How can I book Beijing sights if my overseas phone number is rejected?

At a glance

• Beijing's official guidance directs foreign visitors to https://intl.dpm.org.cn/index.html?l=en for Palace Museum passport booking. [1]
• The museum releases tickets 7 days in advance at 20:00, requires real-name booking and does not sell same-day tickets. [2]
• Foreign-passport visitors use the original document for manual entry checking at the south Meridian Gate. [1]
• The same Beijing guidance distinguishes the Summer Palace: its online flow requires a mainland phone number, while foreign-passport visitors can use the staffed entrance ticket route. Do not transfer that rule to the Palace Museum. [1]

What to do next

1. Before the ticket release, open the official English Palace Museum site and prepare each visitor's passport details, visit date and a working contact method. Use the English route linked above rather than repeatedly entering an overseas number into a different mainland-only form.
2. Calculate the release date 7 days before the intended visit and set a reminder for 20:00 China time. Check that the date is an opening day, particularly around Mondays and statutory holidays, before arranging other fixed activities around it.
3. Enter each visitor's name and passport information carefully and select the intended session and ticket type. Inspect the final details before paying, since correcting the wrong identity or date is harder than avoiding the mistake.
4. After payment, confirm the order shows a successful reservation. Save the order reference, visitor details and entry instructions offline; keep any payment record separately so you can distinguish a charge from a completed admission booking.
5. If a form blocks your number, first confirm the domain and language route. Capture the precise error and ask the official booking support or your authorised seller to resolve that field, rather than inventing a mainland number you cannot use.
6. On the day, carry the original booking passport and approach the south Meridian Gate. Ask staff for manual foreign-passport checking if there is no usable QR code or the automated reader does not accept the document.

If your situation is different

You are actually booking the Summer Palace: use its own current foreign-visitor procedure. Beijing's guidance provides an entrance-counter alternative to its mainland-number online flow; it is a different attraction from the Palace Museum.

You use a ticket agency: have it confirm the actual successful museum reservation, date and passport details. Keep its booking support available, but do not assume that an advance reservation request means museum admission has already been issued.

Tickets are unavailable: choose another date or a different activity for that day. Do not plan to solve sold-out admission by presenting a passport at a same-day sales counter the museum says it does not operate.

You travel with several people: prepare every passport before release and check that each person appears on the confirmed booking. A successful order for one visitor does not add the rest of the group automatically.

Common mistakes

• Treating Palace Museum and Summer Palace phone rules as identical: open the correct attraction's booking route.
• Using a made-up mainland phone number: use a contact method you can access and resolve the actual form problem.
• Waiting until the visit morning to book: prepare for the 7-day 20:00 release.
• Confusing a payment or reservation request with issued admission: check the final order and visitor list.

Quick questions