Road Trips in China

National Road 318 runs from Shanghai to the Nepal border, and its western stretch from Chengdu is the most famous drive in China. The first day climbs out of the Sichuan basin to Kangding, a Tibetan trading town in a deep valley, then crosses Zheduo Pass at over 4,000 m onto the grasslands. A short detour leads to Tagong, a monastery village under the snow peaks, and the road continues past Xinduqiao to Litang, one of the highest towns in the world at about 4,000 m.

From Litang a road runs south to Daocheng and the Yading reserve, with three sacred peaks and glacial lakes, a popular three or four day add-on. Danba, north of Kangding, has stone Tibetan watchtowers and villages on the slopes. Further west the G318 enters Tibet, where foreigners need a Tibet Travel Permit and must travel on an agency tour with a guide and a driver, so independent travellers usually turn back at the Sichuan border or switch to a tour.

Altitude is the main hazard. Spend a night in Kangding (about 2,500 m) before going higher, carry warm clothes in any season, and expect landslides and roadworks in the July and August rains. The best months are May, June, September and October.

Yunnan is the most practical road trip for a first visit. Expressways link Kunming with Dali in about four to five hours and Dali with Lijiang in about two, so the driving is easy and the stops are the point: the lake road around Erhai Lake, the old market town of Shaxi, and the Old Town of Lijiang.

Xining is the start of the route Chinese drivers call the Great Northwest Loop, roughly 2,500 to 3,000 km through Qinghai and Gansu. The first day reaches Qinghai Lake, China’s largest lake, at about 3,200 m; a road circles the whole shore, and the rapeseed fields on the north side flower yellow in July. The loop continues west to the Chaka Salt Lake and across the Qaidam desert, then north to Dunhuang for the Mogao Caves and the dunes at Crescent Lake.

The Duku Highway (G217) runs 561 km from Dushanzi, near Ürümqi, south across the Tian Shan to Kucha on the edge of the Taklamakan. It passes snow tunnels, glaciers, the grasslands of Nalati and the Bayanbulak wetlands, and is open only in summer, roughly June to early October, with some stretches closed at night. Traffic is heavy in July and August. In the north, Sayram Lake sits beside the G30 expressway towards Yining, and the road to Kanas Lake in the Altai is the other classic.

From Kashgar, the Karakoram Highway climbs past Karakul Lake below Muztagh Ata to Tashkurgan and the Khunjerab Pass on the Pakistan border, at about 4,700 m. Xinjiang has frequent police checkpoints where you show your passport, foreigners are sometimes directed to particular hotels, and self-drive rental is rare, so most visitors hire a car and driver in Kashgar or Ürümqi.

The round-island tourist highway on Hainan opened in December 2023: 988 km of coastal road around the island, linking beaches, fishing harbours and new viewpoint stops. It is the easiest self-drive in China, with warm weather from November to April, rental desks at Haikou and Sanya airports, and short daily distances. Typhoons hit from about July to October.

In the east, the karst country between Guilin and Yangshuo and the rice terraces at Longsheng make a good two or three day loop with a driver, and Wuyuan in Jiangxi is a classic spring drive among yellow rapeseed and white-walled villages.

Hulunbuir, in the far northeast of Inner Mongolia, is China’s grassland road trip: wide open steppe, winding rivers, birch forest and the Russian border town of Manzhouli. Fly into Hailar, drive west past Hulun Lake to Manzhouli, then north along the Russian border towards the forests of the Greater Khingan. The season is short, from about late June to early September; outside it the region is very cold.

To drive a rental car you need a temporary Chinese driving permit. In Shanghai, for example, police counters at Pudong and Hongqiao airports issue a three-month permit to visitors with a passport, their home licence and a certified Chinese translation, after a short session on traffic law. Requirements vary by city, so check with the rental company first. The permit only covers rental cars of the small passenger class.

Rental firms such as eHi and CAR Inc have desks at major airports and work through apps and Alipay mini programs. Expect to pay a deposit of about 5,000 to 8,000 yuan (about $700 to $1,100), often as a pre-authorisation on a card. Speed camera fines are charged back to you through the rental company.

The alternative is a car with driver, booked through a hotel, a local agency or Trip.com. It removes the permit problem, the driver knows the checkpoints, and you can sit back on mountain roads. Agree in writing what is included: fuel, tolls, parking, and the driver’s meals and room on multi-day trips.

China drives on the right. Expressways are excellent, with tolls paid at the exit by card or app, and toll-free for small cars during the main public holidays such as Spring Festival and the National Day Golden Week. Those are also the worst weeks to drive, with traffic jams that last for hours, so avoid early October and the Lunar New Year. Speed cameras are everywhere, and limits are strictly enforced.

Use Amap (Gaode) for navigation; it has an English mode and current Chinese road data, which Google Maps does not. Mountain roads in the west bring rockfall, livestock, slow trucks and sudden weather. Fill up whenever you can on the plateau, carry water and snacks, and do not drive mountain roads after dark. Our getting around China guide covers trains and flights for the long hops between regions, and the best time to visit China page has the weather by season.