VERIFIED2026.09.11Jingshan, Beihai, Houhai & the Drum Tower · 39.926°N 116.382°E
TicketedClosure day
The imperial lake garden west of the Forbidden City — a lake with a white Tibetan-style dagoba on its island, in use as a palace garden since the 1100s, a public park since 1925. It is where Beijing families actually go: rowing boats, the Nine-Dragon Screen, the walled courtyard gardens on the north shore. Big (the water alone is over half the park), cheap, and open from 6:30 to 21:00 in summer.
IDReal-name entry; passport handling is unconfirmed.Verified · 2025-03Details ↓Source ↗
Address1 Wenjin St, Xicheng (north of the Forbidden City)Verified · 2026-09Source ↗Navigate ↗
EntranceNorth Gate: Line 6 Beihai North station. East Gate faces Jingshan's West Gate. South Gate is on Wenjin St, closest to the island
Last verified 2026-09-11
How to book
Online ticketing exists (park notice: 'bring your ID card when you buy online'); the tourism-bureau page lists no channel. Whether walk-up tickets are sold at the gates is not stated on the pages we readVerified · 2025-03Source ↗
ID details
Real-name entry; passport handling is unconfirmed. Online tickets are real-name: the park's 2025 notice says to bring the ID card used to buy. Passport handling not published
Beat the crowds
Weekend afternoons on the island and around the boat docks are the crush; the north-shore courtyards (Jingxinzhai, Xitian Fanjing) are quiet even then because they need the combined ticket. Early morning is locals' tai chi and choir time — pleasant, not crowded.
Language
Bilingual gate signs; no English audio guide listed. Expect the courtyard gardens' labels to be mostly Chinese (our expectation, not checked in 2026)