AI Audio Tour Guide for China

Every Place in China
Has a Story.

ChinaWalk is CityYoYo's sister app, built for travelers exploring China. Tap any place — a landmark, a hutong, a teahouse — and hear an AI-narrated story in your language. No VPN. No curated shortlist. No guidebook required.

🔓 Works in China without a VPN

Free · iOS & Android · English, 中文, 한국어, Español, Português, Français

ChinaWalk Explore Mode near the Forbidden City in Beijing, with place names translated from Chinese to English

Built for China

The barriers that actually stop a China trip

Not the ones "best apps for China" lists talk about — the ones that stop you mid-street.

🔓

No VPN Needed

Tested on the ground in China, on local carriers and wifi. Nothing to set up before you land.

🌐

Every Sign, Translated

Tap a place and the story is spoken in your language automatically. Place names on the map are translated too.

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Any Place, Not Just Landmarks

A hutong, a teahouse, an alley with no English signage — tap it, and it's narrated the same as the Forbidden City.

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Offline Maps

Download a city before you go. Maps load instantly with no signal, even in the backstreets.

Two ways to explore

Tap a place, or just walk

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Explore Mode

Tap any spot on the map — a landmark, a hutong, a teahouse — and instantly hear an AI-generated narration, translated into your language.

1 Pick a city — Beijing, Shanghai, Xi'an, or search any city in China
2 Tap any landmark, neighborhood, teahouse, or point of interest
3 Hear an accurate, engaging narration, translated automatically

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Tour Mode

Put your headphones on, pocket your phone, and walk. Tour Mode automatically finds and narrates interesting places as you pass them — no tapping, no screen time.

AirPods & headphone gestures — tap once for the next place, twice to pause, three times to skip
Personalized by your interests — history, food, architecture, and more
Background playback with lock-screen controls
Live captions follow along with every narration

Popular Chinese cities

Pre-loaded, and everywhere else too

Pick a popular destination or search any city in China — coverage isn't limited to a curated list.

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Beijing

The Forbidden City, hutongs, and the neighborhood teahouses guidebooks skip.

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Shanghai

The Bund, Lujiazui, and the alleys behind them.

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Xi'an

Ancient city walls and the Terracotta Army, narrated in your language.

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Chengdu

Teahouses, pandas, and backstreet food stalls.

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Guilin

Karst mountains and river towns, plus everything in between.

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Zhangjiajie

The sandstone pillars behind Avatar's floating mountains, narrated on the trail.

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Chongqing

Cliffside skylines, hotpot alleys, and a city built on stairs.

🇨🇳

Any city in China

Search and download the map for wherever your trip actually takes you.

See the full list of cities in ChinaWalk & CityYoYo →

The full toolkit

What you actually need for a China trip

A China trip usually takes more than one app — each solving a different problem. Here's the honest breakdown.

PaymentsAlipay or WeChat Pay

NavigationAmap (Gaode Maps) — Google Maps has thin coverage in China

Booking transport & hotelsTrip.com or DiDi

Text / camera translationPleco or Youdao

Understanding what you're standing in front ofChinaWalk

None of the other four tell you the story of the alley you just wandered into. That's the gap ChinaWalk fills.

FAQ

Common questions

Do I need a VPN to use a China travel app?

No. ChinaWalk is built to work in China without a VPN. It's been tested directly on the ground, on local carriers and wifi, without one. If you run into a network issue while traveling, the team wants to know — but a VPN is not a requirement to use the app.

How do I know what I'm looking at in China if I can't read Chinese?

ChinaWalk auto-translates on the spot. Tap a place and it generates a narration, then translates and speaks it in whichever language you've set for narration — English, Korean, Spanish, Portuguese, or French — so you don't need to read Chinese or run a separate translation app to understand what you're standing in front of.

Does a China travel app only cover famous landmarks?

Not with ChinaWalk. Nothing is pre-curated or pre-selected. Tap any place on the map — a hutong, a neighborhood teahouse, a random alley — and it generates a narration for that specific spot, the same as it would for a well-known landmark.

Can I even read the map when traveling in China?

Chinese maps commonly show place names only in Chinese characters, which is a real barrier before you even get to narration. ChinaWalk translates place names on the map and in place lists too, not just the narration content, so the label problem and the depth problem are both handled.

What is the best China travel app?

It depends what you need. For mobile payments, Alipay or WeChat Pay. For navigation, Amap (Gaode Maps), since Google Maps has thin coverage in China. For booking transport and hotels, Trip.com or DiDi. For on-the-spot text or camera translation, Pleco or Youdao. For understanding what you're looking at when you stop somewhere — landmark or not — ChinaWalk.

More on this in Do You Need a VPN for a China Travel App? And Other Real Questions.

Every Place in China
Has a Story.