First Time in China: Your 24-Hour Landing Checklist (SIM, Payment, Maps & Getting Around)

You've landed. Your phone has no signal, Google Maps is spinning, and the taxi queue is a mystery. The first 24 hours in China can go very smoothly — or very sideways — depending on whether you sorted a few things before you walked out of arrivals. This is the checklist.

The Night Before You Fly: Do This While You Still Have Internet

The single biggest mistake first-timers make is arriving unprepared for a country where most of the infrastructure runs through apps that require a Chinese phone number to set up. Do these before you board:

Download offline maps. Google Maps is not reliable in mainland China — its live services generally don't load, and China's shifted coordinate system can put pins visibly off even on cached tiles. Before you board, download an offline map pack for your first city in an app that works offline, so you have working navigation the moment you land.

Save your hotel address in Chinese. Every hotel or Airbnb you booked has a Chinese-character address. Find it, screenshot it, save it to your camera roll. You'll use it to show taxi drivers, to paste into navigation, and at hotel check-in if the staff's English is limited. Don't rely on typing it in the back of a cab.

Screenshot your flight details and any booking confirmations. Border control sometimes asks for onward travel evidence. Having it in your camera roll — not just in your email — means you're not hunting for WiFi at the immigration queue.

Prepare a small amount of local currency. Not a lot — ¥200-300 is enough as emergency backup. Mobile payment handles 95% of daily life in China, but a few scenarios (certain older taxis, small market stalls, paying someone back in cash) still use physical RMB. Get it at your home airport or from an ATM on arrival; exchange desks at Chinese airports exist but the rates aren't great.

In the Airport: The Order Matters

Do things in this sequence and you'll walk out of arrivals with a functioning phone, a navigation app that works, and a way to get to your hotel without waving at random cars.

Step 1: Immigration and Baggage (obvious, but — fingerprints)

Most visitors now have fingerprints taken at the border. It's routine. Have your hotel address ready in Chinese for the arrival card; "tourist" is fine for purpose of visit.

Step 2: Get a SIM Card

This is the single most important thing you do in the airport. Everything else — maps, Didi, payment — depends on having a Chinese phone number and data.

Your options at the airport:

• Carrier counters (China Mobile, China Unicom, China Telecom) are in the arrivals hall. Staff speak limited English; bring your passport. Prepaid tourist SIMs exist, but the activation process can be fiddly and the data plans are not always well-explained to foreign visitors.
• KORA Arrival Pack — if you pre-ordered at koracn.com before flying, there's a counter in the arrivals hall where a real person meets you, hands you a physical SIM with a real +86 number (not just a data eSIM), and also gets Alipay and WeChat Pay set up and linked to your overseas card on the spot. The difference is having a human who speaks English walking you through it instead of guessing at a carrier menu. Prices and plans are on koracn.com — worth checking before you fly if you want the frictionless version.

Whatever you do: don't leave the airport without working data.

Step 3: Activate Your Maps

Once you have signal:

• Apple Maps works in China and is reasonably accurate. Good for walking, decent for transit.
• Amap (高德地图) is what locals use. There's an English interface option. It's more accurate for walking routes and has real-time transit data. Download it.
• Google Maps loads fine in China but the satellite layer and driving directions are offset due to China's GCJ-02 coordinate system. Use it for reference, not turn-by-turn navigation.

Step 4: Get to Your Hotel

Didi is China's Uber. It works, it's cheap, and it's safe. Here's how to use it as a foreigner:

1. Download Didi before you leave home (it's in the App Store / Google Play outside China).
2. Register with your foreign phone number — but you'll need a Chinese number to call drivers if there's a pickup issue. This is one reason the +86 SIM matters.
3. At the airport, use the designated ride-hailing pickup zones (clearly marked, usually one floor up from ground level at major airports). Do not get into a car that approaches you.
4. Your destination address pastes in Chinese characters — this is why you saved it.
5. Payment: Didi links to WeChat Pay or Alipay, or you can add a foreign Visa/Mastercard directly in-app. The card option works but occasionally fails; having a payment app set up is cleaner.

