Getting Around Chinese Cities: Metro, Buses, Transit Cards and QR Codes for Foreigners

Last verified: 13 June 2026 · Set up your payment apps before you fly; the rest you can sort on the ground.

Urban transport in China is fast, dense and cheap. The subway in a big city will outclass anything you're used to at home, and a cross-town ride often costs less than a coffee. The catch is that the system was built for people who have a mainland ID and a phone full of Chinese apps, and a few of its rough edges are pointed straight at foreign visitors. None of them are dealbreakers. They're just easier when you know them before you're standing at a turnstile with a queue behind you.

This guide walks through the metro, the in-app "ride code" that has quietly replaced most physical cards, where a plastic transit card still earns its keep, and the buses, which are the cheapest and the most Chinese-first part of the whole thing. The single most important move sits before any of it: get Alipay or WeChat Pay working, linked to a foreign card, before you travel. We cover the mechanics of that in paying in China. With that done, most of what follows is a tap and a walk.

The metro: your default for everything

In any city large enough to have a subway — Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Chengdu, Xi'an, dozens more — the metro is the move. It's the one part of Chinese transit built with international travelers half in mind.

English is there. Station names, line maps and signage are bilingual, and the on-board announcements give each stop in English after Chinese. You will not get lost the way you might on a bus. Exits are numbered and lettered (Exit A, B, C…), and the in-station maps show what's near each one, which matters because big interchange stations can put a ten-minute walk between you and the right street.

Every station has a security scan. This trips up first-timers. Before the ticket gates, you put your bag through an X-ray scanner and sometimes walk through or get wanded at a metal detector, airport-style, every single time you enter. It's quick when it's quiet and a genuine bottleneck at rush hour, so build in a few extra minutes. Open water bottles occasionally get a glance or a sip-test. It's routine; just don't be surprised by the queue.

Paying for the metro, three ways:

• The in-app ride QR (simplest). Open Alipay or WeChat, pull up the transit "ride code," and scan it at the gate going in and out. The fare is distance-based and gets deducted automatically. This is what we'd reach for first — no ticket machine, no cash, no card to lose. More on it below.
• A single-journey ticket from the machines. Every station has ticket machines, generally with an English-language toggle. You pick your destination on the map, it shows the fare, and you pay with cash or by scanning a QR. It dispenses a token or a thin paper ticket: tap it on entry, drop it in the slot on exit. Fine as a backup, slower at peak times.
• A contactless foreign card, in a few cities. A handful of the most international systems now accept a tap of a foreign Visa or Mastercard straight at the gate — Shanghai is one where travelers report this working. Don't count on it citywide or countrywide; treat it as a bonus when it appears, not a plan.

Don't invent the fare in your head before you go — it varies by city and by distance and the published numbers drift, so let the machine or the app show you the actual price. As a rough feel, a typical in-city metro hop lands in the low single-digit yuan, but check on the day.

Rush hour and luggage are real. Morning and evening peaks in a tier-one city are genuinely crushing, and there's no polite version of it. If you're hauling a suitcase, avoid roughly 8–9am and 6–7:30pm if you can, and know that some stations route bulky bags through a wider gate. Watch the last train. Lines typically stop somewhere around 11pm to midnight, earlier on outer branches, and the last-train time is posted on the platform. Miss it and you're on a DiDi. A city like Beijing or Shanghai has the deepest networks, but the same patterns hold everywhere.

The transit QR / ride code: what mostly replaced the plastic card

Here's the shift that's happened over the last few years. You used to buy a physical transit card at a metro window, top it up with cash, and tap it on buses and trains. Now, for most travelers in most big cities, the card lives inside your phone as a ride code — 乘车码, literally "ride QR."

There are a few flavours, and which one works depends on the city:

• Alipay's transit ride code and WeChat's ride code both offer an in-app QR you scan at metro gates and on bus readers. In a lot of cities you just enable it once, agree to the deferred-payment terms, and it works.
• City transit mini-programs. Many cities have their own official transit mini-program inside Alipay or WeChat (search the city name plus 地铁 / metro). These sometimes unlock the local system more cleanly than the generic ride code.

For the metro, the ride code is close to frictionless in the big systems, and it's our default recommendation: nothing to buy, nothing to refund, nothing to drop down the back of a seat.

But there's a wall, and it's specific to some city bus cards. This is the part worth flagging plainly, because it catches people. In some cities, loading the municipal bus card into Alipay requires a mainland Chinese ID number, which as a foreign visitor you simply don't have. Datong is the example we document on the ground: as of 2026, foreigners can't load the Datong city bus card in Alipay because it needs a mainland ID — so the workaround there is to carry ¥1 notes for the cash fare, with no change given, or just take a DiDi. The metro ride code is usually unaffected; it's the bus-card layer in certain cities where the ID requirement bites. The honest read: it varies city to city, it's improving, and you should assume the metro ride code works and treat smaller-city bus cards as the thing that might not.

Physical transit cards: where they still earn their place

The plastic card isn't dead. It's just no longer the default. It's still genuinely handy if:

• You don't want to lean on the apps — maybe your Alipay/WeChat link is flaky, or you'd rather not tie transit to deferred payment.
• You're moving across smaller cities and buses where the in-app ride code coverage is patchy and the local card just works on the reader.
• You want one tap for metro and bus without juggling which app does what in which city.

You buy one at a metro station service window or machine, usually with a refundable deposit (commonly around ¥20) plus whatever you load on it, and you top it up with cash. When you leave the city — or the country — you can return it at a designated window to get the deposit and the unused balance back, though the refund points aren't at every station, so do it before you're rushing for a flight. Cards are generally city-specific, with a few regional cards working across several cities. Don't over-invest in one if you're only passing through.

