China City Tier List (2026): The Best Cities for Your First Trip, Ranked
The short version
- Start in Chongqing. It's our number one for first-timers: unforgettable, cheap, and the hotpot is a rite of passage.
- Chengdu is S tier too: pandas, teahouses, mahjong and the most relaxed big city in China.
- Beijing is C tier for a first trip. Essential history, but huge, tiring and booking-heavy. Go, just not as your only stop.
- Harbin gets its own tier: S tier in winter (ice festival), C tier in summer.
How we scored the cities
This ranking is for first-time visitors, not for people who live there. Every city got four scores out of 10:
- Food: can you eat well without trying hard?
- Wow factor: will your jaw hit the floor?
- Easy mode: can a foreigner get around without crying in a metro station?
- Vibe: do you feel something here?
It's an opinion piece with jokes. Your favourite city being in C tier is not a personal attack. (It's a little bit of one.)
The final ranking
| Tier | City | Food · Wow · Easy · Vibe |
|---|---|---|
| S | Chongqing (#1) | 10 · 10 · 6 · 10 |
| S | Chengdu | 10 · 8 · 8 · 9 |
| A | Shanghai | 8 · 9 · 10 · 7 |
| A | Xi'an | 9 · 10 · 6 · 8 |
| A | Dali | — |
| B | Hangzhou | 8 · 8 · 8 · 8 |
| B | Guilin | 7 · 10 · 6 · 7 |
| B | Changsha | 9 · 6 · 7 · 9 |
| B | Xiamen | 8 · 7 · 8 · 8 |
| C | Beijing | 8 · 10 · 5 · 5 |
| C | Guangzhou | — |
| C | Qingdao | — |
| D | Shenzhen | 6 · 5 · 8 · 3 |
| D | Tianjin | — |
| E | Yiwu | 5 · 3 · 4 · 2 |
| Ice | Harbin | Depends what month it is |
S tier: where to start
Chongqing 重庆: our #1
A city designed like a video game level: you enter a building on the ground floor, ride up 22 floors and walk out… on the ground floor. A monorail runs straight through an apartment block at Liziba station, and at night Hongyadong 洪崖洞 glows like a scene from Spirited Away. The hotpot is so spicy your ancestors feel it. Easy mode is its only weak score: the hills and multi-level streets confuse even map apps, so give yourself extra time.
Chengdu 成都
Pandas in the morning, tea in the afternoon, mahjong all night. Chengdu has been a UNESCO City of Gastronomy since 2010, it's affordable, the people are warm and it's easy to get around. If Chongqing is a spicy energy drink, Chengdu is a spicy nap.
A tier: almost made it
Shanghai is China on easy mode: English signs, a great metro, and more Starbucks than any city on the planet. It misses S tier on price alone. Xi'an has the Terracotta Army (about 8,000 soldiers guarding one emperor for over 2,000 years), a city wall you can cycle on, and roujiamo 肉夹馍 on Huimin Jie 回民街. Dali, in Yunnan, is a lake, mountains and an old town where people go to burn out beautifully.
B tier: worth the trip
Hangzhou (West Lake and the Legend of the White Snake), Guilin (the view on the back of the 20-yuan note, then Yangshuo), Changsha (rush hour at 2 a.m. and stinky tofu you'll order twice) and Xiamen (car-free Gulangyu, "Piano Island").
C, D and E tier
Beijing scores a 10 for wow and the Great Wall is unmissable, but getting to the wall is a 1–2 hour side quest and the city is so big that crossing it counts as cardio. Guangzhou has the best dim sum on the planet; Qingdao sells beer in plastic bags. Shenzhen and Tianjin are great to live in and less exciting to visit, and Yiwu is amazing if you're a business buyer and terrible if you're on vacation.
The city that broke the tier list: Harbin
In winter, Harbin builds an entire city out of ice and becomes S tier, at minus 20 to minus 30 °C. In summer it's a nice, pleasant, C-tier city. So it gets its own tier: depends what month it is.
The tips from the video
- Paying: set up Alipay and WeChat Pay before you fly. How to pay in China, step by step.
- Internet: sort your eSIM or VPN before you land. Internet in China: eSIM vs VPN.
- Getting between cities: high-speed trains are the best way, and foreigners can book them. How to book China train tickets as a foreigner.
- Food at 2 a.m.: you'll need the delivery apps. How to order food delivery without speaking Chinese.
- Taxis: Didi without a Chinese phone number.
- Forbidden City: tickets are real-name and sell out; book online several days ahead with your passport, especially on holidays.
- Yiwu on business: bring a translation app with offline mode. Wi-Fi inside the market is basically a myth.
Heading to Chongqing? Learn to order the hotpot.
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