Helpful Information
Below we listed hopefully useful ressources and information for your trip to Guangzhou China. From useful apps to navigate and get around up to guides on how to get the best of your visit to Guangzhou. Let us know if you are missing something and we will try to add it as soon as possible.
Essential Apps
For Navigation we recommend to use “Amap”, which works much better than Google Maps in China. Apple Maps and Baidu Maps work great as well. More below in “How do I get around”
For Payment Alipay or WeChat Pay.
Last but not least MeiTuan on which you can purchase takeout and tickets for almost everything.
How do I Set-Up Wechat
WeChat is the essential App, and the main communication tool in China. As the process of setting up an new WeChat account for your travel to Guangzhou is better to understand visually, below you will find a Video explaining all steps. Have a look at it on how to install WeChat.
How do I Set-Up Alipay
Alipay is, besides WeChat the most important App in China. It can be used for payment, but also includes many services like hello bike which are shared bicycles. Below you will find a Video on how to set-up an account on Alipay.
How do I Set-Up Meituan
Meituan is another very powerful App. It is used to order anything you need, buy tickets in advance or even hotels and flights. This powerful App is only available in Chinese, however in the Video below you will see how to set-up an account and use the App.
Transportation in Guangzhou
Guangzhou has a extremely well build metro network which is very convenient to use. Tickets can be bought on machines, Guangzhou metro App or Alipay.
Outside the metro hours you can use ride haul easy by App or shared bicycles by scanning a QR code. More below:
How to call a Driver
There are two Apps, the first one being DiDi, that allows you to call DiDi drivers, which is similar to UBER. The App has an english version and is easy to use. Payment can be done by connecting either WeChat or Alipay. You can find a guide n how to use DiDi here.
The second option is to use the AMAP or Baidu navigation App directly, which is comparable to Google Maps. You simply need to create an account which you can do by using the login via Alipay or WeChat function. If you then enter an address, you can choose between metro, bicycle, can or ride-haul. You different it by the icons below the search bar, same as in Google maps.
The ride price will be deducted automatically and you do not need to pay the driver extra afterwards.
How to Buy Metro Tickets
There are several options to buy metro tickets in Guangzhou without using the ticket machines, which come with advantages, that you do not need to buy a new ticket for each ride.
The first one is to use Alipay or the metro App. If you open Alipay you will see a menu item called “transportation”. Turn on the location access for Alipay and it will automatically open the Guangzhou metro app in Alipay itself. You can also download the metro app separately, if you do not use Alipay.
The last option are metro cards. Which start at 50 rmb and can be purchased at most 7/11. They are credit card size and can be swiped on the NFC field of each metro exit/entry and even busses.
How to Use Shared Bicycles
There are many companies offering shared bicycles, the most common one “Hello Bike” by Alipay, which again can be opened directly by scanning the QR code with Alipay. The other two big competitors are Meituan and DiDi, however we found it a bit more difficult to activate the shared bicycle option inside their Apps.
In terms of price you usually pay 3-5 rmb for 15 or 30 minutes depending on which one you are using. So it is very affordable.
Sport and Workout
How to Sign-Up for Races
There are 3 major organizer for endurance races in China. Two of them mainly offer half-marathon, marathon and trail runs. The third one offers Triathlon as well as bike races. Big races in and near Guangzhou are the Guangzhou marathon, the vertical marathon, several trail runs as well as the Foshan and Zhaoqing Triathon. Check our article explaining on how to sign-up for races in detail.
What are normal Gym Prices
There are various ranges for Gyms, most of them offer a huge discount if you buy a one year or two year membership, which is not suitable for travelers to Guangzhou. Prices per year start around 1000 RMB and can go up to 3000 RMB or even more. The two suitable options are 1. Hotel Gyms and second to use Meituan, where you often can buy a “trial membership” which is usually quite cheap and goes for a few days. starting from free to 150 RMB in our experience.
Are there group activities?
Yes there are many activities. In our Sports section we listed many places where people meet in our sport category, and many articles are about to follow. Sign-Up for our newsletter for special announcements or join expat groups on WeChat for events hosted by different groups.
Travel Essentials
How to take the Train
The train stations in Guangzhou are huge. Each of them looks like a small airport. This article will guide you through the process, and shows you how to buy tickets online yourself. The blog Postcards from Mimi made a extensive guide about train travelling in China in general. You can have a look at it. For tickets you can either use the official chinese app “12306” Or go with the easy option for buying train tickets on trip.com.
How to Get a Sim Card
There area several options to go with. If you stay longer in China, the best way is to go to a China Unicom or China mobile store and buy a sim card that can be top up monthly as these are usually the cheapest option. If you are a traveler, you might consider services like three.hk which is a Hong Kong based mobile service provider. They offer travel sims, which according to users on reddit, surpass the Chinese firewall.
What are some Basic Phrases
The main language in China is Mandarin, and almost everyone in Guangzhou speaks it. However the local language is Cantonese, and this is what you will hear inside the old-town parts of Guangzhou. We are working on video and PDF courses for everyone to learn some essential Chinese phrases. In the meantime, my former Chinese teacher started a YouTube channel, which is worth having a look.