Fifteen ways a first China trip
goes sideways — and the fix for each.

Nearly every first-timer’s bad China story comes from a short list of the same mistakes — most of them made at home, before departure, not on the ground. Here are the fifteen we see, in order of severity, each with the fix that actually works.

1. Landing without Alipay or WeChat Pay set up

China is effectively cashless, and foreign Visa/Mastercard plastic is accepted at little beyond hotels — so the wallets are your daily driver, and they must be configured before departure. Link your European card in the Alipay and WeChat apps at home, complete the passport verification, and test a small payment while your bank can still text you codes. Setting this up jet-lagged at arrivals is the classic failure. The full working configuration is in our guide to paying in China with a foreign card.

2. Arriving with no plan for Google, WhatsApp and maps

Google, WhatsApp, Instagram and most Western apps are blocked in China — the fix is decided before you board, not after you land. Your three working options are your home carrier’s international roaming (which routes outside the firewall), a travel eSIM bought before departure, or a reputable VPN installed on every device while you still have app-store access. Do not plan to “download a VPN at the hotel” — the VPN app stores you’d use are themselves blocked.

3. Booking the trip over Golden Week or Chinese New Year

Around 1–7 October and the Chinese New Year fortnight, several hundred million domestic trips land on the same sights — booking early does not fix it. Entrance tickets for the famous places sell out at release, good train seats go instantly, and many small restaurants simply close over New Year. October outside that week is the finest time of the year; inside it, move the trip. The honest month-by-month logic is in our guide to the best time to visit China (New Year falls on 6 February in 2027 — check the lunar date for your year).

4. Trying to see the whole country in one trip

China is the size of a continent; a first trip that tries for Beijing, Xi’an, Shanghai, Guilin, Chengdu, Tibet and Yunnan in twelve days becomes a tour of train stations. The route that works is three or four bases with slow days inside them — the classic Beijing–Xi’an–Shanghai triangle exists because it holds up. Pacing rules and sample routes are in our first-time itinerary guide, and you can see one honest version, priced and paced day by day, in the Classic China worked example.

5. Assuming English will get you through

Outside international hotels and the airports, English largely disappears — taxi drivers, small restaurants and ticket counters run on Chinese. The working kit: an offline translation app with camera mode for menus and signs, your hotel name and every destination saved as Chinese characters to show drivers, and the addresses of dinner plans screenshot in advance. On sightseeing days, a guide removes the problem entirely.

6. Booking trains the way you book hotels

China Rail tickets on 12306 are released roughly 15 days ahead and the good departure times on popular routes sell out quickly — you cannot leave train booking to the week of travel. Book the morning the window opens for each leg (passport details required for every passenger, exactly as printed), or have whoever runs your trip do it. Stations take passports at the gate — no paper ticket needed — but arrive 30–40 minutes early; Chinese rail stations are airport-scale.

7. Flying between cities the train does better

On legs up to five or six hours, the high-speed train beats the plane: city-centre stations, airport-scale punctuality, and no two-hour check-in ritual. Beijing–Shanghai runs about four and a half hours downtown to downtown; Beijing–Xi’an similar. Second class is comfortable, first is spacious, and the 350 km/h network covers the entire classic route. Save flights for the genuinely long hauls.

8. Navigating with Google Maps

Google Maps is both blocked and geographically unreliable in China — its map data for the country is outdated and offset, so saved pins land in the wrong block. Apple Maps works and has current China data; Android users should install a Chinese map app (Amap/Baidu — Chinese interface, but pins and pinyin search work) or lean on the maps built into Alipay and DiDi. Pin your hotel in the working app on day one.

9. Hailing street taxis like it’s Europe

Street taxis work, but payment friction, personal QR codes and the language barrier make DiDi — China’s ride-hailing app, with an English interface inside Alipay — the far smoother default. Enter the destination in the app (no explanation needed), pay by your linked card, and the licence plate is on screen. Keep the street-taxi skill in reserve for rank queues at stations.

