Not city rankings and not "must-see" lists. These are the four questions we answer most often for guests in the week before they fly — permits, money, phones, and whether you need a visa at all. Written by the people who file the paperwork and drive the roads.
No foreign passport enters the Tibet Autonomous Region without one, and you cannot apply yourself. The documents, the real timeline, the two extra permits nobody warns you about, and why applications stall.
How much cash to carry, where your credit card stops working, how to make Alipay and WeChat Pay accept a foreign card, what ATMs really charge, and the four situations where only banknotes will do.
Which apps stop working, why roaming and a travel eSIM behave completely differently from a local SIM, our honest position on VPNs, and exactly what to install before you board.
Ten days in China without a visa, if your tickets are arranged the right way round. Who qualifies, the third-country rule, and the part nobody explains — it does not get you into Tibet.
Almost every problem we have dealt with on a trip started with something a guest could not have known: a card that works in Chengdu and nowhere else, an onward ticket booked the wrong way round, a permit timeline that was never explained. None of it is difficult once someone tells you plainly.
These guides are that conversation, written down. If something here does not answer your situation, write to us — a straight answer before you book flights is worth more than a polished page.
Permit timing, cash for your specific route, whether visa-free transit applies to your passport — one email covers it, and it costs nothing.