China Travel Budget Calculator

The room is the anchor line: $75 nightly in Beijing, halved to $37.50 per person when shared, accumulating to $525 over a seven-night stay for two. Food follows at $36 per person per day in China — three restaurant meals at $12 each — dropping toward $18 when breakfast comes from a market or the hotel spread.

With no tipping custom to budget, China costs concentrate in entry fees: the model's $20 daily allowance buys local transit plus one museum, cathedral or tour ticket.

The style ladder in China spans $56.10 (hostel dorm, market food, walking days) through $93.50 (3-star room shared, casual restaurants, paid sights) to $187+ (5-star, fine dining, private guides) per person per day. Expect China's smaller cities to undercut Beijing by a quarter to two-fifths, pulling a regional mid-range day down toward $65.45. Entry needs planning: China's $140 visa must be arranged at an embassy before departure, and processing time — not money — is the constraint.

Treat the China visa as its own mini-project: $140 plus documentation and courier time. Every café and taxi in China bills in CNY, not dollars: the calculator itself stays in USD, and the CNY column in the style table below converts its headline figures at the indicative rate so you can sanity-check a folio. An index of 55 puts China in genuine value territory: the $93.50 mid-range day buys a comfort level that would cost multiples back home, and the $56.10 budget tier borders on austere.

Swapping the hotel for a serviced apartment saves a quarter to two-fifths on lodging in Beijing, more by the week. The midday set menu is China's quiet bargain: identical kitchens, about $8.40 against $12 at night. English sits at 2/5 in China, so the cheapest guesthouses — the $41.25-a-night ones — are the ones a phrasebook gets you into.

Pack a A/C/I adapter for China's 220V grid, and remember traffic drives on the right — it changes the fuel-and-toll math on any road legs you budget. China's temperate profile means the seasonal price swing — not closures — is the main reason to mind April to June when you book. With right-side driving and rental desks in Beijing from about $30 a day, a two-day loop out of the city is an easy add-on to any China budget.