On the ground
Taxis & DiDi in China: Setup, Pickup Points & Payment
Prepare DiDi in China with your phone and payment method, confirm the pickup point and number plate, and keep a licensed taxi option if booking fails.
Travel task · Quick answer
The answer first, then the steps
Use DiDi or a ride-hailing option inside Alipay, and keep a licensed street taxi as a fallback. Check the pickup point, destination and payment option before confirming.
- 01
Set up
Add a reachable phone number and payment method before you need a ride.
- 02
Book
Confirm the pickup pin, destination and vehicle details in the app.
- 03
Fallback
Keep your destination name and address in Chinese for a street taxi.
Plan your visit
Prepare DiDi in China with your phone and payment method, confirm the pickup point and number plate, and keep a licensed taxi option if booking fails.
What should I set up before I need a ride?
Install the service for mainland China, select a supported language and check that your number can receive verification messages. Add a payment method and confirm it is accepted by your account. Shanghai's visitor guidance describes foreign-card support, but that does not guarantee every card, issuer or account will work.
How do I find the correct pickup point?
Enter the destination, check the address and then confirm your own pickup pin. At an airport or station follow signs to the designated ride-hailing area; a terminal exit may not be a legal pickup point. Match the number plate and vehicle with the booking before boarding, and use the in-app trip details if you need support.
What if the app or payment fails?
Use a signed licensed taxi rank as a fallback, show the destination in Chinese and check payment before departure. Ask for a receipt. Fares and extras vary by city and service; do not apply a Beijing night-rate example to every journey. Amap also supports overseas-number login according to Shanghai's July 2025 guidance, subject to your account's available options.
Reviewed 19 October 2026 using municipal guidance from 2024–2025. Interfaces, card eligibility and fares can change; no ride or payment was purchased for this review.
Set up DiDi with your own phone number and card, book a car from inside Alipay, and take a street taxi without a word of Chinese.
Three ways to get a car
Ride-hailing works for visitors in every big Chinese city. DiDi (滴滴出行) is the big platform. You can use it through its own app or from inside Alipay, and a street taxi is always the fallback. Any of the three will get you where you are going; what differs is the setup.
Shanghai's July 2025 guidance describes overseas-number login for Amap. Check the number, language and payment options available in your account before relying on it for a journey.
Foreign number and card
Nothing more once Alipay works
Set the app to English
In the English Alipay interface
Visa, Mastercard and others
The card linked to Alipay
Short hops and taxi ranks
Book from Alipay
If you have already set up Alipay (Paying in China covers it), you have a ride-hailing app. Nothing else to install, and the fare comes off the card you linked.
Open Alipay and tap Transport, then Taxi.
Enter where you are going. English place names often resolve; the Chinese name resolves every time.
Check the pickup point on the map. Move the pin to a spot a car can actually stop at, such as a hotel entrance or a side street, not the middle of a flyover.
Choose a car type and confirm. The app shows the plate number of the car coming for you.
Check the plate before you get in, then ride. You pay in the app at the end.
Set up the DiDi app
The DiDi app with the Chinese name 滴滴出行 is the one to install; in some app stores it is listed as DiDi-Greater China. The separate DiDi Rider app is for DiDi’s services outside mainland China.
Install DiDi and switch the language to English in the settings.
Register with your own mobile number. Foreign numbers are accepted; keep your home SIM or eSIM able to receive the verification text.
Add a Visa or Mastercard as the payment method. If your bank blocks the first charge, approve it in your banking app or call them.
Book the same way as in Alipay: destination, pickup point, car type.
Messages you send the driver in the app are translated for them, and theirs for you. Drivers sometimes call when they are close. If you do not speak Chinese, let it ring out and send a message instead, or type something short like “I’m at the main entrance” and let the translation do the work.
Street taxis
Use a licensed taxi from a signed rank, check the meter and confirm payment before departure. Keep cash as a fallback and ask for a receipt; do not assume every vehicle accepts foreign cards.
Fares depend on the city, distance, time and service. Check the displayed fare rules or the estimate in your booking rather than applying one city's charges everywhere.
Tolls and other charges may be separate. Check your selected service's breakdown, including any waiting or cancellation charges, before confirming.
Show the address, don't say it
Drivers rarely speak English, and a mispronounced street name goes nowhere. Every place page on this site has a Show in Chinese card that fills your screen with the name and address. Hold it up before you get in, not after.
At airports and stations
Use the official taxi rank or the ride-hailing pickup area the signs point to. Turn down anyone who approaches you in the arrivals hall offering a car, and take the rank instead.
A few words for the driver
A receipt is worth asking for from a street taxi. It shows the taxi’s number, which is what you need if you leave something in the car. With DiDi or Alipay, the trip is in your ride history already.
Sources
Checked in September 2026. If something has changed, tell us with the feedback buttons below.
1. Transportation: ride-hailing and metro for foreign travellers (Beijing Municipal Government), 24 Apr 2024.
2. Cruising taxi fare standards (Beijing Municipal Commission of Transport), 10 Mar 2023.
3. DiDi app 7.0: English service for visitors, foreign numbers and cards (Tencent News), 20 Jan 2025.
4. DiDi app 7.0 adds overseas rides; DiDi Rider is the international app (TechNode), 20 Jan 2025.
5. Alibaba's Amap offers ride-hailing function catering to foreign visitors (South China Morning Post), 25 May 2025.
6. Didi offers an English language option for foreigners, with in-app message translation (TechCrunch), 8 May 2017.
- ✓2026-09 — First published.