THE FORBIDDEN CITY

The Asia Gardens hotel is not only a magnificent 5-star luxury Hotel & Thai Spa, for us it is also a palace where you can find peace and well-being. We like our guests to feel like true Asian emperors.

There is a place with very similar features when it comes to its impressive architecture and degree of luxury, the famous Chinese Imperial Palace in the centre of Peking, the Forbidden City which was home to several dynasties, from the Ming right up to the Qing dynasty.

The city is called the “Forbidden City” because in ancient times, ordinary people could not enter without permission, only heads of state and court staff had the right to access it. Even the emperor could not leave the city unless for very specific reasons, as the palace supposedly covered all his needs.

It consists of 980 palaces built from 1406 to 1420 and it takes up 72 hectares. It is the largest group of palaces still standing, almost intact even after many wars. It can currently be visited as it has become an Imperial Museum.

It has been a Unesco World Heritage Site since 1987. Only 20% of the palace is open to the public, and even so it is one of the most visited places in the world.

The Forbidden City, whose real name is “Purple Forbidden City”, without a doubt symbolizes China.

Here is some data to help you comprehend the size and grandeur of this palace: it has 9,000 rooms, the largest collection of ancient wooden structures, 340,000 pieces of china, 50,000 paintings, although a part of this collection was lost over the years, 10,000 pieces of bronze, mainly ceremonial objects, and 30,000 pieces of jade, among other objects from ancient palaces.

Also, the city has three important imperial gardens with two lakes and two sanctuaries where the emperor used to worship the spirits of his ancestors.

If you believe the experience of visiting a luxurious palace to be magical, we recommend you come to Asia Gardens, a 5-star resort where you shall be able to relax walking through the gardens and Asian surroundings. At the Asia Gardens, we do not “forbid” you to come in, we shall in fact be pleased to welcome.