China travel guide: the order things should be decided
Most China planning goes wrong at step one — picking cities before deciding the season, or booking flights before checking the visa. This is the order that avoids rewrites.
Step 1 — check the visa before anything else
Visa rules change by announcement, not by law, and they change more often than any other part of China planning. Check your passport against the current list before you book a flight, because the answer decides whether your trip is four weeks out or four months out.
The detail, including the visa-free list and the documents you must carry, is on China visa & entry.
Step 2 — pick the season, then the region
China is four climates. April–May and September–October work almost everywhere; July–August works in the north-west and the highlands and is miserable in the east; winter is Harbin and the south. Deciding the region first and the season second is how people end up in Chongqing in August.
Month-by-month, region by region: the best time to visit China.
Step 3 — decide how many days, honestly
Two cities per week. Three if every internal leg is high-speed rail under four hours. Four in a week means you remember the airports. The three plans we publish are 7, 10 and 14 days.
Step 4 — money, phones and the boring two hours
| What to sort out | When | Where the detail is |
|---|---|---|
| Visa or visa-free entry | Before booking flights | Visa & entry |
| Alipay / WeChat Pay set up | Two weeks before | Paying in China |
| eSIM or roaming | One week before | Internet & roaming |
| Power bank under 100 Wh | Packing day | Power banks |
| Train seats booked | Two weeks before | Trains & flights |
Step 5 — understand what a tour does and does not include
The single most common misunderstanding is whether entrance tickets, hotels and internal transport are in the price. Ours lists them line by line: what is included, and how the price is built.
Step 6 — the things people worry about, answered
- Food and water — what is safe, what is spicy, how allergies are handled.
- Tipping and etiquette — mostly nobody tips, and the table manners that matter.
- Safety and emergencies — numbers, hospitals, lost passports.
- Shopping stops — why we do not have them, in writing.
Step 7 — pick a shape, not a list
You do not need to choose between a fixed tour and a blank page. Every one of our eight routes is a starting shape: it can be re-paced, extended, shortened or combined. That is usually cheaper and faster than starting from zero.
How far ahead should we start planning?
Three to four months for spring or autumn, six weeks at a push. The two things that sell out first are train seats and the good hotel categories.
Do we need a tour to travel in China?
No. You need one for the things that are genuinely hard independently: permits, timed tickets at popular sites, and a driver who knows where the coach parks are.
Is China expensive?
It is cheap on the ground and expensive in the planning. Hotels, food and trains are reasonable; the money goes on internal flights and private guides.
What is the biggest planning mistake?
Too many cities. The second is booking flights before checking the visa.
Can we book only part of a trip with you?
Yes — a single transfer, a guide for two days, or one region. It does not have to be a full itinerary.
Tell us your dates and we will build it
You get a written itinerary and a line-by-line price within 24 hours. Nothing is charged until you approve it.