I spent nearly 5 days in Guangzhou without knowing any Chinese, and honestly, it was both exciting and a bit overwhelming at times. The city is huge, fast-paced, and incredibly convenient—if you know how things work. I strolled along the Bund at night, and even witnessed the beauty of Guangzhou’s blooming flowers. However, I also ran into some unexpected challenges, like trying to buy water without mobile payment or figuring out where to catch the right metro.

Here are the apps that made my trip much easier: Alipay (支付宝) On my first day, I walked around for hours before realizing that almost everywhere—street vendors, metro stations, even small cafes—only accepted mobile payments, making it impossible for me to even buy a bottle of water. Eventually, I had to ask a stranger to help me pay, which was quite embarrassing. Later on, I figured out how to link my Visa card to Alipay, and after that, everything became much smoother.

Metro Guangzhou Guangzhou’s metro system is super efficient, but buying tickets can be tricky if you don’t understand Chinese. This app turned my phone into a metro card—just scan the QR code at the gate and go. The best part? It works offline once set up, which saved me when I lost my internet connection underground.

LaiTrip One evening, I was excited to try kung pao chicken, but before ordering, I scanned the menu with this app. It immediately flagged "peanut oil"—which I’m severely allergic to. When I tried explaining my allergy to the waiter, he didn’t understand, but once I showed him the app’s red warning, he nodded and had the dish remade.

AMAP Google Maps worked fine for basic navigation, but inside shopping malls, it was useless. AMAP has detailed 3D indoor maps, which helped me find restrooms in Raffles City’s maze-like basement. It also shows which bus doors are best for quick transfers—super helpful when I was rushing to catch my next stop.

Redbook (小红书) I found some cool spots here, like a hidden book café and some delicious-looking food! But a heads-up: posts marked as "sponsored" are basically ads, and some travel packages aren’t as great as they seem. I filtered by "latest reviews" and avoided accounts that looked too polished.

Tips: Screenshot your hotel address in Chinese—sometimes taxi drivers don’t read English, and I learned that the hard way.