Crystal & Joshua

June 20, 2025 • Beijing, China

52 Days To Go!

Crystal & Joshua

June 20, 2025 • Beijing, China

52 Days To Go!

Travel

Passport and Travel Visa

Passport

A valid passport is required to travel to China. The passport must not expire within 6 months of the trip dates. Please apply for or renew your passport ASAP as it can take a couple months for processing.

Travel Visa

Visa-Free Option

There is a new 10 day visa-free transit policy for traveling to China. Here's how it works:

If you are only traveling 10 days or less in China, you do not need to obtain a travel visa ahead of time. However, you MUST stop at another country or territory after you leave China prior to flying back to the U.S. It is unclear if layovers satisfy this requirement, so to be safe it would be best to stay at least a day in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau, (no travel visa needed for these 3 territories) or any other country on the way back to qualify for this visa exemption.

Click for more info

Obtaining a Chinese travel visa

Allow at least a few months for the application and processing of your travel visa.

There are 2 options for obtaining a travel visa to China:

1. Apply in-person at a Chinese Embassy or Consulate location:

If you live near or are traveling to Washington D.C., New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, or Chicago, you can go in-person and apply for the travel visa

Click for visa processing time and fees

2. Apply for a travel visa through any number of processing services such as YWPW Chinese Visa Service. As of January 2024, you do not need to submit flight/hotel information or an invitation letter to apply for a visa.

Website for YWPW Chinese Visa Service

What about travel insurance?

We recommend purchasing travel insurance for the trip. Although we do not think there will be any issues, our recommendation is to purchase travel insurance for your flights if you do not already have travel protection with your credit cards.

GENERAL TRAVEL INFO

Click here for Essential Travel Tips

How do I communicate with people when in China?

Please download WeChat to communicate while in China (do this prior to arriving). For cell service, you can call your service provider for a daily rate for the duration of your trip. Airalo is another option to purchase an e-sim that will work while you're in China.

What forms of payment are accepted in China?

China has been shifting towards a cashless system, so WeChat Pay and Alipay are apps you will download and predominantly use to pay for items. U.S. credit cards will be able to be linked to these apps.

Click here for WeChat Pay and Alipay Set-Up Guide

What forms of transportation are accessible in China?

In Beijing, the metro is an efficient and cost-effective method of transportation. You'll pay for the metro using the WeChat Pay and Alipay apps. The DiDi app (Chinese Uber/Lyft) within WeChat is used to book rides, even including taxis. These will likely be the main forms of transportation you will utilize.

Hotel Block

China, Bei Jing Shi, Chao Yang Qu, Xiaoyun Rd, 霄云路甲26号邮政编码: 100125

+86 10 5927 8888

Beijing Marriott Hotel Northeast

We have reserved a hotel block of 900 CNY (no additional taxes or fees) per night (1 king bed or 2 double beds) that includes breakfast everyday. The tour bus will leave from this hotel every morning. Please let us know if you decide you want to book this hotel since we have to coordinate the bookings. The payment for the hotel will be paid individually through the Alipay app.

Website