Prince Gong's Mansion tickets for foreigners: booking with a passport (2026)

The short version

Book online before you go. The museum's ticket notice says visits must be booked online in advance, by real name. Do not plan on a walk-up ticket.
Release time: from 20:00 Beijing time, ten days before your visit date. That is 12:00 UTC. For a Saturday 24 October visit, start checking on the evening of Wednesday 14 October.
Price: CNY 40. Children 6 and under (or 1.2 m and under) free; half price for ages 6 to 18, students and seniors 60+ with proof.
Passport works, but you exchange the booking for an entry pass at the Comprehensive Service Office on the day. Chinese ID-card holders just scan at the gate.
Hours: 08:30 to 17:00, last entry 16:10, ticket sales stop 16:00. Closed on Mondays except public holidays.
Official channels: the museum's WeChat service account and its website. Trip.com lists the same museum in English if WeChat does not work for you.

Booking flow with a passport

Pick a Tuesday to Sunday date (Mondays are closed unless it is a public holiday) and note when it opens: 20:00 Beijing time, ten days earlier.
Open the official channel. In WeChat, search for the museum's service account, 恭王府博物馆 (Prince Kung's Palace Museum), and open its online ticketing. The museum also links ticketing from its website, pgm.org.cn.
Add each visitor by real name. Choose passport as the document type and type the name and number exactly as printed. Every visitor needs their own ID entry.
Mind the limits: one ticket per ID per visit day, up to five tickets per order, and up to two orders per user per day.
Choose the ticket type. Half-price student or youth tickets need proof at the gate, so only pick them if you carry the document.
Pay (WeChat Pay inside WeChat) and screenshot the order.
On the day, take the physical passport to the Comprehensive Service Office by the entrance, exchange the booking for an entry pass, then go through the gate. Leave a few extra minutes for this step.

The catch: phone numbers and WeChat

The passport is accepted, but the sign-in may not be. When we checked the museum's web ticket site (mall.pgm.org.cn) on 12 October 2026, its sign-in form only accepted an 11-digit mainland mobile number starting with 1, confirmed by SMS code, and the individual booking flow asked visitors to scan a QR code with WeChat. In other words, the website is mainly a door to the WeChat flow.

If you already use WeChat with a verified account and a linked card, try the official service account first.
If you do not, or the ID step fails, use the English route below rather than burning your release evening on a form that will not accept you.

More on this pattern across Chinese attractions: booking without a Chinese phone number and WeChat mini-program vs English web.

Release times: when your date opens

Visit date	Opens (Beijing time)	Same moment in UTC
Sat 24 Oct 2026	Wed 14 Oct, 20:00	Wed 14 Oct, 12:00
Sun 25 Oct 2026	Thu 15 Oct, 20:00	Thu 15 Oct, 12:00
Sun 1 Nov 2026	Thu 22 Oct, 20:00	Thu 22 Oct, 12:00

The official wording is that booking opens "from 20:00, ten days before the visit". If your date is not bookable yet at that moment, check again the next evening at 20:00. China has no daylight saving time, so 20:00 in Beijing is always 12:00 UTC. For other Beijing sights that release on different schedules, see China attraction ticket release times.

Prices and discounts

Who	Price	What to carry
Adult	CNY 40	The passport you booked with
Child aged 6 and under, or 1.2 m and under	Free	Proof of age if asked
Ages 6 to 18; full-time students up to bachelor level	CNY 20	ID plus student card where relevant. The rules say foreign youth visitors with valid ID or a student card get the student half price.
Seniors 60 and over	CNY 20	The rules say "with ID card"; confirm at checkout that your passport qualifies

The ticket is valid once, on the booked day. After it is scanned at the gate it cannot be refunded.

Refunds and the no-show rule

Refund an unused ticket through the channel you booked on, up to 22:00 on the visit day. The money returns within 5 days.
Cancel before 16:00 on the visit day and it does not count as a no-show. After 16:00 it counts as one, for both the account and the visitor's ID.
Three no-shows in 60 days blocks booking for 60 days. If your plans are shaky, cancel early.
Ticket hotline (from the museum's notice): 010-83286859, daily 08:20 to 17:00.

If WeChat will not work for you

Trip.com lists the museum in English, takes foreign cards, and asks for traveller details at checkout: Prince Kung's Palace Museum on Trip.com. Check that you are buying plain admission for the right date, not a guided tour package, and read the cancellation terms on the listing. Bring the same passport and the confirmation; how the entry is handled on the day (exchange at the service office or a direct scan) is set by the listing, so follow what your voucher says.

