Fourteen of the country's headline destinations, each with a full guide to the must-see sights, ticket and reservation rules for foreign-passport holders, day-by-day itineraries and the local food — plus a quick-reference table covering every province.
How to book attractions with a foreign passport
Almost every major sight in China now runs real-name, timed-entry ticketing: your passport number is the ticket. The rules below apply to nearly all of the sights in these guides — Prices checked Nov 1, 2026 — operators change them without notice, always confirm on the official site before paying.
- Start from the attraction's official site — many now have English booking that accepts foreign passports (the Forbidden City: intl.dpm.org.cn; Terracotta Army: bmy.com.cn).
- Book the moment your date is fixed. Headline sights release tickets 7–14 days ahead at a fixed hour (Forbidden City: 7 days ahead, 20:00 Beijing time) and sell out in minutes at peak.
- Bring the exact same passport used to book. Gate scanners match the physical booklet; copies and screenshots are usually refused.
- Type the name from the machine-readable zone (the two letter lines at the bottom of the photo page), no accents, no spaces in the passport number.
- Free still means reserved — the National Museum, Shanghai Museum and Suzhou Museum cost ¥0 and still refuse walk-ins.
- Monday is museum day off — the Forbidden City, National Museum, Potala and most big museums close every Monday except national holidays.
- Payment can be the wall. Official mini-programs often want WeChat/Alipay with a card attached; if yours balks, an English platform (Trip.com, Klook) resells the same official inventory for a small premium, and your hotel front desk is usually happy to book for you.
- Tibet is its own system — foreign visitors need a Tibet Travel Permit arranged by a licensed agency before booking transport. See the Lhasa guide.
- Staffed counters still exist. The Palace Museum runs an English phone line (+86 400-950-1925, 08:00–20:00); the Summer Palace has one too (+86 10 62881144, 08:30–17:00). When a website defeats you, the window wins.
City guides by region
❄️ Winter special: the Changchun 2027 Winter Universiade & Northeast winter column covers the Games (Jan 15–25), rime ice, ski resorts and Harbin.
North & Northeast
Imperial capitals, ice festivals and the Great Wall.
Beijing
Imperial palaces, the Great Wall and hutong life
Harbin
The ice city — Russian squares and the world's biggest snow festival
East Coast
Skylines, classical gardens and islands — the wealthy, modern face of China.
Shanghai
Art-deco riverfront, skyline towers and China's easiest city
Hangzhou
West Lake, tea hills and the classical China of paintings
Suzhou
Classical gardens, canals and silk — 25 minutes from Shanghai
Xiamen
Island lanes, colonial villas and China's cleanest beach city
Central Plains & Silk Road
Terracotta armies, cave art and desert oases along the ancient caravan routes.
Xi'an
Terracotta armies, Tang-dynasty nights and the old city wall
Dunhuang
Cave art, crescent oases and the silk road's great crossroads
South
Karst rivers, mountain mist and Cantonese food culture.
Guilin & Yangshuo
The Li River's karst peaks — the landscape on the ¥20 note
Zhangjiajie
The floating mountains that inspired Avatar
Guangzhou
Cantonese food capital, colonial island and 2,000-year-old trade port
Southwest & Tibet
Pandas, mountain megacities and the high plateau.
Chengdu
Pandas, teahouses and China's most liveable food city
Chongqing
The 8D mountain megacity of hotpot and night skylines
Lhasa
The Potala, prayer wheels and the roof of the world
Every province at a glance
One line per province — the sights locals would name first. Province names link nowhere; the details live in the city guides above.
| Region | Province — signature sights |
|---|---|
| North | Beijing 故宫 · 长城 · 颐和园 · Tianjin 五大道 · 意式风情区 · Hebei 承德避暑山庄 · 山海关 · Shanxi 平遥古城 · 云冈石窟 · 五台山 · Inner Mongolia 呼伦贝尔草原 · 响沙湾 |
| North | Liaoning 沈阳故宫 · 大连海滨 · Jilin 长白山 · 雾凇岛 · Heilongjiang 哈尔滨冰雪大世界 · 雪乡 |
| East | Shanghai 外滩 · 豫园 · Jiangsu 苏州园林 · 南京中山陵 · 扬州瘦西湖 · Zhejiang 杭州西湖 · 乌镇 · 普陀山 · Anhui 黄山 · 宏村 · 九华山 · Fujian 鼓浪屿 · 武夷山 · 福建土楼 · Jiangxi 庐山 · 三清山 · 婺源 · Shandong 泰山 · 青岛 · 曲阜三孔 |
| Silk | Henan 龙门石窟 · 少林寺 · 云台山 · Hubei 武当山 · 神农架 · 黄鹤楼 · Hunan 张家界 · 凤凰古城 · 岳阳楼 |
| South | Guangdong 广州塔 · 开平碉楼 · 丹霞山 · Guangxi 桂林漓江 · 阳朔 · 龙脊梯田 · Hainan 三亚亚龙湾 · 蜈支洲岛 · Hong Kong, China 维多利亚港 · 太平山顶 · Macao, China 大三巴 · 官也街 |
| Southwest | Chongqing 洪崖洞 · 武隆 · 大足石刻 · Sichuan 九寨沟 · 大熊猫基地 · 峨眉山 · Guizhou 黄果树瀑布 · 荔波小七孔 · 西江苗寨 · Yunnan 丽江古城 · 玉龙雪山 · 大理洱海 · Tibet 布达拉宫 · 珠峰大本营 · 纳木错 |
| Silk | Shaanxi 兵马俑 · 华山 · 西安城墙 · Gansu 莫高窟 · 张掖丹霞 · 嘉峪关 · Qinghai 青海湖 · 茶卡盐湖 · 塔尔寺 · Ningxia 沙坡头 · 西夏陵 · Xinjiang 喀纳斯 · 天山天池 · 喀什老城 |
| Southwest | Taiwan, China 阿里山 · 日月潭 · 台北101 |
UNESCO World Heritage quick picks
China holds 60 World Heritage sites as of 2025 — the newest is the Xixia Imperial Tombs near Yinchuan. If you are chasing the list, these pair naturally with the guides above:
- Beijing: Forbidden City, Temple of Heaven, Summer Palace, Great Wall, plus the Grand Canal and Central Axis inscriptions.
- Xi'an: Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor (the Terracotta Army).
- Chengdu: Dujiangyan irrigation system & Mt Qingcheng; Giant Panda Sanctuaries.
- Suzhou: Classical Gardens of Suzhou.
- Hangzhou: West Lake Cultural Landscape; Grand Canal.
- Guilin: South China Karst (Zuojiang Huashan area is the inscribed part; the Li River scenery is the same geology).
- Zhangjiajie: Wulingyuan Scenic Area.
- Chongqing: Dazu Rock Carvings; Wulong Karst.
- Dunhuang: Mogao Caves.
- Lhasa: Potala Palace, Jokhang, Norbulingka.
Sources: UNESCO World Heritage List (whc.unesco.org); National Cultural Heritage Administration announcements, 2025. Prices checked Nov 1, 2026 — operators change them without notice, always confirm on the official site before paying.