Is China worth visiting?

It depends on your interest

Absolutely - for history, culture, landscapes, food - all sorts of reasons. But we need a bit more guidance on your interests, the amount of time you have etc- it's a huge and very diverse country.

My husband traveled to China a couple of times per year for over 25 years. He said to tell you, yes.

Absolutely yes! We actually just got back from a week in Beijing and Xi'an, and it was one of the best trips I've ever taken. It does require quite a bit of planning in terms of setting up the apps, e-SIMs, etc ahead of time but once you've done that it all works quite smoothly. Depending on what country you're from, you may not even need a visa- there is a pilot scheme right now where EU citizens don't need visas thru the end of this year. We will see if they extend it- both timewise and to other countries.

If you want to start looking at hotels, trains, tours, etc, I recommend trip.com which is the most commonly used website to book these things in China (both for Chinese people and foreigners). The subreddit r/chinatravel also has a lot of great advice and was helpful in planning our trip.

Thanks for all the suggestions above! I'm also curious to know, for those of you who have traveled to China, did you join guided tours or travel independently? Thank you!

We travelled independently but booked a group tour for the Forbidden City. We also used a tour/shuttle service for both the Great Wall and Terracotta Warriors, where they take you back and forth and provide information on the way but leave you on your own once you're there.

I have traveled independently, mainly to Beijing and Shanghai, which are pretty easy to get around. I'm not really a tour person...

We did a wonderful China tour in 2012 for over three weeks, it was fantastic.
We loved the Bejing, the Great Wall, the Terracotta Warriors, Shanghi, a Yangzee River cruise, Hong Kong and other places as well.

Comparing China to Japan, we love Japan and it friendly people. Also, it is a very clean country, never see any trash on the street, etc.
China is different, because of its massive population, much of it crowded into huge cities, the cities are extremely crowded. There is no culture to queue up in a line, people cut in front of you and it can be very irritating. Also, when on a tour and you arrive at a location, we learned it is best to immediately take you photos, because the Chinese will eventually crowd up in front of the site and take endless photos, making it hard to get good photos.

Still, individually, the Chinese are friendly.

We went last May with Gate 1. It was fabulous and we appreciated not having to do a lot of planning.

All my visits were on my own--single female.

After 20+ trips to Europe, my wife requested that we try something new (in addition to regular trips to Europe) to mix into our travel rotation. Our first trip to China was to Beijing. We have since returned to Shanghai, Seoul and Tokyo and have another trip planned to Hong Kong and Taipei. As you can see, we have focused on the big cities but have found it to be an amazingly refreshing change of pace to our Europe travels. Just like the big cities in Europe like Paris look different at night, seeing the neon districts at night in these large Asian towns is amazing, especially in Tokyo. The history there is also very fascinating and we have enjoyed our decision to try something new. We still visit Europe and have upcoming trips planned but have expanded our travel horizons and don't regret it.

I haven’t been to China (yet!) but I highly recommend Taiwan. It’s culturally Chinese but obviously the history of the 2 nations diverged wildly in the 20thC and Taiwan is a modern democracy. It’s a fascinating place to visit with super friendly people and English is spoken fairly widely.

We toured China and Tibet just over three weeks. It was a wonderful trip back in the 80s. There were no cars on the roads to speak of. Maybe saw one or two in an hour. There were busses in the cities and most people rode bikes or walked. Terracotta warriors and tombs, the summer palace, the Great Wall, and so many other places were amazing. Tibet was an experience!
My return in 94 found motor scooters everywhere. It was a traffic nightmare.

I hope so, as I am planning 6 weeks independent travel for winter 2027.
But if you have to ask, then you need to do a bit more personal research and come to grips with your travel style, interests, and comfort zone for both less English and many many more people. Depending on your demographic, watch some YouTubers. If retired or close to it, Retirement Travelers were in China this Spring and have great current info on cashless payments, getting around d and the new high speed trains....as well as some places beyond the popular tourist cities. Flora and Note are about 40 and we're in China in March 2024. It's a bit more off the beaten track. And she does speak Mandarin, but it still gives you a feel for things. I did note prices of some of their lodgings have almost doubled for March 2026, so keep that in mind when considering budget.

Also, we have visited Taiwan and loved it.
The people there are great and the museum in Taipei is fantastic.