China travel checklist: what to do before you go

The long-lead items are the ones you cannot fix later: entry paperwork, flights and the first few nights of accommodation. Everything else can wait.

Check your passport first. Most sources advise at least six months of validity beyond your arrival date and a couple of blank pages, but rules differ by nationality, so confirm with the Chinese embassy or consulate for your passport (check). Then settle your entry route: visa-free entry, a transit stay, or a full tourist visa. This is the single item most likely to derail a trip, so read the visa page before you book anything non-refundable.

Flights are usually cheapest 2–4 months out for spring and autumn, the two best seasons. Book the long-haul leg now and leave internal transport until later — high-speed rail tickets open roughly two weeks before departure and rarely sell out except around public holidays.

This is the month for the things that only work if you do them from home: payments, connectivity and the shape of your route.

Set up Alipay or WeChat Pay and link a foreign card before you leave. Both accept most international cards for tourist use, but verification can need a home phone number and a few days. Cash still works, and cards are accepted at big hotels, but small restaurants, taxis and ticket machines often assume a phone payment.

Decide how you will get online. Roaming from your home carrier usually bypasses local filtering; a local eSIM is cheaper but many Western apps and sites are blocked without a VPN, and VPN apps are hard to download once you are inside (check). Install and test whatever you plan to use before departure.

Book high-speed rail for the fixed points of your route and reserve the big sights. The Forbidden City and several other major sites use timed online tickets that sell out in peak season.

Final checks, downloads and a printed backup of anything you would struggle to replace on the road.

Save offline maps, your hotel addresses in Chinese characters, and screenshots of your bookings. Print your visa or entry confirmation, insurance policy and the first hotel address. Keep a photocopy of your passport separate from the original.

Tell your bank you are travelling so a card is not frozen on day one. Check the weather for each city — April and October are the sweet spots in most of the country, while summer is hot and wet in the east and winter is harsh in the north. Pack for the plug types (A, C and I) and for 220 V.

Keep the essentials on you, not in the hold: passport, entry paperwork, phone with a charged power bank, and a card that works.

On arrival, buy or top up a transport card or set up the metro app, and get cash from an airport ATM for the first day. Tipping is not expected anywhere. If your phone fails, a printed hotel address in Chinese is the fastest way to get a taxi driver to the right place.

Your passport, your entry permission and your insurance are the three documents that matter. Rules on visas and visa-free entry change often and depend on your nationality, so treat any checklist as a prompt to verify, not as a final answer (check).

Carry proof of onward or return travel and your first accommodation booking; border staff may ask. Travel insurance that covers medical treatment in China is worth having — public hospitals expect payment up front and international clinics are expensive.

China runs on the yuan (CNY / RMB, ¥). Mobile payment dominates: Alipay and WeChat Pay both support foreign cards for visitors, and that is how most small vendors expect to be paid. Set it up at home.

Carry a few hundred yuan in cash for the first day and for places that do not take phones. Tipping is not expected. ATMs at airports and bank branches generally accept foreign cards; airport exchange counters are convenient but give worse rates than an ATM withdrawal.

Check routine vaccinations are current and look at any destination-specific advice for the regions you plan to visit, ideally 4–6 weeks before departure so there is time for a course if one is needed (check).

Tap water is not for drinking; bottled and boiled water are the norm, and hotels usually provide a kettle. Bring any prescription medicine in its original packaging with a copy of the prescription, and check whether your medication is restricted in China before you travel (check).

Pack light and layer. Spring and autumn are mild across most of the country, summers are hot and humid in the east, and northern winters are genuinely cold. Plugs are types A, C and I at 220 V 50 Hz, so bring a universal adapter.

Comfortable shoes matter more than anything else — you will walk a lot in Beijing, Xi'an and Shanghai. A VPN installed before you fly, a power bank and a refillable bottle round out the list.