Yunnan Travel Tools

Yunnan Travel Tools mainly introduces the main tools when you traveling in Yunnan, which can help you solve these problems, such as where to eat, what to eat, where to stay, how to pay, how to contact with others, etc.

Apps are changing the travel way for us. When you plan to travel in Yunnan, downloading these apps before you get to Yunnan, which can make your Yunnan travel easier and more convenient. Of course, the Yunnan travel tools also help you solve the problems with the language.

Integrated Apps in Yunnan

The integrated apps in Yunnan connect consumers with local businesses for food takeout, hotel bookings, and movie tickets, among other services.

Meituan(美团)

Meituan is a Chinese O2O (online-to-offline) local life service platform, connecting over 240 million consumers and five million local merchants via a comprehensive array of e-commerce services and products. It has 600 million users and almost 4.5 million business partners that cover nearly all China. About 35 million people use the service everyday. Meituan offers a one-stop “travel life” service platform for users in order to achieve coverage of full consumption in different places. When you come to Yunnan, Meituan is a good app in your phone.

Ctrip(携程)

Ctrip has successfully integrated high-tech industry and traditional tourism industry, providing more than 90 million members with comprehensive travel services including hotel reservation, plane ticket booking, vacation reservation, business travel management, preferential merchants and travel information. It can also solve the problems that you may meet on the travel, such as, where to stay, where to visit. Therefore, it is a necessary app on your phone if you plan to travel in Yunnan.

Fliggy(飞猪)

It all began when Alibaba changed the name of its popular travel booking app from Alitrip to one that means “Flying Pig” in Chinese. Its English name is Fliggy. Fliggy is a one-stop travel service platform, providing domestic and international air tickets, train tickets, hotel booking, car rental service and other related service.

Social Apps in Yunnan

When it comes to the most popular and used social media and networking platforms in China, there are two major players that you must know. They are WeChat and QQ. They are so powerful and popular that knowing these two social media platforms alone would give you a good understanding of online social networking in Yunnan.

WeChat(微信)

WeChat is a Chinese multi-purpose messaging, social media and mobile payment app developed by Tencent. Described as one of the world’s most powerful apps by Forbes, it is also known as China’s “app for everything” and a “super app” because of its wide range of functions and platforms. In addition to China, it is also the most popular messaging app in Bhutan. If you have a tour guide in Yunnan, Wechat will be the best app to contact with him/her. In China, wechat is the most popular social software.

QQ

QQ is like WeChat’s elder brother. It has been widely used in China since 1999, 12 years before WeChat was founded. QQ is very popular among young users aged 21 years or below.

Navigation Apps in Yunnan

Google Maps(谷歌地图)

Google Maps is a popular tool that tells you where you’re going and how to get there. The app and corresponding website are designed to map out the most efficient route either by car, foot, bike, or public transportation to any given destination. The app gives audio directions to users or simply follows along a person’s route to show someone where to go silently. Google Maps also offers “street view,” an option that lets a user see what it looks like on the ground in any given location. The tool also uses satellite data to most effectively map out areas around the world. Google first introduced Google Maps in 2005 and has rolled out subsequent updates over the years. At the end of 2017, Google even took Google Maps out into the solar system, allowing users to explore planets and moons from the comfort of their own computers. Who knows what’s next for the popular mapping tool? We’ll have to wait and see. When you plan to travel in Yunnan, Google maps will be the best map app for you. You can go anywhere with it, even you can not speak Chinese.

Baidu Maps(百度地图)

Baidu Maps is a desktop and mobile web mapping service application and technology provided by Baidu, offering satellite imagery, street maps, street view and indoor view perspectives, as well as functions such as a route planner for traveling by foot, car, or with public transportation. Android and iOS applications are available.

AutoNavi Maps(高德地图)

AutoNavi Software Co., Ltd. is a Chinese web mapping, navigation and location-based services provider, founded in 2001. One of its subsidiary companies, Beijing Mapabc Co. Ltd., is a map website in China. It offers its map services at Amap.com and as the Amap mobile app. It is known as Gaode in Chinese.

