Tips for visiting Summer Palace Summer Palace Tourist map from willgoto.com Plan your Beijing Tour? Summer Palace was a royal palace in later Qing Dynasty, only secondary to the Forbidden City ( now the Palace Museum ). Summer Palace is actually not just a royal palace where once Princess Dowager Cixi and the emperor lived and handled court affairs, accepted laudations and received foreign diplomats during their stay in the Summer Palace. It also epitomizes classical Chinese architecture, in terms of both garden design and construction. It is the largest royal garden in Beijing, now a good retreat for holiday makers. Tip 01: How to time your visit Normally 3 hours are needed to cruise around Summer Palace itself. With your time on the city transportation included, you are advised to have allocate at least half day in visiting Summer Palace. Summer Palace presents itself with different views for different seasons. Winter sees people skiing on the Kunming Lake; Spring time finds people breathe under fresh trees and flowers; Summer time often sees Summer Palace in a foggy day like a beautiful ”water and mountain” Chinese scroll painting. Autumn is the best time walking around Summer Palace, clear and blue sky with comfortable weather. Tip 02: How to get to Summer Palace Metro Line 1. Subway Line 4: Take subway line 4 to the northest direction and get off at the last but one of Beigongmen (北宫门) and exit from Exit D and walk to the west, soon you will see the north gate ( Beigongmen Gate ）to Summer Palace 颐和园 (entrance fee:RMB30) on your left side. 2. Subway Line 10 Take subway line 10 to Bagou station at the end of Line 10, and then get a taxi from outside the station to the New Palace Gate (新建宫门). Or you may just walk for about 1.5km from Bagou Station to the New Palace Gate. Get off Bagou Station, follow your nose, you will meet a river, then turn right and walk along the river bank till the New Palace Gate of Summer Palace. If confused upon which way to go upon leaving the subway, just follow the crowd. Public Bus: Buses via the East Gate of the Summer Palace (颐和园正门, 东宫门) Bus 330、331、332、346、394、712、718、726、732、737、801、808、817、826 Buses via the North Gate of the Summer Palace (北宫门) Bus 303、330、331、346、375、384、393、634、716、718、737、801、808、817、834、Express 5 Buses via the South Gate of the Summer Palace (新建宫门) Bus 374、437、481、952、704、992 Taxi Fare A taxi from Beijing city center will cost about RMB 80 and take about 50 minutes without much traffic. As you finish your tour and exit, you will find some taxi drviers are reluctant or even refuse to use the meter, only do a set rate, and most don’t want to go all the way back to Beijing at all, so this can be troublesome. Tip 03: Buy a correct entrance ticket There are two kinds of tickets – Entrance ticket for the garden-like complex and through ticket both for the complex itself also attractions inside the Summer Palace complex. The ticket prices are divided onto two categories – Low Season ad Peak Season. Ticket Price Ticket Types Unit: (RMB ¥) Low Season Nov – Mar High Season April – Oct Entrance Ticket RMB ¥20 RMB ¥30 Entrance Tickets don’t include the admission to some paid attractions inside the compound of Summer Palace Half Price Entrance Ticket (for students) RMB ¥10 RMB ¥15 Through Ticket (Including the admission to some paid attractions inside the compound of Summer Palace) RMB ¥50 RMB ¥60 Admissions to the paid attractions inside the Summer Palace Garden of Virtue and Harmony RMB ¥5 RMB ¥5 Tower of the Fragrance of the Buddha RMB ¥10 RMB ¥10 Wenchang Gallery RMB ¥20 RMB ¥20 Suzhou Street&Hall of Serenity RMB ¥10 RMB ¥10 Note: 1. You are advised to buy entrance tickets instead of through tickets. 2. Once you enter the park of Summer Palace and are also interested in some of the paid attractions inside the park, you may purchase a separate admission ticket one by one. 3. Students enjoy half prices. 4. Children under 1.2m high are free of charge. Tip 04: Choose the right entrance gate and tour route So there are three main entrances to Summer Palace – East Palace Gate (the main gate), North Palace Gate and New Palace Gate (south gate). You should get to know the gate you will go through, especially when you take a taxi or bus. Entering Summer Palace via the different three gates, you will have three different tour routes visiting Summer Palace. Starting from New Palace Gate (south gate) Loop Line Route: New Palace Gate – Walk north along East Dyke – the former Court Area (the East Palace Gate, the Hall of Benevolence and Longevity…) – Long Corridor – Longevity Hill – Marble Boat – Ferry Boat and back to New Palace Gate (loop line) Starting from East Palace Gate Route: East Palace Gate – the former Court Area (the East Palace