10 Best Museums to Visit in Beijing

For the museum enthusiasts, the city has hundreds of museums, and we strive to list out the 10 Best Museums to visit in Beijing among the museums in Beijing, by filtering out the best for your benefit out of the huge number. Apart from the museums, the city has a huge number of other attractions like the Great Wall, the Grand Canal, Ming Tombs, Tiananmen Square, Beihai Park, Beijing National Stadium, and the Temple of Heaven, and many more.

Getting around conveniently in Beijing has many options, like the huge network of subway metro, high-speed trains, buses, expressways, and taxis.

The first place in our museums of Beijing list is the Ancient Observatory, which is about 650 years old, having been established in 1442 during the Ming dynasty. It is located in a big area of 10,000 sq meters, but the observatory itself is in a building of 40 x 40 sq meters on a 15-meter high brick tower. It is said to be the oldest observatory in the world. You can have a look at the development of the way Chinese astronomy as it evolved over the years from 2000 BC to the Qing dynasty period. It has a rich collection of Chinese astronomical charts, dials, and other instruments on display. You can go up 20 steps to the view-tower to see more observation instruments. One useful feature observed here is that most instruments have explanations in English also to the advantage of visitors, along with the fact that this small place is not very crowded even though it is very educational and informative. There are 8 ancient instruments in the observatory, which are very interesting. This highly fascinating place is worth a visit for its historicity and a for having look at its ancient instrument models.

It is located at Dongbiaobei Hutong, Dongcheng District, Beijing. It is open from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM on all days of the week. Entry ticket costs Yuan 20.

Forbidden City, next in our list of museums in Beijing, is the name given to the Palace Museum, which was the former royal palace during the Ming and Qing dynasties from the 14^th to the 20^th centuries. Now, this is converted to the palace museum, which is housed in the palace complex in central Beijing. It was opened to the public in 1925 after the last emperor was evicted from the palace. The museum covers 72 hectares and has an astonishing 982 buildings. The museum was declared a world heritage center by UNESCO in 1987 for the largest collection of wooden architecture in the world. This museum sees an average footfall of 14 million visitors per year. The Forbidden City is protected by an 8-meter high wall and a 6-meter x 52-meter moat all around.

It also conducts frequent exhibitions and workshops for interested persons.

It is open from 8:30 AM to 5:00 PM in summer high months from April to October, and 8:30 AM to 4:30 PM during the low winter months from November to February. The entry is priced at Yuan 60 from April to October and Yuan 40 from November to March. Entry to the treasure hall and watch museum charged extra at Yuan 10 each. Different levels of guided tours are available for tourists.

The next place National Museum of China in our list of museums in Beijing was opened to commemorate the 10^th anniversary of the establishment of the Peoples Republic of China along with the Great Hall of the people in 1959. These two are ranked among the 10 great constructions of China. This museum is among the largest modern museums in the world and is dedicated to Chinese culture and history. The venue has 48 exhibition halls with an area of 800 to 2000 sq meters each. The two main exhibition themes are Ancient China and the Road to rejuvenation. Ten exhibition halls house about 3000 exhibits from Yaunmouman dated about 170,00,000 years back, to the 1912 abdication of emperor Qing dynasty. Another 9 exhibition halls have modern and contemporary revolutionary relics between 1840 and 1949, the year of the founding of the Peoples Republic of China. The most ancient treasures include the teeth of the Yaunmou man, stone tools, ancient prehistoric ritual relics, pottery, sculptures, bronze art, Buddhist sculptures, and many more.

The museum is located at Tiananmen Square East, 16, Changan Street, Dongcheng District, Beijing. It is open from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM on all days except Monday when it is closed. It is free for basic and permanent exhibitions, with entry tickets only for some temporary exhibitions.

