Is the Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum free, and do I have to reserve?
It is free, but it uses real-name reservation, and you go in during the time slot you booked. The Ming Tomb (明孝陵) next door is a separate paid sight: ¥70 per person, or ¥100 for a combined ticket covering four Purple Mountain (Zhongshan, 钟山) sights. The Ming Tomb does not need the Mausoleum-style reservation; the park's English guide says its ticket can be bought at the entrance.
The park administration's ticketing and reservation notice (posted 2025-09-30) says the Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum (中山陵) uses real-name reservation for free admission, plus a "no noise" rule: no loud talking and no amplifiers. Groups are booked by travel agencies on a group platform, Jiubai Eyou (久柏易游), free of charge. The notice names no exception for foreign visitors.
The May Day guide (posted 2026-04-30) and the Dragon Boat guide (posted 2026-06-18) repeat that the Mausoleum is visited by reservation and recommend booking ahead in holiday periods. Their wording addresses 市民 ("citizens"); they give no separate rule for visitors from abroad.
How to reserve the Mausoleum, and can I use my passport?
Both 2026 guides list the same four options for individual visitors:
- the WeChat official account "南京钟山风景区" (Nanjing Zhongshan Scenic Area);
- the WeChat service account "中山陵园票务中心" (Zhongshan Mausoleum Ticketing Center);
- the Meituan app;
- the on-site self-service reservation kiosks, where you bring "本人身份证", your own ID card.
The notice of 2025-09-30 also carries a QR code for the park's ticketing and Mausoleum reservation mini-program. After a successful booking, you enter in the booked slot.
Passports appear in one place. The bilingual Tour Guide (posted 2025-06-19) says all tickets are real-name and the valid ID can be an ID card, a passport or a Foreigner's Permanent Residence ID, and that the Mausoleum needs an online reservation. So a passport counts as ID for tickets in general. That is not a booking route for the Mausoleum.
The 2025-09-30 notice, the Tour Guide and the two 2026 guides do not say:
- how a foreign visitor completes the Mausoleum reservation with a passport inside the mini-program or the two WeChat accounts (the 2025-09-30 notice and the two 2026 guides only list the channels);
- whether a staffed window exists where a foreigner can book the Mausoleum on the day;
- how far ahead slots open, how many people fit in one booking, or how long a slot is;
- whether Meituan or the kiosks work for a visitor without WeChat, or with a passport (the kiosk is described with an ID card only).
Some foreign-visitor help is mentioned. A park notice posted 2026-01-01 says the scenic area added multi-language ticket purchase on its online service account and multi-language ticket machines at the visitor center. It does not say which account, which languages, or whether the Mausoleum reservation is available in them. The National Day and Mid-Autumn notice (2025-09-30) says that holiday had three English-language volunteer posts (Boai Square by the Mausoleum, the visitor center, and the Ming Tomb area) giving English advice and helping with reservations. That was a 2025 holiday arrangement, not something any page says runs all year.
We'd reserve online before you go up the mountain rather than count on a window. For questions, the park's ticketing line is 025-84437786 (08:30-17:30, per the Tour Guide). We don't book sight tickets, but we can help you plan the day around your slot; see our Nanjing travel guide.
Didn't Nanjing drop scenic-area reservations in 2024?
A Nanjing municipal government report dated 2024-07-04 said that, effective immediately, graded scenic areas in the city no longer had to use real-name reservations, except popular sights. It named the Zhongshan Mausoleum scenic area among those that kept them. That is a 2024 statement. For the park now, use the 2025-09-30 notice and the 2026 guides, which still describe reservation.
Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum opening hours: Mondays and the tomb chamber
The Tour Guide (posted 2025-06-19) gives 08:30-17:00 and says the Mausoleum is closed every Monday for maintenance, except on national holidays and the birth and death anniversaries of Dr. Sun Yat-sen. It also says the tomb chamber is not open to the public.
The May Day (2026-04-30) and Dragon Boat (2026-06-18) guides give "the area above the Tianxia Weigong (天下为公) gate", the Mausoleum gate, as 08:30-17:00, with the tomb chamber closed. They don't mention Mondays. Hours can change on holidays; the Tour Guide itself says indoor venues set holiday hours by announcement. The general inquiries line is 025-84433582 (08:30-17:30, Tour Guide).
