Jingshan Park: Panoramic Views of Forbidden City
Located at the center of Beijing City, Jingshan Park is a beautiful imperial landscape garden on the highest point in Beijing Central Axis, where you can enjoy the best view of the whole Forbidden City and the Central Axis of Beijing. Jingshan Park and 14 other cultural heritage elements form Beijing Central Axis, which was listed as a World Cultural Heritage site in 2024.
Beijing Jingshan Park Facts
Covering an area of 230,000 square meters, Jingshan Park a must-go place in Beijing, after finishing a visit to Forbidden City along the south to north visiting route. When you exist from Forbidden City’s north gate, you will see a pavilion with 3 layered eaves on a hill. This hill is called Jingshan Hill.
Jingshan (or written as Jing Shan), literally “Prospect Hill”, is also known as Coal Hill. Jingshan Park is composed of this hill and its surrounding architectural complex. Jingshan Hill was constructed with the earth and rocks excavated from the moat of the Imperial Palace and nearby canals in the Ming Dynasty. Jingshan Park served as an imperial garden for the royal families of Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties. The last emperor of the Ming Dynasty, Chongzhen, committed suicide here on a crooked tree in 1644. You can still find this tree today.
Jingshan Park consists of five individual peaks which draw the approximate historical axis of central Beijing. And on the top of each peak lies an exquisite pavilion. Of all the five pavilions, Wanchun Pavilion (Ten Thousand Spring Pavilion) is the most popular one because it offers a stunning panorama of the Forbidden City. Once the highest point of Beijing, Jingshan Park gives you a unique perspective to experience the majestic Forbidden City and the vista stretches across the city.
What to See & Do in Jingshan Park
A Bird's-eye View of the Forbidden City
There are five peaks in the park, each topped with a pavilion. Among them, Wanchun Pavilion sits in the center of the five summits as well as the Jingshan Hill, which is the highest point on Beijing Central Axis. It offers the best panoramic view of the splendid and magnificent Forbidden City.More than that, Jingshan Park is also the perfect place to take a bird's-eye view of the whole Beijing City from every direction. You can enjoy the view of Beijing Central Axis with the dignified Bell and Drum Towers in the north, and Beihai Park and White Dagoba Temple in the west. The meticulous rectangular-shape layout of Beijing City is all in your eyes.
Five Pavilions on Jingshan Hill
As we mentioned above, Jingshan Hill offers five peaks, each featuring a exquisitely designed pavilion: Zhoushang Pavilion (周赏亭), Guanmiao Pavilion (观妙亭), Wanchun Pavilion (万春亭), Jifang Pavilion (辑芳亭), and Fulan Pavilion (富览亭). These pavilions, position at different points of Jingshan Hill, not only show intricate traditional Chinese architectural styles, but also offers unique perspective of the surroundings.
Vast Peonies in Full Bloom
Moreover, if you choose the best time to visit Jingshan Park, which is from late April to mid-May, you will feast your eyes on hundreds of thousands of peonies in full bloom. There are 200 varieties of peonies at least.
Experience the Authentic Lifestyle of Old Beijing
More interestingly, Jingshan Park is a perfect place to experience the authentic lifestyle of Old Beijing. It is quite popular with locals who gather together to exercise, like doing Tai Chi, playing badminton, dancing on a square, or playing music, singing and so on. If you get your interest, you can join them.
Besides, you can combine a visit to JingShan Park with Beihai Park which is nearby.
When to Visit
The opening time of JingShan Park is from 6:00 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. all year round, and the admission fee is quite cheap: only 2 RMB!
How to Get to Jingshan Park
Jingshan Park has three entrance: the West, South, and East gates. Among all, the South Gate is closest to the Forbidden City. If you want to head to Beihai Park from Jingshan Park, the West Gate is your choice.Jingshan Park Address: No.44 Jingshanxi Street, Xicheng District, Beijing.
Forbidden City to Jingshan Park:
Since the Jingshan Park is very close to the Forbidden City, the best way to get to Jingshan Park is to walk several minutes from an underground tunnel from the North Gate of the Forbidden City to reach the South Gate of Jing Shan Park.
Public Transportation:
By subway: Get to Nanluoguxiang Station (Lines 6 & 8) and walk about 1.5 km the park’s entrance.
By bus:
By Taxi:
It’s more convenient for foreign visitors to grab a taxi to Jingshan Park compared with public transportation. Simply ask the drive to drop you off at Jingshan Park. Here we provide you this sentence in Chinese characters just in case: 请载我去景山公园，谢谢。
Travel Tips
1.It will take about 10 minutes to climb up to Wanchun Pavilion. But the climb is easy, because of the plenty of handrails. And it definitely well worth this little climb on a clear day to get photos of the Forbidden City panorama.
2.Particularly on a clear day, the pavilion at the top of the hill will be quite crowed. Many photographers try to choose the best location in the pavilion to catch the last ray of sunlight falling on the rooftops of Forbidden City.
3.If you still have time, after enjoying the magnificent views, you will come across many small groups of Beijing local people (mostly are elders) doing Tai Chi, dancing, singing opera or doing other kinds of exercise. That is the best way to get to know the local people and culture.
