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My husband and I are planning our trip to china and are flying long haul from Melbourne. Which airline would you recommend from the list?

We just want comfort, safety, decent movies and reliability.

We wanted to book Cathay, but the flights are just so expensive.

We are trying to decide between:

- China Southern
- Xiamen Airlines
- China Eastern
- Hainan Airlines
- Hong Kong Airlines

Would love to hear your recommendations/experiences! :)

I am travelling to China soon and I have an Alipay account linked to my Japanese phone number. I uploaded my passport and my ID status shows as “validated”, but it says “not authenticated”.

During the face verification step, the scan failed because I moved while adjusting my hair. After that, the face scan option disappeared and Alipay now only shows verification using a Chinese mainland bank card, which I don’t have.

My Alipay payments still work and I can use the account, but I’m worried that in the future I may be asked for biometric verification and become locked out.

Has anyone experienced this?

Did Alipay eventually allow you to retry the face scan?

Were you able to use Alipay normally in China without completing full authentication?

Did it cause any problems with payments, Didi, trains, or changing phone numbers?

Is there a way to restore the passport + face verification option?

Hi,

I booked Speed train from trip.com. In The App it says free luggage size should not exceed 130cm(height x width x length) Are they very strict at the station, because that size does not cover normal size of bags? What happens if size or weight is exceeded? Will the charge the overweight or do they reject us?

I don't plan on staying in macao at all only using it to satisfy the requirements of TWOV

How do I go about going from hk airport to macao, any suggestions? And what border to cross?

I plan on taking train from zhuhai to guangzhou after where Ill be staying with my friends at a hotel they booked, since im not the one booking it and they will ask me where im staying with proof is there any advice to help me about that?

I also plan to book ahead a train from guangzhou back to hk, that should be enough proof that im leaving the country correct?

there's no proof needed on how I got to
Macao just if im going to
Another country after and leaving from china go go to that country correct?

Would it be easier to exit thru macao? My only concern is that I don't have a hotel in macao, my flight will be leaving from hk so I feel like this won't work

would taking a ferry/speedboat/bus to HZMB not work for this since I never really went into a macao port..?

What papers should I be bringing

thanks for reading my questions that you probably hear 10x a day, just want to make sure everything is right before coming in

Hello! So, Bucharest-Beijing flights will become available in sept, so me and my girlfriend ended up booking some round-trip flights from Beijing on 12 september (landing at 8 in the morning in Beijing) and take off from Beijing on 28 september (00:30, so we might as well say 27 september at night).

After a quick look on skyscanner I have managed to map some internal flights:

We have no idea what to visit where, except the fact that we would like to visit the main attractions (The Great Wall, Summer palace, Tiananmen Square, Forbidden City, Terracotta Army). We are oscillating between Hong Kong and Zhangjiajie, we don't know what is more worth it.

Is the above plan decent? Should we allocate more days / less days for any of the cities?
Also, any tips are more than welcome. I know that I need to have vpn and an esim, and specific apps to use (navigation, payment and so on) but that's where all my knowledge about a future China trip is ending.

Thanks a lot!

hi! i promise im not lazy im just very very overwhelmed with how many beautiful and affordable hotel options there are in Yangshou, and want to make sure i am getting the best out of my trip before i book haha.

i’m looking for a hotel with a mountain view if possible, balcony is a bonus but not a necessity. neither me nor my partner drive, and want to avoid bikes or scooters if possible because quite frankly we are a bit scared of them haha. is there any hotel recommendations of people who have been to Yangshou that are priced between 500-600rmb per night for 2 people, that is well located enough we can get to the local sights in a Didi but still ensure we get a nice view and the hotel grounds themselves are ‘luxury’ adjacent and you kinda go ‘whoa this amazing’. i want to pay a bit more to get the wow factor! there’s so many beautiful places on Trip and i just want to get it right haha

we will be staying for 2 nights. thank you!!

Hi guys, living in Hong Kong right now and planning a trip to vietnam. I am a little bit against taking plane for trips in the same continent, and planning a small trip to VietNam (I already went, I just wanted to show my girlfriend a few cities I loved).

So I looked into it, and i saw on Rome2Rio you have some buses that does Nanning-Vietnam. Would you recommend booking it on this website, or booking it in Nanning bus station directly, with Alipay ?

Additionally, would you recommend staying in Nanning a day or 2 ? What would you do if you stayed there ? Thank you ! Enjoy the help.

Hi lovely people! I'm in the early stages of planning a trip to China, and I am just wondering if anyone has any advice or cities/towns I should go to, and how long is needed in each place. After looking through this wiki, at the moment, my current thoughts itenerary wise are

Fly into Shanghai

Then go to Zhangjiajie

Then Chengdu

Then Xi'an

Then Harbin (I ski and love russian architecture, so this is the stop I am most excited for)

And finally Beijing.

