Summer Palace: tickets, gates and a route that avoids crowds

Buy the through ticket for a first visit. It adds the Tower of Buddhist Incense, Suzhou Street, the Garden of Virtue and Harmony and the Wenchang Gallery to the CNY 30 park entry, and those interiors are why the garden is on the World Heritage list. Enter at the East Palace Gate for the classic route, or the North Palace Gate if you arrive on metro line 4. Be at the gate for opening.

Last verified: 29 October 2026 · Sources: Beijing Municipal Government English portal, Summer Palace official WeChat booking channel, UNESCO World Heritage List

Which ticket should you buy?

Two tickets exist and the difference decides your day. Park entry gets you through a gate and around Kunming Lake, the Long Corridor and the grounds. The through ticket adds the buildings that charge separately: the Tower of Buddhist Incense, Suzhou Street, the Garden of Virtue and Harmony and the Wenchang Gallery. If you have traveled this far, buy the through ticket and skip the four extra queues.

Ticket	Peak (April–October)	Off season (November–March)	What you get
Park entry	CNY 30	CNY 20	Gate, lake, Long Corridor, grounds
Through ticket	CNY 60	CNY 50	Entry plus all four paid interiors
Tower of Buddhist Incense	CNY 10	CNY 10	The hilltop temple and the lake view
Suzhou Street	CNY 10	CNY 10	The rebuilt water street behind Longevity Hill
Garden of Virtue and Harmony	CNY 5	CNY 5	The theater where Cixi watched opera
Wenchang Gallery	CNY 20	CNY 20	Bronzes, calligraphy and imperial objects

The arithmetic is simple. The paid interiors cost CNY 45 on their own, so the through ticket at CNY 60 against CNY 30 entry saves CNY 15 and removes four separate payments. Buy park entry alone if you are visiting in winter on a Monday, when the interiors are closed, or if you only want a walk along the lake.

Prices are set by the park and published on the Beijing government’s park pages. Book on the WeChat account “Summer Palace” with your passport details, choose a date and entry time, pay with a foreign card through WeChat Pay or Alipay, and show the passport at the gate. The QR code is not the ticket; the passport is.

Visitors can book tickets 1-7 days in advance on the park’s official WeChat account. Visitors shall come to the park with your passports at the selected time of the selected day.

— Beijing Municipal Government, Summer Palace park page, 20 March 2026

Which of the six gates should you use?

The gate you choose sets the first hour of your visit. East Palace Gate is the main entrance and the start of the classic route. North Palace Gate sits on metro line 4 and drops you beside Suzhou Street, but the first thing you do is climb Longevity Hill. New Palace Gate faces Kunming Lake and the Seventeen-Arch Bridge. The other three are quiet local gates with no queue and no metro.

Gate	Where it leads	Transport	Use it if
East Palace Gate	Hall of Benevolence, Long Corridor	Metro line 4 or 16 to Xiyuan, about 10 minutes on foot	You want the classic route on a first visit
North Palace Gate	Suzhou Street, over the hill to the lake	Metro line 4 to Beigongmen, exit D, at the gate	You want the metro at the door and do not mind stairs
New Palace Gate	Seventeen-Arch Bridge, South Lake Island	Bus or taxi; no metro at the gate	You plan to start with the boat
South Ruyi Gate	West Causeway and quiet water	Bus or taxi	You have been before and want empty paths
North Ruyi Gate	Northwest corner, near Suzhou Street	Bus or taxi	You are staying in the northwest of the city
West Gate	West Causeway and the western shore	Bus or taxi	You want the lake without crowds

Two rules make the choice easy. Enter at East Palace Gate and leave at North Palace Gate if you want a one-way walk with metro at both ends; the two are about 2 km apart on foot. And if you do arrive at Beigongmen, walk down to the lake before you climb anything, so you see the water while your legs are fresh.

The paid interiors close before the park does, at 18:00 in summer. Plan to be inside the park by 15:00 if the tower and Suzhou Street are on your list, and treat the last two hours as a lake walk rather than a building visit.

Two hours or half a day: what fits?

Two hours covers the lakefront and the Long Corridor if you walk briskly and use the boat. Half a day adds the hill, Suzhou Street and a sit-down meal. Most first visits land between the two, at three or four hours, because the lake is longer than it looks and the hill is all stairs.

1. 06:00–08:00: enter at East Palace Gate, walk the Hall of Benevolence and Longevity, then follow the Long Corridor west. The paid interiors open at 08:00, so use the early hour for the lake.
2. 08:00: climb to the Tower of Buddhist Incense with the through ticket. The view runs the length of Kunming Lake, and the climb takes 30 to 40 minutes up and back.
3. 09:00: walk to the Marble Boat, then take the ferry from Shizhang Pavilion to South Lake Island if the boats are running.
4. 10:00: cross the Seventeen-Arch Bridge and leave by New Palace Gate, or walk the East Causeway back to East Palace Gate.

The half-day version reverses the order. Start at North Palace Gate, drop through Suzhou Street while it is empty, walk the Long Corridor east to the Hall of Benevolence, then take the boat or the causeway and finish at the Wenchang Gallery. Add lunch at Tingli Guan and you have used four to five hours without rushing.

Both plans assume you walk. There is no shuttle inside the park, and the distances are real: East Palace Gate to the Marble Boat is about 1.5 km along the corridor, and the hill adds another 1 km of steps.

When should you arrive?

Be at the gate at opening. In peak season that is 06:00, and you will share the first hour with joggers, tai chi groups and a few photographers rather than tour buses. Tours land between 09:30 and 11:00. Weekends and public holidays add a second wave after lunch, when local families arrive with children.

