Exploring China | Travel Tips & Advice for First-time Visitors
Travelling to China for the first time is both exciting and overwhelming - deciding where to start is one thing, understanding their systems and apps is another! Travelling China comes with some unique challenges - limited English is spoken, a lot of Western apps (e.g. Google, Meta, Yahoo) are blocked, and the apps travellers would typically rely on to navigate new countries, languages and cultures are suddenly inaccessible. China has also transformed into a mostly cashless society, instead dominated by QR code payment via Weixin/WeChat and AliPay.
Stunning views from Tianmenshan National Park, Zhangjiajie.
Fortunately there are still ways you can access maps, translations and pay as a foreigner. To set yourself up for China here are some things to look into before you go:
Visa Requirements
VPN & Sim Cards
Payment Platforms
Navigation and Translation Apps
Booking Accommodation, Transport and Activities
1 Visa Requirements
It’s important to check the visa requirements and application process depending which country you’re from and how long you plan to spend in China. China recently opened up their 15 day visa free travel program for Australia and New Zealand which means you only need to get a stamp on arrival as long as you leave by midnight of the 15th day. There are also a few European countries (France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Malaysia, Switzerland, Ireland, Hungary, Austria, Belgium, and Luxembourg) who were already part of this program.
For those who aren’t part of this program, China also has 72/144hr transit visa-free entry for places including Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou or Chengdu where you can transit in China for a few days as part of your journey to other places like Europe or Americas. They also have a visa-free period for Hainan Island for 30 days. For longer stays, you can also apply for a visa from the Chinese Consulate.
As someone of Chinese descent, this was super exciting as it meant I could visit without having to apply for a visa which normally involves lots of paperwork and a trip to the Chinese Consulate!
2 VPN & Sim Cards
To get around apps being blocked in China, you can get a VPN for wifi networks in China or use a roaming sim from places like Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau that includes roaming in Mainland China.
I was recommended Let’s VPN as unfortunately other VPNs like Nord don’t work in China. They provide plans for 1 Week, 1 Month, 3 Months and 12 Months - and if you want 3 days for free you can enter my ID 373109929 after you download the app.
For sim cards, I decided to get a 30 day eSim with 3 Hong Kong which includes roaming for Mainland China and Macau, as Hong Kong and Macau were also on the itinerary after China. There are two options - 15GB for HK$138 and 30GB for HK$198.
Night views of Chongqing along the river!
3 Setting Up Payment Platform Apps
Whilst there are ATMs readily available, cash is not widely accepted anymore in China - even the street vendors prefer digital payment! To make life easier, I would recommend setting up two apps in advance - WeChat Pay (WeChat > Me > Services) and AliPay. Both can be downloaded from the App Store or Google Play, and require ID verification to complete set up with a foreign bank card. The process takes a few days so do it in advance!
To pay once you’re in China, you can either click on ‘Money’ (WeChat) or ‘Pay/Receive’ (AliPay) so the vendor can scan your barcode/QR code, or scan the merchant’s QR code and enter how much you wish to send to the for payment. Note AliPay charges a foreign card transaction fee for transactions over ¥200.
You can also use Ride Hailing app DiDi through WeChat or AliPay, and pay for public transport via AliPay in the big cities. This is super handy as I found metro ticket machines only accepted local cards or cash.
4 Navigation and Translation apps
Navigation
Where would we be without Google Maps? Once you’ve set up your VPN and your roaming sim you will still be able to access Google Apps, however I found it had limited info.
If you’re an Android user, you can download Gaode Maps (高德地圖) - unfortunately this one is in Chinese so you’ll have to do some additional work with using a translation app or character matching to check where you’re going. The UX on these apps are similar to what you would usually expect, so it’s still possible to use it.
If you’re an iPhone user, Apple Maps does a great job at providing detailed information and transport information in your language but you will have to wait until you land in China to see it! We compared the transport directions in Apple Maps to Gaode Maps 高德地圖 and they were more or less the same.
The cities and smaller towns we visited were connected by public transport, and taxis and DiDis (ride hailing app) were cheap and readily available.
Translation
Many times I have found myself in a new country where I can’t read the menu or I want to learn how to say ‘hello’ and ‘thank you’, and instinctively I open Google Translate to do this. If you haven’t got a VPN or roaming sim set up, another option is to download the Chinese (Simplified) translation in Google Translate for offline translation. Apple Translate also works well, and Pleco is a Chinese dictionary app that is worth downloading.
AliPay also has a built-in Translate function which also helps for any pages in the app that are in Chinese - useful for eating at restaurants!
5 Booking Accommodation, Transport and Activities
Now the fun part - where you’ll stay, what you’ll do and how you’ll get there!
China is relatively cheap with a good range of options - comparable to countries in South East Asia. Depending on where you are, you can find hostel beds from AU$10/night, studio apartments for AU$25/night and 4 star hotels for AU$60/night. For Western hotel chains, you can book direct or via aggregators like Booking.com, but for more local options I would recommend looking on Trip.com* as well.
China is also well connected via high speed rail, making easy to travel around if flying everywhere is not your first choice. Trains can be booked via Trip.com* or on 12306.cn (although I found this didn’t work unless you had a Chinese mobile number). The booking process was relatively seamless as I was able to pay using bank card, Google Pay/Apple Pay or PayPal, and I found it was helpful to look at a train map to see which cities were connected as I was planning my trip.
There are also lots of different activities in the cities and in nature - if you can think of it, China will most likely have it! Trip.com have lots of tours, itineraries and guides available in English, and other places where I found inspiration were through word of mouth and social media (Instagram/TikTok). China also has a AAAAA rating system for their top rated tourist destinations which is helpful for doing research!
Some ideas to start: Beijing (Capital city, The Great Wall), Shanghai, Chongqing (Home of hotpot), Zhangjiajie (Hallelujah Mountains from Avatar), Xi’an (Terracotta Warriors, Huashan, historic capital).
Still not convinced you should visit China? Here’s 5 reasons why you should visit this interesting country.
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