Beijing Zoo tickets and the Giant Panda House: prices, hours and booking in 2026

How much are Beijing Zoo tickets, and is the giant panda house included?

The zoo ticket is ¥15 in peak season and ¥10 off season. The panda house comes with the combo ticket (联票, 含熊猫馆及北京动物园门票): ¥19 peak, ¥14 off season. The zoo's July 2026 announcement specifies one-time admission to the panda house. Peak season runs April 1 to October 31; off season runs November 1 to March 31. Right now (October 2026) the peak prices apply.

The first four rows are from the zoo's hours and price page. That page has no separate panda house line. The single panda house ticket comes from the zoo's announcement of July 16, 2026, headed as the peak-season time, and the Beijing government's English article of the same day repeats it. Neither the zoo's July 16, 2026 announcement nor the Beijing government's article of the same day gives an off-season single panda house ticket price. The pages also don't say whether you can buy the single panda house ticket without a zoo ticket.

Beijing Zoo opening hours and Giant Panda House hours

The zoo times are from the zoo's own price page. The Beijing government Park Tours page lists 7:30-18:00 (peak) and 7:30-17:00 (off season). Those match the last-entry times, and the page gives no closing time.

For the panda house, the peak-season 8:00-18:00 is in both the zoo's July 2026 announcement and the Park Tours page. The off-season 8:00-17:00 is only on the Park Tours page, an undated page. Neither page says whether the panda house end time is last entry or closing. The zoo's price page gives no separate panda house hours.

Plan around the light. The zoo's notice says the park has no lighting, and asks visitors who buy tickets and enter after 17:00 to plan their time sensibly.

How to buy Beijing Zoo tickets with a foreign passport

Tickets are timed. The zoo's notice says you buy a timed ticket on the WeChat public account 畅游公园 (English name: Visiting Beijing Parks) or on 北京动物园购票平台 (Beijing Zoo Ticketing Platform). Both are named as the official platforms. The Park Tours page says foreign visitors can book on the WeChat account ‘Beijing Zoo’ with a passport.

1. Open WeChat and find 畅游公园 or 北京动物园购票平台.
2. Pick your date and time slot and enter your passport details. On 畅游公园, online payment is by Alipay or WeChat Pay.
3. Screenshot the QR code. The zoo's notice asks foreigners and Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan visitors who buy a full-price ticket with a passport, permit or permanent residence card to keep a screenshot and scan it to enter.
4. At the gate, scan the QR code at your booked time and be ready to show the passport you booked with. For a half-price ticket, the notice says you must also show a valid ID at entry.

How far ahead can you book? The platform-wide 畅游公园 ticket notice says 1-7 days in advance, with real-name booking and sales and refund service from 06:00 to 23:20. One full-price order covers at most 5 people and one half-price order at most 3. The English Ticket Purchase Instructions for Beijing Zoo say ‘more than 1 day in advance’. We can't tell you how those two fit together, so use the date range the app offers you.

Do you need a Chinese phone number?

Two official pages answer differently, and we can't say which one applies to you.

The zoo's price page and the 畅游公园 detail pages for Beijing Zoo (Chinese and English) don't mention a phone number either. The FAQ was written about the Temple of Heaven and Summer Palace, but its second half covers all nine 畅游公园 parks, Beijing Zoo included. If you have no Chinese number, the FAQ's offline route asks only for a valid ID document (next section).

Can I buy Beijing Zoo tickets at the gate?

The 12345 FAQ says you can go to the comprehensive service window at the park gate area with a valid ID document. Staff place the order for you. You can pay with CNY cash, BEIJING PASS, or foreign-currency bank cards (VISA, MasterCard and similar). The FAQ's example parks are the Temple of Heaven and Summer Palace, and it does not name a Beijing Zoo window. The zoo's discount rules do mention a comprehensive service window, for holders of a social security benefit card. The zoo's pages don't say where the window is or when it opens.

The 12345 FAQ also says: ‘No reservation is required for visiting the municipal parks of Beijing.’ Put plainly, you can book timed tickets online, and the on-site ticket window also sells tickets. The 畅游公园 English instructions add that tickets are sold on a staggered basis with limited supply, and the Chinese notice says the zoo limits visitor numbers and may close some indoor venues when the limit is reached. The 12345 FAQ and the 畅游公园 Beijing Zoo ticket instructions don't say whether the on-site window ever runs out of tickets. If you want to choose your time slot ahead of your visit, book online.

Same system, other parks: see our guides to Temple of Heaven tickets and Summer Palace tickets.

