What to pack for China

Broken-in shoes, a universal adaptor, a power bank with the capacity printed on it and a paper kit. This is what almost everybody is missing on day two.

Clothing: layers, always

China has a wide temperature swing within a single day and between regions, and buildings are poorly heated in the south and very well heated in the north. The rule is to dress in layers and carry a light waterproof shell.

Spring and autumn (the best seasons). 10 to 25 degrees across most of the country. T-shirt, fine knit jumper, windbreaker and comfortable trousers. For the north in October, add a light thermal layer.

Summer. 27 to 38 degrees with high humidity in the east and south. Light clothing in natural fibres, a hat, sunglasses and sun protection. Bring cool but discreet clothing: in temples and traditional neighbourhoods, bare shoulders cause embarrassment.

Winter in the north. Minus 8 to minus 30 degrees depending on latitude. Waterproof down jacket, thermal trousers, two-layer gloves, a hat that covers the ears, and boots with thick non-slip soles. For Harbin we provide a separate list and help with local rental, which costs 200 to 300 yuans a day and avoids buying equipment you use once.

High-altitude destinations. Tibet and Shangri-La: nights below zero even in July. Light down jacket and layers.

Shoes: the most common mistake

This is the item that decides the mood of the day. You walk far more than you imagine — between 8 and 15 km a day on a normal sightseeing day — on stone stairs at the Great Wall, on uneven paving in the hutongs and on damp boardwalks in the parks.

Bring one pair already broken in, with a grippy sole, and a spare pair. Never debut new shoes on a trip to China. For dinners and hotels you can skip formal shoes: nobody wears them. The exception is the more formal dinners we organise in Shanghai and Hong Kong, where a shirt and a closed shoe are enough — nothing more than that.

Electronics

• Universal adaptor, not one adaptor per country.
• Power bank up to 100 Wh, with the capacity printed on it, in cabin baggage.
• Two cables and a double charger; cables go missing in hotel drawers.
• SIM or eSIM card installed and tested before the flight.
• Apps installed: WeChat, Alipay, Amap, Didi, Trip.com, Pleco. Install them at home, where the store works without restrictions.
• VPN installed before you land, two of them preferably.
• Wired earphones for domestic flights, where USB sockets do not always work.

Health and hygiene

• Paper kit: tissues, wet wipes and hand sanitiser. Public toilets have no paper.
• Sun protection and sunglasses — the UV index in Tibet and on the plateau is high.
• Insect repellent for the south, especially in July and September.
• KN95 mask for pollution days or very full trains in cold season.
• Reusable thermos; boiled water is available everywhere.
• Translated prescription for any controlled medication.

Documents

Passport valid for more than six months, a printed photocopy kept separately, printed travel insurance, bookings and itinerary on paper, our office contact and the hotel address in Chinese. Keep it all in a single folder that travels with you, never in hold luggage. We always attach a copy of this folder to the dossier we send before departure, precisely because it is the first thing to get lost.

What is not worth bringing

A towel — every hotel has them. A hairdryer — there is one in every room. Formal clothing. Lots of books — they weigh and you will not read at this pace. A camera for everything — sometimes the phone does it better and raises fewer eyebrows where equipment is not permitted. Tea from home — you will buy better tea more cheaply. Drones — they require authorisation, are prohibited in many areas and are confiscated at the borders of several provinces. Better to leave them.

Packing for a tour with hotel changes

A twelve-day tour passes through five hotels. The suitcase that works in those circumstances is organised like this:

• One compartment per person, not per type of clothing: each traveller has their own fabric bag inside the suitcase and, on arrival, takes it out and puts it on the shelf. It avoids opening everything at each stop.
• A labelled laundry bag, because courtyard houses and guesthouses inside the parks have no laundry service, and clothes hand-washed in the bath take two days to dry in a humid climate.
• A complete change of clothes in cabin baggage: glasses, medication, charger, a jumper. If the big suitcase is delayed on a domestic flight, the next day still works.
• No large bottles of liquids: shampoo and shower gel are available everywhere for under 30 yuans.

On the briefing sheet we send before the trip, we always state how many nights there are in each hotel and whether any involves carrying the suitcase up stairs. It happens in the courtyard houses of Beijing, in the guesthouses of Zhangjiajie and in accommodation inside the walls of Xi’an. Knowing in advance, nobody takes a wheeled suitcase somewhere it will not fit.

Baggage rules that catch visitors out

On domestic Chinese flights, excess baggage is charged strictly and is expensive. Take one case up to 23 kg and one cabin bag, and expect cabin size limits on low-cost carriers.

On high-speed trains there is no declared weight limit, but luggage space is limited: one large case per person and a backpack work; two large cases per person is already a problem on board.

On the tours we organise, we always say in advance how many nights there are in each hotel and whether any of them involves carrying the suitcase up stairs — it happens in the courtyard houses of Beijing and the guesthouses inside the parks. That way nobody wheels a suitcase somewhere it will not go.

Clients travelling with us also receive the number of nights in each hotel and the type of access — lift, stairs or stone path. It serves to decide between a hard case and a fabric bag before packing, rather than after dragging a wheeled suitcase down an alley at eleven at night. In those situations there are two simple solutions, and we handle both: we store the large suitcase at the city hotel while you spend a night inside the park or in the village, taking only a bag with what you need; and we send luggage ahead on moves that are two days apart, when the group is only changing region. It is common practice in China and costs between 80 and 200 yuans per case, delivered to the next room.