Buses: cheapest, most useful, most Chinese-first

City buses go places the metro doesn't, and they're cheap — often a flat ¥1 to ¥3. They're also the part of the system with the least hand-holding, so they reward a little preparation.

Paying is exact-fare or QR, and there's no change. On a flat-fare bus you either tap your ride code / transit card on the reader by the door, or you drop the exact cash fare into the farebox. The farebox gives no change — if the fare is ¥1 and you've got a ¥5, you've donated ¥4. So carry a stash of ¥1 notes if you plan to bus around, especially in smaller cities like Datong where the in-app bus card isn't open to you. Some longer or intercity routes charge by distance and have a conductor; pay them directly.

Stop names are Chinese-first. This is the real friction. Announcements and signs on buses are typically Chinese only, with no reliable English, so you can't ride a bus the relaxed way you ride the metro. The fix is your phone: open Amap (高德地图) or Baidu Maps (百度地图) — the two domestic mapping apps that actually have China's transit data — or Apple Maps, which handles Chinese public-transit routing reasonably well. Punch in your destination, follow the live blue dot, and get off when it tells you to rather than trusting the overhead sign. Google Maps is unreliable inside mainland China; don't depend on it. Amap and Baidu are Chinese-first in the interface but workable, and they'll also tell you which bus, which stop, and how many stops to go.

The honest summary on buses: they're brilliant value and they reach the corners the metro misses, but they ask more of you — exact fare, a navigation app open, and the willingness to count stops yourself. For many visitors, the metro plus the occasional DiDi covers the trip and the bus is a sometimes-tool. That's a perfectly fine way to travel.

Taxis and DiDi: the backup that always works

When the metro's closed, the bus is baffling, or you've got luggage and a clock, the fallback is a taxi or DiDi (China's Uber). DiDi runs in English, takes your Alipay/WeChat or a linked foreign card, and spares you describing a destination in Chinese to a driver — you set the pin in the app. Street taxis work too, though you'll want your destination written in Chinese or shown on a map. It costs more than transit but it's the thing that's there at 1am. For the specific case of getting from the airport into town — where the choice between metro, airport train, taxi and DiDi has its own logic — see our airport-to-city transport guide.

The honest bottom line

If you remember five things:

1. Set up Alipay or WeChat Pay with a foreign card before you travel. Everything below depends on it. Here's how.
2. The in-app ride QR (乘车码) is the simplest way to ride the metro in any big city — nothing to buy, nothing to refund.
3. Buses are cheap but Chinese-first and exact-fare. Carry ¥1 notes (no change given), and keep Amap, Baidu or Apple Maps open to know your stop. In some cities the in-app bus card needs a mainland ID you don't have.
4. Mind the security-scan queue and the last train. Both cost you time you didn't budget; the last-train time is on the platform.
5. DiDi is the backup that always works when transit doesn't.

How do I pay for the metro in China as a tourist?

The easiest way is the in-app transit ride code (乘车码) inside Alipay or WeChat Pay: enable it once, then scan the QR at the gate going in and out, and the distance-based fare is deducted automatically. If you'd rather not use the apps, every station has ticket machines with an English toggle that take cash or a QR scan and dispense a token or paper ticket. A few of the most international systems, like Shanghai, also accept a tap of a contactless foreign Visa or Mastercard at the gate, but don't rely on that countrywide.

Can I use a transit card as a foreigner in China?

Yes for a physical plastic transit card — you buy one at a metro service window with a refundable deposit (often around ¥20) plus a cash top-up, and it works on metro and buses without any ID requirement. The complication is the in-app version of some city bus cards: in certain cities, loading the municipal bus card into Alipay needs a mainland Chinese ID number, which a foreign visitor doesn't have. The metro ride code is usually fine; it's the bus-card layer in some cities, like Datong, where the ID wall appears.

How do I pay for a bus in China without a Chinese ID?

Tap your in-app ride code or a physical transit card on the reader, or drop the exact cash fare into the farebox. The farebox gives no change, so carry small ¥1 notes — buses are often a flat ¥1 to ¥3. In cities where the in-app bus card needs a mainland ID you don't have, the cash-with-exact-change method is your fallback, or you can just take a DiDi.

Which map app works for buses and metro in China?

Use Amap (高德地图) or Baidu Maps (百度地图), the domestic apps that actually carry China's full transit data, or Apple Maps, which does Chinese public-transit routing reasonably well. They'll tell you which line or bus, which stop, and how many stops to go, which matters most on buses where signs and announcements are Chinese-only. Google Maps is unreliable inside mainland China, so don't depend on it for getting around.

Is there a security check to enter the metro in China?

Yes, every station has an airport-style security scan before the ticket gates: your bag goes through an X-ray machine and you may walk through or be wanded by a metal detector, every time you enter. It's fast when quiet and a real bottleneck at rush hour, so add a few minutes at peak times. Open drinks occasionally get a glance or a sip-test; it's routine.

What time does the metro stop running in Chinese cities?

Most lines stop somewhere around 11pm to midnight, with outer branches often ending earlier, and the exact last-train time is posted on each platform. Check it if you're out late, because once the metro closes your options are a night bus or, more practically, a DiDi or taxi. Times vary by city and by line, so confirm on the platform rather than assuming.

Do I need cash to get around a Chinese city?

For the metro, usually not — the in-app ride code or a ticket machine covers you. For buses it's worth carrying small cash, specifically ¥1 notes, because some city bus systems still rely on exact-fare cash for foreigners who can't load the in-app bus card, and the farebox gives no change. A modest stash of ¥1 and ¥5 notes is cheap insurance even if you mostly tap your phone.