Before you fly: the short list.

1. Documents and bookings

• Check whether you need a visa. China runs several visa-free schemes: 30-day visa-free entry for eligible passports, and a 240-hour visa-free transit for eligible travellers continuing to a third country or region. The lists and the conditions change, so use the official source for your passport and your route, and read the conditions, not just the headline.
• Book the two or three places you care about most, first. Around Tiananmen, six sights must be reserved online in advance: the Square, the Gate Tower, the Forbidden City, the National Museum, the Great Hall of the People and Chairman Mao Memorial Hall. Reservations open on a schedule, mostly seven days ahead. Release times and official pages.
• Check the Chinese holiday calendar. Chinese New Year, the May Day holiday and the National Day holiday in early October are the hardest weeks to travel: trains sell out, hotels cost more, and popular sights are packed. July and August are busy too.
• Save the Chinese names and addresses of your hotel, the railway stations you'll use, and the sights you've booked. Keep them as screenshots. If you lose internet, you can still show them to a driver.
• Check which station is on your train ticket. Beijing alone has Beijing, Beijing West, Beijing South, Beijing North, Chaoyang and Qinghe, and they're far apart. You'll need your original passport to board.

2. Phone

• Decide how you'll get data: a local SIM at the airport, a travel eSIM bought before you fly, or roaming from your home carrier. The three options, with prices.
• If you'll use a local SIM, install and test a VPN before you leave. Chinese SIM cards can't reach Google, WhatsApp, Instagram and many other foreign apps. Set it up at home, where you can still download things.
• Keep your home number able to receive texts. Your bank will send verification codes to it, and Alipay and WeChat will too.
• Install and sign in: Alipay, WeChat, Amap (maps and transit), and Trip.com if you'll book trains or hotels. DiDi for taxis works inside Alipay. Google Maps is unreliable here; Apple Maps is a second option on iPhone.
• Bring a power bank. Your phone is your map, wallet and translator. If you'll fly within China, the power bank needs a CCC mark; many power banks sold outside mainland China don't carry one, so buy one after you arrive if you need one for domestic flights.

3. Money

• Verify Alipay and WeChat Pay with your passport, and link at least two cards from different banks. If one card is declined, you switch to the other in the same app.
• Tell your bank you'll be in China, and ask about foreign transaction fees and ATM withdrawal fees so you're not guessing later.
• Plan for a little cash. 100 to 200 yuan per person is enough to start. You can get it from an ATM at the airport with most international cards. What that costs.
• Bring a physical card that works internationally. On the Beijing subway you tap it at the gate. In hotels, malls and nicer restaurants you can usually pay with it directly.

4. Pack

• Your original passport goes with you every day. High-speed trains, currency exchange, SIM cards and some major sights need the original, not a photo.
• Tissues and a small hand sanitiser. Not every public toilet has paper or soap.
• Watch the sprays in your day bag. Subway security stops pressurised spray cans over 120 ml, which covers most sunscreen sprays and hairsprays. Lotion is simpler.
• A layer for the evening, even in warm months. Beijing is dry and cools down at night, and October already calls for a jacket.

Tell me when you're coming

I'm working out whether to offer a paid planning service for first-time visitors. Leave your email and your travel month, and if it opens you'll get one email. That's the only thing I'll send.

Checked September 2026. Visa-free schemes as published by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; reservation rules from the official pages of each site as of July 2026. Check again before you go.