Old Summer Palace (Yuanmingyuan) (圆明园)

Park · Beijing. Explore the ruins and waterways of a former imperial garden.

Source: https://chinafootnotes.com/places/old-summer-palace · Data checked 2026-10-06 · Rendered for 2026-10-08 (Asia/Shanghai). Facts carry their status; "not found yet" means we searched and found no reliable source.

Notices in effect

• 2026-06-11 to 2026-11-05: Western Mansions Exhibition Hall (西洋楼展览馆) closed for display upgrades; the operator has not announced a reopening date.
• 2026-10-01 to 2026-11-06: Porcelain exhibition at the Yuanmingyuan Museum (景德镇御窑 and restored Yuanmingyuan porcelain, 41 relics).
• 2026-06-26 to 2026-10-25: The original bronze horse head (马首铜像) is on loan: Changshu Museum (exhibition to 8 October) and Fujian Museum (31 July–25 October).

Why go

Old Summer Palace (圆明园, Yuanmingyuan) is a large archaeological landscape in Haidian, distinct from the still-intact Summer Palace nearby. Paths lead through former garden grounds and lakes to the Western Mansions ruins, where stone remains make the site’s destruction visible. A basic entrance and a pass covering the European Palaces area are separate products.

What to do

• Walk the garden grounds. Use the basic park ticket for a broad walk through the lakes, paths and surviving landscape. The site is extensive, so choose a route before entering.
• See Western Mansions. The Site of European Palaces (西洋楼遗址) is included in the ¥25 full pass, along with the model exhibition. It gives a different experience from the general garden paths.
• Choose a named gate. The Haidian district guide lists ticket windows at Qichunyuan Palace Gate, Changchunyuan East Gate, Er Gongmen and Zaoyuan Gate. Match the gate to the ruins you intend to see.

• Don't miss: The Great Fountain (大水法) ruins in the Western Mansions are the park's best-known sight and are included in the ¥25 full pass.

• Best time: Start early for the long garden walk
• Skip if: Skip if you expect a preserved palace interior rather than ruins and landscape.

Practical details

• Hours: 07:00–21:00 peak · 07:00–19:30 winter
• Mon, Tue, Wed, Thu, Fri, Sat, Sun: 07:00–21:00, last entry 19:00
• Apr–Oct (04-01 to 10-31), Mon, Tue, Wed, Thu, Fri, Sat, Sun: 07:00–21:00, last entry 19:00
• Nov–Mar (11-01 to 03-31), Mon, Tue, Wed, Thu, Fri, Sat, Sun: 07:00–19:30, last entry 17:30
• Visit Beijing says the park gates open at 06:00 (Apr–Oct) or 06:30 (Nov–Mar), while ticket windows start selling at 07:00; the operator's pages give 07:00 for opening and sales. The Western Mansions ruins and the model exhibition open at 07:00; the ruins close at 21:00 (Apr–Oct) or 19:30 (Nov–Mar).
• Admission: Ticketed · park ¥10 / full pass ¥25
• Adult park admission: ¥10 (Standard)
• Adult full pass: ¥25 (Includes Western Mansions zone and model exhibition)
• Western Mansions ruins area only: ¥15 — Adult price on the Chinese Visit Beijing page; the ¥25 full pass also covers the model exhibition.
• Panoramic model exhibition of the park in its prime: ¥10 — Adult price on the Visit Beijing page; included in the ¥25 full pass.
• Concession: Eligible half-price visitors ¥5 (Qualifying ID for base ticket; full-pass discount ¥10)
• Concession: Full-time Chinese students aged 18+ at bachelor level or below; social-security card holders ¥5 (Valid document; foreign student cards do not qualify)
• Free: Under-18s; visitors aged 60+; serving and retired military, fire-rescue, armed police and martyrs' families; disabled visitors; provincial or ministerial model workers (Valid ID or certificate; the rule does not say whether foreign seniors qualify on a passport)
• Free: Everyone, on three free days a year (Whole-park free admission on the second Saturday of June (Cultural Heritage Day), the third Saturday of September (National Defense Day) and 18 October (Yuanmingyuan Memorial Day))
• The park's own annual (¥120) and monthly (¥15) passes cover only the main gate, not the Western Mansions ruins or the panoramic model hall; Beijing municipal park annual passes are not valid here.
• The sources do not say whether the free days apply when they fall on a public holiday or whether holiday dates change the price.
• Booking: No reservation required; buy on site
• Park ticket windows (圆明园遗址公园售票处)
• Yuanmingyuan Ruins Park (圆明园遗址公园) — WeChat → search 圆明园遗址公园 → ticketing
• Passport accepted: unknown — The government English listing confirms on-site tickets but does not specify foreign-passport handling.
• Haidian lists several physical ticket windows; Zhengjue Temple gate uses online ticketing only.
• A May 2025 Bendibao article and a 2023 Beijinger walk describe an online reservation system with passport or Chinese ID; the 2026 Beijing government English listing and Visit Beijing Chinese page say no reservation is required. The operator homepage gives no booking rule. Current official wording is kept.
• Last admission: 19:00 peak / 17:30 winter
• Time to allow: 2–4 hr
• Getting there: Metro Line 4 · Yuanmingyuan Park, Exit B
• Metro Line 4 to Yuanmingyuan Park (圆明园), Exit B, about 5 min walk
• Show a taxi driver: 海淀区清华西路28号 圆明园遗址公园南门
• Exit B leads to the South Gate (Qinghua West Road 28), about 5 minutes on foot.
• A new Great North Gate (大北门) opened beside the free Beiyuan green park, taking some of the East Gate crowd and serving residents of Shucun and Shangdi; whether it sells park tickets is not stated.
• Foreign visitors: On-site tickets; passport use described by English writers