Gate, the Hall of Benevolence and Longevity…) – Long Corridor – Longevity Hill – Marble Boat – Ferry Boat – New Palace Gate Starting from North Palace Gate: North Palace Gate – Suzhou Street – Marble Boat – Longevity Hill – Long Corridor – the former court area – East Palace Gate Tip # 05: Familiar with its 3-part layout The three tour routes are centered around the three main parts in Summer Palace: The Former Court Area; a royal palace where once Princess Dowager Cixi and the emperor lived and handled court affairs, accepted laudations and received foreign diplomats during their stay in the Summer Palace. Long Corridor and Longevity Hill; The second part features the Long Corridor, the Hall of Dispelling Clouds, the Tower of Buddhist Incense, the Hall of the Sea of Wisdom, the Back Lake, the Suzhou Market and Longevity Hill. Kunming Lake and Nanhu Isle: The last part is Kunming Lake, which consists of the Marble Boat, Nanhu Island, the Bronze Ox and the beautiful 17-Arch Bridge. Tip # 06: Prepare for a 3-hour outdoor sightseeing Visiting Summer Palace needs some a little bit strong legs with a lot walking since Summer Palace is huge. Dress for the Hot or cold weather. The summer in Beijing could be humid and closed, simetimes extremely hot. Also winter could be very cold. So well prepared for the uncomfortable weather both in winter and summer. You are advised to wear your most comfortable shoes. It’s a long walk! Food choice in the complex is poor – typical fast food and snacks. So bring your own. Tip 07: Get to know the official notice to the visitors 1. No visitors are allowed to cross, climb, smoke, swim, skate, fish, spit, foul and litter and so on. 2. No visitors are allowed to camp, cook, fish, capture animals and dig plants inside. 3. No visitors are allowed to paint and carve on the buildings, ground, stone, facility and tree, and to pick the flowers and spoil the lawn and trees. 4. The north of pavilion of Wenchang and the east of Jiehu Bridge are fist-level fire-proof non-smoking 5. Expect for hand-powered wheelchairs and baby carriers used by the aged, the disabled, and children, any other vehicle are not allowed to enter without any permission. 6. The professional camera equipments are not allowed to use inside without any permission. 7. Without any permission, don’t perform, sing and make a noise so as to influence and disturb other visitors. 8. The tour guides inside must have guide qualification. Tip 08: Opening Time: High Season (From April 1 to Oct. 31) Low Season (From Nov. 1 to Mar. 31 next year) After the tickets stop selling, the visitors are not allowed to enter, and to leave on time. Tags: How to visit Summer Palace This entry was posted on Sunday, July 25th, 2010 at 5:04 pm and is filed under Beijing Attractions, Beijing Tour Reviews, Beijing Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site. 8 Responses to “Tips for visiting Summer Palace” Pls let me know, which entering gate and kind of tour, that the best choose to take for visiting summer palace. Also which ticket that we should buy? Thanks You are suggested to take the loop line route as below: Starting from New Palace Gate (south gate) Loop Line Route: New Palace Gate – Walk north along East Dyke – the former Court Area (the East Palace Gate, the Hall of Benevolence and Longevity…) – Long Corridor – Longevity Hill – Marble Boat – Ferry Boat – New Palace Gate (loop line). 1. You are advised to buy entrance tickets instead of through tickets. 2. Once you enter the park of Summer Palace and are also interested in some of the paid attractions inside the park, you may purchase a separate admission ticket one by one. 3. Students enjoy half prices. 4. Children under 1.2m high are free of charge. Can I use my tripod in Summer Palace? It is all right to carry a tripod for an ordinary camera or small and unprofessional video camera. If you carry a big and professional video camera, you have to report to Summer palace for permission. Have a nice day in Summer Palace! I would jus tlike to know if the child rates apply for tourists also or for Chinese students only? Thanks.   July 31, 2012 at 11:16 pm The official website of Summer Palace says: 1) Children ( under 1.2 meters high): free of Charge ( of course, in my opinion, this policy applies to foreign kids.) 2) Students with ID cards can be entilted to the half price for the entrance tickets of Summer Palace ( excluding the entrance tickets for some attractions inside Summer Palace). This “Half Price” policy doesn’t apply to adult education ( further education or continuing education). Foreign students enjoy the same privilege as Chinese counterparts. As far as I know, only foreign students studying in China are entitled to the half price admission.