Summer Palace, Beijing: Complete Guide to Kunming Lake and Longevity Hill

The Summer Palace is unlike every other imperial site in Beijing in one obvious way: roughly three-quarters of its 290-hectare grounds is water — Kunming Lake, a largely artificial lake expanded over centuries, with Longevity Hill rising from its northern shore and the palace buildings arranged across the hill and shoreline rather than contained within a single walled compound.

It was built as a retreat from the formality and heat of the Forbidden City, used most famously — and most notoriously — by the Empress Dowager Cixi, who in the late 19th century diverted naval modernization funds to rebuild and expand the palace after it was burned by British and French forces in 1860 during the Second Opium War, a decision historians still cite as a contributing factor in the Qing navy's catastrophic defeat against Japan in 1894-95. The marble boat on the lake's edge, built with some of those diverted funds, is now one of the site's most photographed — and most pointed — landmarks.

The Long Corridor, a roughly 728-meter covered walkway along the lake's north shore painted with thousands of individual scenes from Chinese mythology and literature, is the site's signature feature and worth slowing down for rather than walking through quickly. Longevity Hill rewards the climb with the Tower of Buddhist Incense, visible across much of the lake, and a genuinely good overview of the whole complex from its base.

Budget 2.5 to 4 hours — more than the Temple of Heaven, less than a full Forbidden City day, but enough that trying to combine it with the Forbidden City or Great Wall on the same day means rushing one or both. Many visitors underestimate the walking distance around the lake itself; it is a large site and comfortable shoes matter here as much as anywhere else in Beijing.

The Summer Palace sits in northwest Beijing, roughly 40-50 minutes from the city center by taxi or Didi, and is also reachable by subway (Line 4 to Beigongmen station) for travelers comfortable navigating the system independently. A through-ticket covering the main buildings costs roughly ¥60 in peak season, with a cheaper grounds-only option if you skip the ticketed interior halls.

It's a reasonable combination with the nearby Lama Temple, Beijing's largest functioning Tibetan Buddhist temple, if you want a full day in this part of the city rather than rushing back to the center.