Most guides to entering China assume you land at an airport. In 2026 the land borders became a mainstream route. Yunnan's Hekou crossing on the Vietnamese border passed 4 million passenger movements by mid-August. Inner Mongolia's Erenhot crossing passed 2.5 million by late October — a record. Heilongjiang's ports handled 2.9 million people in nine and a half months, with Russian arrivals up 84 percent.
Three changes explain it: Russia and Kazakhstan now have full mutual visa exemption with China, the China–Laos Railway turned a slow bus route into a four-hour rail hop, and the Nanning–Hanoi sleeper came back in 2025. But the visa rules at land ports are genuinely different from the rules at airports, and getting that wrong is how people end up turned around at a border gate at 11pm.
China runs two transit-without-visa schemes, and they behave very differently at a road or rail border.
Under the National Immigration Administration's current interpretation (updated August 20, 2026), nationals of 57 countries — the US, UK, Canada, Australia, Japan, South Korea, Russia and, since August 2026, Vietnam and Kyrgyzstan among them — can enter visa-free for up to 10 days when transiting to a third country, arriving through one of 65 designated ports in 24 provinces.
What matters here: those 65 ports are overwhelmingly airports and cruise terminals, plus a handful of rail gateways (West Kowloon on the Guangzhou–Shenzhen–Hong Kong line was added in late 2025). The permitted stay area is tied to the province you enter. Do not assume a road crossing on a map is on that list — open the NIA table and find your exact port first.
China's 24-hour visa-free transit works at all open ports, for all nationalities, if you hold a valid passport and a confirmed onward ticket to a third country by air, sea or rail, and stay inside the port's restricted area. Leave that area and you need a temporary entry permit from the port's immigration authority first. Useful for a genuine same-day transit; not a substitute for a tourist visa if you want to sleep in a Chinese city.
| Route | Who it covers | Where | Stay | Main catch |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 240-hour transit | 57 nationalities | 65 designated ports, mostly air and sea | 10 days | Land ports largely excluded |
| 24-hour transit | All nationalities | All open ports, road and rail included | 24 hours | Third-country onward ticket; port area only |
| Mutual exemption | Russian, Kazakh passports | All open ports | 30 days | Nationality-based, not itinerary-based |
| Unilateral scheme | 50 countries (48 expire Dec 31, 2026) | All open ports | 30 days | Expiry — check before booking 2027 |
| Tourist visa (L) | Everyone else | All open ports | As issued | Apply weeks ahead |
Russian passports — 30 days, every port. The mutual exemption took effect on September 15, 2026: 30 days per entry, no more than 90 days in any 180, anywhere in China, no tour group, valid to December 31, 2027. This is why Manzhouli and Heihe numbers exploded this autumn.
Kazakh passports — 30 days, every port. In force since November 10, 2023: 30 days per entry, 90 in any 180, for private affairs, business, tourism, medical treatment, transport and transit. Work and study do not qualify.
The 50-country unilateral scheme. It is not restricted to airports — it applies at open ports, which is exactly why it matters overland. But 48 of those 50 arrangements expire on December 31, 2026 (Russia runs to end-2027, Brunei is open-ended). A February 2027 crossing cannot assume the exemption still exists; check the latest policy update before booking.
Vietnamese, Lao and Mongolian passports. No mutual exemption for ordinary passports exists with any of the three. Citizens of those countries need a Chinese visa to cross — the traffic is enormous, but the basis is a visa, not an exemption.
Everyone else. You need a visa. Use the standard L-visa route; the port visa channel exists but tourism is not a valid purpose. An L visa works at a land border exactly as at an airport, provided your passport has six months' validity and a blank page.
Hekou (河口) is the largest land port on the Yunnan section of the border and the only one served by both a motorway and a railway. It cleared over 4 million passenger movements by August 13, 2026 — up 5.24 percent — averaging nearly 17,800 a day, with a single-day peak above 23,000 and 20,440 cross-border tour groups counted.
From Kunming, rail is easy. On the November 2026 timetable C9517 runs 08:23–13:08 (4h45), C566 17:54–21:57 (4h03, second class from about ¥96) and the slower K9602 14:35–20:55 (6h20, hard seat from ¥54.5). Confirm on 12306 — and note Hekou North is a short taxi ride from the border, not a walk.
Long daily hours, a new inspection hall, bilingual staffing and a rail link on the Chinese side. If you have never crossed a Chinese land border, start here.
Dongxing (东兴) faces Mong Cai (芒街) across the Beilun River, joined by a bridge you walk over. It is the natural pairing with Ha Long Bay, and Guangxi now runs weekend clearance at Dongxing as a normal operating day rather than an exception. Vietnamese e-visa holders can use Mong Cai as an entry and exit point — check Vietnam's current accepted-border list, which is updated periodically.
