An independent field guide to China
China, decoded.
Minus the tourist traps.
Visa-free entry now covers 50+ nationalities — and most guidebooks haven't caught up. We write the practical, double-checked China guide we wished existed: what to book ahead, how to pay, where to actually go.
Li River, Guilin
20 million international arrivals in H1 2026 alone
Re-verified monthly
Every page carries the date its facts were last checked against official sources.
Double-sourced
Ticket prices, booking rules and visa policies are confirmed from at least two independent references.
Independently written
No tours for sale, no sponsored rankings. When something is a tourist trap, we say so.
Destinations
Where first-timers start
From imperial Beijing to the karst rivers of Guilin — what to see, what to skip, and everything you need to book before you go. Then go deeper: 46 destinations across eight regions, from Harbin's ice festivals to the Silk Road grottoes of Dunhuang.
North China Beijing
Imperial palaces, Great Wall views, and hutong lanes — China's capital rewards planning
Northwest China Xi'an
Terracotta warriors, Tang dynasty ghosts, and China's best street food scene
East China Shanghai
Where art deco heritage meets a skyline that rewrites itself nightly
Southwest China Chengdu
China's laid-back capital of pandas, teahouses, and mouth-numbing food
Southwest China Chongqing
China's vertical mountain city of neon riversides and skyline-defying streets
South China Guilin
Karst peaks, slow rivers, and China's most storied landscape
Central China Zhangjiajie
The sandstone pillar forest that inspired Avatar's floating mountains
Hong Kong SAR Hong Kong
Skyscrapers, street markets and mountain trails around one dramatic harbour
Featured itinerary
First Time in China: 7 Days in Beijing and Shanghai
Essential guides
The practical stuff, solved
The four questions every first-timer asks — visas, payments, apps, internet — answered with current, tested steps instead of five-year-old forum posts.
Visa-Free Entry to China: The 2026 Guide
China's travel facilitation policies let citizens of the UK, most of the EU, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and dozens of other countries stay up to 30 days without a visa, while US citizens can use a 10-day visa-free transit option or a regular visa. This guide explains who qualifies as of September 2026, how the 30-day policy differs from the 240-hour transit policy, which documents to carry at the border, how entry works on the ground, how to extend a stay through the proper channels, and what a Hong Kong or Macau side trip does to your allowance. Policies change in phases — always verify your nationality's current status through official channels before booking.
Read the guideMoney in China: Alipay, WeChat Pay and Cash — A 2026 Guide
China runs on two super-apps — Alipay and WeChat Pay — and since both opened their wallets to foreign cards, tourists can pay as easily as locals do. This guide walks through linking your Visa or Mastercard step by step before you fly, explains the fees and spending caps that apply to international cards, and covers where cash still matters, how credit cards fit in, and the sanest ways to use ATMs and currency exchange. One caveat to plan around: foreign-card payments above ¥200 carry a 3% service fee, and default caps apply unless you complete in-app passport verification. Fee and limit details are as of September 2026 — and for cultural calibration: nobody in mainland China wants a tip.
Read the guideThe Essential Apps for China: What to Install Before You Fly (2026)
China's app ecosystem is not the one you know: Google Maps is out, ride-hailing runs on DiDi, train tickets sell through 12306, and WeChat quietly does everything from restaurant menus to museum reservations. This guide sorts the apps that matter by scenario — maps, translation, taxis, trains, hotels, and food — with an honest look at how much English each one speaks and whether your foreign card works in it. Amap now offers a full English interface, Baidu Translate handles menus on Chinese networks where Google cannot, and Meituan is reachable through Alipay's mini-programs even without Chinese. There is also a one-glance cheat sheet — app, purpose, English support, foreign-card support — to screenshot before your trip. Everything here reflects app status as of September 2026.
Read the guideTrains in China: How Foreigners Book and Ride the High-Speed Rail
China's high-speed rail is faster than flying for most intercity trips, and booking it as a foreigner is easier than you think. This guide covers the official 12306 app and its English version, the Trip.com trade-off, seat classes, how your passport works as your ticket at the gates, the 15-day release window, and how to survive station security and holiday rush with your sanity intact.
Read the guideStaying Online in China: eSIMs, SIM Cards, and What Actually Works
Google, Gmail, Instagram, and WhatsApp do not work in mainland China — but your trip does not have to suffer. This guide explains the one trick most first-time visitors miss: international eSIMs and roaming route your data outside China, so blocked apps just work with no VPN. It compares travel eSIMs, international roaming, local SIM cards, and hotel WiFi, and covers real-name SIM registration with your passport.
Read the guideChina Travel Budget: What a Trip Really Costs in 2026
China is one of the great value destinations in world travel — once you know where the money goes. This guide breaks down realistic daily budgets at three levels (backpacker, mid-range, comfort) with per-item costs, compares China against Japan, Southeast Asia, and Europe, and lists the things that are surprisingly cheap (taxis, metro, noodles) and surprisingly expensive (headline attractions, cocktails). Practical money-saving tactics included.
Read the guidePlus 15 more guides — visas, hotels that take foreigners, dietary survival, etiquette and more.
Visa tool
How long can you actually stay? Check your last day
Pick your passport and entry date — the visa-free stay calculator counts the 30-day allowance the way China does: from the day after you land.