Why China ?

As seen on "Race Across the World" 2025 (BBC iPlayer): the scenery looked spectacular !

Our Route

We flew in to Xi'an, for access to the Terracotta Army. 

Then took a cheeky bullet train up to Beijing, to see the Great Wall.

The Journey

Food & Accommodation

Cycling China: Ups & Downs

Practical Pointers

⭐️ Visa: not as painful as it sounds, but at the time of writing (Oct 2025) needed an online form including flight and hotel details (we just used OneWayFly and a refundable hotel booking for our arrival date only); then a visit to the Chinese Embassy (we used Manchester) for fingerprinting and payment (£130 each); then a return visit 3 days later to collect our passports. 
We weren't questioned about our itinerary or anything else.

⭐️ Internet access to Western sites is blocked by China's "Great Firewall". Google (also Maps, Translate, Gmail, Play Store), WhatsApp, app store etc. will not work reliably 🤯 

We downloaded two different paid-for VPNs before travel, but neither worked well and we can't recommend them. 

Luckily, eSIM data seemed to bypass the firewall completely. Check that your phone is eSIM-compatible, as some are not ! 

⭐️ Don't rely on card or cash payments, as these are NOT widely used in China 🤯

Everyone (even on market stalls) uses payment apps instead.

Download "WeChat" and "Alipay" before you travel. You can then link your bank card to the app ("WeChat" activation needs approval from a friend in China, our hotel staff helped us with this).