r/chinatravel

Bonjour à tous,
nous partons en Chine ou nous serons du 2 au 22 aout, nous n'avons pas envie de bouger tous les 4 matins (meme s'il semble que le pays le mériterait).

J'aimerais avoir votre avis sur ce circuit

• Shanghai : 6 nuits avec A/R 1 journée à Hangzhou (On changera de quartier en milieu de sejour pour faire 3 nuits dans 1 quartier et 3 dans un autre)
• Suzhou : 2 nuits (avec un visite de Tongli)
• Taiwan : 4 nuits
• Nanjing (Nankin) : 3 nuits
• Pekin : 5 nuits

Merci à tous

Hello everyone! My boyfriend, a couple of friends, and I are visiting China for the first time this September. We’ll be staying for 9 days, flying into Shanghai and departing from Beijing.

We plan to focus on these two cities and maybe a few nearby spots. We’re looking for local suggestions that match our interests:

Culture & Food: We’re looking for authentic experiences, even though we’re Italian, we’re super adventurous eaters and down to try any bizarre food they throw at us!

Music: We love live music, especially alternative, post-rock, and punk, but we're also into techno. Any cool venue or club recommendations?

Pop Culture: We're big fans of video games and comics/manga.

Thanks in advance for any tips!

I’m planning a solo train trip from Chengdu to Hong Kong this September, over the course of 17 days.

My idea is to stop in a few places along the way (Guizhou, Guilin, maybe some smaller towns as well) because I’d like to experience more than just the big cities and see a different side of China.

Does this sound like a good plan? What should I expect as a solo traveler doing this route by train?

I’m also wondering about train costs, is it still affordable if I make multiple stops along the way instead of booking one long trip?

I’m especially interested in nature, local culture, food,...

Any advice, route suggestions, or tips are very welcome! 🙏

Just saw the devastating news abt the coal mine accident and i have a flight in a few hours to Hangzhou. How much do i have to be worried about travelling in Eastern China. Should I cancel/reschedule my flight or is there any extra precautions i could take . TIA.

Hello! Please judge my itinerary (I also accept recommendations)

I’m traveling from 9 of September until 3 of October (Ik I will catch part of the golden week but it is what it is)

10 sept: Arrive to Beijing

11–14 sept: Beijing
4 full days to visit the city and going to Universal Studios

15 sept: Beijing -> Xi’an (morning)

15–17 sept: Xi’an

18 sept (friday): Xi’an -> Chongqing

18-19 (friday+saturday): Chongqing
To see the drones 🫶
On Saturday morning I would like to visit Wulong (or is it too much)

20 sept: Chongqing -> Chengdu

20-22 sept: Chengdu
One day for a tour(maybe on the 21st): Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding + Leshan Giant Buddha

22 sept (afternoon): Chengdu -> Zhangjiajie

23–25 sept: Zhangjiajie

26 sept: Zhangjiajie -> Furong Town

27 sept: Furong -> Fenghuang

28 sept: Fenghuang / Zhangjiajie -> Shanghai
Flight

28 sept – 3 oct: Shanghai
I was thinking on going to Disney Shanghai on day 29 and Suzhou on the 30th, to avoid this “popular” places before the holidays 🥹 and then see the city on the 1st, and 2nd of October.
Btw, I don’t know which water town is better, so I accept recommendations for Suzhou or other.

Hi all, so yesterday was my 3rd day in China. I was passing a square and heard there was music. Some people where in uniform, and started dancing in circles. More and more normal people from the crowd started to join, all going into one big round circle.

Is this something regular in China, and if so whats it called? I don't really enjoy dance or anything ( atleast it's what I thought, I never showed any interest) but somehow seeing so many people move in the same order made me emotional.

1 of the people dancing even invited me, saying come enjoy with us. But I'm s solo traveler and already eveything is overwhelming, so that was to scary for me.

Anyway, my question :

• Is this normal everywhere in China or just in this city?

• What is it called?

Also, I'm in the train atm to chengdu, where can I find the same thing tonight (if it's there?)

Or, maybe a play you can recomend what I can see? My wife always tried to bring me to traditional dancing shows and theaters, but I always refused. So going now alone would also make her proud hopefully (or maybe upset I go alone instead of going togheter 😅)

Hi everyone,

Travelling to China with a friend for the first time (Sept 1–29). We are starting and ending in Shanghai. We want a mix of culture, food, crazy nightlife, and heavy shopping at the end.

Here is our current wishlist of cities:

• Shanghai (Start & End)
• Beijing
• Chengdu & Chongqing
• Zhangjiajie
• Guangzhou, Shenzhen, & Hong Kong (Mainly for shopping/nightlife)

We have 29 days total. What should we change?

1. What is the most logical route/loop to connect these geographically? Should we fly some legs or stick to high-speed rail?
2. How many days should we realistically spend per city?
3. Are there any cities here we should just leave out to avoid burnout, or any must-see "links" we missed?
4. For the shopping finale down south, how should we split our time between HK, Shenzhen, and Guangzhou (markets vs. tech vs. clothes)?

Appreciate any feedback, even if it changes our whole route!

