Essential Apps and tools

  1. Access: Sims & VPNs
  2. Payments: Alipay & WeChat
  3. Navigation: A-map & Baidu
  4. Transportation: Didi, Trip, Railway12306, & Alipay 
  5. Accommodations: Trip.com

Extras

  1. Food Delivery: Meituan takeout
  2. Coupons: Meituan
  3. Luggage forwarding and delivery: Jindong
  4. Ride-sharing: Shunfengche


Etiquette and observatons

  1. Dining
  2. Noise Levels
  • Navigation

A-map (高德地图)

This is my navigation app of choice. I usually use the Chinese version, but the English version is pretty good; you generally don’t need the address written in Chinese to find your way, and it’s actually a cleaner experience since the Chinese version has some distracting ads and features. 

A-Map is intuitive and has stellar public transport information across the country. 
Detailed instructions for public transportation.
You can also hail a car directly from the app (I have not personally done this, but many people use it since it’s often cheaper than Didi).

Baidu (百度地图)

I deleted my Baidu app about a month into China and haven’t really missed it. Doesn’t hurt to have another maps app though.
© Tracy Xie 2025IndexScroll to top