China is generally a very budget-friendly destination for tourists, often considered one of the best-value destinations in the world, especially compared to Japan or Western countries. While top-tier cities like Shanghai are pricier, visitors can travel for $50–$100 per day by eating local food, using public transport, and staying in reasonably priced hotels.
In China, your travel budget can vary quite a bit depending on which region you're in. For our part, we wanted to stay under 25 euros per day per person. Honestly, in some regions, keeping an eye on expenses and prices was super easy, while in the big cities, it was sometimes harder.
It really depends on what you're going to do with that $100. If you're living a western style of life with food, $100 US in the cities would be like $120 US maybe? It'll stretch out a little. But if you're eating like the locals, buying groceries and the like, this can be a small fortune.
As China remains a cash-based society, it is worth exchanging a reasonable amount as you will need cash for many day to day transactions. If you are travelling to the more remote parts of China we also recommend taking a few US Dollars in cash as a back-up.
China isn't a poor country. Using World Bank's income brackets, it's in between high income and upper middle income. China is however developed unevenly, which isn't too surprising given its massive land mass and population.
Though China is open to foreign visitors, be aware of political and cultural sensitivities. Avoid any demonstrations or large gatherings. The Chinese authorities enforce public order strictly, and you may face arrest, detention and deportation.
You could explore remote areas like Tibet (5–8 days), Yunnan (6–9 days), and the Silk Road (5–10 days). If you have limited time, you could go with an essential itinerary of 7 to 9 days. You would just visit the "golden triangle cities" - Beijing, Xi'an, and Shanghai.
You can buy four carrots or four onions, 10 green chilies, 1. 2 kilograms bananas, two kilograms oranges, This is a specialty snack store. And $1 can buy two Oreos, or four cans of Coke, two Snickers, a chocolate bar, and what a $1 lunch looks like.
A cup of coffee can be anything from 7 yuan (instant or fast-food outlet) to 40 yuan (coffee shop). So the average cost for a breakfast in China is 3–20 yuan. But some restaurants may cost more for better service and environment, and the price in prosperous cities like Beijing and Shanghai will be a bit higher.
Nonethless, the staple Big Mac sandwich will set you back $3.47 in China (as of 2024, per an infographic distributed by The Economist), versus $5.89 in the United States.
In the local market, you can pick up 2 or 3 T-shirts, and some of the souvenirs such as local specialties and decorations all for less than 100 yuan. A quick meal is about 20 yuan, and you can use 100 yuan to buy 5 quick meals, or 12 cans of beer, or have a hot pot meal.
Food and Dining: Affordable Meals, but Not Always Cheaper Groceries. In China, an inexpensive restaurant meal costs just $2.84, versus $20 in the U.S., while a McDonald's combo meal is less than half the price.
Food stuff. In China, homemade noodles or wraps (the pasta that holds the traditional dumpling called zhouzi) are so inexpensive and incredibly yummy! ...
Textiles. Clothing and linens are equally inexpensive. ...
Kitchen supplies. I love to cook, including learning to cook Chinese food.
Rice and noodles are a very important part in the Chinese diet. Rice and noodles are equivalent to potato and pasta in the western diet. Handfuls of bite-sized meat and vegetables accompany the rice and noodles. Almost every meal uses rice.
