Forbidden City (Palace Museum, Gugong) in Beijing (China)

What an impressive piece of history the Forbidden City is. This place is cool and I bet you will like going to this place too. The scale of the “city” (or palace) was incredible.

Our impression – Reasons to go there

The architecture was astonishing, with the Forbidden City containing a succession of huge courtyards flanked by high red walls, with large ornate buildings and gates dividing the sections. Along the way we got to see some of the ancient sculptures, which were carved out of stone along the stairs leading to the courtyards.

For the first half hour of our visit, Sabine and I had trouble finding each other on the map in the brochure. We thought we had been walking for quite some time and we thought we were probably halfway up the western side. I finally found our position – we were still in the upper northwest corner and barely advanced at all.

That was good, but we also realized that we had to pick up the pace if we wanted to see a lot during the three or four hours we had planned for the visit.

Advice

The Forbidden City in Beijing is located right in the center of Beijing, in the heart of the city. It is also known as GuGong or as the Palace Museum.

Get there when the gates open (around 8.30am) if you want to walk through the vast and spectacular courtyards in relative peace.

How to get to the Forbidden City in Beijing

You can get to the Forbidden City (Palace Museum, Gugong) in Beijing via subway line 1 at Tian An Men West or Tian An Men East station, the bus station of the same name for lines 1,4 , 52 and 728 is also convenient to catch on Chang An Road. Alternatively, the “Gugong” bus station for lines 101, 109 and 810 is located at the north gate of the Forbidden City.

Additional Information

The Forbidden City was the Chinese imperial palace from the middle of the Ming Dynasty to the end of the Qing Dynasty. This is truly the place to appreciate the power and greatness of the Chinese imperial court during the height of its power in the Ming and Qing dynasties. Despite the transformation of the city around it, the Forbidden City fortunately remains relatively intact. A few years ago there was a lot of local uproar when a Starbucks coffee shop opened in the Forbidden City, some interpreting this as a return to the bad times of colonial rule. However, in July 2007, Starbucks decided to close the store as part of the restoration of the Forbidden City, which in part is toning down the commercial locations within the city walls. There are a handful of other cafes and gift shops. Only 2/5 areas of the palace are open, but some places are under restoration and will open before 2008. The current entrance fee is ¥ 60. You can rent an audio guided tour explaining certain temples and their uses for ¥ 40 with a deposit of ¥ 100 (more than a dozen languages ​​available). The signs posted around and inside the buildings are quite short and are written in Chinese and English.

See all our photos

We post all of our photos of the Forbidden City on findoutwheretogo.com [http://www.findoutwheretogo.com/search.php?cat_id=45&search_keywords=beijing%20AND%20forbidden_city]:

Tip for finding the best hotel deals