World Heritage Sites in East Asia

The Forbidden City costs 60 yuan from April to October and 40 yuan from November to March, and it is closed on Mondays. Tickets are sold only online, released seven days ahead, and tied to your passport, which you show at the Meridian Gate; summer weekends sell out within hours. Allow at least half a day, and leave by the north gate for the view back over the roofs from Jingshan Park. The palace is now part of the Beijing Central Axis listing, inscribed in 2024, which runs through Tiananmen to the Drum and Bell Towers.

The Terracotta Army lies about an hour east of Xi’an by bus or metro and taxi. Pit 1 holds the ranks of infantry; pits 2 and 3 are smaller and still being excavated. Go at opening and give it three to four hours. Xi’an is also the start of the Silk Road listing, and the Longmen and Yungang grottoes are reachable by high-speed train: Longmen lies south of Luoyang, with the 17 m Vairocana Buddha cut into a riverside cliff, and Yungang outside Datong has 51,000 statues from the 5th century.

The Historic Monuments of Ancient Kyoto cover 17 sites in one listing, including Kinkaku-ji, Kiyomizu-dera and Ginkaku-ji, each about 500 yen (about 3 USD). In Nara, 45 minutes away, Todai-ji’s bronze Buddha and the deer of Nara Park belong to the Historic Monuments of Ancient Nara, and Horyu-ji holds the oldest surviving wooden buildings in the world. See Temples in Kyoto and Temples in Japan.

Gyeongju, the capital of Silla for nearly a thousand years, holds two listings: the Gyeongju Historic Areas of royal tombs and the Cheomseongdae observatory in the town centre, and Bulguksa and Seokguram on the slopes of Tohamsan, a short bus ride out. Bulguksa’s stone terraces and pagodas date from the 8th century, and the granite Buddha of Seokguram faces the East Sea from its grotto, 15 minutes further uphill by bus. Gyeongju is 2 hours from Seoul by KTX. Bangudae’s petroglyphs are a drive south near Ulsan, and the Hahoe and Yangdong villages lie north near Andong.

In Seoul, Changdeokgung is the listed palace, with a separate timed tour of its Secret Garden that sells out early, and the ancestral shrine of Jongmyo is next door. Hwaseong Fortress in Suwon has a 5.7 km wall you can walk in about two hours, and Namhansanseong is a mountain fortress on the edge of the city. The Haeinsa temple, the Baekje Historic Areas around Gongju, and the volcanic island of Jeju complete the list. See Historic Sites in South Korea and Temples in South Korea.

The Orkhon Valley is a day’s drive west of Ulaanbaatar on a paved road. At Kharkhorin, Erdene Zuu Monastery was built in 1585 from the stones of Karakorum, the Mongol capital, and its walls carry 108 white stupas. Most people visit on a driver-guide trip of several days that adds the Orkhon waterfall and stays in ger camps. Mongolia’s other sites, the Burkhan Khaldun sacred mountain, the Uvs Nuur Basin and the petroglyphs of the Altai, are remote and need a jeep and several days.

The Historic Centre of Macao links 25 buildings and squares on a walk from Senado Square to the Ruins of Saint Paul’s, and every one is free. Ferries run from Hong Kong in about an hour. Hong Kong and Taiwan have no listed sites; Taiwan is not a UNESCO member. North Korea’s two sites, the Koguryo tombs near Pyongyang and the historic monuments of Kaesong, can only be seen on state tours, and tourism for most Western visitors has been suspended since 2020.

Spring (April to May) and autumn (September to early November) suit almost every site in the region. Avoid China’s Golden Week (1 to 7 October) and Spring Festival, when tickets to the Forbidden City and Terracotta Army run out, and Japan’s Golden Week (late April to early May). Kyoto is busiest at cherry-blossom time in early April and in the autumn-leaf season in late November. Beijing summers are hot and humid, and winters are cold but quiet. Mongolia’s travel season is June to September, with the Naadam festival in July.

China’s main sites sell tickets by real-name booking on WeChat or official mini-programs, so book with your passport number before you travel or use an agency. Fees change, so check before you go.

Carry your passport to every site in China, where it is your ticket. Drones are banned at most monuments across the region, and photography is not allowed inside the Mogao Caves or the Potala Palace’s chapels. Remove shoes in Japanese temple halls and Korean shrines, and dress modestly at working temples. On the Great Wall, wild sections are unrestored and some are officially closed, so stay on the open sections.