China
BEIJING:
THINGS TO SEE & DO
- Bell Tower and Drum Tower Culture Square
- Walk through the Hutongs (area near 银锭桥 and Lotus Market Marina)
- Beihai Botanical Park
- Jingshan Park (寿皇殿 and Qiwang Hall)
- Temple of Heaven
- Great Wall of China
- Forbidden City
- Tiananmen Square
FOOD
- Mr. Shi’s Dumpings: Delicious fried and soup dumplings
- Siji Minfu (四季民福烤鸭店): Pekking Duck dinner
- Haokaixin Clay Oven Rolls Liji (Dengshikou Branch): A great easy and quick breakfast
XI’AN:
THINGS TO SEE & DO
- Terracotta Army – Emperor Qinshihuang’s Mausoleum Site Museum
- Walk the city walls
SHANGHAI:
THINGS TO SEE & DO
- Yuyuan Old Street + Yu Garden
- Former French Concession: Xintiandi + Tianzifang + Huaihai Middle road
- People’s Park + People’s Square
- East Nanjing Road + The Bund + Lujiazui + The North Bund
- Ancient Town at Zhujiajiao
- Jing’an Temple
Food
- Din Tai Fung: Incredible soup dumplings
- Jia Jia Tang Bao: Even more soup dumplings
- Yee3 (三号椰): Fun coconut based drinks
- Percent Arabica: Fancy coffee
- Luckin Coffee: Their Starbucks but SO cheap
PRO TIPS:
- Alipay: This app will be your best friend. Set this up before you arrive. You will use this app to pay for everything. You can purchase tickets, pay at restaurants, use it to ride public transit and even hail a DiDi (their Uber). Sometimes you scan a QR code to pay, other times the vendor will scan your QR code to pay. You will have to create an account and add a credit card to get things up and running.
- We purchased a VPN and used an eSIM throughout our time in China. Lots of western apps like Google and Meta are blocked. Our eSIM basically acted like a VPN so we ended up not needing our VPN but both were good to have to ensure our phone ran smoothly and we could easily access anything we needed.
- Be prepared for squat toilets. Some restrooms have ‘western’ toilet options but they are often occupied. We also carried some wipes with us in case there was no toilet paper.
- Every tour, train and hotel we booked, we booked through Trip.com. It was super easy and seems to be the best way to book anything in China.
- We booked a private tour of The Great Wall to the Jinshanling and Simatai sections. These sections are further out from Beijing so it takes longer to get there, but we basically had the wall to ourselves as it was completely empty. Our tour also included a meal and it ended up being a home cooked meal that we ate in someone’s living room which was a great experience.
- You can book Fobbidden City tickets online 7 days in advance at 8:00 PM Beijing time via the Official Palace Museum Website. Tickets will go fast. If you miss this time, go to Trip.com to look for tickets or a guided tour. Getting into the Palace is overwhelming, we had a tour guide and it was still chaotic.
- Use Alipay to order food while on the train, from a restaurant at an upcoming station. Or you can purchase ramen from the train station and use the hot water while on board.
- Amap is the best maps app for getting around all of China.
- We traveled to China thanks to their 240-hour visa free program. Under this program we had to enter into China from one country, and depart to a different country when we left. (Our route: South Korea –> China –> USA). This program allowed us to transit through China for up to 10 days with no visa. If you want to stay longer than that, you have to get a visa which is a long and potentially expensive process.
- Ensure you have all of your trip details really well organized. To get into China we needed to have all of our hotel names, addresses, and phone numbers, along with all of our flights and train information.
