How to get to the White Palace in Hollow Knight

Getting to the White Palace requires two specific items and a trip to the Ancient Basin — here's exactly what you need to do.

Required items before you go:

• Awoken Dream Nail — the upgraded version of the Dream Nail, which you need to actually enter the palace
• Monarch Wings — the double jump ability, which is required to reach the Palace Grounds area where the entrance is located

Steps to reach and enter the White Palace:

1. Make your way to Ancient Basin, the deep underground area beneath the City of Tears.
2. Navigate to the Palace Grounds, a sub-area within Ancient Basin. You'll need the Monarch Wings to reach it, so make sure you have those before heading there.
3. Once in the Palace Grounds, find the corpse of a Kingsmould — one of the Pale King's void-made guards.
4. Use your Awoken Dream Nail on the Kingsmould's corpse. This will transport you into the dream realm version of the White Palace.
5. Once inside, you'll need to defeat another Kingsmould and activate a switch to gain access to the main atrium, which contains a bench and branches into two separate hallways.
6. Each hallway is a linear platforming gauntlet with a switch at the end. Activate both switches to unlock the lift at the top of the atrium, which leads to the upper portion of the palace.

On repeat visits: After you've collected the Pale King's half of the Kingsoul Charm and woken up outside the palace, you can re-enter at any time simply by using the Dream Nail (it doesn't need to be the Awoken version for re-entry) on the same Kingsmould corpse in the Palace Grounds.

The White Palace is one of the most demanding platforming areas in the game, so be prepared for a tough but rewarding challenge from the moment you step inside.