Ming Tomb tickets and the four-sight combined ticket
Prices are from the 2025-09-30 notice; the Tour Guide of 2025-06-19 lists the same figures and the sale hours.
| Sight | Price per person | Ticket-sale hours (Tour Guide, 2025-06-19) |
|---|---|---|
| Ming Tomb | ¥70 | 06:30-18:30 (February-November); 07:00-17:30 (December-January) |
| Linggu (灵谷) | ¥35 | Same as the Ming Tomb |
| Open-Air Music Hall (音乐台) | ¥10 | Same as the Ming Tomb |
| Meiling Palace (美龄宫) | ¥30 | Open 07:30-18:00, last entry 17:30 (opening hours; no separate sale hours given) |
| Combined ticket, all four | ¥100 | - |
Bought one by one, the four add up to ¥145, so the combined ticket is cheaper if you plan all four. The 2025-09-30 notice and the Tour Guide don't say which entrance sells it or whether it must be used on one day.
The 2026 holiday guides show 06:30-18:30 for the Ming Tomb, Linggu and the Music Hall (a holiday period, not the winter months). The Dragon Boat guide gives Meiling Palace 07:30-19:00 (last entry 18:00) on 19-20 June. The Ming Tomb, Linggu and Music Hall times are ticket-sale hours, and the Meiling Palace times are opening hours; none of these pages gives a separate closing time for the Ming Tomb area.
Can I buy the Ming Tomb ticket at the gate?
According to the Tour Guide (2025-06-19), yes. Apart from the Mausoleum, tickets for the other sights can be bought at each sight's entrance, or online through the mini-program. Tickets are real-name, so bring the ID you will use; the guide lists a passport.
The Ming Tomb Museum is separate
The Ming Tomb Museum (明孝陵博物馆) is a different venue, and its fee is not covered here. Its hours are 09:00-17:00, last entry 16:30, closed Mondays (Tour Guide, 2025-06-19), and 9:00-17:30, last entry 17:00 (May Day guide, 2026-04-30; Dragon Boat guide, 2026-06-18).
Half-price and free tickets: do they apply to foreigners?
The May Day guide (2026-04-30) lists ticket discounts, and the Dragon Boat guide (2026-06-18) repeats them. They relate to paid sights such as the Ming Tomb; the Mausoleum is already free but reserved.
- Free: children aged 6 and under, or 1.4 m and under; people aged 70 and over.
- Half price: ages 6 (not included) to 18; full-time students up to undergraduate level; ages 60 to 69.
- Free with valid ID for named groups, such as serving members of the military of the People's Republic of China and fire and rescue personnel.
The guides say discount holders must carry their own valid ID, and that sights with a reservation requirement must still be reserved ahead. They do not say whether a foreign student or a foreign senior qualifies with a passport, so don't count on it.
How to get to the Mausoleum and Ming Tomb by metro
The Tour Guide (2025-06-19) gives these routes, all on Nanjing Metro Line 2:
- Ming Tomb: Muxuyuan (苜蓿园), then walk or take a sightseeing bus.
- Mausoleum: Muxuyuan or Xiaolingwei (孝陵卫), then a sightseeing bus. Or get off at Xiamafang (下马坊) and walk, or take bus 34 or a sightseeing bus via Boai Road.
The 2026-01-01 notice says the park links the four adjacent Line 2 stations (Muxuyuan, Xiamafang, Xiaolingwei, Zhonglingjie) with sightseeing shuttles. Neither page gives walking times or shuttle prices.
Where to leave luggage, and what it costs
For lockers, use the 2026 guides, the newest. The May Day guide (2026-04-30) and the Dragon Boat guide (2026-06-18) list self-service lockers at Muxuyuan, Xiamafang and Xiaolingwei metro stations, the visitor center, the Mausoleum shopping street, Boai Square, the Mausoleum east and west reservation check-in gates, Ming Tomb gates 1 and 3, and other points.
- Price: most lockers cost small ¥10, medium ¥15, large ¥20 per use, with the same amount added for each day past 24:00. The Anti-Japanese Aviation Martyrs Memorial Hall charges ¥5 for a small locker or ¥10 for a large locker per use.
- Muxuyuan station: charged by the hour, small ¥4, medium ¥5, large ¥6, with a daily cap of ¥20, ¥25 and ¥30.
- Hours: 24 hours, except Xiaolingwei station, 07:00-17:00, and the lockers at the Anti-Japanese Aviation Martyrs Memorial Hall, 9:00-17:30.
Staffed storage is at the visitor center and the Ming Tomb Museum, with hours "per the on-site notice". The Qingming guide (2025-04-03) puts the visitor center at Building 6, Mausoleum Commercial Street (中山陵商业街6号楼), and the museum at No. 1 Sifangcheng, Xuanwu District (玄武区四方城1号).
The older Tour Guide (2025-06-19) priced visitor-center staffed storage at ¥10 per piece per day, 08:30-16:30, and called the Ming Tomb Museum storage free. Its Mausoleum self-service point (¥10 for 2 hours, 07:00-18:30) doesn't match the 2026 per-use prices. The 2026 guides don't repeat staffed-storage prices, so treat the 2025 figures as older.
