Trip planning tools

Eleven free interactive tools for foreign travelers planning a trip to China — from the “should I go” visa check to a ready-made itinerary, a trip-cost estimate, which eSIM to buy, and a pre-trip checklist that remembers your progress. All run in your browser, no signup required.

• China High-Speed Rail Map

  Interactive map of China's HSR network for the cities foreigners actually visit. Pick any two cities — see fastest train, price range, daily departures, and whether it beats flying.

  Cities

  26

  Routes

  38

  Updated

  Monthly

  Open the rail map
• China Visa Requirements Checker

  Check your nationality's status — visa-free, transit-eligible, or visa-required — with maximum stay days and any per-country conditions. Permalink page for each country, plus a passport-comparison sub-tool and daily Wikipedia-hash freshness verification.

  Nationalities

  103

  Transit eligible

  58

  Verified

  Daily

  Check your passport
• 240-Hour Visa-Free Transit Planner

  Plan a 3–10 day stay in China without applying for a visa. Eligibility check, entry/exit ports by region, and 10 pre-built itineraries — covering 6 major transit hubs.

  Eligible

  58

  Ports

  65

  Itineraries

  10

  Plan a transit stay
• L-Visa Photo Cropper

  Crop a passport-style photo to China's L-visa spec (33×48mm, 354×472px, white background) entirely in your browser. No upload, no signup — drag, zoom, position to the face-position guide overlay, download PNG or JPG.

  Size

  33×48mm

  Output

  PNG/JPG

  Privacy

  On-device

  Crop a visa photo
• Best-Time-to-Visit Checker

  Pick a month, see which Chinese regions are at their best and which to avoid. Built from 8 years of Chongqing first-hand seasonal observations + tier-1 city weather/AQI data + Chinese holiday crowd impact.

  Coverage

  12 mo

  Regions

  7

  Holidays

  Flagged

  Check by month
• China Sample Itineraries

  Ready-made day-by-day China itineraries for first-timers — 7, 10, 14 and 21-day plans from a tight Beijing·Xi'an·Shanghai week to a 3-week deep route with Chengdu pandas, Chongqing and a Yangtze cruise. Every inter-city leg shows the real HSR time and price; filter by trip length and interest.

  Plans

  4

  Lengths

  7–21d

  Rail data

  Live

  See sample itineraries
• China Trip Cost Calculator

  Estimate your China trip budget in seconds — set trip length, travel style, which city tiers, travelers, flights and add-ons (Yangtze cruise, Tibet). Every figure is sourced from our 2026 China budget guide; it returns a planning range, not a quote.

  Styles

  4

  City tiers

  4

  Source

  Cost guide

  Estimate my trip cost
• China Pre-Trip Checklist

  Everything to set up before you fly — Alipay/WeChat Pay, eSIM + VPN, hotels, real-name tickets, scams — as a tickable checklist that remembers your progress. The visa/entry item adapts to your passport. Mirrors our full pre-trip guide.

  Areas

  10

  Progress

  Saved

  Visa item

  By passport

  Open the checklist