Not found yet

• booking.passport.accepted: On-site and online passport handling not specified. (searched: operator website, Beijing government portal, public web search, English-language Beijing magazine (The Beijinger), Beijing Culture and Tourism Bureau Visit Beijing page)
• booking.channels[0].passport: Ticket-window passport procedure not published. (searched: operator website, Beijing government portal, public web search)
• booking.channels[1].passport: WeChat form passport option not confirmed. (searched: operator website, Beijing government portal, public web search)
• foreignVisitors: Passport, overseas phone, card and English signage details not specified. (searched: operator site, municipal English listing, English-language Beijing magazine (The Beijinger), Beijing Culture and Tourism Bureau Visit Beijing page)

Traveler tips

• Decide between park and full pass. Basic Old Summer Palace admission is ¥10. The ¥25 full pass adds the Western Mansions ruins (西洋楼遗址) and the model exhibition; the ruins alone are ¥15. Choose the full pass if those stone ruins are the reason for your visit. Caveat: 僵小鱼 (Jan 2026) bought the main gate (¥10) and the ruins ticket (¥15) separately and found the ¥25 combined ticket better value, since the ¥25 pass adds the model hall at no extra cost over ¥10 plus ¥15; 伊枝兔 (Feb 2026) advises buying the ¥25 ticket at the gate; Nemo不是小丑鱼 (May 2026) is annoyed that the Great Fountain is a separate ¥15, and a commenter says it was never in the ¥10 ticket; 有梦想的知了 (Aug 2025) saw little without the extra ticket and recommends the combined ticket. (4 travelers) source
• Use an active ticket window. Haidian district names ticket windows at Qichunyuan Palace Gate, Changchunyuan East Gate, Er Gongmen and Zaoyuan Gate. Choose the gate for your route; Zhengjue Temple gate is listed as online-ticket-only. source
• Know the gate and ticket times. From April to October the gates open at 06:00, windows sell tickets from 07:00 and entry stops at 19:00; the park closes at 21:00. From November to March the gates open at 06:30, entry stops at 17:30 and closing is 19:30. The Western Mansions ruins open at 07:00. Caveat: The English government listing says passes close two hours before ticket sales stop (about 17:00 in peak season and 15:30 in winter), and the Haidian district page repeats the rule, so buy the full pass early in the day. source
• Walk to the stone ruins. The Western Mansions ruins (西洋楼遗址) are about 30 minutes on foot from the South Gate, so follow the signs toward them. They are only one part of this large park, so leave enough walking time after you get in. Caveat: Vivian (Urban China Travelogue, 2025) gives the 30-minute walk from the South Gate. source
• Keep this separate from Summer Palace. Yuanmingyuan is an archaeological ruin park, while the Summer Palace (颐和园) is a separate royal garden. Each has its own gate, ticket and opening times. Budget a transfer if visiting both. source
• Use the on-site option. The Beijing government’s English listing says no advance reservation is required for the park and tickets can be bought on site. If you prefer a digital ticket, the park also links its official WeChat ticket route. Caveat: A May 2025 Bendibao article and a 2023 Beijinger walk describe online reservations with passport or Chinese ID; the 2026 government listings say none is required. 陈皮话梅糖 (Aug 2026) says no advance booking is needed for the Old Summer Palace, the Summer Palace or the Temple of Heaven, and an anonymous commenter on that post adds that only the Palace Museum and the National Museum need one; 僵小鱼 (Jan 2026) and 伊枝兔 (Feb 2026) both bought at the gate by QR code. These authors use Chinese ID cards and do not say how a passport is handled. (3 travelers) source
• Bring your passport to the ticket window. Tickets are sold at the windows at Qichunyuan Palace Gate, Changchun Garden East Gate, Er Gongmen and Zaoyuan Gate, and The Beijinger says you can buy at the entry gate with ID or a foreign passport. A 2023 Beijinger walk adds that the park's WeChat account took a passport for online reservations and that paper tickets were sold at windows outside the South Gate. Carry the original passport. Caveat: Vincent R. Vinci (Sep 2024) and Jeremiah Jenne (Apr 2023) are English-language writers who did not describe a witnessed passport check; no operator page states the rule, and overseas phone numbers and foreign cards remain untested. source
