China Travel Logistics: Everything You Need Before You Go (5 Must Have China Travel Apps for Trains, VPNs, and Payment).

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Quick-Reference China Travel App Checklist

Set up all of these before you leave. App stores may be restricted once you’re in China, and setting things up from scratch there is a real headache.

• Alipay — download, create account, add foreign card, verify identity
• WeChat + WeChat Pay — download, create account, add card (more involved than Alipay but worth having as backup)
• Amap (Gaode Maps) — download, download offline map areas
• Didi — built into Alipay, no separate app needed
• Trip.com — download, create account, add foreign card
• eSIM app — install and buy your plan before departure
• Offline maps — download areas in Google Maps or Amap
• Music, podcasts, shows, audiobooks — download everything you’ll want to listen to or watch

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Visas for China: Check Your Situation First

We applied in person at the Chinese Visa Application Service (that’s all they do) in Prague. Staff there helped us fill out the paperwork on the spot, and it was approved within a week. The visa is valid for 10 years. One of the best bureaucratic experiences I’ve had.

The one strange part: even with a 10-year visa, you still have to show accommodation booked for every day of your itinerary at the time of application. The workaround is easy, book fully refundable reservations to satisfy the application, then cancel and rebook whatever you actually want closer to your trip.

Note: If your passport expires before your 10-year visa (very possible) then you can still carry your old passport with the visa sticker along with your new one to enter China.

But check your passport before you go through this process. Check your passport rules before paying for an agent. Most EU citizens currently qualify for 15 to 30 day visa-free entry, while many other nationalities must rely on the 144-hour or 240-hour visa-free transit rules when routing through a third country. If your itinerary qualifies for transit exemptions, skip the visa fees entirely.

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China VPN: What We Expected vs. What Actually Happened

I normally travel with Windscribe and it’s never let me down — except in China. Even a paid VPN struggled to reliably get through the Great Firewall.

What actually solved it: a Hong Kong eSIM. We used 3 Mobile via MobiMatter, but Klook also sells China-focused eSIM options that work the same way. The logic is simple — if your data is routed through Hong Kong, you’re automatically outside the firewall. No VPN app, no configuration, no obfuscated server settings to fiddle with. It just works, all the time, everywhere we went.

One caveat worth flagging: because of how this works, your phone’s mobile data becomes more reliable than hotel wifi for getting around the firewall. Even when we had “free” hotel wifi, we mostly stayed on cellular data instead. Buy enough data to cover your whole trip up front, don’t plan on topping up mid-trip.

Get Your eSim Here

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Alipay: Full Setup Walkthrough

Alipay was our primary payment app for the entire trip. It accepts foreign Visa and Mastercard directly through the international user feature, so you don’t need a Chinese bank account. We never used cash once. Alipay and WeChat Pay covered everything.

Step-by-step setup:

1. Download the app from your home country’s app store before you leave. The app store inside China may not have the international version.
2. Create an account using your email address or home country phone number. You’ll need access to receive a verification code.
3. Go to “Me” > “Bank Cards” and add your international Visa or Mastercard. You’ll need the card number, expiration date, and CVV.
4. Verify your identity. Alipay will ask for a photo of your passport and a selfie. This is required for the international card feature.
5. Done. Once verified, you’re ready to pay. Open Alipay, tap “Pay,” and scan the merchant’s QR code, or let them scan yours.

Do not bother downloading the standalone Didi app. Use the Didi mini-program directly inside Alipay. It bypasses international SMS verification glitches, routes payments automatically through your verified foreign card, and translates messages with drivers in real time.

One money-saving thing to know about the 3% fee. Alipay charges a 3% surcharge on any foreign card transaction over 200 RMB (~$28 USD). Under 200 RMB? No fee at all. Same policy with WeChat Pay.

The workaround is simple: ask the merchant to split your purchase into multiple payments under 200 RMB. Buying something for 600 RMB? That’s three 200 RMB transactions — and zero in fees instead of 18 RMB gone to a surcharge. Most vendors are happy to do it if they’re not busy.

