China, plainly
The practical guides,
written on the ground.
No affiliate links, no SEO fluff, no pretending everything is easy. These are the answers we give everyone who writes to us — the awkward parts included.
Entry & paperwork
Sichuan tour services & costs: what a guide fee covers
Guide service fees, travel service prices and catering/scenic-spot packages, itemised honestly — with our published Sichuan anchors inside the €300–400/day framework.
Can foreigners travel to Xinjiang? The honest answer
No Tibet-style permit for the main corridors, routine passport checks, the Kashgar and Karakoram caveats — what we reconfirm in writing.
Taking the train to Tibet: tickets, permits, altitude
The Qinghai–Tibet railway for foreigners: real-name tickets, permit-before-ticket sequencing, and the oxygen system's honest limits.
New · PlanningChina two-week itinerary 2026: three ways to spend 14 days
Classic triangle, two-city deep or rail-themed — full day-by-day skeletons, pacing trade-offs, and who each shape suits.
Read the itinerary → New · TrainsChina train tickets for foreigners: the honest how-to
12306 in English, passport real-name, the 15-day booking window, waiting lists — and when it's worth letting us book.
Read the guide → New · SafetyIs China safe for solo female travellers?
A sourced, unglossy answer: night transport, hotels, harassment scripts, pharmacies — every claim tagged by evidence level.
Read the guide → New · PermitsTibet travel permits for Europeans
The permit stack, who may apply, the 20–30-day timeline — and why visa-free entry does not open Tibet.
Read the guide →Visa-free China 2026: plan the trip, skip the visa
What 30 visa-free days actually buy you, when to book, and the B-plan if the policy lapses after December.
7 min read → Updated Aug 2026China’s 30-day visa-free entry, explained for Europeans
The 35 European countries, the exact conditions, what happens at the border, and the first-24-hours rule everyone misses.
9 min read →Money & connectivity
How to actually pay for things with a European card
Alipay + WeChat Pay with your Visa/Mastercard, the limits that matter, the cash buffer, and the three classic failure modes.
10 min read → Updated Aug 2026WhatsApp, Google and staying reachable
What’s restricted, what works, and the two clean solutions (roaming + travel eSIM) — plus honest words on VPNs.
8 min read →Safety & peace of mind
Is China safe for tourists? The honest answer
What’s genuinely safer than Europe, the real risks (traffic, scripted scams, systems), and how to travel so the question never comes up.
9 min read → Our protocols, publishedWhat happens if…
Lost passport, hospital, missed train, closed attraction, payment failure — our written playbook for each, before you ever ask.
Read the protocols → The invisible workEvery detail, handled
Adapters, the 3C power-bank rule, hotel acceptance letters, allergy cards in Chinese, station protocol — the hundred small things decided before you land.
See the arrival stack →Choosing your trip
First time in China: how to plan 10–14 days
How many cities, which route for your days and season, our five pacing rules, and a realistic 14-day sketch.
11 min read → Aug 2026You loved Japan. China is the original.
The civilisation Japan learned from — an honest comparison: where each country wins, and how to travel China the way Japan taught you.
8 min read → Real numbersWhat does a private China tour actually cost?
Published prices, what’s in and out of the land price, why 4 travellers pay less than 2, and the Quote Test for any operator.
8 min read → Updated Aug 2026When is the best time to visit China?
Month-by-month weather, festivals and crowds — the honest trade-offs by season, the weeks to avoid, and which journeys shine when.
9 min read → Aug 202615 mistakes first-time China travellers make
Payments, connectivity without a VPN, Golden Week traps, trains vs flights, tipping and 10 more — and how to avoid each one.
10 min read → Last reviewed 2026-09-30Alipay, WeChat Pay and foreign cards, tested
Which of the three actually works for Europeans, step by step — with the failure cases and how we solved each one.
11 min read → Aug 202621 things nobody tells you
Squat toilets, map drift, hot water not ice, one time zone, zero tipping — the facts guidebooks skip, each with one line you can quote.
14 min read → Free toolsVisa check, cost estimate, days planner
Three questions everyone asks before China — answered by little tools that run in your browser and store nothing.
Open the tools →Destinations, with the stories
Tiananmen: the country’s front gate
Edicts lowered by golden phoenix, twice burned and renamed, the dawn flag ceremony — and how to reserve the square and climb the tower.
8 min read → Aug 2026The Forbidden City, explained
9,999.5 rooms, the courtyard with no trees, the thresholds cut for a bicycle, why there’s no Cold Palace — and how to actually get tickets.
10 min read → Aug 2026Beijing’s famous hutongs: six lanes and their stories
The last empress’s childhood lane, the street bent like a pipe, a 0.7-metre alley of money houses — the legends, and a one-morning walking route.
9 min read →For the trade
Still unsure?
Ask a human. It’s free.
Book a 30-minute sanity call or just write to us. Visa rules for your passport, whether this trip is right for you at all — we answer honestly, including “don’t book with us if…”.