Historic site · BEIJING · UNESCO
Summer Palace
颐和园 · Yíhéyuán
About
Imperial garden retreat in northwest Beijing, around Kunming Lake. Empress Dowager Cixi's restored 1880s landscape — pavilions, the Long Corridor, the Marble Boat.
The Summer Palace was the imperial retreat from the heat of central Beijing, expanded into its present form in the 1880s by the Empress Dowager Cixi using funds (controversially) diverted from naval modernisation. The 290-hectare grounds are organised around the 2.2 km² Kunming Lake. The 728m painted Long Corridor runs along the north shore. Longevity Hill rises behind, with the Tower of Buddhist Incense as the focal pavilion. The Marble Boat — a stone-lake-pavilion — is a 19th-century landlocked indulgence. UNESCO-listed since 1998.
How to get there
Metro Line 4 to Beigongmen (north gate) or Xiyuan (east gate).
When to visit
Morning. Spring (April–May) for the magnolias and lake walks; autumn for the colour.
Other attractions in Beijing
Itineraries featuring this site
- Beijing weekend — 3 days in the capital
3d · Three days in Beijing covering the Forbidden City, Great Wall at Mutianyu and the Temple of Heaven — the irreducible core of the capital, managed at a pace that avoids pure exhaustion.
- Accessible China — mobility-friendly 7 days in Beijing and Shanghai
7d · Seven days in Beijing and Shanghai planned for visitors with mobility limitations — step-free access, English-language signage, accessible transport and accommodation notes throughout.
- Beijing + Xi'an + Shanghai — 7-day first-timer circuit
7d · The canonical first-time China loop: two days in imperial Beijing, one day in Xi'an for the Terracotta Army, and two days in Shanghai. Linked by HSR throughout.
- Beijing to Inner Mongolia by Rail, 10 days
10d · Overnight train from Beijing north through Zhangjiakou and Hohhot to the Mongolian steppe — combining Great Wall railway heritage, Inner Mongolia grasslands, and the ruined Xanadu of Kublai Khan.
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