Beijing’s headline sights do not sell walk-up tickets any more. This plan is built backwards from the reservation calendar, so nothing on your list is sold out by the time you arrive.
Two days in Beijing is enough for the two things people actually fly here for — the Great Wall and the Forbidden City — but only if the bookings are made before you land. Every headline sight in this city runs on real-name passport tickets, and the release windows are unforgiving.
The reservation calendar — do these in this order
The clock matters most for the palace. If your dates put the palace day on a Monday, swap the days — the museum closes every Monday except national holidays.
Leave the city by 07:30. The two realistic ways out are a round-trip tourist shuttle (about RMB 80 from stops like Heping Xiqiao or Dongsi, with fast-track entry and usually the internal shuttle bundled) or the DIY route: Dongzhimen to Huairou on the 916 Express bus, then a local minibus for the last stretch. The DIY route is cheaper and slower; the shuttle buys predictability on a day with fixed closing times.
At the gate: RMB 40 entry, RMB 15 internal shuttle, then your ridgeline transport — the gondola (about RMB 140 round trip) or the chairlift up and toboggan down (about RMB 100). The toboggan is the reason half the visitors come; the gondola serves the same towers without the queue. Walk east past tower 14 for the steepest photography or west for the quieter cable-car side; our section picker explains the trade-offs wall by wall.
Be back at the bus by 16:00 in winter — the site closes earlier in the cold months, and the last shuttle waits for no one.
Security for Tiananmen Square opens early and the reservation queue moves fastest before 08:00. Bring the physical passport that matches the booking — the number is checked, not the name. From the square, enter the Forbidden City from the Meridian Gate side when your session starts; off-season admission is RMB 40 (November–March) and peak is RMB 60 (April–October).
Walk the central axis north through the three great halls, then decide: the eastern galleries for the clocks and treasures, or straight out the north gate to Jingshan park, where the hilltop pavilion gives you the whole palace roofscape in one frame. That view costs pocket change and takes forty minutes.
Spend the late afternoon at the Temple of Heaven — park gates run 06:00 to 22:00 and the historic buildings 08:00 to about 17:30, so the joint ticket (RMB 34 peak, RMB 28 off-season, covering the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests, the Echo Wall and the Circular Mound) still fits after the palace. The reservation requirement was scrapped, so this is the one sight you can decide on the day.
Both days start with early transport, so stay on Metro Lines 1 or 2 inside the second ring: Qianmen or Wangfujing puts Tiananmen in walking distance and keeps the day-1 shuttle pickups reachable before 07:30. Confirm foreign-guest registration before booking — our registration guide covers the questions to ask.
Extending the trip: this plan slots neatly into the first two days of our 240-hour transit route, and the high-speed rail south to Xi’an works as a same-evening hop if you pair it with the Xi’an base plan. If Beijing is your entry city, start from the first-trip starter kit and the station-to-metro guide so day 1 begins without a taxi negotiation.
| Item | Off-season (Nov–Mar) | Peak (Apr–Oct) |
|---|---|---|
| Forbidden City | RMB 40 | RMB 60 |
| Temple of Heaven joint ticket | RMB 28 | RMB 34 |
| Tiananmen Square | Free (reservation required) | |
| Mutianyu entry + shuttle | RMB 55 | |
| Mutianyu gondola (round trip) | about RMB 140 | |
| Mutianyu chairlift + toboggan | about RMB 100 | |
| City → Mutianyu shuttle, round trip | about RMB 80 | |
Posted rates researched 6 November 2026; gondola and toboggan figures are the scenic area’s current posted prices and shift with the season. Treat them as a budget, not a quote.
Yes. The Palace Museum closes every Monday except national holidays, so your palace day must fall Tuesday to Sunday. Off-season admission from November to March is RMB 40 and peak season from April to October is RMB 60, and the ticket is real-name with your passport either way.
Seven days ahead, released at 20:00 Beijing time through the Palace Museum's official booking portal. Every ticket is real-name with your passport number, there is no on-site ticket window, and popular days can sell out within minutes of release, so have an account ready and book the moment the window opens.
Yes. The square is free but entry is real-name: reservations open one to ten days ahead through the official WeChat mini-program, booked with your passport number, and the physical passport that matches the booking is checked at security. The mini-program is built for Chinese phone numbers, so many visitors use a third-party booking service that accepts foreign passports instead.
Mutianyu for most first visits: restored watchtowers with real variation in gradient, a chairlift up, a toboggan down, and crowds that stay manageable outside Chinese holidays. Badaling is easier to reach by rail and far busier. Our Great Wall section picker compares all the main sections in detail.
Budget roughly RMB 195 to 245 per person beyond transport: RMB 40 entry, RMB 15 for the internal shuttle, and either about RMB 140 for the round-trip gondola or about RMB 100 for the chairlift up and toboggan down. Round-trip tourist shuttles from the city cost about RMB 80 and often bundle the internal shuttle. The site runs 08:00 to 17:00, closing earlier in winter.
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