01
Payment setup
Link Alipay and WeChat Pay to your foreign card before you fly — the verification flow is much easier on home WiFi.
A pre-arrival field guide
Prepare for China
before you fly.
A two-minute checklist for your first trip — built around your dates, your city, and the four or five things first-time visitors actually worry about. No login. No tour pitch. Email optional.
- Tailored to your trip
- Honest about what's changing
- First-time visitors welcome
Arriving · the moment before the trip begins
Start here
Tell us about your trip.
Two minutes. We'll reorder the result by what you said you're worried about and add city-specific notes where relevant.
You'll see your tailored result right after submitting. Email is optional.
Long-form guides
Three places, one trip.
Long-form pieces for travelers who like to read the whole thing before they board. Each one ends with a checklist generator tuned to that city.
Why Shanghai + Hangzhou first? Shanghai is the main port of entry for most first-time visitors — payments, transport, and the Day-1 friction live here. Hangzhou is the easy one-hour high-speed-rail extension and the classic Shanghai pairing. We're testing local-help support starting in these two cities; the broader China guide stays useful for any first trip.
China guide
China
Visa, payments, connectivity, transport, and a calm first 24 hours. The foundation every first-time visitor needs.
- Visa & entry
- Alipay / WeChat
- eSIM vs VPN
Shanghai guide
Shanghai
PVG vs Hongqiao, where to stay on a first visit, and how to leave the airport without getting overcharged.
- PVG · SHA
- Stay zones
- Day 1 anchor
Hangzhou guide
Hangzhou
The hour-long train, the West Lake walk that actually works, and whether one day is enough or you need an overnight.
- High-speed rail
- West Lake
- Tea villages
What it covers
The four things first-time visitors get wrong.
We've watched enough travelers stuck at PVG arrivals, fumbling with payments, or trying to load Google Maps to know which corners trip people up. The checklist is built around them.
02
Essential apps
An eSIM, a VPN if you want one (install before arrival), and the maps + translation apps that actually work in China.
03
Airport arrival
Which queue to walk past, which app to open, and how much a fair fare actually costs from PVG, SHA, or Hangzhou East.
04
Your first day
A soft Day-1 plan that respects jet lag — one easy meal, one test purchase, one short walk, and a real night's sleep.
Start the checklistTailored result in seconds.
A note on intent
What this isn't.
Not a tour-seller. No commission on visas, eSIMs, hotels, or tours. The checklist tells you what to set up and where to look up the rest.
Not pretending to be perfect. Where something depends on changing policy or app behavior, we say "verify before departure" instead of pretending to know.
Not a booking service — yet. For Shanghai and Hangzhou, optional prompts let you flag what you're unsure about. We're testing whether real local help is worth offering.
Ready when you are
Two minutes now. One fewer thing to worry about at the airport.
Personalized result the moment you submit. Email it to yourself only if you want — we won't send anything else.