First Trip to China: What to Prepare Before You Go

Planning your first trip to China can feel like there is always one more thing you need to figure out.

Which apps do you need? Will your card work? What about Google? How do you take a train? Do you need to book everything before you arrive?

You don’t need to solve all of China before you get on the plane.

Prepare the things that could actually stop your trip from working. Learn the rest as you go.

There are a few things we would not leave until after landing.

Know how you’re entering China

Don’t arrive at the airport still guessing whether you need a visa or whether your route qualifies for visa-free entry.

If you’re not sure, start with Do I Need a Visa for China?

If you’re using transit without a visa, check the actual route: China 240-Hour Visa-Free Transit: Does Your Route Qualify?

Know how your phone will get online

Decide how you will connect before you arrive.

Your internet choice can also affect which services you can access, so the useful question is:

When I land, will my phone connect — and will I be able to use the services I need?

See How to Get Internet in China as a Tourist.

Set up payment before you leave

Set up Alipay and/or WeChat, complete any verification you can, and add your card before the trip.

Keep a backup payment method too.

You don’t need five backups. You just don’t want your first purchase in China to be the first time you test everything.

See How to Pay in China as a Tourist.

You don’t need every China app someone recommends. Make sure your phone can help you pay, navigate, translate, get around and access your bookings. Then stop adding apps just because another checklist recommends one.

See What Apps Do You Actually Need for China?

You do not need to pre-book every hour of your China trip.

Look at your itinerary and ask:

What would cause a real problem if this wasn’t confirmed?

Your first night’s hotel might be one.

An intercity train that the next three days depend on might be another.

A major attraction with limited reservations might be another.

Dinner on your fourth night probably isn’t.

Secure the things the rest of your trip depends on. Leave room around them.

For details, see How to Book Hotels in China as a Foreigner, China High-Speed Train: What First-Time Travelers Need to Know, and Book China Attractions: Need to Book in Advance?.

If you already have the ticket, you don’t need to memorize how a Chinese railway station works.

The more important questions are:

Which station am I leaving from?

What time does my train leave?

How long will it actually take to get there?

Be at the right station, at the right time, with enough margin.

Once you’re there, the rest is much easier to solve.

You can read ten guides about entering a Chinese railway station and still feel unsure. Then you do it once, and the second journey already feels much more familiar.

The same principle applies elsewhere.

You don’t need to memorize the subway before you arrive. You need a way to navigate and pay.

You don’t need to rehearse every taxi ride. You need your destination and a way to get there.

Prepare what can make you miss the journey. Learn the unfamiliar parts by doing them.

You don’t need to understand every metro system, choose every restaurant or plan every taxi route before your flight.

Some things are simply easier to learn once you’re there.

Unfamiliar doesn’t automatically mean difficult.

Once you’ve paid for something, taken your first metro, entered your first railway station and found your first ride, a lot of the uncertainty disappears quickly.

So when the important things are ready, stop preparing.

Your goal is not to understand China before you arrive.

Your goal is to land with the few things your trip depends on already working.