The 10-day layover: what 240-hour visa-free transit unlocks (now 65 ports)
China's 240-hour visa-free transit expanded to 65 entry ports, with Vietnam and Kyrgyzstan added in August 2026. Three layover routes that double as trips.
A stopover in China used to mean an airport movie. Since the 240-hour transit upgrade landed, it means ten days — and as of this year the list of entry ports is 65, including quieter, smarter ones like Hengqin and Zhongshan, the Hong Kong–Zhuhai–Macao Bridge, and the West Kowloon high-speed rail station. In August, Vietnam and Kyrgyzstan joined the eligible nationalities, bringing the transit list to 57 countries.
The rules in one breath
- Passport from an eligible country, onward ticket to a third country (not your origin — HK and Macau count), entry via one of the 65 ports, stay inside designated areas, ten days max, counted from 00:00 the day after entry.
- Tourism, business, seeing relatives: all fine. Work: not fine.
Three layovers worth flying
- Hong Kong → Shenzhen (via the West Kowloon HSR port). Morning tea in Central, afternoon electronics in Huaqiangbei, the Fairy Lake botanical gardens if the 3C stalls overwhelm you.
- Guangzhou → Hengqin/Zhuhai → Macau. Cantonese food capital by day, the bridge at dusk, Macau’s egg tarts to finish.
- Shanghai (PVG or PVG-area rail) → the Yangtze delta. Suzhou gardens, Hangzhou tea fields, and back through Shanghai’s night skyline — all province-hopping legal and transit-covered.
The classic mistake: booking “Hong Kong → Hong Kong” as both origin and destination. That’s not transit. Your guide or we can sanity-check your ticket structure before you fly — it takes a minute and it’s the difference between a trip and an immigration misunderstanding.