This Chinese People’s Revolutionary Military Museum, the next place in our list of museums in Beijing, is mainly related to the path taken by the revolutionary communist party of China on the way to capturing power from 1921 to 1949. It is about the history of the communist party, history of China, military history, revolutionary history and history of the building of the People’s Army. The museum exhibits are spread over 3 floors covering 6300 sq meters area and include 1200 photos, 2400 cultural relics, 43 artworks, and 94 graphics. The exhibitions are based on new China construction and Army construction exhibition, weapons display, military exhibition, military technology, and revolutionary military arts. The thematic exhibition has collections of over 1100 photos, 1300 cultural relics, 60 weapon models, 22 personal weapons spread over 5000 sq meters of area, and is to commemorate 90 years of the founding of PLA and the work areas it has been involved with all these years. Besides, 18 types of main equipment, air, sea, and land rockets are displayed separately. Apart from these, other exhibitions like the Anti-Japanese war museum, Weapons museum, and national liberation war museum are located in different wings of the building.

The museum is located No. 9 Fuxing Road, Haidian District. It is open from 9:00 AM to 7:00 PM on all days except Mondays on which it is closed.

The Beijing Automobile Museum is another very interesting place in our list of museums in Beijing, not only for car lovers but for everyone. The building is an architectural beauty with five floors above ground and five below ground. It has everything related to automobiles, from the evolution in the development of automobiles to the current events like-new car launches, science workshops, theme exhibitions, as well as designated areas for meetings, conferences, and others. The museum covers a built-up area of around 49,000 sq meters and is meant to promote scientific innovation, international cooperation, and spreading awareness about science and development. The museum has a collection of 80 plus automobiles, related literature running into 3000 pages, more than 10,000 photographs, and over 50 large technical interactive items and 40 multimedia items.

The lovely museum in Beijing is located at 126, South Fourth Ring West Road, Fengtai District. It is open from 9:00 AM to 4:30 PM on all days, except Monday on which it is closed. Entry ticket for adults is Yuan 30, and for students, it is Yuan 20. Free entry is allowed for seniors above 65 years of age. Restaurants and souvenir shops are available for your food and shopping needs.

The next place in our list of museums in Beijing is the must-see China Aviation Museum, which is partly located in a big cave in the Datangshan mountains. This was opened to the public in November 1989 to commemorate the 40^th anniversary of the founding of the Peoples Liberation Army. The cave, which is 586-meter long x 40-meter wide x 11-meter-high was earlier part of the Shahezhen airbase. The museum is in a mammoth 1000-acre area and has a collection of everything from 200 aircrafts covering all types, aviation weapon systems, equipment like rockets, missiles, and radars. On one side, you can see the complete Chinese aviation history and also the various aircraft models from the Japanese, Soviet Union, Britain, the United States, France, and Canada. The other side displays Chinese prowess in modern aircraft manufacturing. The integrated hall displays over 550 models of aircraft and their related equipment.

This museum is located at Datangshan Town, Changping District, about 40 km from Beijing. It is open on all days from 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM, except Mondays on which it is closed. The entry tickets cost CNY 20 for the Cavern and integrated hall and 10 for Mao’s aircraft tour.

The Capital Museum is next on our list of museums in Beijing, which must be on your itinerary. It covers an area of 65,000 sq meters, with the main building having five floors above ground and 2 underground. It was initially open to the public in 1981 and shifted in 2006 to this larger venue. It is into collecting, exhibiting, and researching cultural relics, and it mainly deals with the relics unearthed in Beijing itself, mostly after 1949.

There are stunningly beautiful, more than 5600 cultural relics like the very delicate Porcelainware, Calligraphy arts, exquisite bronze vessels, coins, gorgeous jade wares, and lovely paintings, some of them even dating back to the New Stone Age. One of the main attractions is the huge, majestic stele of the Emperor Qing Long made of white marble and weighing a huge 40 tons. The cultural relic displays are categorized as Main Display, Temporary Exhibits, which are constantly rotated, and Fine Collections, which are normally very delicate items.

