Beijing Zoo

Beijing Zoo tickets: price and how to book

A zoo ticket costs ¥10 from 1 November to 31 March and ¥15 from 1 April to 31 October. The combo ticket with the Panda House is ¥14 or ¥19 — get that one. Teens aged 6–18 pay half price; children 6 and under or up to 1.2 m go free, and Visit Beijing says over-60s do too.

Tickets are real-name. The Beijing government says foreign visitors book on the official Beijing Zoo (北京动物园) WeChat account using their passport number, then show the passport and scan the QR code at the gate at the booked time. There are ticket windows at the gates as well, but queues build at weekends and on Chinese holidays.

Payment inside WeChat is by WeChat Pay, so link a foreign Visa or Mastercard before you fly. If that fails, agents such as Trip.com and Klook sell Panda House tickets too — with your passport, and for more than the gate price.

Seeing the giant pandas at Beijing Zoo

The pandas live in two houses just inside the main gate: the 1990 Asian Games Panda House and the new Giant Panda House next to it, on the east side. The 2008 Olympic Panda House is now a behind-the-scenes facility and is closed to visitors, according to the Beijing government.

The new house covers 13,000 m², with four enclosures modelled on the pandas' mountain habitats — climbing frames, a pool — linked by courtyards and covered walkways in classical Chinese garden style. Visitors follow a one-way loop, which keeps holiday crowds moving. It held 10 giant pandas when it opened, and the animals rotate between enclosures, so who you see depends on the day.

There's no official feeding timetable that we could find. Pandas are most active in the morning and often asleep by lunch, so be at the Panda House when it opens at 8:00 and see the rest of the zoo afterwards. According to Wikipedia, the zoo also keeps red pandas, South China tigers and Chinese alligators.

Beijing Zoo opening hours

The zoo is open every day from 7:30, with no closing day. Last entry is 17:00 from November to March and 18:00 from April to October; the Panda House opens at 8:00 and takes visitors until the same time. Visit Beijing adds that the grounds close an hour after last entry.

Winter is a good time to come: entry is cheaper, crowds are thin and the pandas tend to be livelier in the cold than in Beijing's summer heat — though many warm-climate animals stay indoors. In any season, a weekday between 8:00 and 10:30 is best; on weekends and Chinese holidays the panda queue gets long.

Is Beijing Zoo worth it?

For the pandas, yes — it's the easiest place to see giant pandas in Beijing, cheap and right on the metro. As a zoo overall, it's old-fashioned: many enclosures are decades old and small by modern standards. If pandas aren't on your list, we'd skip it.

Plan on two to three hours: an hour at the panda houses, then Lion and Tiger Hill, Monkey Hill and the indoor houses. The trick is to pair it with the Summer Palace, straight up Line 4 — the zoo in the morning, the palace in the afternoon.

What to see at Beijing Zoo

• The panda houses — the new Giant Panda House with its garden courtyards, and the Asian Games house. Go first, at 8:00.
• Red pandas, South China tigers and Chinese alligators — the rare Chinese species Wikipedia singles out in the collection.
• Lion and Tiger Hill (1956) — a rocky mountain-shaped enclosure and one of the zoo's landmarks.
• Monkey Hill (1946) — the oldest enclosure still standing.
• The Elephant House and the Reptile House — indoor halls worth a stop in winter or rain.
• Changguanlou (畅观楼) — a European-style palace of 1908 by the Changhe river, built for Empress Dowager Cixi as a rest stop on her boat trips to the Summer Palace.
• Beijing Aquarium — in the north-east corner, with its own pricey ticket.

Beijing Aquarium inside the zoo

The Beijing Aquarium opened in 1999 in the north-east of the zoo. An adult ticket is ¥170 from November to March and ¥175 from April to October; concessions are ¥85. Children 6 and under or up to 1.2 m go free, up to two per paying adult. Winter hours are 10:00–17:00 (last entry 16:30), summer 9:00–17:30.

The government's ticket rules say each aquarium ticket covers one visit to the aquarium and the zoo, so you probably don't need a separate zoo ticket — but the Panda House isn't included. Check when you buy. At more than ten times the price of zoo entry, it's worth it with children or on a freezing day; otherwise spend the time elsewhere.

Which Beijing Zoo ticket to buy

Prices from the Beijing Municipal Government. The ¥5 panda ticket was announced with the new Panda House in summer; we found no official winter figure, so in winter the combo is the safe choice.

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How to do it right

• See the pandas first, at 8:00 — they eat and move in the morning and sleep later.
• Buy the combo ticket up front; adding the Panda House later means another queue.
• Screenshot your QR code — mobile signal at the gates can be patchy.
• Google Maps is blocked in China without roaming or a VPN — save an offline map and 北京动物园 before you go.
• Weekdays are far quieter; on Chinese holidays expect a long panda queue.
• Carry on up Line 4 to Beigongmen for the Summer Palace — no change needed.
• The grounds are big and you'll walk several kilometres — bring water and comfortable shoes.

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