China 240-Hour Transit Ports: 65 Ports & Best Routes (2026)

China’s 240-hour transit scheme gives you 10 days in mainland China without a visa — and you have 65 ports to choose from.

This guide is the practical port-level companion to our main 240-hour transit guide. It covers which airports, land crossings and sea ports you can use, which regions allow free movement, and the route combinations travelers use most.

The scheme in one line

Citizens of 55 countries can stay in mainland China for up to 240 hours (10 days) without a visa, provided they hold a booked onward ticket to a third country or region within that window. The scheme covers 65 ports across 24 provincial-level regions, and you can enter at one port and exit at another. That last part — the open-jaw flexibility — is what makes the port list worth studying, because your entry and exit ports define the region you’re allowed to move in.

The airports

Every major international gateway is covered, and many secondary cities too:

• Beijing: Capital International (PEK) and Daxing (PKX).
• Shanghai: Pudong (PVG) and Hongqiao (SHA).
• Guangdong: Guangzhou Baiyun (CAN), Shenzhen Bao’an (SZX).
• Elsewhere: Chengdu (both airports), Xi’an, Kunming, Hangzhou, Nanjing, Chongqing, Wuhan, Xiamen, Qingdao, Dalian, Harbin, Zhengzhou, Changsha, Guilin, Haikou, Sanya, and many more.

If your intended entry city is an international airport in a covered region, it’s likely on the list — but always verify before booking. A useful rule of thumb: if a city runs regular international flights and sits inside one of the 24 covered regions, its airport is usually a transit port; the exceptions are rare enough that a quick check against the current NIA list is all you need.

Land and sea ports

The transit scheme isn’t airport-only. Notable non-air options include:

• Hong Kong–Zhuhai–Macau Bridge — you can cross into mainland China via this bridge in Guangdong.
• West Kowloon Station — on the Guangzhou–Shenzhen–Hong Kong express rail link, a quick way to move between Hong Kong and mainland cities.
• Passenger sea ports — including Tianjin Port, Shanghai Port, Xiamen Port, Dalian Port, and others, useful for cruise or ferry itineraries.
• Mohan Railway Port in Yunnan, and several river/land ports.

These make mixed-mode trips — fly in, take a ferry or train out — genuinely practical. Land and sea ports matter most for three kinds of traveler: cruise passengers who want to step off the ship and enter without a visa, travelers coming overland from Hong Kong or Macao, and anyone doing a loop that starts or ends with a ferry. In every case the onward-ticket rule still applies, and the exit must still be to a third country or region.

How the 24 regions actually work — a worked example

The port list is the mechanism; the regions are the geography. Each port belongs to a provincial-level region, and that region is the area you’re allowed to move within. Here’s how a typical open-jaw trip plays out.

Example: Beijing in, Shanghai out. You fly into Beijing Capital (PEK) with a booked ticket from Shanghai Pudong (PVG) to Tokyo, dated nine days later. At the Beijing border you show your passport, your onward ticket, and your plan. You’re admitted to the Beijing region, which under most current arrangements covers the wider Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei area. From Beijing you take the high-speed rail south — the Beijing–Shanghai corridor is roughly four to five hours — to continue your trip in Shanghai, which is its own covered region. You fly out of PVG on day nine, well inside the 240-hour window.

Two things make this example work: both ends are covered ports, and your movement stays inside regions attached to those ports. What you cannot do is arrive in Beijing and then expect to tour Xi’an and Chengdu on the same transit stay if those regions aren’t part of your route’s permitted area. Think of the region as your sandbox: pick an entry and exit whose sandboxes touch the places you actually want to see.

Ports by region: a quick reference

Grouping the ports by broad geographic area makes it easier to plan a route that actually connects:

• North China: Beijing (PEK, PKX) and Tianjin anchor the north, with Dalian and Qingdao as the main coastal gateways on the Shandong and Liaoning side.
• East China: Shanghai (PVG, SHA) is the hub, backed by Hangzhou, Nanjing, and Yangtze Delta sea ports such as Shanghai Port.
• South China: Guangzhou (CAN) and Shenzhen (SZX) lead, with the Hong Kong–Zhuhai–Macau Bridge and West Kowloon Station giving the Pearl River Delta strong land and rail options. Xiamen sits on the coast facing Taiwan.
• Central China: Wuhan, Changsha, and Zhengzhou serve the middle of the country and make good mid-route anchors on east–west journeys.
• Southwest China: Chengdu, Chongqing, and Kunming cover the southwest, with Xi’an as the classic pairing partner for a Sichuan route.
• Islands and far south: Haikou and Sanya in Hainan, plus Guilin in Guangxi, add tropical and scenery options.