Youyi Guan (友谊关, "Friendship Pass") is the main highway gateway between Guangxi and Lang Son, and the region's busiest freight crossing. For travellers the train is the better story: the Nanning–Hanoi international sleeper (T8701 / MR2) returned on May 25, 2025 after more than five years and carried 31,700 passengers from over 50 countries in its first year.
| Service | Departs | Arrives | Journey | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| T8701 Nanning → Hanoi | 18:05 | 06:30 next day | ~12 hours | All soft sleeper; formalities at Pingxiang overnight |
| MR2 Hanoi → Nanning | 22:20 | 10:06 next day | ~12 hours | Same stock, six carriages |
Tickets are sold at Nanning, Guilin, Chongzuo and Pingxiang stations against your passport, and soft-sleeper berths sell out in peak season. You will be woken twice for immigration, once on each side.
The rail border is at Mohan (磨憨) on the Chinese side and Boten (磨丁) on the Lao side, with immigration handled inside the station rather than at a separate gate.
| Train | Route | Times | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| D87 | Kunming South → Xishuangbanna | 08:08–11:24 | 3h16; second class ¥239 (¥178–240) |
| D85 | Xishuangbanna → Luang Prabang | 08:10–13:12 | Crosses at Mohan, continues to Vientiane |
| Through | Kunming South → Vientiane | 9h36 fastest | ¥542 second class / ¥864 first |
Four international trains now run daily with 420 cross-border seats, and immigration at Mohan rail port takes about 50 minutes — fast by land-border standards. The corridor passed 1 million cumulative cross-border passengers in October 2026, with foreign nationals over 151,000 and visa-free entries more than 55 percent of them; 2026 cross-border traffic is up 36.6 percent year on year. Coming from Laos instead, the Mohan highway port is the fallback when trains are full, and the only option for cyclists and motorbikes.
Under the NIA's 2025 No. 1 announcement, groups of two or more citizens of 10 ASEAN countries can enter Xishuangbanna visa-free — but only via Gasa Airport, Mohan Railway Port or Mohan Highway Port; only with a Chinese agency receiving the group; group in, group out; limited to Xishuangbanna Prefecture; maximum 6 days. Independent travellers cannot use it. See the Xishuangbanna guide for what the region is worth once you are in.
Since September 15, 2026 a Russian passport is enough to walk into China for 30 days, and the numbers followed immediately. Manzhouli logged 753,000 Russian crossings in the 12 months to September 14, 2026 (up 51.2 percent) with average clearance under 3 minutes. Heihe passed 1 million crossings by September 14. Suifenhe reached 596,000 by October 14, up 33.8 percent.
Province-wide, Heilongjiang's ports handled 2.908 million people from January 1 to October 14, 2026, of whom 535,000 were Russian — an 84 percent rise. Harbin airport alone processed 215,000 foreign passengers, 101,000 of them visa-free, up 113.9 percent.
Two operational notes. Heihe is a two-minute river crossing, but freezes into a seasonal problem: during the spring and autumn ice-floe periods ferries stop and hovercraft take over, cutting capacity and occasionally closing the port at short notice. And the Trans-Manchurian corridor — the weekly Beijing–Moscow train via Manzhouli — is a long-haul service, not a border shuttle; most travellers cross by bus and pick up a domestic train at Hailar. Our Russia–China visa-free guide covers payments (Mir cards do not work in China) and flights.
Khorgos (霍尔果斯) is the main China–Kazakhstan land gateway. In the first year of the mutual exemption it recorded 1.32 million passenger movements, up 123 percent — the baseline against which today's larger flows should be read.
Two things make it unusual. The Horgos International Border Cooperation Center is a fenced cross-border zone Chinese and Kazakh passport holders can enter without a visa — a duty-free shopping trip, not a way into the country; rules for other nationalities change, so ask first. And the rail link is freight-led, so passenger facilities are modest: most travellers reach the border by road from Yining and cross by bus. On the Kazakh side, Almaty is five to six hours by road.
Remember the limits: 30 days per entry and 90 in any 180. Overstay penalties in China are ¥500 per day up to ¥10,000, plus possible detention and an entry ban.
Erenhot (二连浩特) is China's largest land port with Mongolia, and 2026 is its biggest year yet: 1 million people cleared by May 14, and 2.5 million by October 22 — a record, driven largely by Mongolian shoppers and cross-border study groups.
