China with Kids: A 10-Day Family Itinerary
What actually goes wrong travelling China with children, how child tickets and real-name booking work for minors, and two ten-day routes built around shorter days and fewer hotel moves.
China is easier with children than most people expect and harder in ways nobody warns you about.
The easy parts: it is very safe, children are welcomed almost everywhere including good restaurants late at night, the high-speed rail is comfortable and has toilets and space, and the food has more child-friendly options than the reputation suggests.
The hard parts are not the ones on anyone's list. They are the walking distances inside single attractions, the squat toilets, the crowds at exactly the sites you came for, and the fact that a child's passport has to be booked under their own name for everything.
This guide covers the friction first, because the friction determines the itinerary. Then two routes.
What actually breaks
Distances inside attractions. The Forbidden City is 72 hectares and the walk from the south gate to the north gate with detours is three to four kilometres on stone, with almost no shade. The Summer Palace is bigger. The Great Wall involves stairs of uneven height. These are not "a morning" with a six-year-old; they are the whole day.
Strollers are often impractical. Cobbles, steps, thresholds, security screening, and crowds. A carrier works better than a buggy for under-threes at most heritage sites. Where a stroller is fine — Shanghai, parks, Disneyland — bring a light folding one.
Toilets. Squat toilets are still standard in many public facilities, including at attractions and older rail stations. Seated toilets exist but are not guaranteed. Carry tissues; public facilities frequently have none. This is worth practising with a small child before the trip rather than negotiating it for the first time at Badaling. The toilets and hygiene guide covers the detail.
Attention. Foreign children, especially blond or very young ones, attract friendly attention, photographs and occasionally touching. It is warmly meant and it can overwhelm a child who is already tired. A firm, smiling "不好意思" (bu hao yisi) and moving on is entirely acceptable.
Spice. Sichuan and Hunan food will not work for most children. Cantonese, Jiangnan and northern food will. "不要辣" (bu yao la) — no chilli — is the phrase, and it is worth having in characters on your phone.
Crowds. School holidays and public holidays fill everything. Avoid the first week of October, Chinese New Year, and the first week of May. Check the holiday and crowd calendar before fixing dates.
Jet lag. Eastbound to China is the harder direction. Assume the first two days are compromised and schedule nothing important.
Tickets and booking for children
Every child needs their own passport, and it must be used for real-name bookings — rail, flights, and any attraction that requires reservation. Children cannot travel on a parent's booking. Enter each child's passport number exactly as printed.
Rail fares on China Railway are based on age where the child has valid ID: under 6 travel free without a separate seat, and 6 to under 14 pay a child fare. Where no ID is presented, height thresholds apply instead — historically 1.2 m and 1.5 m. Foreign children travelling on passports fall under the age rules, but confirm the current position on 12306 when you book, as this has been revised.
One practical consequence: a free under-6 does not get a seat. On a six-hour journey that means a child on your lap. Buying them a seat is usually worth it.
Attraction admission is more often height-based than age-based. Under 1.2 m is frequently free or reduced; the exact threshold varies by site. Bring the passport regardless — some sites check documents, some check a measuring stick at the gate, and a few do both.
Tickets that must be booked in advance still need advance booking for children. Forbidden City reservations include each visitor individually.
Route A: two cities, ten days
The version to choose if your children are under eight, or if this is your first trip anywhere in Asia.
| Days | Where |
|---|---|
| 1–5 | Beijing |
| 6 | Train to Shanghai |
| 7–10 | Shanghai |
One intercity move in ten days. Two hotel check-ins. This is the single biggest thing you can do for a family trip and it is worth more than any individual attraction.
Beijing, days 1–5
Day 1. Nothing. Park, playground, hotel pool, early dinner.
Day 2: Forbidden City, half of it. Enter at the south gate, walk the central axis, exit north, and skip the side courtyards. Then Jingshan Park across the road for the view — a fifteen-minute climb that children generally like because it has a summit.
Book seven days ahead at around 20:00 Beijing time. Admission is ¥60 in peak season (1 April – 31 October) and ¥40 off-peak. Closed Mondays outside statutory holidays. Book each child individually.
Go at opening. By 11:00 in summer the courtyards are hot, treeless and full.
Day 3: Great Wall. Mutianyu is the right section for a family — restored walkway, cable car up, and a toboggan run down, which for most children between six and twelve is the highlight of the entire trip. Book a return car.
Badaling is closer and much more crowded. Jinshanling is a real hike and not a family day.
Day 4: Temple of Heaven and the hutongs. The park around the Temple of Heaven has open space and people doing things — dancing, singing, exercising, playing with feather shuttlecocks. Children do better here than in another palace. Afternoon: a rickshaw through the hutongs around the Drum Tower, and Houhai lake.
Day 5: Beijing Zoo or the Science and Technology Museum, plus a slow morning. The zoo has pandas and is central. The science museum is large, hands-on, and a good rainy-day option.