• Allow time for the landscape. The ruins are spread among paths and waterways rather than contained in one building. Allow 2–4 hours, longer if you want both the garden landscape and the Western Mansions area. Caveat: Qunar's 猜猜游 (Apr 2026) covers about 80% of the highlights in three hours; Vivian (2025) says to plan several hours. (2 travelers) source
• Zhengjue Temple and the horse head. Zhengjue Temple (正觉寺) normally shows the bronze horse head (马首铜像) that returned to the park in 2020. Its gate has only online ticketing, so reserve through the park's WeChat account before you go. A 2023 Beijinger walk says the horse head display needed a QR-code reservation. Caveat: Jeremiah Jenne (Apr 2023) and 猜猜游 (Apr 2026) both place the horse head at Zhengjue Temple; the 2023 reservation detail is older than the district notice. 妙妙 (May 2025) says the Zhengjue Temple gate and the Qichun Garden gate are separate entrances on the south side and that you cannot walk in from inside the park; you have to go out and have the ticket checked again, while 哆咪的日记 (Sep 2025) says the temple needs its own free ticket from the mini-program. 向往草原 (Jul 2026) says the temple is closed on Mondays and needs a booking, and momo (May 2025) says the free tickets run out by noon. An anonymous commenter says you can enter the park from the museum without leaving. Whether a foreign visitor can book the temple through the park's WeChat account is not stated. (5 travelers) source
• Take Metro Line 4 to Exit B. Ride Metro Line 4 to Yuanmingyuan Park (圆明园) station and leave by Exit B. The South Gate is about 5 minutes on foot. Caveat: Qunar's 猜猜游 (Apr 2026), Karl (Jul 2026) and Vivian (2025) all use Exit B to reach the South Gate. (2 travelers) source
• Enter at the South Gate, leave by the East Gate. A walking route that avoids backtracking: enter at the South Gate, cross Qichunyuan, visit Zhengjue Temple, then the Western Mansions ruins and the model exhibition, and leave by the East Gate. One 2026 account says late afternoon side light is best for photographing the ruins, and bottled water inside costs ¥5 or more. Caveat: 猜猜游 (Qunar, Apr 2026) lays out the three-hour route and the 3–5 pm light advice; Karl (Jul 2026) says entering at the East Gate and backtracking cost an extra hour. source
• Western Mansions Exhibition Hall is closed. The Western Mansions Exhibition Hall (西洋楼展览馆) closed on 11 June 2026 for display upgrades, with no reopening date announced. Check the park's WeChat account before planning around it. Caveat: The notice does not say whether the ¥25 full pass price changes; the exhibition hall is part of the ¥15 Western Mansions ruins ticket (Visit Beijing). source
• Weekend entry peaks: arrive early or late. The park advises that weekend entry peaks fall at 10:30–12:00 and 13:30–15:30, so arrive early or late. Caveat: The peak-hour advice appears in The Beijing News article (via NetEase, 24 Sep 2026), not in the operator notice. source
• Seasonal highlights. One 2025 guide lists magnolias in March, lotuses in June, ginkgo leaves turning gold in October and snow on the ruins in December. Weekday mornings are quieter. Caveat: Vivian (2025) gives the monthly highlights; the NetEase article describes the 2026 ginkgo and autumn-foliage progression in October and November. source
• A free green park by the north wall. Beiyuan Green Park (北垣绿地公园), about 10 hectares with a 1.7 km walking path, sits outside the park's north wall and is free to enter. It is separate from the ruins. The park also opened its Great North Gate (大北门) as a new entrance, which takes some East Gate and South Gate crowd and gives residents north of the Fifth Ring Road an entry. Caveat: The operator notice does not say whether tickets are sold at the North Gate. source
• Foreign student cards do not get the student discount. The park's student discount is for full-time Chinese students aged 18+ at bachelor level or below; the rule explicitly excludes postgraduates, foreign student cards, short-term trainees and adult-education students. Buy a standard ticket (¥10, or ¥25 for the full pass) unless you qualify another way. Caveat: Written from the Visit Beijing page's ticket-concession rule; the page is not dated. source