Just a heads up for anyone planning to visit the Great Wall. We came down late afternoon and the exit area was packed with private cars and taxis trying to get passengers, but almost no tourists were getting in. Everyone was standing around on their phones trying to book a Didi. I should have taken that as a sign.Our trip package recommended taking the bus back to the city. We ignored that and tried to grab a Didi instead. App showed somewhere over 200 RMB which seemed fine, but nobody accepted for ages, just kept waiting. It was getting late so I went up to one of the waiting drivers and asked how much. He said 300 RMB. Not that far off from what the app was showing so we caved.Then he picked up two more Chinese passengers and squeezed them in. Five people packed in one car. So he's collecting fares from both groups for the same trip. At drop-off he also wanted 50 RMB for highway tolls, said it was split between the two groups so each pair pays 50. Maybe legit, but it felt dodgy.Looking back this guy probably made well over 600 RMB off a single ride doing this. Should have just taken the bus like the package recommended. If you see a bunch of drivers waiting but nobody getting in, don't be the one who gets in.

I have been looking at some eSim to get, is the one from trip

.com good ( with 47k reviews). Does it work well in cities and rural areas? If not that on what other eSim would you recommend that can pass the firewall?

I will also be taking my other devices to China such as tablet and laptop. I know with the SIM I can get access to Instagram and Whatsapp but I will need a good vpn which I can use to have access on those devices. Can you recommend any vpns that would work well with hotel/ accommodations (public WiFi)?

Also, I have been having trouble setting up my weechat since it would not send me the SMS which is something needed to be able to register? How can I fix this or is there something I need to do?

I would really appreciate it if I could get some advice with all this.

Hi!

I am travelling to China this July/August and looking to take trains. They will be from Chengdu to Guilin/Yangshuo then going to Hong Kong. I was wondering what sites are the most reliable to book tickets from?

I’ve only traveled twice, to the country of Taiwan, and I don’t have any other travel records. I’m planning to travel to China alone for my birthday this December. I’m just wondering if it’s safe. Would it be better if I joined a tour or went through a travel agency?

One of my worries is what my boyfriend told me, that people there are heavily monitored, including on social media. I’m scared I might get into trouble or be detained if I posted something random against their country from years ago (I don't even remember the posts and comments I did from 4-5 years ago). Are the people there nice?

I have a friend who loves Deku, she said, she's also scared to visit China coz Deku is all over her social media posts (there's backlash against My Hero Academia over a historically sensitive character name). My BF is a bit political on social media, so he doesn't wanna visit China... some of his posts back then were something about China.

Ending, I have no one to visit China with.

I really want to visit China for myself, do photoshoots, and etc. Please, please advise.

Hi I am from China and I've been working in the US for the past decade. I finally got months of free time to spend back in China from June to August. I have to admit I haven't explored most beautiful places in China, so super excited. If anyone is planning a trip there, and are keen to share the experience with a native Chinese, hit me up please! Also happy to be part of any China travel vlog too!

Happy to share more information about me!

Hi everyone,

I’ll be arriving at Chongqing Jiangbei Airport at 4:50 AM and I have a 14.5-hour layover before my next flight. I’m mainly looking for a place to sleep for a few hours, ideally either inside the airport or very close to the terminal.

Does anyone know if there are any transit hotels, hourly hotels, sleeping pods, or nearby airport hotels that are convenient for this kind of layover? I’d also like to know whether I would need to go through immigration to reach them.

Any recommendations or recent experiences would be very helpful. Thanks!

Me and my fiance are going to china for 7 weeks and looking for some cool things to do. He is very history orientated and loves anything historical whereas I am more shopping/ food
orientated but will go anywhere. Here
is our itenerary:

5 days in beijing
3 days sanya
3 days beijing
3 days xi an (will be seeing terra cotta soldiers)

4 days chengdu
2 days chongqing
3 days zhangjiajie
6 days shanghai (will see yu garden)

15 days Beijing

I have two weeks in Hong Kong (for work), then 10 days travel around mainland China. Any advice for where to travel for those 10 days? I’ve to fly out of Hong Kong on my return.

Thank you for your help in advance!

Just got back from a week in Shanghai and my dumb mistake was letting Rednote and Dianping pick my meals for the first three days. Sorted by highest rated, picked whatever had hundreds of glowing reviews. Six meals not counting breakfast, six disappointments. No way 2000 real humans gave five stars to food that tastes like absolutely nothing. Also noticed most of these places had a little sign on every table saying leave a Dianping review and get a free drink or dessert. Waiters would go around halfway through asking tables to review. They never asked us though, probably because they saw we were foreign.

The pretty ones are the worst. Found a few spots on Rednote that looked gorgeous, showed up, massive line. Finally got seated, nobody was eating, everyone was filming or rearranging plates for photos. Took one bite and understood why. Ingredients died for nothing. Whole business model is vibes for content, not food for humans.

The decent meals I had were from restaurants recommended in the trip package I bought. Half the dish names on Dianping and Rednote translate into something completely nonsensical so I never knew what anything tasted like or what was in it, but the trip package actually broke down the flavors and ingredients for each recommended dish which helped a lot. Street stalls with no online presence were also great. And when I really didn't want to gamble again, McDonald's and KFC counted as decent food at that point.

