How to buy Temple of Heaven tickets as a foreigner with a passport
Use the official platform, Visiting Beijing Parks (畅游公园), run by the Beijing Municipal Administration Center of Parks. Foreign visitors can buy with a passport or permanent residence permit. The catch is the phone number: online booking needs a Chinese mobile number. Without one, go to the window at a park gate with your passport.
- Open www.bjgyol.com.cn. The default language is Chinese. Click "Language" at the upper right to switch to English.
- Register with a mobile phone number and an SMS code (see the next section for foreign numbers).
- Find the Temple of Heaven, read the "Kind reminder", then pick the visit date, time period and number of visitors. Add each visitor's details, submit the order and pay.
- Open "My Ticket" to see your e-ticket. At the gate you scan the QR code and show a valid ID such as your passport.
You can also book through the "Visiting Beijing Parks" WeChat account or its mini program. The pages use several names for the entry points, and we list them as written. The platform's Chinese notice names the WeChat mini-programs "畅游公园" and "天坛官方服务平台" as the designated ticketing platforms. The platform's ticketing notice names the WeChat Official Account "畅游公园". A 2024-07-19 Beijing government page names the Official Accounts "Visiting Beijing Parks" and "Temple of Heaven". The Park Tours page names the Official Account "Temple of Heaven Official Ticketing Platform". The pages don't say whether these are one service or several, so start from the website above.
The platform says its ticket sales and refund service runs 06:00-23:20 daily. Online payment is by Alipay or WeChat only. The help centre doesn't say whether a foreign bank card can be linked to either.
No Chinese phone number or mainland WeChat? Your options
The platform's help centre says registration needs a mobile phone number and an SMS verification code, and one phone number binds to one account. The parks centre's answer of 2025-07-22 goes further: first-time buyers must finish real-name verification, and foreign mobile numbers cannot be used for it. It tells you to get a Chinese number at a telecom operator's service outlet first.
Foreign number on the English site?
The Beijing government's online ticket guide explains how to switch the website to English. The platform's help centre doesn't say whether it accepts a foreign number for registration. The parks centre's 2025-07-22 answer says foreign numbers can't be used for first-time verification.
The offline option needs no phone. Go to the comprehensive service window at the gate area of the park with your valid ID document, and the staff place the order for you. The parks centre's answer of 2025-06-20 adds that no real-name appointment or phone number is needed this way. Payment at the window can be cash (CNY), BEIJING PASS, or foreign bank cards such as VISA and Mastercard. The parks centre's answers of 2025-06-20 and 2025-07-22 don't say which of the park's gates has the window. For help in Chinese, the centre runs a 24-hour hotline at +86-10-68300800.
Are Klook, Viator or other third-party Temple of Heaven tickets valid?
In the 2025-07-22 answer, a traveller asked about tickets from Klook, Viator and GetYourGuide. The Beijing Municipal Administration Center of Parks replied: "We have not authorized any third-party ticket-purchasing platform to sell tickets." It named Visiting Beijing Parks (畅游公园) as its official ticketing platform. That answer does not say whether a given voucher will be accepted at the gate.
The platform also has a rule on resale. Its English Kind Reminders say speculative reselling of tickets is prohibited. Such an e-ticket becomes invalid and is not accepted at the park entrance, refund requests are refused, and the accounts and mobile numbers are blacklisted. The Chinese notice also bans buying and selling on behalf of others, price changes, and unauthorised bundled or package sales. The platform's English Kind Reminders and Chinese notice don't say how these rules apply to a specific website's voucher. We'd buy on the official platform or at the gate window.
Can you buy Temple of Heaven tickets at the gate, or do you need to book first?
The official sources give three statements, and they sit side by side:
- The parks centre's answer says "No reservation is required for visiting the municipal parks of Beijing". It says e-tickets for the nine parks can be bought 1-7 days in advance.
- The platform's Chinese notice says that when the park is not full that day, you can scan a QR code at the park gate area and buy that day's ticket.
- The platform's ticketing notice says tickets are bought 1-7 days ahead with real-name purchase on the "畅游公园" account.
A Beijing government news item of 2024-06-24 says the reservation requirement for municipal parks has been abolished and that visitors can buy tickets on-site or in advance. A Beijing government page dated 2024-07-19 still speaks of real-name staggered reservations 1-7 days ahead. It is the older text.
Our advice: if your day is fixed, buy 1-7 days ahead and your slot is settled. Same-day purchase depends on how full the park is that day. The e-ticket is only valid on the visit date.
Temple of Heaven ticket prices: park entry vs combo ticket
These prices come from the Beijing government's Park Tours page, which carries no date, and match the Chinese page of Visit Beijing. Peak season is 1 April to 31 October. Off season is 1 November to 31 March. All figures are CNY.
| Ticket | Peak | Peak concession | Off season | Off-season concession |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Admission ticket | 15 | 7.5 | 10 | 5 |
| Combo ticket | 34 | 17 | 28 | 14 |
The combo ticket is admission plus the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests (祈年殿), Echo Wall and Circular Mound Altar. The platform describes it the same way. A separate ticket for those three buildings alone is CNY 20 (concession 10), with no season split on the page. Combo and scenic-spot tickets can't be reused at each spot. The booking platform's own pages show no prices.