• Free admission on three days a year. Admission to the whole park is free on the second Saturday of June (Cultural Heritage Day), the third Saturday of September (National Defense Day) and 18 October (Yuanmingyuan Memorial Day). Expect more visitors on those days. The park's own annual and monthly passes cover only the main gate, and Beijing municipal park annual passes are not valid here. Caveat: The Visit Beijing page does not say how the free days interact with the Western Mansions ruins ticket; confirm on 010-62543673 (08:30–17:00). 小张游记 (Dec 2025) also lists the three free days, and 方十三不方 (Jun 2025) notes that minors, people aged 60 and over and model workers enter free. (2 travelers) source
• Porcelain exhibition from 1 October. From 1 October to 6 November 2026 the Yuanmingyuan Museum shows a joint exhibition of Jingdezhen imperial-kiln porcelain and restored Yuanmingyuan porcelain: 41 relics with interactive and hands-on activities. Caveat: Operator notice of 28 Sep 2026; the notice does not say whether the museum needs a separate ticket. source
• The original horse head is away until 25 October. The park's bronze horse head is on loan: it was shown at Changshu Museum in Jiangsu (exhibition to 8 October 2026), and the original is on show at the Fujian Museum's digital exhibition from 31 July to 25 October 2026. Zhengjue Temple may therefore not display the original; check the park's WeChat account before building a visit around it. Caveat: Both facts come from the park's own news items; they do not say what is displayed at Zhengjue Temple in the meantime or when the horse head will be shown there again. 向往草原's post of 21 July 2026 still describes seeing the original at the temple, which does not fit those news items. source
• East gate in, south gate out: the holiday-proof direction. 向往草原 (Jul 2026), 伊枝兔 (Feb 2026) and 条鱼 (May 2026) all go in by the East Gate, see the Western Mansions ruins within five minutes' walk, then sail or walk through Fuhai to the South Gate and Line 4. 伊枝兔 found the usual south-in, east-out route a trap on a holiday, because outside the East Gate there is no metro and no taxis and you have to queue for a bus (432 or 424) back to the station; to reach the East Gate she took a taxi or bus 432 or 424 from across the road from Yuanmingyuan station, about 10 minutes. Jayson (Aug 2025) also says to avoid the South Gate on peak days, with queues of half an hour or more, and momo (May 2025) found it nearly 2 km from the South Gate to the Great Fountain. Caveat: The route in the 'south in, east out' tip suits a quiet weekday: 妙妙 (May 2025) and 哆咪的日记 (Sep 2025) took it and say the subway is about 2 km from the East Gate, so a shared bike or taxi is needed. Anonymous commenters say the East Gate is nearest the ruins and best by taxi. (5 travelers) source
• Boat ¥40 and cart ¥20 between the ruins and the gates. 向往草原 (Jul 2026) rides the ¥20 sightseeing cart from near the Western Mansions to the junction of the three gardens, while 暴走研究所 (May 2026) buys the ¥20 cart ticket at the West Gate for a ride straight to the Great Fountain; neither lets you get off on the way. 条鱼 (May 2026) and 暴走研究所 pay ¥40 per person for the boat from the Western Mansions to the South Gate. 哆咪的日记 (Sep 2025) says the boat crosses two lakes with a change of boat, children under 1.2 m ride free, sailing hours are 08:00–17:00 in March, April and October and 08:00–18:00 from May to September, buy the ticket before joining the queue, sit at the front and go about 16:00–17:00 for soft light; 五更天 (Jun 2025) wrote ¥35. Caveat: Prices are as written by the authors; the boat season and the sailing hours were not checked on an operator page, and a commenter (anonymous) asks whether boats run in November. (5 travelers) source
• Voice guide ¥15 by QR code at the South Gate. 哆咪的日记 (Sep 2025) says a full-route voice guide can be bought for ¥15 by scanning a code at Qichun Garden by the South Gate. Jayson (Aug 2025) says the South Gate visitor centre gives out a free map and that food inside is expensive (instant noodles ¥20, a sausage ¥10), so bring water and snacks. Caveat: One author each; Visit Beijing lists an official audio guide at a different price, so confirm at the gate. (2 travelers) source

