Plan the route?
China's high-speed rail network is the largest in the world (over 50,000 km of HSR by 2026) and the single biggest reason a multi-city China trip works. A Beijing-to-Shanghai run that took 14 hours by plane plus airport time in 2008 is now 4 hours 18 minutes door-to-door by train — and that pattern repeats for almost every city pair in eastern and central China.
The interactive HSR Rail Map below is the entry point: pick origin + destination, see real travel times, daily train counts, ticket-class prices, and competing flight options sourced from 12306 monthly samples. The train-types guide explains the G/D/C/Z/T/K class hierarchy (G is the fastest, K is the slowest sleeper) and which class makes sense for which trip length. The Sample Itineraries tool ships ready-made 7 / 10 / 14 / 21-day routes built on the same 12306-sampled HSR data, filterable by trip length and interest.
Most foreign travelers now enter China on the 30-day visa-free policy — about 38 nationalities (most of Western Europe, the UK, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Brazil and more) — so route planning is unconstrained: any port of entry, any region, up to 30 days. The 240-hour transit policy at the bottom of this stage is the residual visa-free path for the four nationalities that still need it — Czech Republic, Lithuania, Mexico and the United States — and adds the routing constraints those four travelers plan around (designated entry/exit ports, 10-day cap, third-country onward ticket, restricted provinces). Use the visa-checker in Stage 1 first to confirm which path applies to your passport.
In-city navigation lives inside the city hubs themselves — `/cities/{city}/` covers metro lines, ride-hailing, and walking-corridor advice.
Read in order(6 in this stage)
Frequently asked
How do I use the HSR Rail Map?
Pick your origin city from the dropdown or click a pin on the map. Then pick your destination the same way. The result card shows real travel time, daily train count, ticket-class prices, the flight alternative (when relevant), and a 'verdict' (train wins, flight wins, or close call). All numbers are sampled monthly from 12306, the official Chinese rail booking system — they're not estimates.
Do I need the 240-hour transit policy in 2026?
Probably not. After the 30-day visa-free expansion of late 2024 and early 2026, the 240-hour transit policy is the residual visa-free path for only four nationalities — Czech Republic, Lithuania, Mexico and the United States — that are not on the 30-day list. It allows up to 10 days inside China without a visa, but you must enter and exit via different countries (e.g., Singapore → China → Japan, NOT a round trip from home), enter at one of about 60 approved ports, and stay inside the eligible provinces. Travelers from the ~38 nationalities now on 30-day visa-free (most of Western Europe, the UK, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Brazil and more) should ignore the 240-hour rules entirely — your visa-free entry is simpler, longer and unrestricted. Check the visa-checker in Stage 1 to confirm which path applies to your passport.
Which train class should I book — G, D, C, Z, T, or K?
G is the fastest tier (300+ km/h, premium seats), used for major city-pair runs like Beijing-Shanghai. D is the next-fastest tier (200-250 km/h), used for shorter routes or where G isn't deployed. C is short-distance high-speed (Beijing-Tianjin, Guangzhou-Shenzhen). Z (overnight express), T (express sleeper), and K (regular) are conventional trains with sleeper berths — useful for ultra-long routes (Beijing-Tibet) but slow. For typical tourist itineraries, G or D is the answer 95% of the time.
Is the Sample Itineraries tool ready for trip planning?
Yes — ready-made 7, 10, 14 and 21-day plans, each day linked to the real HSR connection (duration, price, daily trains from the 12306-sampled dataset) with a trip-length + interest filter. Use it as a starting frame and swap individual days for the city hubs you actually want. The dataset under it is the same 24 cities × 36 routes that power the HSR Rail Map, so the timings and prices stay in sync as the monthly 12306 sample is refreshed.
All 8 decision stages
From “Should I go?” through “Heading home?” — the full 8-stage decision journey for foreign visitors planning a China trip.
Back to homepage stage mapOr jump straight to booking
For decision-stage research we own the editorial layer; for booking, we recommend Trip.com — China's largest English-language travel platform.
Stage hubs at China for Travelers aggregate the editorial articles, tools, and planned future content for each phase of a 2-month China trip-planning arc. Items marked “Planned” have no link yet and will unlock once the underlying article ships. Last reviewed: 2026-06-21.