checked in closer to the day as well. All went as expected, no problems whatsoever.
Very big and nice place, you must consider the line, because is so crowded. A lot of temples and the beauty of the place is amazing
It was an amazing experience.. they explain everything, gave advices and recommendation for whta to do first and when to do.. I will recommand them for anyone ask me for a tour guide in Beijing
The organiser was extremely helpful in answering questions and helping with directions. I had a very good experience
Very good tour our guide was very informative and attentive he was also very good with getting things we needed quickly.
Really easy process was able to change booking time for me. Very fascinating to see the square and walk around the grounds.
Easily accessible and queues tolerable. Phenomenal experience. Recommend to purchase tickets in advance though otherwise no entry. Valuable experience
Jimmy was a great tour guide, he gave us good recommendations and made the journey simple and stress free. Included hotel pick up and drop off and guided us straight to the wall with details along the way but still gave us freedom to explore at our leisure. Highly recommend
Walking through the Forbidden City was breathtaking. The history, architecture, and atmosphere made it truly special.
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