The museum is located at 16, Fuxingmenwai Street, Xicheng District. The entry is free but has to be booked at least 1 day in advance. It opens every day from 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM, except on Mondays on which it is closed.

The Guanfu Museum in our list of Museums of Beijing is a lovely hidden gem of an art museum that was opened in 1997 as one of the first private, nonprofit museums in this communist country. The exquisite artworks include stunningly delicate porcelain ware, lacquer, pottery, furniture, metal works, and others. It has mainly four exhibition halls, Ceramic hall, where collections span over 1000 years between the Tang and Qing dynasties. Next is the Furniture Hall, which showcases the long history of Chinese furniture making skills. The third hall is the Craftsmanship Hall, which includes beautifully crafted jade, gold, silver, and copperware, as also enamelware, and woodworks. The fourth hall is the interesting Doors and Windows Hall which features the delicately carved doors and window frames of numerous designs. It also holds paintings, sculptures by contemporary Chinese artists.

It is located at 18, Jinnan Road, Zhangwan Tomb, Dashanzi, Chaoyang District. The opening hours are from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM on all days, except on Monday when it closed at 4:00 PM. The tickets are priced at RMB 100 for adults, RMB 50 for seniors above 60 years, and students up to graduation. Entry is free for children under 1.2-meter height.

The Chinese Railway East Suburb Museum is next on our list of museums in Beijing for its railway specific collections and educational value, first such attempt in China. It comprises of three museums, Zheng Yang Gate, Zhan Tianyou Memorial Hall, and the East Suburb Museum.

The East Suburb museum has the largest collections out of the three museums and is spread over 21.000 sq meters. It has two exhibition halls, locomotive and comprehensive. Here, in this museum, the collections are dedicated to the development and evolution of locomotives which drive the railways. Its collections include different types, standards, and makes of locomotives, and it has over a hundred locomotives. There are a number of the earliest steam locomotives from China, as well as from the United States, Japan, Russia, Belgium, and others, which are displayed in eight lines. You are even allowed to ride on some of the engines displayed there.

The museum is located at Jiuxianqiao North Road, Chaoyang District. It is open from 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM on weekdays, and from 9:00 AM to 4:30 PM on weekends. The entry tickets cost CNY 20 each for museum and 3-D cinema and CNY 10 for bullet train simulator experience.

The beautiful Beijing Museum of Natural History with its awe-inspiring collections is next in our museums in Beijing list. China has successfully built such a huge museum on its own to collect, display, learn, research, spread the knowledge about the science and natural history to the practitioners and the public. The building has over 15,000 sq meters and an exhibition area of 21,000 sq meters. The specimen building has an astounding collection of over 270,000 specimens. The main attractions are the Hexcel near-bird dragon, which is the only terror-bird specimen, the scorpion bird, Jurrasic mother from China, the yellow river elephant fossil, a mummified fossil of the only Chinese dinosaur, polar bear, rhino and many more. The exhibitions have some rare and awesome collections and are divided into Animals, mysteries of Animals, Ancient Mammals, Beauty of Animals, Plant Kingdom, Dinosaur Park, Ancient Reptiles, and 3-D cinema. It also frequently hosts themed exhibitions, which are extremely interesting.

This museum in Beijing is located on 126, Tianqiao South Street, Dongcheng District. It is reachable by many bus routes and subway line 5. It is open from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM on all days, except on Mondays on which it is closed. The entry is free, but you need to inform at least one day in advance.

We have endeavored to collate as much information as possible in our museums in Beijing list to include the right combination of all types of museums which might be of interest to you when you plan to visit the city. Beijing has hundreds of museums, and dozens of such interesting museums and this list is by no means an attempt at an exhaustive tourist guide for museums. It only tries to ensure that you enjoy the essence of the city and its endeavor to collect, display, preserve, research, and involve the public in such an effort in every possible way by covering a few such places in your tour itinerary.