Hello MS.Jade
Beijing subway line 4 will be in operation from Sep 28,2009.
Before that, there is no subway could take you to the yuanmingyuan and yiheyuan directly. If this is your first time to beijing, I suggest you take a taxi to get there

The subway Line 4 will be opened at the end of this month. It could reach Yiheyuan directly, but no stop at Yuanmingyuan. From Yiheyuan, there are multi-buses could take you to Yuanmingyuan in 10 minutes. If you take a taxi, it just takes 10RMB, the flag-down price.

Thanks so much. I'll be in Beijing in October. From Chongwenmen subway, which is the fastest line to get to Yiheyuan?

To Ms Jade. The best way is to take Subway Line 2 at Chongwenmen Station to Xuanwumen (3 stops), then change to Line 4 at Xuanwumen to Beigongmen (north gate of Yiheyuan)

Mr.Hank. Thank you for the info.

To Mr.Hank. Is north gate of Yiheyuan best gate to enter? Are there any other entrance like south or east/west gate? Thank you.

Currently, the summer palace has three entrances, the east, the north and the new gate. It is suggested that you take the North Gate and exit from the East Gate, then you will find a city-bus to Yuanmingyuan easily.

Mr.Hank. What's the city bus no. to Yuanmingyuan from the east gate of Yiheyuan? Thank you.

Hi Jade, you could take buses Nos.826, 690, 801, 696 and 331 to reach the south gate of Yuanmingyuan. Just 2 or 3 stops~

Thanks Mr.Hanks. How much the bus fare from Yiheyuan to Yuanmingyuan? Is there any travel card for subway/bus in Beijing? Thank you.

The bus fare is CNY1/person. Yes, Beijing has transport card used widely, which allows you to enjoy 60% discount when you take the city-bus. You could see the card's details at https://www.travelchinaguide.com/cityguides/beijing/transportation/smart-card.htm

Mr.Hank. Can the travel card be used to travel from the airport to downtown e.g. Wangfujing & vice-versa?

For the Tourist Special Smart Card; is 3days meaning valid for 72hours or just counted as day-by-day basis? Thank you.

You can use the smart card to take airport express train, but the 3-day card can not be used there. The three days means using 18 times within 3 days (not hour), costing 10 yuan. Suggest you buy Smart card, which is widely used.

How much is the airport express train 1-way to get to downtown i.e. Wangfujing?

So to say for this tourist 3-day card; if I get it on 1st Oct 5pm.. Will it expire on 3rd Oct 5pm??

Hi, the Airport Express Train is CNY25/person. It could just take you to Dongzhimen, where you could take subway Line 2 and then transfer to Line 1 to reach Wangfujing finally. The subway fare is just CNY2/person. No matter how long you take within in the subway station, the Beijing subway just charges CNY2. Very cheap~

The card should be valid from 5pm of Oct 1 to Oct 4.