China Is Open! Top Tips To Budget For Guangzhou, The Icon Of The Pearl Delta

China has started opening up a lot more to inbound tourists, it is offering visa free travel to many nations and has also made it a lot easy to obtain transit visas (check your country before booking travel)

One of the most accessible cities is Guangzhou on the pearl river, it is one of the busiest airports in the country and the city itself has almost 20 million people. Having lived there for a few months here are a few quick tips to do it on a budget.

⭐️ Airport - It is connected to the metro and you can pay using apple pay / QR code on wechat or buy tokens with cash (not advisable as it can get compliated) Or you can book taxis on didi, the ride sharing app - there is now an English version with English customer service!

⭐️ Accommodation - Trip is the best place for your hotels and rentals as they include all the local brands and hotels, as trip is now a Chinese firm. Just be aware that Chinese hotels have lower standards for their star rating, so you might get a lower quality room than you are used to but it will also cost a lot less. Vienna hotels, Truego & atour are all very good brands that offer cheap rooms.

⭐️ Travel - This is where China really excels, the metro in Guangzhou is one of the biggest in the world and one of the cheapest. You can travel anywhere in the city for less than $2 and the trains are every minute or so, with full air conditioning and most stations have toilets / wifi. Didi is the ride hailing app and that is also very cheap, around $8 for a half an hour taxi ride

⭐️ Food - Guangzhou is the home of Cantonese food and as you can imagine it has one of the highest numbers of restaurants in the world! The hub for Cantonese food is around Beijing pedestrian street, Tiyixilu central shopping area and around Zhujiang new town for modern or western food.

Fast food is also very cheap here, but if you want the full experience try some of the street food vendors which can be found outside most metro station exits.

Money! Most importantly make sure you are able to pay whne you get here, China is an almost cashless society so set up your alipay / wechat pay account before you arrive or check with your bank or card provider that you are able to pay within china!

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Post by Jamie Daniel Ali | Jul 12, 2025