Anyway use the apps but don't trust ratings blindly. If a place looks more like a photo studio than a restaurant your stomach is going to regret it.

Hi all,

I'm currently planning a trip to China. The plan will be to spend 17 nights on the mainland and i'm tossing up options. I feel like i'm trying to do too much and I guess I'm seeking validation on this and potentially thoughts on which places I should consider trimming (or maybe not?).

The ambitious plan is as follows:

* 1 - 2 (2 nights) Shanghai
(Train - 1 hour)

* 3 - 4 (2 nights) Hangzhou
(Plane - 2.5 hours)

* 4 - 6 (3 nights) Xi'an
(Train - 4 hours)

* 7 - 9 (3 nights) Chengdu
(Fly)

* 10 - 12 (3 nights) Zhangjiajie
(Train - 7 hours)

* 13 - 15 (3 nights) Yangshuo
(Train - 3.5 hours)

* 16 - 17 (2 nights) Hong Kong

Please feel free to be brutal. I think I just need some guidance about what I should just let go.

Also, if you think there's a spot I've given too much time to (or not enough), that would be good to know as well :)

I will be as digitally prepared for my trip as possible i think. Just curious the routine apps to delete before going in a few weeks. All Google, anything else?
Already dl’d and practiced with the main Chinese ones- baidu, amap, Alipay, didi, WeChat.

Just got back from a 2 1/2 week trip to China and just wanted to share some experiences of what I would and wouldn’t do again for my next trip.

Places I visited:

Chengdu:
Customer service and people are more important to me than the hype of social media etc. and Chengdu did not disappoint. Of all the three locations that I visited Chengdu had the most warmth and were the most customer service driven. I am of chinese decent but don’t speak any Chinese. However, the people there were very understanding and receptive. I only mention this because in my other experience in visiting the other locations, I can definitely feel the shift in genuinity of how the people respond when they find out that you look like them but don’t speak their language. 🤣

Accommodations: Grand ParcVue Hotel
Cost: $90 per night
Pros: centrally located
Fully Equipped kitchen
Friendly staff
24 hr gym access( fully equipped)
Actual non-smoking environment
Housekeeping- daily

Cons: cleanliness could be worked on (they fail to vaccum between the couch cushions) 🤮

Would stay again.

Chongqing:
Not as warm as Chengdu, is great for the younger generation or maybe just not for me (millennial) More fast pace, people are not as customer service oriented. Feels too hyped up vs reality. You begin to feel the effects of the smoking culture more.

Accommodation: Mountwell Executive Suites
Cost: $100 per night
All I can say is they should have a “buyer beware”
Pros: The view (if your on a high enough floor)
Centrally located

Cons: Cleanliness was an issue (mold in shower and stacked dust cushions on bed frame from months of non cleaning) 🤮
Sheets were rough as hell!
Housekeeping (came whenever they felt like it) I stayed 8 days saw housekeeping 4 of them. 3 of which I fought tooth and nail for them to come and do their job!
By god the smoking- i am a non smoker. They did not enforce the “no smoking” well or even at all! So the vents carried the second hand smoke to my room as if I was smoking myself. I was so nauseated, I felt like puking everyday. Even after moving rooms. Same results.
Gym is not 24 hours and when you want to use the gym a staff has to let you in.🤔 Extremely inconvenient especially due to time zone differences.
Staff dont really give a ****, pretty condescending once they realize you look like them but dont speak their language. Its really an odd feeling when you see them smiling at someone who looks like a foreigner and doing all these things… to accommodate. Makes you wonder….
Shower pipes somehow bursted so no showering after a gym session. Which was awesome 🙄i was on the 43rd floor
Bidet non functional to malfunction- closed on me a couple of times while i was on it 😂😂
No utensils/pots unless you request them. In a room with a kitchen 🤨

Again buyers beware! To each their own if you’re able to tolerate the above. NEVER EVER again!

Shanghai
Accommodation: Double Tree Hotel ( Shanghai)
Cost: $100 aprox per night

Pros: none

Cons: Mold in shower
No common items such as tooth brush, comb, qtips etc. unless they give it to you at the front desk. Which was odd to say the least.
The smoking- worst than above
Just dont do if you have kids or non smokers, thats all I can say. No matter if they advertise these rooms as non-smoking. Ive concluded that it doesnt exist.
Never again!

Flight:
China Eastern

This airline is in a category of its own.
Flew business and Im at loss for words! My flight back to and from the US remained unchanged/unaffected. I booked 3 months in advance for the trip. However, the China routes…it seems that all hell broke loose or have I just been lucky enough with past international flights??

My flight was changed at least 3 times varying from change in airport departures and arrivals within chengdu and shanghai. I cant even imagine what this would look like or how it would affect someone who is traveling with a family. To be told within days that your arriving airport is 1 hour away or your flight has been cancelled without rebooking for you and leaving that for you to deal with was a nightmare for a solo traveler and good luck with trying to reach their customer service from China. It’s a joke!

Never again!

Hope this provided some good insight to US travelers.