Sources

• Yuanmingyuan Ruins Park
• Beijing Municipal Government (published 2026-03-20)
• Haidian District Cultural and Tourism Bureau (published 2026-03-26)
• Beijing Culture and Tourism Bureau Publicity Center (Visit Beijing)
• Yuanmingyuan Ruins Park (published 2026-06-09)
• Yuanmingyuan Ruins Park (published 2026-09-28)
• Yuanmingyuan Ruins Park (published 2026-09-02)
• Beijing Daily (via Sohu) (published 2026-06-09)
• Beijing Youth Daily (via NetEase) (published 2026-09-25)
• The Beijing News (via NetEase subscription account) (published 2026-09-24)
• The Beijinger (published 2024-09-08)
• The Beijinger (published 2023-04-08)
• Urban China Travelogue
• China Travel Places (published 2026-07-15)
• Qunar travel notes (published 2026-04-23)
• Beijing Bendibao (local info site) (published 2025-05-26)
• Yuanmingyuan Ruins Park (published 2026-06-26)
• Yuanmingyuan Ruins Park (published 2026-08-01)
• 向往草原 (published 2026-07-21)
• 伊枝兔🐰 (published 2026-02-28)
• 条鱼 (published 2026-05-18)
• Jayson (published 2025-08-15)
• momo (published 2025-05-03)
• 暴走研究所 (published 2026-05-08)
• 哆咪的日记 (published 2025-09-21)
• 五更天 (published 2025-06-05)
• 妙妙 (published 2025-05-30)
• 僵小鱼 (published 2026-01-10)
• Nemo不是小丑鱼 (published 2026-05-16)
• 有梦想的知了 (published 2025-08-18)
• 陈皮话梅糖 (published 2026-08-19)
• 小张游记 (published 2025-12-24)
• 方十三不方 (published 2025-06-24)

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