Forbidden City Sold Out? WTF?! Your Fix is Right Here!

[Orlando Ryan]

Hello everyone! If you're also a spontaneous traveler who loves to just pack up and go on a trip, this casual travel guide, "A Novice's Beijing Tour," might be of help to you!

• Even if you impulsively decide to take a journey to Beijing (China), don't panic! The key expense is your accommodation in Beijing. Once that is settled, the rest is all about the places you choose to visit, which should leave no regrets for the most part!

My itinerary is as follows:

• [April 30th, 2025 at 4 PM]

  • On a whim, I decided that I would leave Shenzhen for Beijing early the next morning (Labor Day, which marked the start of the Labor Day holiday)! Tickets on trains to Beijing were sold out across the country back then, but I didn't give up hope and kept checking for tickets to Beijing West Railway Station on the official ticket booking App.
  • After patiently waiting for about two hours, clicking and refreshing non-stop, I finally managed to book a ticket through the waitlist option!
  • WARNING! A certain ticket-purchasing app can sometimes be tricky. If you're curious about which one it is or what to keep in mind, feel free to message me privately—I specialize in navigating through pitfalls!

• [May 1st, 2025 – Labor Day]

  • While en route on high-speed train, I found that scenic site tickets had already been booked预约不到! (Reminder: many scenic spots in Beijing require prior online bookings for entrance during holidays.) I was so frustrated that I thought about buying tickets back home.
  • But! The flag-raising ceremony at Tian'anmen Square scheduled for early the next morning had apparently reached booking capacity, yet I continuously refreshed the page and managed to successfully purchase a spot! This ceremony is quite popular among visitors, making entry tickets tough to come by.
  • Along the way, I posted a query on Xiaohongshu (a lifestyle social media app popular in China) for advice from fellow users. They recommended visiting the Summer Palace, an excellent alternative, and I even managed to book a ticket to the Summer Palace while still on the train. Originally known as the imperial garden of the Chinese emperor.
  • Key take-away: When trying to enter sites like Tian'anmen Square and the Summer Palace, don't easily give up even when the apps say "sold" or "sold-out". Refreshing multiple times may yield some free tickets!
  • Therefore, with these two hard-won tickets in hand, I smoothly entered Beijing. Upon arrival in the late afternoon around 4:30 PM, checked into my hotel by 6 PM.
  • At 7 PM, I headed straight to Tian'anmen Square to witness the awe-inspiring Chairman Mao Mausoleum, Tian'anmen Gate Tower, stunning musical fountains and fireworks show, which I personally find extremely exhilarating! For dinner at 9 PM, I enjoyed authentic Beijing stewed mutton served in a copper pot—a traditional delicacy.

• [May 2nd, 2025]

  • On the second day, I visited the Summer Palace. A phrase my friend group often recites comes to mind: "Had it not been for the Qing Dynasty’s demise (the last dynasty of feudalism in China), how could common people like us get to ride boats around the former emperor’s imperial garden?"
  • Tips for exploring the Summer Palace:
    • From personal experience, purchasing just one main admission ticket is enough! The Summer Palace is vast and difficult to fully explore in just one day.
    • Imagine yourself navigating within the life of court life of the old monarchy, like the attendants, princesses, nobles, empresses and more—these are all free "appreciations" from the perspective of imagination. Renting costumes to take pictures requires advanced planning since renting the period set is rumored to cost more than a night's stay at a hotel.
    • Boating is an additional paid activity available on Kunming Lake within the Summer Palace.
  • After the Summer Palace, I lost some interest in visiting the Imperial Palace (also known as the Forbidden City) because the latter was already a fulfilling experience.
  • I opted for an alternative route to enjoy Peking Roast Duck. I stumbled upon an affordable yet authentic restaurant called Pian Yi Fang Roast Duck Restaurant in the first floor of Handan Iron and Steel Hotel (a well-known brand).
  • Meanwhile, the queue at another famous duck restaurant nearby named Sijiminfu at 5 PM already had 739 numbers in the wait list, meaning they would serve customers around 10 PM. We were fortunate to discover the 'Pian Yi Fang’– an environment-friendly yet reasonable price spot with three different ways of enjoying roast duck – most importantly no long queues! We left sated around 7 PM.
  • Later that evening, we took a taxi to the Olympic Park as planned for sightseeing of iconic venues from the 2008 Olympics – Bird's Nest (National Stadium) and Water Cube (National Aquatics Center).

• [May 3rd, 2025]

  • A crucial reminder about hotel bookings!
    • Every traveler struggles while considering whether to extend their stay. If you plan to spend more than 3 days in Beijing, I strongly advise reserving multiple nights upfront during the first booking. Doing this usually provides a better rate and saves you the trouble of moving to a different accommodation.
    • We chose not to book for the next several days thinking it would be feasible to switch accommodations later, which ultimately turned out to be time-consuming without added benefits.
  • As tickets for the Great Wall seemed to be easier to obtain on May 1st, we never anticipated making any advance arrangements.
  • However, when deciding to visit the Great Wall back at the hotel on the night of May 2, it turned out that train tickets and Great Wall entry tickets to Badaling (the most renowned route) were already sold out.
  • When facing challenging reservation situations, here's how I dealt with the situation.
    • I used a "roundabout" approach (meaning I creatively sought the issue): Instead of a direct path I bought tickets to Zhangjiakou city, located near Badaling, then proceeded towards Badaling via Zhangjiakou, where rail tickets were readily available!
    • During the ride, rather than giving up, I kept refreshing the booking pages, managing to successfully reserve tickets to the Great Wall for the next day. The key takeaway is: seeing "sold out," "no available spots," or "tickets unavailable" doesn't immediately mean failure. There's always a way to solve problems, as suggested by the popular saying, "hope arises beyond a dim path".
  • Hence, today could finally mark the beginning of my Great Wall adventure!

(Stay tuned for the continuation of my Beijing adventure! Should you be interested in my travel stories, feel free to message me privately to get in touch!)