Using Didi in China as a Foreign Visitor

The three ways to book a ride

Foreign travelers have three reliable ways to book a ride, and they all route into the same ride-hailing network. The State Council's current Working and Living in China guide names Alipay, WeChat and DiDi Travel as the apps where foreigners can book, and states that international bank cards are supported for payment.

You do not need to install every app. Pick one booking path, set it up before you land, and keep a second path as a fallback. The table below shows how to reach each one and which payment method it uses.

Set up Didi before you land

Download the Didi-Greater China app from your official app store and register with a foreign phone number and an international card. The current government guide confirms this foreign registration path, but the exact screens, country selector and identity prompts can differ by device and app version, so complete setup at home where your network and bank verification are easier to handle.

The official taxi guidance describes the Didi app as available in English. Switch it through Me (我的), then Settings (设置), then General (通用), then Language (语言), and choose English. Even so, driver-facing text and some in-app notices may still appear in Chinese, so plan around the parts that stay untranslated rather than expecting a fully bilingual experience.

Keep the phone number you register with active for the whole trip. A number you delete after landing can turn a small account problem into a recovery problem.

Book your first ride

Enter the pickup point first, then the destination. Move the pickup pin to your exact location before confirming, because a pin dropped at a terminal exit or a hotel's back door sends the driver to the wrong meeting point.

The government guide names Express, Taxi, Premier and Luxe as the service choices inside the Didi app. Express is the everyday ride, Taxi books a metered street taxi through the app, and Premier and Luxe are higher-fare vehicle classes. The price shown before confirmation depends on the service type, distance and demand.

Check the estimated price and the vehicle before you confirm. You are not locked into one service type; compare the quote if the first option looks expensive.

Pay without a Chinese number

Payment is linked to the card you added during setup, not to a Chinese phone number. The official guide confirms international bank cards are supported, and the fare is charged through the app rather than a cash exchange with the driver.

The card issuer still decides whether to approve each charge. Enable overseas online payments on your card before leaving, and keep a physical card and some RMB cash as an independent fallback if the in-app charge is declined.

If you book through the Alipay or WeChat entry instead of the Didi app, the payment runs through the wallet you already set up there. This is a useful second path when the standalone Didi app has trouble on your device.

• Link the card in your own name; the driver is not the person to ask about a declined payment.
• Keep the issuing bank's verification method accessible for any approval prompt.
• Carry RMB cash for a metered taxi fallback, since not every street taxi takes cards.

When the driver calls you in Chinese

The most common friction is not booking — it is the phone call. A driver may call to confirm the pickup point, and that call is usually in Mandarin. The safest recovery is to avoid a spoken conversation: use the in-app message instead, and send or show your destination written in Chinese characters.

Prepare this before the ride. Save your hotel name and address in Chinese offline, then paste or show it when the driver calls. A short prepared message such as 'I do not speak Chinese, please use the in-app message' is enough to switch the conversation to text, which you can then translate.

Do not give a driver your payment codes, login codes or control of your phone. A genuine ride does not require any of those, and a person who asks for them is not solving your transport problem.

Street taxis and the 95128 hotline

You can still hail a taxi by waving at one showing a vacant sign, but the official guidance warns a street taxi may already be on the way to an app-booked passenger and may not stop. Online booking is recommended for reliability.

A phone-booking hotline, 95128, works in many cities for people who cannot or do not want to use an app. If your app is not working or your card is declined, the hotline and street taxis are your offline fallback, and a street taxi will generally take RMB cash.

Use an official taxi rank at airports and large stations rather than accepting a ride from someone who approaches you inside the arrivals hall. An unlicensed driver cannot offer the same protections as a metered taxi or an app booking.

Safety checks before you get in

Enable location services so the app and driver can find your exact position. Then, before opening the door, match the license plate and the driver shown in the app with the car in front of you.

The official taxi guidance gives the same checks: verify the plate and driver information, and use official or well-known platforms. If the car or driver does not match what the app shows, cancel and book again.

Inside the car, follow the route shown on your own phone rather than a driver's suggested detour. A meter or an agreed app price should be the only fare discussion.

• Match the plate and driver photo before entering.
• Use only the official app or a known taxi rank to start the ride.
• Keep your phone charged and your destination address available offline.