240h Transit · Travel essentials
The 240-hour transit policy gets you across the border. These five products get you through the first hour after landing and the rest of the trip. Most of them are harder, more expensive, or outright blocked once you're inside mainland — so the time to set them up is at home, on your normal internet, before you board the plane.
First-hour dependency chain
CDAC, hotel check-in, payment, transport, and train booking all reuse the same small set of facts: passport details, working data, first-night address, and a payment backup.
Why it matters. The Digital Arrival Card must be filed within the 72 hours before landing, and most travelers complete it on the plane or right after the wheels touch down. Without working data, the CDAC form fails, Maps fails, Didi fails, Translate fails, and Alipay can't even finish activation. Your first hour in China is a chain of dependencies that all assume connectivity. Traditional carrier roaming runs $5-15 per day and is often slow on Chinese networks.
What we recommend. We use Airalo's Discover China eSIM. It routes through a Hong Kong-based partner so the major Western apps work without a VPN turned on — which matters most in the first hour when you might not have your VPN running yet. Plans are $4.50 for 1 GB up to $20 for 10 GB. Install and activate before takeoff so you land with a working signal.
Alternatives. Holafly (unlimited data but more expensive), Saily (newer entrant), or a physical CMCC tourist SIM bought on arrival (cheapest but requires Chinese ID checking on the airport counter — adds 20-40 minutes to the arrival flow).
Why it matters. Inside mainland China, Google, Gmail, WhatsApp, Instagram, X, Facebook, most Western news sites, Slack, ChatGPT, Claude, and many banking 2FA portals are blocked. More importantly: most VPN provider websites are also blocked, so you cannot download or sign up for a VPN once you're already in China. If you forget this step at home, you are largely cut off from your normal digital life for the entire trip.
What we recommend. NordVPN is the most-tested option for China specifically. Subscribe at home, install on phone and laptop, run the speed test once to confirm a working server, and then turn it on after landing. Annual plans run roughly $3.99/month. NordVPN's obfuscated-server mode is the setting that actually works through the Great Firewall.
Alternatives. ExpressVPN (works, slightly pricier), Astrill (highest reliability inside China, expensive, niche). Free VPNs almost never work in mainland — the well-funded ones get blocked the fastest.
Why it matters. Chinese public hospitals require foreign travelers to pay in full at the time of treatment and do not bill home-country insurers directly. A simple ER visit can run $500-2000 USD; anything involving imaging or admission runs into five figures fast. International medical evacuation — if it becomes necessary — can exceed $50,000. Most US, UK, and EU home health plans either don't cover travel abroad or require you to front the entire bill and file for reimbursement months later.
What we recommend. SafetyWing Nomad Insurance is what we recommend for short transit trips. It runs roughly $45-50 per month, covers medical, emergency evacuation, trip interruption, and lost luggage, and has no waiting period for new trips. Buy it before you fly — most policies will not cover an incident that started before the policy was active.
Alternatives. World Nomads (broader activity coverage, more expensive), Allianz Travel (often a better fit for travelers over 65 or with pre-existing conditions). For trips longer than 30 days, SafetyWing's monthly subscription model is usually cheaper than a per-trip policy.
Why it matters. Not every Chinese hotel is licensed to check in foreign passports — small budget chains and many guesthouses turn away foreign guests, sometimes after the booking is already paid. The airline counter at your origin airport will also ask for your first-night address in Chinese characters during the 240h check; many Western booking platforms only show the Pinyin or English name. You want a platform that knows both problems exist.
What we recommend. Trip.com (the international brand of Ctrip, China's largest OTA) has a built-in 'accepts foreign passports' filter and shows hotel addresses in both English and 中文 on every listing. The UI is in English, you can pay with a foreign card, and the inventory covers the long tail of Chinese cities — not just the tourist hubs. Save the Chinese address into your notes app before you fly.
Alternatives. Booking.com has less Chinese-property coverage and inconsistent foreign-passport flagging. Agoda is stronger in Southeast Asia than mainland China. Trip.com's local-currency CNY pricing is usually 5-15% lower than the same hotel on a non-Chinese platform.
Why it matters. Foreign credit cards work in tourist-zone hotels and chain restaurants in China, but they fail at smaller merchants, street food, and a surprising number of train stations. Hotels increasingly ask for wire deposits in CNY for high-value bookings, and bank wires run $25+ per transfer with 3-5% in FX markup. ATM withdrawals are possible but most foreign banks charge $5-7 per withdrawal plus a Visa/Mastercard FX margin.
What we recommend. Wise multi-currency account plus the debit card. Hold a CNY balance at the mid-market rate, send wires to Chinese accounts at roughly 0.5-1% (versus 3-5% from a bank), and use the debit card at any ATM with a foreign-card sticker. Order the physical card 2-3 weeks before you fly — it ships from Belgium or Singapore.
Alternatives. Revolut works for some users but its CNY FX is worse. Charles Schwab debit card (US residents only) refunds ATM fees but uses standard Visa FX rates. A Chinese-issued UnionPay card via Alipay Tour Card has zero foreign fees but only works for in-China transactions.
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First 72 hours
If your flight lands after dinner, do not make the first hour depend on solving hotel, payment, food, transport, and luggage at the same time. Use the late-night arrival guide to choose the safest airport-to-hotel plan before you fly.
Checked resources
The essentials list includes sponsored exits, but the safer order is official entry path, official CDAC, first-night address, then optional connectivity and payment backups.
FAQ
Why these five and not Klook, GetYourGuide, or HSR booking?
These are the things you should sort before takeoff. Attraction tickets (Klook), airport transfers (GetYourGuide), and HSR bookings (Trip.com Trains) are decisions you make after you're on the ground and the 240h route is confirmed. We cover those in the itinerary detail pages and the city guides instead.
Do I really need a VPN if I have a Hong Kong-routed eSIM?
Yes. An HK-routed eSIM gets you past the Great Firewall on your phone for general browsing and apps, but it's a single point of failure. If the eSIM runs out of data, loses signal, or you switch to hotel Wi-Fi, you're back inside mainland routing without a VPN. Both layers together is the resilient setup.
Are these recommendations affiliate links?
Yes. Every product on this page pays us a commission if you buy through our link, and that funds the free 240h tools on this site. We chose these specific products because they are what we and other 240h travelers actually use — not because they pay the highest commission. See our affiliate disclosure for the full policy.
What if I'm already in China and need to fix one of these?
eSIMs from Airalo and most physical SIMs are sold inside Chinese airports if you forgot. VPN download is the hardest fix — you'll need either a working VPN sideloaded from an APK, a friend in HK to share an account, or a roaming SIM from your home carrier (which routes outside the Firewall). Insurance you can buy mid-trip from SafetyWing but the coverage is prorated. Hotel and Wise can both be solved from inside China.
How do you keep this list up to date?
We re-test each recommendation at least quarterly and after any major China-side policy or app store change. If something stops working — most commonly a VPN provider getting hit harder by the Firewall — we'll update or replace the recommendation. The page footer shows the last review date.
Recommendations reviewed against current China policy snapshot 2026-05-18. Sponsored · we may earn a commission if you book. See our affiliate disclosure and disclaimer.