Alipay is one of the main payment methods in China and the country’s leading payment system. Everything is incredibly convenient: you pay for almost anything using a QR code. Inside the app, you can also create a virtual public transport card (also QR-based, with a separate card for each city), order a taxi, and even access the built-in Trip service.

Traveling to China without Alipay is practically impossible — cash and physical bank cards have largely fallen out of use here.

You can top up your wallet via trusted intermediaries or by linking a foreign bank card and spending directly from its balance.

N.B.: Alipay does not work in Hong Kong and Macau — those regions have their own payment systems and nuances.

One of the most popular apps in China. You could say that the entire life of the country revolves around it. It’s both a messenger and a digital wallet through which Chinese users do almost everything.

What you can do with WeChat:

• pay for purchases
• chat with others
• follow official accounts of restaurants, hotels, etc.
• buy tickets to attractions via mini-apps (especially useful in Beijing)
• order delivery
• view menus and place orders in restaurants

And that’s far from all. I wouldn’t be surprised if you could get married or divorced through WeChat too...

Registration can be tricky: sometimes the SMS verification code simply doesn’t arrive. This likely depends on your mobile carrier. If you do manage to register — congratulations! At the very least, you’ll be able to order food in restaurants via QR codes instead of explaining yourself with gestures.

A Chinese alternative to Booking, where you can not only book hotels but also buy tickets to attractions and amusement parks, train and flight tickets, eSIMs, and find restaurant and sightseeing recommendations. The hotel selection is often wider than on Booking, and prices are usually lower.

Trip is an indispensable app when planning a trip to China!

An app with metro maps for all major Chinese cities. You can plan routes, check fares, and estimate travel time. A huge plus is that it works without Wi-Fi.

The downside: when connected to Wi-Fi, intrusive ads appear quite often.

Accurate, reliable maps with English-language support. Functionally, it’s similar to Yandex Maps: you can plan walking or public transport routes, and search for places, hotels, and restaurants.

AMap is the most convenient map app for China because, trust me, Google Maps are absolutely useless there, and Maps.me doesn’t always work correctly.

A Chinese equivalent of Tripadvisor. It’s a platform with reviews of restaurants, cafés, shops, attractions — basically anything you can go to. You can also book tables at restaurants through the app. The interface is in English, although for some reason not all place names are translated from Chinese.

A pocket Chinese dictionary and offline translator. It can recognize text via the camera, but it works best for translating individual words. For full translations and everyday communication, the built-in translator in Alipay is a better option.

When I was preparing for my first trip to China, everything felt confusing and overwhelming — especially since I had often heard that “China is for experienced travelers only.” As it turned out, that’s not true at all. With a bit of preparation, the right apps, and offline maps, the trip goes smoothly.

I must say, traveling around China is incredibly comfortable. The tourism infrastructure here is genuinely well developed (as is everything else). You open one app, buy tickets, pay via QR code, and move on — no paper tickets, everything fully digital.

Trust me, this country will surprise you!