Template preview — prices, team and reviews are placeholders.
Practical notes from planners who live here, updated as the rules change. The first guide is ready; the rest are on our writing list.
eSIM or roaming, Alipay and WeChat Pay, the airport, hotel check-in, and eight phrases for day one.
Who qualifies, what to have ready at the border, and where to check the official rules.
Linking a Visa or Mastercard, what to do when a payment fails, and how much cash to carry.
Roaming, international eSIMs and local SIM cards compared, and which apps work on each.
The short list for payments, messaging, maps, trains, translation and food.
Booking windows, seat classes, station security and boarding with your passport.
Riding the metro with a phone, and ordering a Didi without speaking Chinese.
Beijing Capital or Daxing, getting into the city, and domestic flights.
Release days, real-name booking with a passport, and what to do if it’s sold out.
Badaling, Mutianyu, Jinshanling and the wilder sections: crowds, hiking and getting there.
How museum reservations work with a foreign passport, and which ones to book early.
Which Great Wall day suits you: hiking, cable cars, children and travel time.
The Mountain Resort, the Outer Temples and the G-train from Beijing Chaoyang.
Song-dynasty temple halls and a quiet old town, an easy train ride from Beijing West.
Where the Great Wall meets the sea: Old Dragon’s Head and the First Pass Under Heaven.
The classic first trip, with realistic train times and one slow morning.
Beijing, Jinshanling and Chengde, then on to Xi’an or Shanghai.
A visa-free stopover plan that stays inside the permitted area.
Most first visits combine two or three of these. Tell us which ones, and we’ll plan the order and the trains in between.
The Forbidden City, hutong lanes and the Great Wall — most first trips start here.
How we plan it: Beijing
The Terracotta Warriors, a city wall you can cycle on, and the Muslim Quarter’s food street.
How we plan it: Xi’an
The Bund, leafy old lanes and easy international flights — a natural start or finish.
How we plan it: Shanghai
Karst peaks, the Li River and bike rides between rice fields.
How we plan it: Guilin & Yangshuo