The complication is legal, not logistical. There is no mutual exemption for ordinary passports between China and Mongolia, so Mongolian citizens need a Chinese visa, and travellers continuing north need a Mongolian visa. The railway is why people come: the K23 Beijing–Ulaanbaatar through train crosses at Erenhot, where the whole train is lifted to change gauge — a couple of hours on the platform in the middle of the night, and a rite of passage. From June 1, 2026 the service leaves Beijing on Saturdays; confirm the operating day when booking, as it has changed more than once. The Inner Mongolia guide covers the grassland routes south of the border.
| Item | What to know |
|---|---|
| Arrival card | Digital filing has been available since November 20, 2025; land ports have terminals, but pre-filling saves queue time — see the arrival card guide |
| Registration | Hotels register you automatically. Private stays must be registered within 24 hours — since September 21, 2026 online via the NIA portal, 12367 app or WeChat/Alipay mini-programs |
| Cash | Border towns run on mobile payment, but ATMs at small crossings can be empty or refuse foreign cards. Carry ¥500–1,000 from the last big city and set up Alipay or WeChat Pay beforehand |
| Data | Buy an eSIM before you travel; a local SIM from a border kiosk needs passport registration and may take hours to activate |
| Luggage | Same customs rules as an airport, but the ¥5,000 duty-free allowance for personal items left in China is applied more literally at road ports — see the customs guide |
| Border zones | Parts of Xinjiang, Tibet and Inner Mongolia are border management zones: foreigners need a separate permit (边境管理区通行证), free, from a county-level public security bureau, on top of a valid visa |
| Timing | Cross in the morning. Chinese immigration is efficient; the foreign side often is not, and a far-side queue can eat three hours |
| Route | How | Time | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hanoi → Kunming | Night train to Lao Cai, border at Hekou, C9517 onward | 2 days | First land crossing; Sapa add-on |
| Hanoi → Nanning | T8701/MR2 sleeper | 1 night | Rail lovers |
| Vientiane → Kunming | China–Laos Railway via Mohan, ¥542 second class | 1 day | Fastest overland entry in Asia |
| Blagoveshchensk → Harbin | Two-minute crossing at Heihe, rail south | 1–2 days | Ice-floe caveat in shoulder season |
| Almaty → Urumqi | Road to Khorgos, bus across, onward via Yining | 2–3 days | Central Asia loop |
| Ulaanbaatar → Beijing | K23 through train, gauge change at Erenhot | 1 night | Trans-Mongolian classic |
| Chinese | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 口岸 | kǒu'àn | Port / border crossing |
| 联检大楼 | liánjiǎn dàlóu | Joint inspection building |
| 出入境 | chū rùjìng | Exit and entry |
| 边检 | biānjiǎn | Border inspection police |
| 免签 / 过境 | miǎnqiān / guòjìng | Visa-free / transit |
| 国际列车 | guójì lièchē | International train |
| 住宿登记 | zhùsù dēngjì | Accommodation registration |
Usually not. The scheme runs at 65 designated ports, mostly airports and cruise terminals plus a small number of rail gateways. Check the NIA port list and the permitted stay area for your province before building a trip around it. If you are not visa-exempt by nationality, assume you need a visa for a land crossing.
No, within the limits. Russian ordinary passports get 30 days per entry anywhere in China (effective September 15, 2026, valid to December 31, 2027); Kazakh passports have had 30 days since November 10, 2023. Both are capped at 90 days in any 180 and cover tourism, business, private affairs, medical treatment, transport and transit — not work or study.
08:00 to 23:00 Beijing time, daily, at the Nanxi River joint inspection building, with entry on the first floor and exit on the second. It is the longest daily window of any major crossing on the Vietnam border, which is much of why it handles 17,800 people a day.
Rates depend on season and berth, and the service is all soft sleeper. Buy at Nanning, Guilin, Chongzuo or Pingxiang station with your passport. The train carried 31,700 passengers from over 50 countries in its first year, so book early around Lunar New Year and the summer peak.
Only if your nationality has a separate exemption. China and Mongolia have no mutual exemption for ordinary passports, so Mongolian citizens need a Chinese visa and anyone continuing north needs a Mongolian visa. The K23 from Beijing runs on Saturdays as of June 2026, with a gauge change at Erenhot overnight.
No. Days count from the date of entry exactly as at an airport, and the clock starts on arrival.
Related reading: the China tourist visa guide, the 240-hour transit visa-free guide, port visas on arrival, the China–Laos Railway guide, the high-speed rail guide, the Hong Kong–Shenzhen border guide, and city guides for Kunming, Yunnan, Xinjiang and Harbin.
Last updated: November 12, 2026. Sources: NIA policy interpretation on visa-free transit (en.nia.gov.cn, August 20, 2026); Embassy of China in Kazakhstan notice on the mutual exemption (November 2023); Hekou county port office notice on the Nanxi River building (08:00–23:00); China News Service on Hekou's 4 million passengers (August 2026); reports on the Nanning–Hanoi T8701 first year (May 2026); Mohan border station data via People's Daily (October 2026); Xinhua on Erenhot's 2.5 million (October 2026); Heilongjiang and Manzhouli border inspection data (September–October 2026). Port hours, timetables and prices change without notice — confirm on 12306, at the station or with the port authority before travelling.