Yes, China is one of the easiest large countries in Asia to backpack independently, provided you set up your phone before you land, because trains, metros and hostels can all be booked and paid for online.
Link a foreign card to Alipay or WeChat Pay, since cash is rarely used. Book trains through the official 12306 app or Trip.com with your passport, and install a translation app, as English is thin outside
Beijing and
Shanghai. Hostel dorms run about 60 to 120 yuan (US$8 to 17) a night, and Google services need a VPN. Many nationalities now get visa-free entry for short stays, so check your passport’s current status before booking.
Two weeks is the minimum for a satisfying first trip to China. With three weeks you can cover the classic north-to-south line, and a month lets you add rural Yunnan and Zhangjiajie.
In 14 days, stick to one region, such as
Shanghai,
Suzhou,
Hangzhou and the
Yellow Mountains, where no train ride is longer than about 3 hours. With 21 days, link
Beijing (4 to 5 days),
Xi’an (3),
Chengdu (3) and
Yangshuo (3), with Beijing to Xi’an taking 4.5 to 6 hours by high-speed train. Thirty days covers Lijiang, Shaxi and Dali comfortably, with buffer days.
Yes, and in China you should. Foreign driving licenses aren’t valid without a Chinese permit, and the high-speed rail network reaches nearly every stop on a backpacker route.
Beijing to
Shanghai takes 4.5 to 6 hours and costs about 550 to 660 yuan (US$75 to 92) in second class, and Xi’an to Chengdu takes 3 to 4 hours. For the longest jumps, such as Chengdu to
Lijiang (about 1 hour) or Kunming to Zhangjiajie (about 2 hours), domestic flights save a day. In Yunnan villages like Shaxi you’ll ride buses and minibuses. City metros cost 3 to 10 yuan a ride, and the DiDi app handles taxis.
The places in China most worth your time are Beijing’s
Forbidden City and the
Great Wall, the
Terracotta Warriors in Xi’an, the pandas of
Chengdu and the karst river scenery around
Yangshuo.
Give Beijing 4 to 5 days, and book Forbidden City tickets (40 to 60 yuan) a week ahead. Xi’an needs 2 to 3 days, and the warriors cost 120 yuan. In Chengdu, arrive at the panda base (55 yuan) at its 7:30 a.m. opening. If you have more time, add the
Yellow Mountains for a summit night,
Zhangjiajie’s sandstone pillars (allow 3 days), and
Tiger Leaping Gorge in Yunnan, a two-day trek with an overnight in a guesthouse.
When time is short in China, skip the theme parks and any destination that needs a permit or a three-day detour; every day saved goes to the anchor cities.
Shanghai Disneyland and
Hong Kong Disneyland cost roughly 475 to 800 yuan (US$65 to 110) for a day you could have anywhere.
Tibet requires a permit and a guided tour, and a worthwhile trip needs at least 7 to 8 days, so save it for a dedicated visit.
Harbin only makes sense for the January ice festival. Pick one water town (
Tongli is the calmest) rather than three, and choose either Guilin or Zhangjiajie for karst scenery on a 14-day trip.
Yes, our itinerary-planner does exactly that. Set your trip length in days, give your interests and travel style, optionally give start- and end location and/or some mandatory stops you would like to include and the itinerary planner creates your personalized routes for China in seconds. Try it out!
Try the itinerary plannerv2.webp){kind=logo}
Best Backpacking
