August 25, 2009 – Day 244 – Beijing, China

Hundreds upon hundreds of tourists flood the gates of the Forbidden City once they has rushed through Tinananmen Square behind their shouting tour guide wildly waving a flag or umbrella (or contraption of both affixed together).

Iconic Mao portrait

We weave our way carefully, quickly through the bumbling crowds who are alternately pointing, staring, shouting, stopping, bumbling, weaving, and otherwise getting into our and everyone else’s way as they stare at us and any other foreigners they can spot. It’s 9 in the morning and this place is already a madhouse!

Tianamen Square

Tour guides rush their big groups into the ticket gates only to huddle everyone together for some informative shouting about this particular building they are standing beside just inside and around the corner from the entrance.

Not sure why they are all bunched together

We cut off to the side and try to find as many ways we can to avoid the crowds that resemble at least half the population of China. But even in such a packed, noisy, chaotic place, we still managed to find some less traveled areas and even a couple of (momentarily) quiet ones.

Nice quiet corner

Overall we enjoyed seeing the Square and the Forbidden City but it was not thrilling or overly exciting. There is much beautiful artwork and architecture and is most certainly worth the hassle and crowds.

Detail on a roof inside the city

What’s more is that the admission price is quite reasonable, at RMB60 for entrance to the “Palace Museum” (which is indeed the Forbidden City). We paid an extra RMB10 to see the Treasure Gallery which was much less touristed and quite a lovely respite from the crowds and there are a couple other areas that you can pay a little extra to get into if you want to see some ceramics or other neat cultural relics. There is a separate admission fee for the Gate tower so don’t think you are buying a ticket into the entire Forbidden City with only this ticket.

Pile of people peering into a basically empty room

Travel Tip:

As soon as you pass through the ticket checking gate, you will see all the tour groups speeding right through the center of the Forbidden City. Unless you are wishing for sudden death by trampling, you will immediately notice the areas to the right (and left, for that matter) which have relatively few tourists pouring through them. These sides offer a less populated route into the depths of the City and will save you much irritation and bruising. We also found the the interiors of the buildings that everyone pines to see (and by “pine” we mean, elbow, kick, shove, maybe even bite and scratch to get a glimpse/photo) are very nice indeed but after you have seen a couple, you have more or less seen them all. However, this is only representative of our own experience and you might well find that you appreciate and enjoy seeing the interiors of the halls despite being among a very mean spirited crowd our photo-seeking tourists who would rather stomp on you than let you catch the slightest glimpse of the “hall of peace.” Good luck and fight hard!