If you would rather, the Summer Palace works with older children — there are boats on the lake, which changes the calculation.
Beijing to Shanghai, day 6
Beijing South to Shanghai Hongqiao, about 4.5 hours on the fastest services. Take the train, not the plane. Children can walk around, there are toilets, there is a snack trolley, and there is no security queue with a pushchair.
Tickets release about 15 days ahead on 12306. Real-name, each child individually.
Take a mid-morning departure and arrive with the afternoon intact.
Shanghai, days 7–10
Day 7: settle in. The Bund after dark, and the ferry across the Huangpu rather than the tunnel — it costs a couple of yuan and children prefer boats.
Day 8: Shanghai Disneyland. A full day, and it is a genuinely good park — see the full guide for ticket tiers and whether Premier Access is worth it. Book ahead; tickets are date-specific and real-name. Weekdays outside school holidays are meaningfully quieter. It is on Metro Line 11, about an hour from central Puxi.
If Disneyland does not appeal, the Shanghai Ocean Aquarium in Pudong or the Shanghai Natural History Museum are both strong half-days.
Day 9: something calm. The former French Concession for a walk under plane trees, Century Park for open space, or a day trip to Suzhou — 25 minutes by high-speed rail, with classical gardens that have ponds, rocks, bridges and hiding places, which suits children better than a palace does.
Day 10: depart. Confirm Pudong (PVG) versus Hongqiao (SHA) — about 50 km apart. Three hours before an international flight, and more with children.
Route B: adding pandas
For families with children over about six, and one more flight.
| Days | Where |
|---|---|
| 1–4 | Beijing |
| 5–7 | Chengdu |
| 8–10 | Shanghai |
Beijing compressed to four days: arrival, Forbidden City, Great Wall, Temple of Heaven and hutongs.
Chengdu, days 5–7. Fly from Beijing, about three hours. Chengdu has two airports — Tianfu (TFU) and Shuangliu (CTU) — check which one.
The Panda Base on the morning after arrival. Adult admission runs around ¥55–60, with advance online booking the normal route. Go at opening. Pandas are active early and asleep by 11:00, and a child who has flown across the world to see pandas asleep is a hard afternoon.
Two to three hours is enough. The rest of the day: People's Park, where you can sit in a bamboo chair with tea while children run about, and there are boats on the lake.
Day 7 is flexible: Dujiangyan with its panda facility and the irrigation works, or a slow day in the city. Skip Leshan — the queue for the stairway is long and exposed.
Eat carefully. Chengdu is the spice capital. Ask for a yuanyang split hotpot, and note that "mild" here is not mild.
Fly Chengdu to Shanghai, about two and a half hours, then three days as in Route A.
What to leave out
Xi'an. The Terracotta Army is three halls of statues behind a barrier, and children under about ten are usually done in twenty minutes. It is a great sight for adults and a poor one for kids, and it costs you a travel day either side.
Long rail legs. Anything over five hours is a bad trade with young children. Fly instead.
More than two moves. Every hotel change costs half a day in packing, transfers and re-settling.
Guilin, Zhangjiajie and Yunnan. All excellent, all involving longer transfers, thinner infrastructure and more walking than a first family trip should take on.
Practical kit
Medication. Bring what you normally use — children's paracetamol or ibuprofen, rehydration salts, antihistamine, plasters. Familiar brands are not available and pharmacy staff are unlikely to speak English. Check the customs guide for what you may bring in and in what quantity.
Tissues and hand sanitiser, always, in every bag.
A written card in Chinese with your hotel name and address, and your phone number, in each child's pocket. This is a five-minute preparation that solves the worst scenario on this list.
Snacks from home for the first two days, until everyone has adjusted.
Water. Tap water is not for drinking. Hotels provide kettles and bottled water; boiled water dispensers are standard at stations and on trains.
Insurance that explicitly covers your children and any activities you have planned. See the insurance guide.
Entry and registration
Each child needs their own passport and their own entry basis — a child does not inherit a parent's visa or visa-free entitlement. Some visa applications for minors require additional documents such as birth certificates or consent letters from a non-travelling parent; requirements vary by consulate and by family situation.
Check each family member individually through the entry checker, then confirm with the Chinese embassy or consulate responsible for where you live.
Accommodation registration applies to children as well as adults. Hotels handle it automatically; if you are staying in a private apartment, the registration obligation covers everyone in the party. See the registration guide.
Official sources
- China Railway 12306, English site and fare rules: https://www.12306.cn/en/
- Palace Museum ticketing: https://gugong.ktmtech.cn/
- Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding: https://www.panda.org.cn/
- National Immigration Administration: https://en.nia.gov.cn/
Child fare thresholds, admission discounts and visa document requirements for minors change. Confirm each for your family before booking.
Last reviewed: 30 July 2026.