This isn’t a complete list — it’s a planning aid. When two cities you care about sit in the same broad area, there’s usually a direct high-speed rail or short flight between them, which keeps your transit stay simple.

City-limited regions: the fine print

Most of the 24 covered regions let you move freely within the whole province. Six restrict you to specific cities or areas, and the difference matters because wandering outside the permitted zone breaks the terms of your transit entry:

• Heilongjiang: Harbin only.
• Shanxi: Taiyuan and Datong.
• Jiangxi: Nanchang and Jingdezhen.
• Guangxi: a group of designated cities including Nanning, Guilin and Beihai.
• Sichuan: designated cities including Chengdu, Leshan and Yibin.
• Yunnan: designated cities and prefectures including Kunming, Dali and Xishuangbanna.

Treat the city lists as the boundary of your sandbox. In Sichuan, for example, the famous sites near Chengdu and Leshan are reachable, but you should not plan a detour to a part of the province outside the designated cities. If your dream itinerary needs a region that isn’t on the scheme at all — Tibet, Qinghai and Gansu are common examples — you’ll need a regular visa instead of the transit arrangement.

How to choose entry and exit ports

Work backwards from your onward ticket, because that’s the one non-negotiable piece of the puzzle:

1. Pick your exit first. Find the city with a convenient, reasonably priced flight to your next country, and confirm it’s a port.
2. Then pick your entry. Choose a port with a good connection from where you’re flying in, and make sure it sits in a region you actually want to explore.
3. Check the corridor between them. Prefer entry and exit ports linked by high-speed rail or a short flight, so you don’t burn your 10 days in transit.
4. Mind the region map. If either end is a city-limited region, confirm your planned stops sit inside the permitted cities.
5. Verify the port list. Port lists are updated from time to time, so re-check the NIA page just before you book and again before you fly.

Step-by-step at the border with a land port

Entering by land or sea follows the same rules as an airport but adds a few practical wrinkles:

• Have your onward ticket printed or on screen. Land borders in particular often ask to see a confirmed booking, not just a plan.
• Know which side you’re on. At crossings like the Hong Kong–Zhuhai–Macau Bridge, you clear both jurisdictions in sequence; keep your passport and documents accessible the whole way.
• Allow extra time. Coach or bridge crossings can be slower than an airport at peak times, and the immigration step is only one part of the journey.
• Don’t assume every crossing is a transit port. Only the crossings on the official list qualify for the 240-hour scheme; a random border checkpoint isn’t enough.
• Same rules on exit. Leaving via a land port to Hong Kong or Macao counts as an onward destination, but you still need your paperwork in order.

Popular route combinations

• Beijing in → Shanghai out. The classic. Arrive at PEK or PKX, spend time in Beijing, take the high-speed rail to Shanghai, and fly out from PVG to your next destination.
• Shanghai in → Beijing out. The reverse, just as easy.
• Hong Kong → Guangzhou/Shenzhen → out. Cross via West Kowloon HSR or the HK–Zhuhai–Macau Bridge, explore the Pearl River Delta, and leave from CAN or SZX.
• Chengdu in → Xi’an out. Pair two of China’s most historic cities; both regions are fully open to you.
• Kunming in → Chengdu out. A southwest circuit, with Yunnan’s city-limited areas kept in mind.

The rules that still apply

1. Third country only. Your onward destination must be a different country or region from where you arrived — a route like Hong Kong → Shanghai → Hong Kong does not qualify.
2. Keep a buffer on the 240 hours. Ports count the window slightly differently; treat it as 10 days and don’t cut it fine.
3. Have your onward ticket ready. You’ll be asked to show it at check-in and at the border. Booked and paid is safer than a hold.
4. Know your region. If your itinerary touches a city-limited region, stay inside the permitted areas.
5. Don’t confuse it with the 30-day visa-free entry. If your country is on the 50-country list, that’s the more generous option — see the comparison.

Before you book

1. Confirm your nationality is on the 55-country list.
2. Choose entry and exit ports that both cover the cities you want.
3. Book your onward ticket to a third country within 240 hours.
4. Check this page and the official sources again just before you fly — port lists are updated over time.

Where to verify

• National Immigration Administration (NIA) — en.nia.gov.cn
• The official 240-hour transit policy page — current port list and conditions
• Chinese embassy or consulate in your country — notices for your nationality

Last updated: August 2026. Entry rules change — always confirm with official sources before you travel.