Water is the soul of Royal Yuanmingyuan, or the Old Summer Palace, and the lotus blooming in the water is the soul of Yuanmingyuan in summer times.

The fifteenth Yuanmingyuan lotus Festival will be held from 1 July to 31 August. The number of tourists to the festival last year was more than 1 million, and the number is expected to grow even larger this year.

Yuanmingyuan has more than 1000 mu planting area of lotus. The annual “Yuanmingyuan Lotus Festival” has become one of the largest festival with the most various lotus species in and out of China since 1993. Further more, “Yuanmingyuan Lotus Festival” was named one of Beijing’s top ten tourism and cultural activities.

Travel tips

Duration: 1 July (Thursday) to 31 August (Sunday)
Opening time: Monday to Thursday: 7 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Friday to Sunday: 7 a.m. to 2 a.m.(the next day)
Tickets: Entrance Ticket: 10 yuan
Through ticket: 25 yuan
Transportation: Subway Line 4 Yuanmingyuan station

Serial activities:

Children's Paradise
To develop Children’s interests for archaeology studies, the first archaeology summer camp will be held during the festival. Meanwhile, there will also be an area in the park dedicated to parents-children activities.

Twin lotus for lovers
Since twin lotus is the symbol of love, the festival host encourages tourists to find twin lotus by themselves and will offer prizes to those who find it.

Sideline events
To make tourists fully admire the beauty of lotus, the host extends the opening time and will hold series of activities, such as red wine tasting, dinner featuring cuisine made of lotus, open-air movie theater, etc.

Lotus Photo Exhibition
The organizers of Yuanmingyuan lotus festival also cooperate with Pop-photo Magazine in holding an exhibition displaying works on lotus flowers by shutterbugs.