Forbidden City tickets?
 

Anyone have tips of definitively securing Forbidden City tickets? I've been hearing that they release 30k tickets every 7 days in advance of the date that you intend to go, so you have to be on the ball about getting the tickets because they sell out fast.

For those of you who have done it, are you pretty much camping on the site at a specific time? I'm on Pacific Standard time so not exactly sure when ticket sales would open for the next available date.

Just trying to figure it out ahead because my wife is going to be *extremely* upset if we fail to procure tickets to see it.

Are you sure they are selling out? Just been there la see t week during new years and thats the week when they are selling fast. Other days I heart it should be fine


​​​​​​My local guide bought it for me, she also did the tour and showed me some other things around. 80/90 USD for half day. Cathy +86 132 4173 2763. We also did a full day to to the great wall another day. I recommend

The tickets go on sale around midnight through the wechat miniprogram. You can always buy tickets for a bit more $$ using one of the travel agents (e.g. trip.com) for a few more bucks.

Thanks!!! I PMed you. Is she also on WeChat?

Good to know... so 7 days before around midnight. If we were interested in 4/2 this would mean 3/26 at 00:00 presumably?

I just looked at Viator and it looks like prices are $43 there which seems very reasonable. I just wonder how they can guarantee those tickets unless they have some special arrangement?

The nice thing about putting these tickets online rather than just having a booth like they did before is that is creates the opportunity for a few people the have “special arrangements” with many ticket resellers for what is no doubt a decent consideration. Hermes bags don’t buy themselves after all.

Of course she's on WeChat.

It should be around $25 (like on Trip.com).

When you book through a third party, you're often booking a "tour." There's an allocation of individual tickets and "tour group" tickets. There's no actual tour - the best you can get is a digital audio guide, but that's how they can get away with charging more.

I don't use it but my wife does - do you add people via their phone #?

I see it - that's $25~ per person though (so it ends up costing close to $100).

The $43 I mentioned was for all four tickets. I ended up booking two different sets - one with Treasure Gallery and one without... I'm not sure if the Treasure Gallery will really be worth the extra price and if we'll even have the time to do that if we have other things we want to see for that day.

BTW: what are your thoughts on doing Forbidden City with just a digital audio guide vs private guide? Obviously nothing is as good as a private guide but are there digital audio guides for Forbidden City that would actually pretty good and engaging for both adults and kids?

I've done both. The audio guides were fine. Tour guides are variable, if you get a good one it can be great, you can tailor your visit to your interests and maybe get answers to your questions. And the tour guides know the best instagram shots if that is of interest. If you were not visiting family at the end of the tour I would suggest the tour guide just so you have more interaction with local people. But you will be fine either way.

The same advice goes for Xian. It really depends on how you want to travel, if you want to have back and forth conversations with a tour guide it can be enlightening, especially for a first time visitor. In Xian just make sure you set the itinerary in advance and tell them exactly what you want to do. If you want to skip gift shops and gimmicky workshops make that very clear. If you prefer largely independent travel then skip the guide.