Here’s the phrase to show them:

我可以分成几笔不超过200元的交易吗？我是游客，超过200元的交易需要额外收费。谢谢。

(“Can I split this into payments under 200 RMB? I’m a tourist and transactions over 200 have an extra fee. Thanks.”)

We used this maybe a half-dozen times on the trip. Never got a no.

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WeChat Pay: Full Setup Walkthrough

WeChat Pay is worth having as a backup even if Alipay is your primary. Some smaller vendors only take WeChat, and having both means you’re never stuck.

Step-by-step setup:

1. Download WeChat from your home country’s app store before you leave.
2. Create an account using your phone number. You’ll receive a verification code to confirm.
3. Go to “Me” > “Services” > “Wallet” > “Bank Cards.” Enter your international card details.
4. Verify. You may need to confirm through SMS or an additional verification step. This part is sometimes more involved than Alipay — some users report it failing on the first try with foreign cards.
5. If it doesn’t work: try again with a different card, or rely on Alipay as your primary and skip WeChat Pay. It’s not essential, but it’s nice to have.

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Amap (Gaode Maps)

This is the one correction to the usual advice you’ll read online. Amap is not Chinese-only anymore. It now has a full English interface and is genuinely better than trying to force Google Maps through a VPN. Google Maps has accuracy problems in China because the country uses a different coordinate system, so addresses can be off by several hundred meters.

Download Amap before you leave and download offline map areas for the cities you’ll visit.

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Trains: Book Through Trip.com

We booked every train through Trip.com and it was consistently easy — English interface, foreign cards accepted, confirmation codes you exchange for a paper ticket at the station.

One tip that’s worth the extra few dollars: on popular routes, or if you want a specific class (we took a business-class train between two cities and it was genuinely worth it), tickets sometimes only release a set window ahead of the departure date. Trip.com offers a service where, for a small fee, they’ll automatically try to grab your ticket the moment it releases. If you’re chasing a busy route or a specific seat class, it’s worth paying for.

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Book Your China Accommodation through Agoda or Trip

Where to book your hotels. Trip.com and Agoda both accept foreign cards without issues, no Chinese bank account, no WeChat Pay required. Just avoid booking directly through Chinese-only platforms like Ctrip’s domestic site or Meituan, which won’t take international cards, and sometimes don’t even accept foreigners. Stick to major hotel chains if you want to be sure they can handle a foreigner.

One tip: filter for “free cancellation” and book early. Visa applications need accommodation proof, and prices on good hotels in Xi’an, Chengdu, and Shanghai climb fast as dates get closer. Lock in refundable rates, then check back closer to your trip for drops.

Download Everything Before You Leave

This is the single piece of advice that matters more than any other: download everything you could possibly need before you get on the plane. App stores are restricted once you’re in China. Google Play doesn’t work without a VPN. Apple’s App Store is limited. You don’t want to be hunting for a map app in a hotel lobby at 11 PM after a 12-hour flight.

On the China travel apps side: Alipay, WeChat, Amap, Trip.com, and your eSIM provider’s app should all be installed and configured before you depart.

On the content side:

• Offline maps — Download areas for every city you’re visiting. Both Google Maps and Amap let you do this. Do it on WiFi at home.
• Offline translator — Pleco is the standard. Download the full dictionary packs so it works without an internet connection.
• Music and podcasts — Streaming service catalogs differ inside China. Download everything you’ll want to listen to before you fly.
• Shows and movies — Netflix, YouTube, and most streaming platforms are blocked or limited. Load up your phone or tablet in advance.
• Audiobooks and reading — Kindle app works. Download your books. Libby for library books won’t work without a VPN, so load up before you leave.

The goal is simple: once you land, you never need to download anything again. You already have it.

FAQ About China Travel Apps

Full disclosure: Some links here are affiliate links. If you use them, I get a tiny kickback at no cost to you, which keeps this site running and fuels my travel coffee habit. I only recommend tools I actually used.