Sold out? Things that work

Refresh the live remaining count. The museum says that after a day sells out, a small number of returned tickets may come back.
Look again on the morning of the visit day. One traveller report mentions returned tickets showing up around 08:00 to 09:00, and refunds without a no-show penalty are allowed until 16:00, so returns can trickle in. Not guaranteed.
Move to a weekday. Weekends, school holidays and the first week of October are the hardest.
Check Trip.com for the same date.
Plan B nearby: walk the Shichahai lakes and hutongs, or visit Beihai Park and Jingshan Park, which are simple gate purchases (see walk-up parks).

On the day

Getting there: Metro Line 6 to Beihai North, Exit B, then walk north along Sanzuoqiao Hutong for about 5 to 8 minutes. Address: 17 Qianhai West Street, Xicheng District.
Arrive early. Doors open at 08:30; the halls and the rear garden are calmer in the first hour.
Allow 2 to 3 hours for the residence and the garden.
Carry the physical passport. A photo of it is not accepted for the exchange.
Pair it with the hutongs around Shichahai, or with the Forbidden City on another day: the two use completely separate bookings.

Pitfalls: Turning up on a Monday. Planning to buy at the gate. Waiting for a 7-day release (an older figure; the current rule is ten days). Spending the release evening on a sign-in form that needs a Chinese number. Booking a half-price ticket without the document to prove it. Forgetting the passport you booked with. Cancelling after 16:00 and collecting no-shows.

Sources: Prince Kung's Palace Museum ticket notice (pgm.org.cn, ticket policy, booking, ticket checks, refunds and no-show rules) and its home page hours, read 12 Oct 2026; the museum's 2026 Mid-Autumn and National Day opening notice (15 Sep 2026); Beijing municipal English portal entry for the museum (Mar 2026: 20:00 release ten days ahead, CNY 40); Visit Beijing directions; the museum's web ticket site sign-in, checked 12 Oct 2026; Trip.com listing. Last verified 12 Oct 2026.

Also: Beijing hub · Lama Temple tickets · Temple of Heaven tickets · Alipay / WeChat Pay for tourists.

Booking without a Chinese phone number →

Sources & verification

Last verified 12 Oct 2026 · How we verify

Prince Kung's Palace Museum — ticket noticeOfficial rules: price, release time, passport exchange, refunds
Beijing government (English) — Prince Kung's Palace MuseumOfficial English summary: hours, CNY 40, 20:00 release
Trip.com — Prince Kung's Palace MuseumBooking channel for foreign visitors

What we could not check automatically

The booking itself runs inside WeChat, which we cannot test end to end with a foreign passport from a script. The phone-number finding comes from the sign-in form of the museum's web ticket site on 12 Oct 2026. Whether a senior discount applies to a foreign passport is not stated in the rules.

Update log

12 Oct 2026Guide published: booking flow with a passport, release times, prices, refunds and sold-out fixes.

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FAQ

Can foreigners book Prince Gong's Mansion with a passport?

Yes. The museum's ticket rules list the passport as an accepted ID for real-name booking. Choose passport as the document type, enter your details exactly as printed, and bring the same physical passport. On the day, passport holders go to the Comprehensive Service Office to exchange the booking for an entry pass before the gate.

When are tickets released?

The official rule is that you can book from 20:00 Beijing time ten days before your visit date (20:00 in Beijing is 12:00 UTC). Weekend and holiday dates in spring and autumn go first; weekdays are usually easier.

Can I just buy a ticket at the gate?

Do not count on it. The museum's current ticket notice says visits must be booked online in advance and that it runs real-name ticketing; a walk-up window is not listed as a sales channel.

How much is the ticket?

CNY 40. Children aged 6 and under, or 1.2 m and under, are free. Ages 6 to 18 and full-time students up to bachelor level pay half; the rules say foreign youth visitors with valid ID or a student card get the student half price. Seniors 60+ are half price with ID; check at checkout whether your document qualifies.

Do I need a Chinese phone number?

For the official channels, often yes in practice. The museum's web ticket site signs users in with a mainland mobile number and SMS code, and its individual booking flow points to the WeChat service account. If you cannot use WeChat with a working ID step, book through Trip.com instead and keep the confirmation.

What if it is sold out for my date?

The museum says a small number of returned tickets can reappear after a date sells out, so check the live remaining count again, especially in the morning and around 16:00 when refunds without a no-show penalty close. Otherwise move to a weekday, or check Trip.com availability for that date.

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