China Cycletouring in 2024

[steve.y.griffith]

Just got back from two months in China did quite a bit of riding . Major cities have the hire bikes which are very cheap 20p a go and generally the best way to get around . But be warned the cities have been redesigned around the car and it’s not unusual to have to make a huge detour at major intersections . Also be prepared to be honked at …and ridden off the road ..all quite friendly

I did meet some Chinese Cycletourists the big goal is either riding to Tibet (over 5000metre passes ) and doing a circle around the borders of the whole country .A huge distance as China is bigger than Europe .

Big bike museum in Lanzhou .

I did a few days touring on a borrowed Mountain bike in the south west . Although the cities are congested outside there is a huge network of lightly used roads . You can send your bike by train but you would need Chinese language skills !. Navigation you need an online system paper maps are almost unknown and out of date .
The country runs on cashless payments the most useful thing before yiu go is download and set up Ali Pay . You can hire bikes , order taxis ,book hotels , ride on buses and tubes etc . You should get a local sim on arrival pretty cheap with 4G everywhere.
Cheap to travel hotels outside Beijing ,Shanghai etc about 15£ Travel Lodge standard , food cheap, bullet trains are quite pricy but the conventional network is under half the price. See Man in Seat 61+
Visa situation is easing Western Europeans get 15 days visa free , we get 72 hours ah Brexit ! But youcan stay in the sub tropical Island of Hainan for longer visa free and it’s great for cycling, you can hire bikes in Haikou good place for a first trip !

[gregoryoftours]

Very interesting, thank you! Do you speak any Mandarin yourself, and if not was it harder to get by without than muddling through without speaking the language in other countries?

[steve.y.griffith]

Yes I do , but people do tour without the language . Outside of major cities and the big tourist attractions eg Great Wall you are very unlikely to find anyone who speaks English . So they end up relying on online translation software. You can get by without any language eg in a restaurant either pointing to what other diners are eating or going into the kitchen and picking out ingredients which is perfectly acceptable . The key is having all the payment /booking /social media apps set up eg ctrip, China Railways ,WeChat etc . Best search engine to use is bing .
The problem with Chinese is they rarely borrow words from other languages so it’s not like many European languages where say the word for ticket is similar and it’s tonal so the same sound can have four different intonations with completely unrelated meanings .

[Cyclewala]

How easy was it getting a visa? And how do they view wild camping?

[simonhill]

Thanks for the useful update. Not sure I'll ever be going back, but I thoroughly enjoyed my 2 tours. Interesting how the smartphone is becoming the main means of so many transactions and daily functions. It has certainly revolutionised travel.

I don't think wild camping is allowed in China. You are required to be registered each night. Also the country is very densely populated and most camping suitable land is used, even roadside verges have veges growing on them.

Visas have gone through different stages.. Normally reciprocal and as we aren't very friendly to them, they aren't to us. Often an extra charge purportedly for handling, which other nations don't have. The 15 day visa free isn't EU, it only 5 countries of the EU (Fr, Nl, Ger, It & Sp).
This seems a pretty good guide to visas.
https://www.chinadiscovery.com/chinese-visa/types.html

I toured twice, 2 months each in about 2010 and 11. Only very restricted internet cafes. Used a Nelles paper map. Managed to get by OK with small English to Chinese dictionary. A bit of a summary of my trips here.
viewtopic.php?p=1752485&hilit=China#p1752485

Bikes on trains go on separate baggage train. Just turn up at parcels office with your train ticket and the staff will understand what you want.