Ready Set China

Tool 06

Build your China itinerary on real rails

Pick your passport, days and pace — get a day-by-day route skeleton across 14 cities and 9 verified high-speed corridors, checked against your visa-free day budget. Free, instant, no email.

Verified June 11, 202628 official sources ↓
What pulls you here?
Pace

Pick your passport to check this trip against your visa-free day budget.

Routes that actually run on rails (3)

Your 8-day skeleton

Free, and yours to screenshot. Train times and prices come from our verified route data — nothing here is guessed.

  1. Beijing

    Day 1–4 · 4 days

    Six dynasties of imperial China, walkable in hutong scale

    + day trip to Tianjin

  2. Day 5 morning: 4h 18m by high-speed rail, from ¥553 second class · 40+ trains/day

    Shanghai

    Day 5–8 · 4 days

    China's deco-and-skyline metropolis, east meets everything

    + day trip to Suzhou

The full dossier

Turn the skeleton into a travel dossier

  • ✓ Day-by-day narrative written around your interests and pace
  • ✓ Tang & Song poetry and tea culture woven into the right days
  • ✓ Station names and key phrases in Chinese characters — show, don't say
  • ✓ Offline PDF: download it, email it, keep it in your pocket
One-time purchase · secure checkout by Creem

We plan, you book: the dossier links official and major booking channels but we never sell tickets or make reservations for you.

Why this builder is different

Visa math built in

Your trip is checked against China's current visa-free or transit policy for your passport — the same dated, sourced dataset behind our visa checker.

Trains that exist

Routes only ride city pairs we've verified one by one — durations, frequencies, from-prices. See the data on our train route pages.

A culture layer, not filler

The paid dossier matches Tang and Song poems and tea traditions to the cities where they belong — Su Shi at West Lake, gaiwan tea in a Chengdu park.

Frequently asked questions

Is the itinerary builder free?

Yes. The interactive builder — route options, day-by-day skeleton, train durations and from-prices, and the visa-free day check — is completely free, no email required. The optional $9.99 China Travel Dossier adds a personalised day-by-day narrative, a culture layer of Tang and Song poetry and tea traditions, key phrases in Chinese characters, and an offline PDF delivered by download and email.

Are the train connections real?

Every route suggestion rides city pairs we have individually verified against two dated railway-information sources — durations, daily frequencies and from-prices included. If we haven't verified a connection, the builder won't suggest it. Exact timetables float, so always confirm departure times when you book.

How does the visa-free day budget work?

Pick your passport and the builder checks your trip length against China's current visa-free or transit policy for your nationality, using the same verified dataset as our visa-free checker. If your plan is longer than your budget, it tells you by how much.

Do you book trains, hotels or tickets?

No — and that's deliberate. Ready Set China is a planning tool, not a travel agency: we never sell, book or procure tickets or reservations. The dossier points you to official channels (China Railway's 12306) and major platforms to book yourself.

What exactly is in the paid dossier?

A day-by-day narrative written around your interests and pace, grounded in the same verified data as the free skeleton; classical poetry and tea-culture moments matched to the right cities; station names and practical phrases in Chinese characters you can show to drivers and staff; and an offline PDF you can download immediately or have emailed to you.

Is the dossier written by AI?

The narrative is AI-assisted, but every fact in it — sights, trains, stations, prices, poems — comes from our human-verified dataset, and the writer is forbidden from inventing opening hours, prices or booking policies. The deterministic route engine, not the AI, decides your cities, days and trains.

Route sorted? Get the rest of the trip ready: pick an eSIM, set up payments and check when your train tickets go on sale.

Official sources

Every policy on this page was checked against these official pages. Always confirm with the source before booking.

Affiliate disclosure: Train booking links in the dossier may become affiliate links (e.g. Trip.com), meaning we may earn a commission if you book through them — at no extra cost to you. Route suggestions come from verified rail data, never from commission rates.

Disclaimer: This tool provides general trip-planning information, not legal or travel advice. Visa policies, train schedules and prices change — verify with the official sources above before booking. Ready Set China is an independent information site: not a travel agency, not a booking agent — we never sell, book or procure tickets, reservations or any travel service — and we are not affiliated with any government or railway.