Airport taxis are the alternative. Official taxi queues have marshals. Insist on the meter. Do not negotiate a price. Show the driver your hotel address in Chinese.

The First Few Hours in Your Hotel

Check-in and passport registration

Hotels in China are required to register foreign guests with the local police. This is standard admin, not anything to worry about — the hotel does it, not you. They will take your passport for a few minutes (or scan it). This is normal. Don't leave without getting it back.

If you're staying in a private rental (Airbnb or local equivalent), the host is supposed to register you too. Some don't. Officially you're meant to be registered within 24 hours of arrival.

The verification code trap

Here's where a lot of first-timers hit a wall: setting up Chinese apps requires phone number verification — a 6-digit code sent by SMS to a Chinese number. If you're still on your home SIM (or a data-only eSIM), you don't receive those codes. You can't complete registration. The app just sits there.

This is why having a real +86 SIM number — not just a data connection — unlocks everything. Alipay, WeChat Pay, Didi, food delivery, convenience store apps: all of them SMS-verify to a phone number.

Payment reality

WeChat Pay and Alipay both now allow foreign cards to be linked directly, without a Chinese bank account. It works — but it has limits, and setup requires those SMS verifications. If you sorted this at the airport (KORA Arrival Pack does it as part of the service), you're fine. If not, find WiFi at the hotel and walk through setup with a Chinese number in hand.

Cash is a backup, not a strategy. Most places accept it, but some (especially convenience stores on self-checkout, vending machines, some coffee chains) are effectively cashless now.

Common First-Day Disasters (and How to Dodge Them)

"My navigation keeps routing me the wrong way." You're probably on Google Maps driving mode. Switch to Amap.

"I can't receive the verification SMS." You're on a foreign number or data-only eSIM. You need a +86 number. Get one.

"The hotel said my card doesn't work." Many Chinese hotels still prefer UnionPay or WeChat/Alipay. Have one of the payment apps set up, or have cash as backup.

"Didi won't let me call the driver." Some drivers call instead of using in-app chat. They'll call your Chinese number — another reason a real SIM matters.

"The taxi driver didn't use the meter." Never get in a cab that quotes you a flat price before you start. Use Didi or the official queue.

FAQ

Do I need a VPN to use apps in China? This guide doesn't cover that topic. What we will say: the practical apps you need daily — maps, Didi, payment, food delivery — all work without any workaround. Focus on getting those sorted first.

Can I use Google Maps in China? Yes, it loads. The search function works. But driving directions are offset because China uses a different coordinate system (GCJ-02). For walking around a neighborhood it's fine; for navigation, use Amap.

Does Didi work for foreigners? Yes. You can register with a foreign number and add a foreign Visa/Mastercard. The main friction point is calling drivers — they sometimes call your number rather than using in-app chat, so a Chinese +86 SIM makes things smoother.

Do I need a Chinese bank account to use WeChat Pay or Alipay? No longer. Both apps allow foreign cards (Visa, Mastercard, some Amex) to be linked directly. You'll need a Chinese phone number to complete the SMS verification during setup.

What's the easiest way to sort all of this before I land? The KORA Arrival Pack is designed specifically for this first-24-hours problem. You reserve before you fly, collect at the airport arrivals counter, and leave with a working SIM, Alipay and WeChat Pay linked to your card, and the key apps installed — with a real person walking you through it. Details and plans are at koracn.com.

You've Got This

The first 24 hours in China are genuinely easy once you have three things working: a SIM with a real +86 number, one of the two payment apps linked to your card, and a navigation app that works. Everything else — food, transport, communication — flows from those.

If you want those three things handled before you even clear customs, take a look at the KORA Arrival Pack at koracn.com. It's built for exactly this moment.