First hand China travel information

Experienced instead of copied

First hand China travel information: the operator has personally visited many of the places described here, including Hainan, Beijing, Dandong, Shanghai, Qiandao Lake, Huangshan, Xidi, Qinhuangdao, Dalian, Shenyang, the Great Wall from Beijing and the Ming Tombs.

This site is not a random list of famous sights. It arranges places by how they actually feel for German speaking China travellers, how they can be connected sensibly and what practical details matter before the trip.

Beijing in morning light as a quiet first impression

The beginning: China suddenly became easier

For German, Swiss and Austrian travellers, China became noticeably easier from late 2023 and 2024. At first, short stays of up to 15 days were possible without a visa. Since late 2024, many eligible travellers from Germany, Austria, Switzerland and other countries can enter for up to 30 days per stay without a visa, currently until 31 December 2026.

I used this new option early. In 2024 I happened to be in Almaty in Kazakhstan and continued from there into China. I expected a complicated travel destination. What surprised me positively was how well many things worked in practice. Since then, five further trips to different places in China followed.

The most important lesson for me was not the visa, but the internet: Google, WhatsApp, YouTube and other familiar services do not work in China on normal local connections the way they do at home. A suitable eSIM can be the key to keeping many of them reachable. The cheapest eSIM for mainland China that I found on my trips was on Trip.com.

China eSIM: prepare internet before travelling