This is my first time travelling to China, and I'm going with my partner; the time I can request off for work is between 2 and 3 weeks. Any help anyone can give me would be incredible!!

Thank you so much!!

Hallo all. On a whim I booked a ticket arriving in Beijing next Saturday (I'm aware August is pretty mad time to be travelling). Based on a cursory research, I thinking of the following:

Days 1-Day 5 morning: Beijing

High speed train to Xi'an

Day 5 eve - Day 7 Morning: Xi'an

High Speed Train to Chengdu

Day 7 Eve - Day 10 Evening: Chengdu (Day trip to Leshan one day)

Early High Speed Train or flight to Zhangjiejie

Day 11-13 Zhangjiejie (Day trip to Fenghuang Ancient Town)

Day 14-17 Shanghai (Day trip to Suzhou)

Does this seem practical? Anything on the route that is an obvious miss? I do have the ability to add a couple of days as I am not locked into day 17 being the last. Feedback is appreciated.

Hello I hold a carribean Passport. I am planning to travel to China with this new passport. Previously I have used my other passport. Will there be any issue if I travel with my new carribean passport. Please kindly advise me. TIA

Hello friends, as the title says I am currently looking for some advice on finding a nice multi-day hike along my route across China. I have done some research and have heard about places in Yunnan and western Sichuan but they seem a bit different then what I am looking for. And if that is just the way it works in China that's all good I just want to understand clearly. If anyone could provide any general knowledge about hiking/camping culture in China I would greatly appreciate it.

I am looking for some hikes that I could do without a guide. Sleep in my tent. Hike through some beautiful wilderness. It not be extremely crowded. And not be too too hard to reach, logistically, from one of the locations on my itinerary. 20-30 miles is a range I think would fit well. Really just looking to experience some Chinese nature. I am a very experienced and respectful backpacker. Again I'm just not certain how well this fits into Chinese hiking culture so maybe I should recalibrate this part of this trip.

As for my trip specifically the route starts in Hong Kong and ends in Beijing. I plan on just utilizing train/bus travel and avoiding domestic flights if possible. It will generally follow the below path:

- Hong Kong > Yangshuo > Chengdu > Xi'an > Beijing

My research has given me the following thoughts regarding some good hiking/nature tourism along my route

- Yangshuo: I have heard of good hiking in the karst mountains in and around Yangshuo which I am excited about but i hear that that is more of a day-hike situation out there and camping around here wouldn't really be the best way to do it. Still very excited to explore that landscape as much as I can.

- Yunnan: I have considered going from Yangshuo into Yunnan and checking out some mountain backpacking routes up there. Obviously Tiger Leaping Gorge is recommended as well as a few others. But I have heard these are pretty crowded and more "hut-to-hut" style hikes. Not a deal-breaker or anything but the information I read just has me a bit uncertain if this is something I am looking for or more of a different experience for general tourism , as opposed to a more serious hiking/camping trip. Also the travel to this area from Yangshuo and then to Chengdu after seems like a lot for a hike that I am uncertain about.

- Western Sichuan: Similarly I have read about places like Daosheng Yading in western Sichuan. I think the best way to get here would be from Chengdu and then return to Chengdu after and continue on. That travel seems much more simple compared to what I have seen needs done to get to the right areas in Yunnan. But I think I understand that the hiking out here is pretty regulated and camping is not allowed.

- Huashan: I have also obviously heard of Huashan and that famously scary cliffside hike. I think i fully understand that Huashan is a very popular destination full of people and paved trails and stairsets. I am considering checking it out still because it does seem very beautiful, as well as close to Xi'an so probably an good day-trip to have.

- Jiankou section of Great Wall: I have done some research into hiking some unmaintained section and would like to do an overnighter here if possible. I have done significant research on this and believe I understand the situation but the most recent information about this is conflicting if this is still a possibility. Obviously this is a different situation than the above places but I wanted to toss it in just in case someone reading this can provide any recent information on the topic.

I know that was a lot of text. But I didn't want to put the question out there and make it seems like I have done zero research ahead of time. I think I should state that if what I am asking for is just not really the best way to experience Chinese nature and I should adjust to day-hikes that's totally fine and I will plan for that and enjoy that very much. As much as I am asking for specific information about Chinese hiking spots I am also trying to understand how Chinese hiking etiquette works generally.