10. Carrying no cash at all

Wallets cover almost everything, but not remote temples, tiny rural vendors or the occasional personal-QR taxi — a thin cash buffer closes the gap. Withdraw ¥500–1,000 at an airport ATM on arrival (Bank of China and ICBC machines take foreign cards reliably), carry small notes, and treat it as emergency-only. Cash is legally accepted everywhere, but “accepted” and “has change for your ¥100” are different things.

11. Tipping

Tipping is not part of Chinese custom — restaurants, taxis and hotel staff neither expect it nor know what to do with it, and it can cause genuine awkwardness. The exceptions are private guides and drivers on multi-day arrangements, where a modest end-of-trip gesture is appreciated, and hotel porters in international properties. For daily life: pay the bill, say thanks, leave nothing extra.

12. Haggling in the wrong places (and not haggling in the right ones)

Fixed prices rule in shops, restaurants, supermarkets and museums — haggling there only confuses people. Tourist markets are the opposite: the opening price is a conversation starter. At souvenir and silk-market stalls, counter at a third to half, stay cheerful, and be ready to walk away; the walk-away is the move that produces the real price. Where there’s a printed price tag, there’s no negotiation.

13. Drinking the tap water

Tap water in China is not potable, even in the big cities — drink bottled or boiled. Every hotel room has an electric kettle for a reason, sealed bottled water is cheap and sold everywhere, and brushing teeth with tap water is generally fine. Ice in reputable restaurants and cafés is made from purified water; the street-stall ice is where judgement applies.

14. Assuming every toilet has paper

Many public toilets — in stations, parks and older sights — provide no toilet paper and no soap, and squat toilets remain common outside international venues. Carry a pocket pack of tissues and a small hand sanitiser every day; it is the single lowest-effort, highest-payoff habit of China travel. Hotels, malls and airports are reliably equipped.

15. Bringing the wrong plug adaptor

China uses 220V Type A, C and I sockets — the two-flat-pin and three-slanted-pin kinds — so most European round-pin plugs need an adaptor, and British plugs definitely do. Bring a universal adaptor (two, if you travel as a couple with phones, cameras and laptops); modern chargers handle 220V natively, so no voltage converter is needed for standard electronics. Hotels often have one universal socket, but “often” is not a charging strategy.

The short version

If you fix only four things, fix these: wallets linked and tested at home, connectivity sorted before boarding, dates clear of the holiday fortnights, and an itinerary that does three bases well instead of seven badly. Everything else on this list is a small habit, not a crisis. And entry paperwork is the one thing you needn’t fix at all — 35 European countries currently get up to 30 days visa-free through 31 December 2026.

The questions everyone asks

What is the single biggest mistake first-time travellers make in China?

Landing without payment and connectivity set up. China runs on Alipay and WeChat Pay QR codes, and Google, WhatsApp and most Western apps are blocked — so the fix for both happens at home, the week before departure: link your card to the wallets, and sort out roaming, an eSIM or a VPN before you board.

Can I get by in China speaking only English?

In international hotels, mostly yes; everywhere else, no — most taxi drivers, small restaurants and ticket counters run on Chinese only. Offline translation apps with camera mode cover menus and signs, having your hotel name and addresses saved in Chinese characters solves taxis, and a guide removes the problem entirely on sightseeing days.

Is it safe to drink the tap water in China?

No — tap water in China is not potable, even in major cities. Drink bottled or boiled water; every hotel room has an electric kettle and sealed bottled water is cheap and everywhere. Brushing teeth with tap water is generally fine, and ice in reputable restaurants is made from purified water.

Should I book China trains or domestic flights between cities?

For legs up to roughly five to six hours, take the high-speed train. Rail stations sit in city centres, boarding is a twenty-minute affair rather than a two-hour airport ritual, and trains run to the minute — Beijing to Shanghai in about four and a half hours, downtown to downtown. Flights only win on the very long hauls.

Do I need cash in China as a tourist?

Only as a thin backup. Daily spending runs on Alipay and WeChat Pay, but keep ¥500–1,000 from an airport ATM — Bank of China and ICBC machines take foreign cards reliably — for remote temples, tiny rural vendors and the occasional personal-QR taxi. Carry small notes: change for a ¥100 is scarce even though cash is legally accepted.