Summer Palace

颐和园（东宫门 / 北宫门）

Empress Cixi's summer retreat: a lake and a hill turned into one garden

⚠ Inner sights shut Mondays

Hours

Apr–Oct 6am–8pm (last entry 7pm), Nov–Mar 6:30am–7pm (last entry 6pm). Paid inner sights 8am–6pm (last entry 5:30pm) in peak season, 8:30am–5pm off-season, closed Mondays (holiday and summer exceptions announced)

Tickets

Entry ¥30 peak / ¥20 off-season; combo ¥60 / ¥50. Book 1–7 days ahead on the official WeChat account or buy at the gate; boats extra

Address

19 Xinjian Gongmen Road, Haidian; most people use the East Palace Gate or North Palace Gate

Three-quarters of it is Kunming Lake, so it feels more like a lakeside park than a palace. A covered walkway, the Long Corridor, runs 728 metres along the shore with a painting on every beam, so you walk with your head tilted up. Climb to the Tower of Buddhist Incense on Longevity Hill and the lake and the Seventeen-Arch Bridge spread out below. It's about 40 minutes from the centre by taxi, so many people do it as the afternoon half of a Mutianyu day tour.