China Trip Checklist: 14 Things to Do Before You Fly

Fourteen tasks, ordered by the date each one stops being fixable. Four happen eight weeks out and decide your dates and your entry route, four more lock in trains, the first night and payments, three are phone setup in the last fortnight, two are reservations and cash, and one is the document pack you need at the check-in desk.

• 8 weeks out — entry rule, travel dates, the visa application if you need one, then flights.
• 4 weeks out — long-distance trains, the first night’s accommodation type, payment apps, passport validity.
• 2 weeks out — arrival card, eSIM, and the apps that replace the blocked ones.
• 1 week out — attraction reservations and a cash float.
• Hard deadline — the 48-country visa-free arrangement and the fingerprint waiver both end on 31 December 2026.

Eight weeks out: which decisions lock first?

Four decisions at eight weeks set everything downstream, and two of them are hard to reverse. The entry rule comes first because it decides whether you need an appointment at a visa center, then the dates, then the application, and only then the flights. Booking flights before the first three is the most expensive ordering mistake on this list.

1. Confirm the entry rule for your passport. Fifty countries enter visa-free for 30 days, 55 can use 240-hour transit, and everyone else needs an L visa. The rule follows nationality, so a US, Indian, Indonesian, Mexican or Philippine passport is not on the visa-free list. Skip this and the airline refuses boarding. Details on the China visa overview.
2. Fix your dates against the 2026 holiday peaks. Spring Festival runs 15 to 23 February 2026 and National Day 1 to 7 October 2026, with train seats and reservations at their tightest. Booking across those weeks costs you the sites you came for. See best time to visit China.
3. If you need an L visa, start the application now. The sequence is an online form, an appointment, an in-person submission, then about four working days of processing. Starting at eight weeks leaves room for a rejected photo or a second appointment; starting at four may not.
4. Book international flights last. Once the rule, the dates and the visa are settled, the flight is a price decision rather than a routing decision. Booking it first is what makes the other three expensive to change. These steps are set out in the visa application steps.

Four weeks out: what should already be booked?

By four weeks out the expensive mistakes are behind you and the remaining work is setup. This is the point to book the long legs, decide what kind of bed you sleep in on the first night, link a payment card and read the expiry date on your passport properly. All four are cheap now and awkward later.

5. Book the long-distance train legs. Real-name tickets sell out on popular routes and holiday dates, and a passport that has not been registered on 12306 cannot buy one at the window either. Register in English first, then book when sales open.
6. Decide where you sleep on the first night. A hotel registers your stay for you. A private stay means registering within 24 hours yourself, in person or online in the seven provinces running the pilot, and arriving at 22:00 makes that harder.
7. Install Alipay or WeChat Pay and link one card. Overseas cards work without a Chinese bank account, capped at USD 5,000 per transaction and USD 50,000 a year, with a possible 3% fee above CNY 200 of a single bill. Do it at home, where the verification codes arrive. See payments in China.
8. Check passport validity against the whole stay. Visa-free entry wants a passport valid for the period you intend to stay; the transit rule wants three months remaining. Airlines apply the stricter of the two rules at check-in, so leave margin.

Two weeks out: what does your phone need?

Almost everything that fails on arrival is a phone problem, and almost every fix needs a working home connection or an app store you can still reach. Two weeks is enough to buy an eSIM, install replacements for the blocked apps and file the arrival card.

9. Read the arrival card rule and bookmark the form. Since 20 November 2025 foreign visitors can file arrival information online before travel, and ports offer a QR code for anyone without a phone. Filling it in at the gate on a dying battery is the avoidable version.
10. Buy and install an international eSIM. Mainland carriers support eSIM on only some handset models, and airport or hotel Wi-Fi usually sends its code to a Chinese number. Buy before you fly, install the profile, and switch the line on after immigration. See the China eSIM guide.
11. Download the apps that replace the ones that do not work. Google, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp are not directly accessible. Unapproved VPN services are illegal to operate in China and personal use sits in a legal grey area, so install and test anything you rely on before departure.

One week out: what sells out if you wait?

The last week belongs to the things with fixed release times. Palace Museum tickets go on sale seven days before the visit at 20:00, Jiuzhaigou releases roughly 15 days ahead, and daily caps at Badaling fill in peak season. Cash and a backup card are the other items.

12. Book the headline attractions on their release schedule. The Palace Museum allows one ticket per document per visiting day, releases at 20:00 seven days ahead, and closes on Mondays. A sold-out release day is the one failure you cannot fix after landing.
13. Sort a cash float and a backup card. ATMs usually cap a withdrawal at CNY 3,000 with a Chinese bank fee of CNY 20 to 30 on top. Our recommendation is CNY 200 to 500 in cash as a floor, plus one physical card.

24 hours out: what must be in your hand?

The final day is a document check, not a packing check. The airline desk applies the entry rule and the border applies it again, so the paperwork has to be the original passport plus whatever proves the trip: a return or onward booking, the first hotel reservation, and the visa if one was needed. Screenshots beat a dead battery.

14. Pack the documents the airline desk will ask for. Passport, visa if required, return or onward booking, first hotel reservation. Visa-free entry does not need a third-country ticket, but the desk does expect proof of purpose, and it checks in seconds.

Which deadlines on this checklist cannot move?

Five dates decide whether the rest of the checklist works, and four of them are published by an official body rather than by a booking site. The table lists each one with what it controls, so they can go into a calendar before any money is spent.

Everything else can be fixed late, at a price. What cannot: the visa appointment queue, the Palace Museum release, and the two 31 December 2026 expiry dates, which carry no published extension as of 29 October 2026.

Last verified: 29 October 2026 · Next check: 27 January 2027 (90-day cycle) · Sources: National Immigration Administration, 240-hour transit conditions, Shanghai municipal government

Next step: clear item one before anything else. The visa eligibility checker takes your passport and trip type and tells you which of the three entry routes you are on, in about a minute.