Terracotta Army tickets and ID rules

Book direct or through Klook?

The museum sells its own tickets. Its ticketing page says every visitor, including foreign visitors, must reserve and pay in advance through its official website or one of two official WeChat accounts. That makes booking direct the baseline: you deal with the museum, and its own refund rule applies. A Klook ticket is the alternative when you want an English booking page. Neither route changes what happens at the gate, because the entry rules belong to the museum. Either way, the booking belongs to one named person and one time slot.

• Direct: the museum's website or its two official WeChat accounts
• Klook: an English page, entry ticket only
• Either way: your passport name and a time slot

The real-name rule

The museum checks that the person, the ticket and the ID all match. At the gate you show the original, valid ID. For a foreign visitor that means your passport, which the museum's English page lists among the accepted documents. The museum asks for the original document, so carry the physical passport. When you book, type your name as it appears in the passport, because the check is made against that document. Tickets are allocated by time slot, and the museum asks you to be at the gate half an hour before your slot.

Booking on the museum's own channels

The museum names three routes: its official website and two official WeChat accounts, called "Qin Shi Huang Emperor's Mausoleum Site Museum" and "Terracotta Warriors Ticket Service Online". The booking page carries a purchase notice with the steps. To find an order later, you enter your phone number, your ID number or your order number. To cancel, do it before the ticket is checked at the gate: a used ticket can't be refunded, and a refund goes back to the original payment account within 3 to 5 working days. We can't tell you whether your card or app works on the museum's payment page, so test it before you rely on it.

What the Klook ticket is

The Klook listing sells entry to the Museum of Qin Shihuang's Terracotta Warriors and Horses. It is a ticket, not a tour: the listing mentions no guide and no transport. It also notes that entry needs a valid ID, which is swiped at the turnstiles. Before you pay, check three things on the listing: how it collects your passport details, what its cancellation terms are, and whether it covers Lishan Park, described below. The museum's own ticket covers both sites, so don't assume a third-party ticket does until the listing says so.

One ticket, two sites

The museum's ticket covers two places: the Terracotta Warriors Museum, with the three pits, and Lishan Park, the archaeological site park around the tomb. A free shuttle bus runs between them from the Terracotta Warriors car park, and the same ticket is valid for both on the same day. The museum's page lists the Bronze Chariots and Horses Exhibition Hall under Lishan Park, so confirm on the day where it is on show. Its two half-size bronze chariots were found in 1980, about 20 metres west of the tomb mound. The museum puts a visit at about an hour and a half. Its English text suggests that is for both sites, while the Chinese text reads as an hour and a half for each, so allow a long half day.

What you are paying to see

Villagers digging a well found the first pit in March 1974, and the army has been under excavation since. The museum describes three pits. Pit 1 is the largest and the most photographed. Pit 2 is L-shaped, with crossbowmen, cavalry, infantry and chariots. Pit 3 is the smallest and is read as the command post, and it is the only one not burned in ancient times, so more of its paint survived. In Lishan Park you add the bronze chariots and further burial pits around the tomb mound. The tomb itself has not been excavated, so you won't go inside it.

Read next: What you actually see at the Terracotta Army

Children, students and free entry

Some visitors don't pay. The museum's English concession notice says children who are not mainland Chinese nationals, up to and including 1.4 metres tall, are eligible for free entry. They must be accompanied by a parent, and the free ticket must still be reserved in advance. The other free categories, such as over-65s, under-16s and disabled visitors, are written for Chinese nationals in the museum's Chinese notice. Half-price student tickets need a student card checked at a separate gate, and the museum excludes adult, in-service and online education. Check the child rule before you pay for a child's ticket anywhere.

Do you need a guide?

The museum's ticketing page lists luggage storage, electric carts, wheelchairs and strollers, and a first-aid clinic. It doesn't mention audio guides or guided tours. So if you want commentary, arrange it before you go: a booked guide or tour, or some reading on the pits beforehand. A guide adds history and context, but you don't need one to get in. If you are choosing between a tour and a ticket alone, the difference is mostly transport and explanation, not access.

Read next: The three pits of the Terracotta Army, explained

At the gate: what to carry

The North Gate is the only entrance, and the route runs one way in and one way out. Tickets are checked three times, and you must enter within your slot. Luggage that passes security can be stored free, but the museum won't hold valuables, including cash, phones, documents, drones and jewellery, or drinks and cooked food. Keep your passport and phone on you. Security also bars pets, drones, lighters, knives, bicycles and scooters. Electric carts run inside each of the two sites for a fee.

Who this isn't for

If you want to be driven there with a guide, a ticket alone won't do it, because neither the museum's ticket nor the Klook listing includes transport. If you can't carry your passport on the day, don't book: the museum checks the original ID, and the booking is for one named person. And if your dates fall on a Chinese public holiday, book as early as you can, because the museum limits visitor numbers and sells by time slot.