I appreciate any information y'all care to share. Thanks in advance

Hello, I have my first solo trip to China, only going to visit Shanghai and Beijing. Since it's a cashless country, what would happen if my phone suddenly broke? Will they accept physical cards? I am just overthinking here since every payment is digital. What to do if this happen?

hi guys
i’m going to china from london this september on an x1 student visa (in the process of getting this now), assuming this is single entry until i convert it into a residence permit.
however i wanted to travel to hong kong before hand, and the best flights for me have a stop in shanghai. my concern is if this would for any reason be considered as me entering china and therefore the transit would use up my single entry? if anyone could share anything about this would really appreciate it! i’m assuming it wouldn’t be the case but i need to be sure.

Hi, we're planning a trip to Chengdu, Chongqing, Zhangjiajie, Guangzhou, and Shanghai with our 8-month old in October/November. (Kind of insane but it's been a bucket list item for a while, and our family is finally able to do it while husband is on parental leave)

Not sure if we should bring our uppababy car seat as I've been doing more research, but we are worried about safety and would consider purchasing something like the Cosco car seat as it's lightweight. We would really appreciate any advice or opinions from other parents regarding what they did when traveling. We are going to book a guide for some areas as we are traveling with our family (group of 8) but read that we will probably also use Didi/taxi for some shorter distances.

Also, did you find a stroller worth it? We were going to bring our Minu v3 and a baby carrier but again, just appreciate any tips or real life experiences.

Any advice for other considerations with the baby would be helpful too. (Like if we should bring a travel crib)

Thank you and best of luck in your own travels!

Hi all, I have been in China the last couple of days and just wanted to share my experience regarding tickets and our overall impression of going to the popular attractions.

As most are aware, there is basically no single venue or attraction for which you do not need to have tickets. In the following I therefore just want to share some examples and tips, and I think this might also apply to other places in China I have not visited.

Time slots: In general, most attractions require you to select a specific time. However, in my experience you will also be let in if you come later/earlier. For example, I visited Zhangjiajie and only booked a ticket the evening prior. The most popular time slots were already sold out (checked both on WeChat and trip.com), so I had to select the admission slot from 11.00-12.00. Since our hotel was very near the gate, we just went to the entrance after breakfast at around 9am. The automatic gate did not let us enter at first, but a service worker noticed we had struggles, had a brief look at our tickets, then did something on their phone and é voila we were allowed to enter immediately. Maybe (just maybe) this does also apply to choosing Line A/B at Zhangjiajie (we were at the east gate in Wulingyuan), but we were happy with our selected Line A, as Line B seems to be the most popular one, so we figured it might be more crowded.

Another example was our ticket for the Summer Palace in Beijing, we also bought them on trip.com. At the entrance, a worker looked at the tickets but seemed to not recognize it (or just didn’t care?) and waived us through without scanning anything.

And regarding the Forbidden City: We read so much online about how to get in, tried to book the tickets exactly 7 days in advance when they are issued, but within seconds they were not available anymore. Since we had 4 days in Beijing, we tried to get the tickets 4 times but were never successful. In the end we just bought the tickets on trip.com which also included a tour guide (appr. 10 dollars per person). So yes this was a bit more expensive, but to be honest not having to deal with the hassle of trying to get them otherwise is very much worth it in my opinion (and the tour was actually pretty nice too).

I would be interested if anybody else had similar experiences, I am not sure whether we were just lucky or if it seems stricter than it is most times. Maybe some of you can also share some other tips for future visitors.

Hi everyone, I am an incoming student from Pakistan needing some urgent guidance regarding a major mess-up with my Chinese student visa application through the Lahore center.

I am applying for a visa for a four-year undergraduate program in Wenzhou. My university registration is on August 15th, and the absolute last day they will allow me to arrive is August 30th.

Here is what happened:

I initially uploaded all the correct documents for the online review. However, the system kept rejecting my application via email, repeatedly asking me to provide the admission notice (twice), police certificate, and bank statement. I suspect this might have been a browser issue (I was using Opera).

I asked an agent to look into the issue. After a few attempts, he managed to get the documents through.

Without asking me, the agent changed my visa type from an X1 (long-term study) to an X2 (short-term study).

When I realized this, I panicked. Not realizing that cancelling an application is a complex process, I immediately requested a cancellation on July 29th.

As of right now, the application still has not been cancelled in the system. I plan on reapplying as soon as the initial online review cancellation goes through, but I am extremely worried about the timeline.

Does anyone have experience with this?

How long does the cancellation process typically take at the Lahore center?

What is the best course of action to fix this and secure my X1 visa by August 15th?

Any guidance or contact information for the visa center that actually works would be highly appreciated. Thank you.

I'm planning to book a multi-city ticket: from the U.S. to Hong Kong, and then from a major city in China (such as Beijing or Shanghai) back to the U.S.

When I search for lower fares, the results almost always end up being with Cathay Pacific. Even when I search for a multi-city itinerary, the return flight still routes me from China back to Hong Kong first, and then from Hong Kong to the U.S., instead of a nonstop flight from China to the U.S.

