Beijing in 3 days: the Forbidden City ticket rule that shapes the plan
Beijing in 3 days starts with one booking night. Palace Museum tickets are reserved from 20:00 seven days before the visit, are valid only on the day of visit, and the museum does not sell same-day tickets. Every visitor must make a real-name reservation. Foreign visitors book on the official site with an email address and a verification code: no Chinese phone number or WeChat account is needed, and the account is created automatically after email verification. General admission costs 60 yuan from 1 April to 31 October and 40 yuan from 1 November to 31 March. The museum is closed on Mondays except for statutory holidays. This guide locks the Forbidden City day first, then builds the other two days around it, with the prices, sessions, and cancellation rules that shape the plan.
The 20:00 rule: how Forbidden City tickets actually work
The whole plan hangs on one clock. Palace Museum tickets are reserved from 20:00 seven days before the visit. They are valid only on the day of visit, and the museum does not sell one-day, same-day tickets. All visitors must make real-name reservations, so the booking night is a fixed appointment, not a task to fit in later. Set the visit day first, count back seven days, and be ready at 20:00. A missed booking night means a different visit day, because there is no same-day window to fall back on. That single rule is why this guide sequences everything backwards from the booking night: the Palace day is the fixed point, and the rest of the trip flexes around it.
Booking as a foreigner: the official English site, no WeChat needed
Foreign visitors sign in to the official booking site with an email address and a verification code. No Chinese phone number or WeChat account is required for sign-in, and the account is created automatically after email verification. Visitors from outside mainland China book and check in with a passport, or the listed travel or resident permit. All visitors must bring the valid identification used for booking. Check in through the Meridian Gate, the south gate of the Forbidden City, bringing that same identification. The practical upshot is simple: an email address and a passport are enough, and the identification you book with is the identification you bring.
Prices, sessions, and the no-show trap
General admission costs 60 yuan from 1 April to 31 October and 40 yuan from 1 November to 31 March. The Treasure Gallery and the Clock Gallery each cost an additional 10 yuan. Sessions have their own clocks: morning-session tickets must be checked by 12:00 noon, and afternoon-session ticket checks start at 11:00. Admission opens at 8:30 and last admission is 16:00. In peak season the museum opens 08:30 to 17:00 with last entry at 16:10, and in off-season it opens 08:30 to 16:30 with last entry at 15:40. The no-show trap is the cancellation rule. Unbooked tickets are refunded through the original booking channel before 24:00 on the day before the visit, but cancellations count as strikes, and three cancellations within 180 days blocks booking for 60 days from the day after the third cancellation. Cancel only when the day genuinely changes, because repeated cancellations close the booking window for weeks.
Day 1: lock the Forbidden City day
Day 1 is the Palace day, and it starts before you arrive. Book at 20:00 seven days ahead, pick the session that fits the day, and remember the museum is closed on Mondays except for statutory holidays. Arrive by subway Line 1 to Tiananmen East or Tiananmen West station, and check in through the Meridian Gate with the identification used for booking. The main central-axis sights are the Hall of Supreme Harmony, the Hall of Central Harmony, the Hall of Preserving Harmony, the Palace of Heavenly Purity, the Hall of Mental Cultivation, and the Hall of Imperial Supremacy. Walk the axis in that order and the day organizes itself: one gate, one axis, one set of halls. Keep the session clock in mind while inside. A morning-session ticket must be checked by 12:00 noon, and afternoon-session checks start at 11:00, so the session you booked decides the shape of the morning.
Day 2–3: everything that books on its own clock
With the Palace day fixed, the other two days flex around it. Every other sight books on its own clock, and this guide pins down only the Palace clock: the 20:00 reservation seven days ahead, the session check times, and the Monday closure. The honest way to plan the remaining days is to hold them loosely until the Palace booking is confirmed, then fit everything else around the fixed day rather than the other way around. Do not stack a rigid second-day plan on top of an unconfirmed Palace booking: if the Palace day moves, the rest of the trip moves with it. For meals between sights, the ordering food playbook covers eating without reading the menu. The subway that serves the Palace area, Line 1 to Tiananmen East or Tiananmen West, is also the natural spine for returning to the area across the trip.
If the Palace is sold out: the backup plan that still works
There is no same-day rescue. The museum does not sell same-day tickets, so a sold-out Palace day cannot be fixed at the gate. The backup plan is a different day, booked the same way: reserve from 20:00 seven days before the new visit day, with a real-name reservation and the passport used for booking. Check the Monday closure before picking the replacement day, since a Monday that is not a statutory holiday is closed. If an existing booking no longer fits, refund it through the original booking channel before 24:00 on the day before the visit, and remember the strike rule: three cancellations within 180 days blocks booking for 60 days. The backup plan works because it respects the same clock as the original plan. Shift the day, keep the other days flexible, and the trip still holds together.