Language Apps in Yunnan

Pleco (Free, Offline)

The Pleco is known as the most valuable English-language reference book on China anywhere. The manual provides the answers to all sorts of questions and problems in Chinese civilization and history from prehistory to recent times. Along the way, it curates some 12,000 primary and secondary sources and also introduces the ancillary disciplines that Chinese historians require from archeology to translation strategies, from astronomy and astrology to numismatics, from historical linguistics to the latest techniques of learning the characters. Pleco is a Chinese learning and translation program. If you want to get a better understanding of Chinese language, Pleco is the best choice for you.

Google Translate

Google Translate is easily the most accurate, comprehensive, and widely used of all the translation apps available. Google Translate offers voice and text translations into more than 50 languages and doesn’t require an internet connection. The newest version of the Google Translate app also includes an image translation option, so you can translate text just by pointing your camera at it. In addition to these great features and a user-friendly interface, Google Translate no longer requires a VPN to work in China (unlike other Google apps), making this a great all-around addition to your app library.

Transport Apps in Yunnan

Didi(Free, Online)

Didi, a well-known Chinese taxi platform, called the mobile phone “the useful tool for taking a taxi”, is a favorite “taxis” application. At present, Didi has grown from a taxi software to a one-stop travel platform covering taxi, express, premier, Luxe. The “Didi” app changed the traditional way of taxis and established a modern travel mode that is guided by the era of large mobile Internet. Compared with traditional telephone calls and  taking a taxi on roadside, the birth of Didi has changed the traditional taxi market pattern. The Didi is adopted the way of using the characteristics of mobile Internet, integrating online and offline, paying fares from the initial stage of taxiing to getting off the car, and drawing a closed loop of o2o where passengers are closely connected with drivers. It gives the passenger taxi experience, changes the traditional way for a driver waiting for passengers and let the drivers be willing to “take orders” according to the passengers’ destination, saves the communication costs of the drivers and passengers, and maximizes the resources and time of the two sides. Therefore, when people plan to travel in Yunnan, Didi will be the best way for taking a taxi. What’s more, the vast amount of Wi-Fi around the country in hotels and restaurants means that even without a Chinese SIM card you’ll be able to call for a driver and he or she will be able to find your exact location based on the info you have transferred. Payment is done automatically with your registered credit card. It’s very easy and usually also cheaper than using normal taxis. 

Caocao Travel(曹操出行)

Caocao Travel is a strategic investment business of “New Energy Vehicle Sharing Ecology”, which is set by the world’s top 500 automaker Geely Technology Group. It has become China’s first new energy vehicle sharing travel service platform that has obtained the network license. Adhering to the “low-carbon, service-oriented”, the global Internet, automotive networking, autonomous driving technology and new energy technology are applied to shared travel. What’s more, Caocao Travel is committed to creating and providing one-stop healthy, low-carbon travel way for users.

Payment Apps in Yunnan

WeChat

WeChat Payment allows individuals to make electronic payments using their smartphone. A significant number of Chinese citizens use WeChat Payment instead of paper currency, and as a tourist, setting up a WeChat Payment account can make purchasing products, sending money, and paying bills considerably easier. If you choose to make a purchase in Yunnan, the app will automatically convert your currency into CNY (and vice-versa for tourists). Once the buyer confirms the deal in the app, the money will be deducted from your home account. WeChat Payment supports a large number of currencies, which include, but are not limited to USD, CAD, EUR, GBP, AUD, and NZD. Vendors agree to accept these currencies, and if your country’s currency is not supported, transactions can be made in USD.

Alipay

Alipay (Chinese: 支付宝) is a third-party mobile and online payment platform, established in Hangzhou, China in February 2004 by Alibaba Group and its founder Jack Ma. In 2015, Alipay moved its headquarters to Pudong, Shanghai, although its parent company Ant Financial remains Hangzhou-based. It is the world’s number one mobile payment service organization and the second largest payment service organization in the world. 

Edited by Cloudy Fu/付云