Window	What you get	Watch out for
06:00–08:00	Empty corridor, lake mist, local life	Paid interiors closed until 08:00
08:00–09:30	Interiors open, soft light	First tour groups arrive
09:30–11:30	Everything open	Heaviest crowds of the day
11:30–14:00	A lunch lull on the water	Heat, and boats at their busiest
14:00–18:00	Warm light on the lake	School groups, then closing

Season matters more than day. Late April and May bring peonies and fresh green; September and October are clear and cool; June to August is lotus season and hot. Winter is quiet and cheap, with two catches: the paid interiors close on Mondays, and the lake boats stop. The best-time-to-visit guide puts those months against the rest of the country.

For light, the corridor faces south across the water, so the hill is front-lit in the morning and backlit in the late afternoon. Photographers should take the early slot. For color, the West Causeway is at its best in spring blossom and again in October, when the light comes low across the reeds.

How do you get there by metro?

Metro line 4 is the direct answer. Ride it to Beigongmen for the North Palace Gate, or one stop further to Xiyuan for the East Palace Gate; Xiyuan is also on line 16. From Xizhimen the ride takes about 25 minutes, and a city metro fare runs CNY 3–7 depending on distance. Both stations are outside the park, so you still walk 5 to 10 minutes to the gate.

Foreign contactless bank cards work at the gates on most Beijing lines, and an Alipay or WeChat Pay metro code works on all of them. If you arrive in Beijing by high-speed train, the train guide explains the passport-linked ticket, and the metro takes over from the station. Our internet and apps guide covers setting up WeChat before you need it for the park booking.

A taxi or DiDi from the center takes 30 to 40 minutes in light traffic and longer in the morning peak. Ask for the gate by name, not just “Summer Palace”, because the six gates are far apart and a driver will drop you at whichever is nearest.

Is the Kunming Lake boat worth it?

Yes, as a crossing rather than a tour. Three quarters of the park’s 3 square kilometers is water, and a ferry turns a 40-minute shoreline walk into 15 minutes on the lake. Fares are posted at the dock and usually run CNY 30–40 one way; neither ticket covers them. Check the sign before you board, because routes change with the season.

Two crossings matter. The Shizhang Pavilion to South Lake Island ferry links the Marble Boat with the island and the Seventeen-Arch Bridge; the Bronze Ox crossing does the same from the east shore. Boats run from roughly April to October, weather permitting, and stop in wind and rain. Buy at the dock rather than from anyone selling on the path.

If the boats are not running, walk the East Causeway instead. It is flat, lined with willow, and gives you the same view of Longevity Hill from the water. That walk is the better choice in winter anyway, when the lake is gray and the docks are closed.

What is different on a Monday?

In peak season, nothing except the crowd. The park and the paid interiors open daily from April to October, so a Monday is as good as any other day and slightly quieter than a weekend. In the off season the rule changes: from November to March the paid interiors close on Mondays, except during public holidays.

That one rule decides your ticket. On a winter Monday, buy park entry, walk the lake and the corridor, and skip the through ticket, because the tower, Suzhou Street, the garden and the gallery will all be shut. Check the park page on the morning you go, since holiday weeks override the closure.

The same rhythm runs through Beijing. The ranked Beijing list marks which sights rest on Monday, and the attractions hub groups the ticketed sites by booking rule. Build your week around those closures rather than against them. Two companions that work as separate mornings are the Great Wall and the Temple of Heaven.

Where can you eat near the park?

Inside the park your options are kiosks and one restaurant. Tingli Guan, on the Longevity Hill side near the Marble Boat, is a banquet-style restaurant in a historic building; book ahead and expect a set-menu price rather than a snack price. Kiosks sell water, ice cream, tea and simple noodles, and the queues peak at noon.

Outside, the best cluster is by Xiyuan station on the East Palace Gate side: a small mall and a strip of noodle, dumpling and hotpot places within 10 minutes of the gate. The North Palace Gate has a handful of local restaurants on the street behind the metro exit. For a wider choice, ride one stop to Zhongguancun or Renmin University, where meals are cheaper and the menus are in English more often.

Set up Alipay or WeChat Pay before you arrive, because many small shops take QR payment only and some will not handle a foreign card at the counter. The payments guide covers linking a card. Carry CNY 100–200 in cash as backup for the kiosks inside the park.

FAQ

Do you need to book Summer Palace tickets in advance?

Yes in peak season. Book 1–7 days ahead on the WeChat account “Summer Palace” with your passport details and choose an entry time. Same-day tickets are sold at the gate service window if capacity remains. Bring the passport you booked with, not a screenshot.

How long does the Summer Palace take?

Two hours for the lakefront and Long Corridor, and four to five hours for the hill, the paid interiors, a boat ride and a meal. Add an hour if you walk the West Causeway. Most visitors spend three to four hours, which covers the classic route without the far shore.

Which gate is closest to the metro?

The North Palace Gate, at Beigongmen station on line 4, exit D. The East Palace Gate is about 10 minutes on foot from Xiyuan station on lines 4 and 16. The North Gate puts you at the foot of Longevity Hill, so expect stairs before you reach the lake.

Is the through ticket worth the extra money?

Yes, unless you are visiting on a winter Monday. The four paid interiors cost CNY 45 separately, so the through ticket at CNY 60 saves CNY 15 against paying for entry and each building. It also removes four queues, which matters more than the money on a busy day.

Is the park open on Mondays?

The grounds open daily all year. From November to March the paid interiors close on Mondays, except during public holidays, so the through ticket buys nothing. In peak season everything opens daily. Check the official park page the week you travel, because holiday dates change the pattern.