Beijing Zoo discounts: children, students and age 60+

These come from the zoo's discount rules (优惠票实施办法) on its price page.

• Free: children aged 6 or below, or no more than 1.2 m, with a valid document. The English line on the page says ‘foreign children’.
• Free, age 60 and above: the Chinese text names three groups. Out-of-province visitors use a 身份证 (Chinese ID card). Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan visitors and foreigners use a 外国人永久居留身份证 (foreigner permanent residence card), a passport or another valid document. The English line says visitors aged 60 and above may enter by holding legitimate identification documents like passports.
• Half price: ages over 6 up to and including 18, and full-time students up to undergraduate level (not adult education, evening university or correspondence courses), with an ID or a student card.
• Foreign minors and students: the page covers those who hold a permanent residence card, and the zoo's notice says foreigners who buy half-price tickets with a passport must show a valid ID at entry.

The page does not say outright that a foreign student with only a passport and a student card gets half price, so we don't claim it. It also doesn't say whether the panda house costs extra for free-entry visitors.

The new Giant Panda House: what to know before you go

The new house opened on July 16, 2026. The Beijing government's English article says it sits east of the original site, covers 13,000 square meters, has four themed zones, and has a circular route to ease holiday crowds. The new house and the Asian Games Panda House are now where visitors see the pandas. The Olympic Games Panda House is repurposed as a behind-the-scenes facility and is closed to the public.

Will I see Meng Lan?

The zoo's announcement says five pandas, Meng Lan (萌兰), Fu Xing (福星), Bai Tian (白天), Ji Nian (吉年) and Fu Jiang (福将), have all moved in and were on public display from opening day. The Beijing government article says the house is home to 10 giant pandas including Meng Lan. The five and the 10 differ, and neither page explains why. The article also says a rotation system means visitors may see different pandas each time. So no panda, Meng Lan included, is promised on your visit. If you have a particular animal in mind, the zoo asks you to contact its visitor service center first, on 010-68390274, before you buy.

Crowds and heat

• The zoo's notice says that when the panda house is crowded, the park will, as it sees fit (适时), control the entry area to the panda house and the Meng Lan viewing area, with timed visits and queuing. The zoo's notice and the 畅游公园 Beijing Zoo ticket purchase notice give no minutes-per-visit limit or numerical visitor cap.
• The 畅游公园 detail page says that above 26 degrees Celsius outdoors, the indoor and outdoor passages open so the pandas can go in and out to cool down. If indoor venues close under crowd limiting, or the pandas are indoors, visitors already ticket-checked into the house get no refund.
• Rules inside the exhibition area, from the announcement: no feeding, no tapping on the glass, no loud noise, no flash photography.

Beijing Zoo ticket refunds: two official wordings

Refund on the platform where you bought: tickets from 畅游公园 are refunded on 畅游公园, and tickets from 北京动物园购票平台 are refunded there. The two official pages word the rules differently.

Both agree that used tickets cannot be refunded. The 畅游公园 Beijing Zoo ticket purchase notice also says a combo ticket cannot be partly refunded. The zoo's page adds that a combo ticket cannot be refunded once you have entered the gate. Each ticket is valid only on the date you choose.

How to get to Beijing Zoo by metro

The address is No. 137, Xizhimenwaidajie (Xizhimen Outer Street), Xicheng District, Beijing.

• Northwest Gate: National Library of China Station, Metro Line 4, Line 9 or Line 16.
• South Gate: Beijing Zoo Station, Metro Line 4.

The Beijing government Park Tours page doesn't say which gate is closer to the panda house. The zoo's bus-route page is an interactive lookup, and we haven't listed bus numbers. For the rest of your trip, see our Beijing travel guide.

Park rules, payment and invoices

• No pets. No wheeled devices except wheelchairs, baby strollers and children's pedal strollers. The notice also bans electric balance scooters, electric toy cars, electric suitcases, fishing gear, kites and drones.
• The whole visiting area is smoke-free.
• Don't feed animals your own food, and don't use flash photography (Park Tours page).
• The Bird Garden (鸟苑) has been closed since November 22, 2025, until further notice. Some venues or animals may also be off display because of individual animals or venue maintenance.
• On 畅游公园, online payment is by Alipay or WeChat Pay. The 畅游公园 help center says invoices for tickets bought through the platform are issued at the park gate when you show the used e-ticket QR code or ID. Unused or expired e-tickets cannot be exchanged for an invoice.
• The Park Tours page says the zoo covers 80.05 hectares, and its popular animal route is 2.1 kilometers and four hours, starting at the Panda House.