National Museum of China

Huge museum, we managed to only cover the main permanent exhibits. Remember to reserve your tickets on WeChat mini app ahead of time. If you didn’t manage to do so, just book a VIP tour on trip.com (at extra cost!) with guide. This can be done even the day before but doesn’t come cheap. Admission to museum also includes admission to Tiananmen Square (which usually requires separate reservation)! Enjoy!

A must-go-to Museum, as it houses huge collections of cultural relics from beginning of China history to the later Qing dynasty. Extremely large and it took at least three hours to complete a single floor. The Museum is located opposite the Great Hall of People, which is also near to Tiananmen Square. Secure your timeslot a week before your intended visit through the Museum website and. Drop off at 贵实楼饭店 or Grand Hotel Beijing, and walk about 10 minutes to reach the security entry of the Museum.

Extremely large museum with huge complex and ridiculously large collection of artifacts you’ll never finish in one day. Other than the permanent exhibitions, there’s also some paid exhibitions such as the Respin Russian art exhibition. The basement one history of china permanent exhibition is the highlight. If you can, just visit this exhibition. Complex is huge, be prepared to walk a lot, children might not enjoy it, so I think kids above 12 years old is better. Bring some snacks as it’s very crowded and tiring. Everyone just rests at the steps and have some snacks. Exhibits are great but the toilets are not. So minus stars for the insufficiency of toilets plus strong urine smell in every toilet. That’s unacceptable for such a large government institution. Possibly toilets only make up for 1% of the building size. Very strange ratio since toilets are a basic human need. It’s also close to Tiananmen Square, you can enjoy museum until closing time then head across the road to Tiananmen square for the flag descending ceremony. But there’s always so many people, so you might see more heads and phones than anything.

There's just too much to see here in this museum, in a good way. Unfortunate for me, many things were in Chinese. Of course, a short description might be available, but the actual juicy details would have been better if these had been available in English as well. What I furthermore disliked was the way in which communism was portrayed positively (as expected) and how other things were (such as poverty) not shown. However, as for cultural aspects, such as food and traditional Chinese medicine, there are so many maquettes, which are really fun to look at. It wasn't crowded at all, and even if it were, the space is huge. Beautiful building (on the inside). Be forewarned that it is quite a distance walking to it. It's better to take the subway by the way, because taxis aren't allowed to stop near it. Also, the coffee is really expensive there, but that taste is good.

To visit any government museums and other points of interest, you need to download WeChat and most of the institutions have something called mini programs in WeChat where you can check the activities and buy ticket We got lucky and came to know tickets are available 7 days in advance around 5 PM every day so be ready to book It is opposite the Tiananmen Square and be prepared to stand in line for the visit as they check tickets and for foreigners visitors you need to carry a passport Musuem has good layout and to understand the rich history of China be prepared to spend 2 to 3 hours in Musuem Lot of Buddhist artifacts are placed in top floor and calligraphy details are showcased to describe how it’s important to Chinese culture It can get busy so plan ahead and the Musuem is well maintained In most places I did find English translation or use Audio guide along with phone translator

Must go if you... - want to know the history of different Chinese dynasty - understand the Chinese civilization and culture better - into archaeology, history, arts and ancient times - know the development of modern China Do not go if you... - love to complain about walking too much - hate crowded places - do not have time to spare

Huge and wide-ranging museum, front ancient history to modern technologies and even some CCP artifacts. Book tickets on the website or WeChat 7 days before at 8pm Beijing time exactly. Tickets book out in minutes. Enter at the north side of the museum, DO NOT enter Tiananmen square security as it's a separate entrance. You'll exit the museum directly into Tiananmen square, so see that (or the forbidden City) after your museum visit. There's a few vending machines and cafes inside, the one in the basement is the cheapest. There's also filtered water dispensers for bottles only. I spent 6 hours here, could have spent much more!

National Museum of China (中国国家博物馆) A China SIM card is required to book a visiting slot. On-site booking is not available. Advance reservations can be made 1–7 days in advance & admission is free. Online booking opens daily from 5:00 PM. The museum is closed on Mondays. Bring passport for ID verification when collecting tickets.