iTravelChina Community
Real answers from people who have actually been
Not a brochure. Not another listicle. Questions from travellers planning their first trip to China — answered by people who have done it, and by people who live there.
Real members of this community. Questions get answered by people who have been, and by people who live there.
First things first
Do I need a visa?
Five different visa-free schemes exist and they cover different countries. Find out which one applies to your passport.
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How do I pay for anything?
Alipay and WeChat Pay both take foreign cards now. Set them up before you fly, not at the airport.
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Will my phone even work?
What is blocked, what is not, and whether you actually need a VPN.
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How do I book train tickets?
Your passport is your ticket. Booking is the part that trips people up.
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Browse by what you need
From the forum
There are five different ways to enter China without a visa — here is which one applies to you
The 240-hour visa-free transit, the 30-day unilateral schemes, Hainan, and the ones people mix up. Start here before you pay for a visa you do not need.
Nobody tells you this: how to check into a Chinese hotel when nobody speaks English
Registration, deposits, the hotels that still turn foreign guests away, and the phrases that get you checked in anyway.
Airport to hotel in China when you do not speak Chinese — every option, ranked
Metro, taxi, DiDi, airport bus, or the hotel shuttle. What each one actually costs you in time, money and stress.
Browse all 24 questions →
Got a question nobody has answered yet?
Ask it. Someone here has almost certainly dealt with it already — and if they have not, you have just found the next thing worth writing about.