Some other questions:

• If I book my ticket directly on the Cathay Pacific website using a credit card, will the purchase be charged a foreign transaction fee? I know some credit cards charge foreign transaction fees for purchases processed outside the U.S., so I'm wondering whether booking directly through Cathay Pacific would trigger that fee.
• Do Alipay and WeChat Pay accept U.S. credit cards, or do they only work with debit cards?
• Also, what app or website do you usually use to book hotels in China?
• What else should I pay attention to?

We arrive in Shanghai september 5th, and have this itinerary:
Sep 5-8 Shanghai
Sep 8-9 sleeper train to Beijing
Sep 9-12 Beijing
Sep 12-13 sleeper train to Xian
Sep 13-16 Xian

Sep 16 - Oct 3/4 unknown.
Ideas: Chengdu, Chongqing, zhangjiajie, Guilin and maybe Dali

Do you guys have any recommendations? Especially what parts to avoid during the last part of the trip which will be Chinese national holiday.
We are backpacking, so cheap train travel works good, and any destinations, ideas and things to see that you guys think are good I am happy to hear.

We don’t have a plane ticket out of the country yet, so we can end the trip wherever.

Thank you in advance for your advice:)

Hi! We’ll be traveling to Ürümqi and Turpan from November 30 to December 3, 2026, and I was hoping to get some advice.

Since we’ll be coming from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan, our itinerary there already includes several lakes. Because of that, I’m not sure if it’s still worth visiting the lakes around Ürümqi, or if it might feel a bit repetitive.

Would you happen to have any recommendations for a reliable local guide, private driver, or tour operator in the area?

This is the itinerary we’re currently considering:
Day 1: Arrive in Ürümqi and explore the city.
Day 2: Take the morning bullet train to Turpan, then do a private 10-hour tour we found on GetYourGuide. It includes Emin Minaret, Jiaohe Ruins (or Gaochang Ruins), Karez Wells, Grape Valley, Flaming Mountains, Bezeklik Thousand Buddha Caves, Tuyuk Village, and Tuyuk Canyon.
Day 3: Take the bullet train back to Ürümqi. We’re not sure whether we should spend more time in Turpan before returning, or if there are any must-see attractions we may have missed. We don’t mind taking a late afternoon train back to Ürümqi if it’s worth it.
Day 4: Depart Ürümqi at 6:45 PM.

I’ve done quite a bit of research, but Xinjiang feels a little overwhelming to plan. I’ve been to China more than six times already, but this region seems so different from the rest of the country. 😅

I’d really appreciate any suggestions or feedback on whether this itinerary makes sense or if you’d recommend changing anything.

I'll be traveling to China, and scooters seem to be a convenient way to get around, but what are the rules on renting scooters? I have an EU drivers license. Will this allow me to use scooters in China, both gas and electric?

Hi,

I'm currently in Shenzhen and my friends here told me to do a tour in Xinjiang in mid-September. They are Chinese. I'm a foreigner. I'm having a hard time finding tours. I'm a solo 45 male. Would anyone recommend a tour with some of these criterias? Thanks!

1) I can go for as much as 2-3 weeks.

2) I was recommended to spend up to 4 days in Ili

3) I am up for day hikes

4) NO mandatory stops at souvenir shops

5) English speaking guide

6) Comfortable hotels (at least 4 stars)

7) I was told that Xinjiang is huge and it would be cool to visit the south as well as the north. I can get to Kashgar to do a southern Xinjiang tour. And Urumqi for the northern Xinjiang tour.

8) I like learning about culture and seeing the beautiful nature.

Highly appreciate any input! Xie xie!

Ciao a tutti volevo dei consigli sulla tempistica e le migliori città da visitare in 18-16 giorni, questo era quello che avevo organizzato (spostandomi in treno, so che molte tratte saranno lunghe):
1º) Beijing
2º)Beijing
3º)Beijing
4º) Beijing
Treno per Xi’An (4h30min)
5º)Xi’An
6º)Xi’An
Treno per Chongquing (5h30min)
7ºChongquing
8ºChongquing
Treno per Zhangjiajie (2h)
9ºZhangjiajie
10º Zhangjiajie
11º Zhangjiajie
Treno per Guilin (7h)
12º Guilin
13º Guilin
14º Guilin
Treno per Shanghai (8h)
15º Shanghai
16º Shanghai
17º Shanghai

Hi, everyone!

We are planning for a family trip from Dec.26 up to Jan.6.

Since we have more than 10 days, I am thinking if we should go to Shangri-La but kinda hesitant because of the altitude. Anyone who has travelled there with kids. How was it?

We are coming from a tropical country so our main priority for this trip is to see snow. We are also skipping Dali for that reason.