Foreign visitors book the same ticket types, using a passport or permanent resident ID card. The 2024-07-19 Beijing government page lists an "Admission Ticket (Passport/Foreign Permanent Resident ID Card)" at CNY 20 and a concession ticket at CNY 10 without explaining them. They equal the three-building price, and nothing says foreign visitors pay a different rate.
Free and half-price tickets
Under-18s (exclusive of 18) enter free by showing valid ID documents. The Ticket Policy also has an item that begins with visitors aged 60 and above from outside Beijing. That same item continues: "Visitors from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan and foreign visitors are entitled to enter the park by showing their valid ID documents, such as the Exit-Entry Permit for Travelling to and from Hong Kong and Macao, and the passport, for free tickets." The page puts that sentence under the "aged 60 and above" item and doesn't say who among foreign visitors it covers.
Full-time students with a bachelor's degree or below, aged 18 or above, can buy half-price admission tickets by showing valid ID documents. Graduate students, adult education students and spare-time, evening and correspondence university students are excluded. The page doesn't say whether foreign student cards are accepted. These measures exclude annual and monthly passes and tickets for major events.
Temple of Heaven opening hours, time slots and Monday closure
| Season | Park | Parks within the park (Hall of Prayer and others) |
|---|---|---|
| High season, 1 April to 31 October | Opens 6:00, stops admission 21:00, closes 22:00 | Opens 8:00, stops admission 17:30, closes 18:00 |
| Low season, 1 November to 31 March | Opens 6:30, stops admission 21:00, closes 22:00 | Opens 8:00, stops admission 16:30, closes 17:00 |
The low-season park hours match a Beijing government news item of 2025-11-01 on off-season hours. The next low season starts on 1 November 2026.
Monday. The platform's Chinese notice says the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests and the other scenic spots in the park are closed every Monday, except national statutory holidays, for maintenance of cultural relics and old buildings. The notice doesn't say the park itself closes. If the Hall of Prayer is the point of your visit, pick another day.
Admission time slots
Online tickets are for a time slot, and you must be checked in before the slot ends.
| Season | Admission ticket slot | Check in before |
|---|---|---|
| High season | 06:00-08:00 | 08:00 |
| High season | 08:00-12:00 | 12:00 |
| High season | 12:00-16:30 | 16:30 |
| High season | 16:30-21:00 | 21:00 |
| Low season | 06:30-08:00 | 08:00 |
| Low season | 08:00-12:00 | 12:00 |
| Low season | 12:00-15:30 | 15:30 |
| Low season | 15:30-21:00 | 21:00 |
Combo tickets work differently. In high season you are checked at the entrance 6:00-16:30 and at the designated scenic spots 8:00-17:30. In low season the entrance is 6:30-15:30 and the scenic spots 8:00-16:30.
Order limits and what to show at the gate
On the platform, one full-price order can include up to 5 people and one half-price order up to 3. Enter one person per document. Each ID document can buy one admission or combo ticket per day.
The platform's Chinese notice says foreign visitors, and visitors from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, enter by QR code and must show a passport, a Hong Kong, Macao or Taiwan permit, or another valid ID, in the date and time slot of the purchase. Holders of a foreign permanent resident ID card can buy online 1-7 days ahead and enter with the original card and the QR code. The English Ticket Policy says visitors enter "by showing their ID cards used to purchase tickets". For a passport holder, follow the Chinese notice: QR code plus passport.
The English Ticket Policy lists the entrances as the East Gate, South Gate, West Gate, North Gate and the East Gate Parking Lot.
Temple of Heaven tickets: can you get a refund if plans change?
- Used tickets can't be refunded. Combo and scenic-spot tickets can't be partly refunded.
- For unused tickets, refund on your own before 11:00 (inclusive) on the visit day and it isn't counted as a no-show. After 11:00 that day it counts as one no-show.
- At most one no-show is counted per person per day. If you collect three no-shows within 30 days of the first, you can't buy tickets for 30 days, starting the day after the third.
- Refunds go back to the original payment method within 7 business days, with no handling fee. For multi-person orders, submit a refund per person.
- Request the refund on the platform where you bought: 畅游公园 or 天坛.
If the money hasn't arrived after 7 business days, call customer service on 400-693-8899 (8:30-17:30 on the Ticket Policy). The platform's refund rules and the parks centre's offline-ticketing answers don't say how to refund a ticket bought at the gate window.
Can you use the same platform for the Summer Palace, Beihai or Jingshan Park?
Yes. The platform sells tickets for nine municipal parks: the Summer Palace, Temple of Heaven, Beihai Park, Jingshan Park, Zhongshan Park, Xiangshan (Fragrant Hills) Park, Beijing Zoo, Yuyuantan Park and Taoranting Park. The Beijing government guide says Zizhuyuan Park is free with no reservation, China National Botanical Garden has its own PDF guide, and other parks use their own platforms.
The Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square and the Mutianyu Great Wall are not on that list of nine. Our pages cover them: Forbidden City tickets, Tiananmen Square reservation and Mutianyu Great Wall tickets. For the rest of the trip, see our Beijing travel guide.
Getting there and phone numbers
The platform gives the address as No.1 Tiantan Road, Dongcheng District, Beijing. The Park Tours page gives No.7, Tiantan'neidongli, Dongcheng District. That page lists Exit A of Tiantandongmen Station on Line 5.
The Temple of Heaven's phone number on Visit Beijing is 010-67028866. The Beijing Municipal Administration Center of Parks hotline is +86-10-68300800, Chinese only. Platform customer service is 400-693-8899.
