Canton Fair October 2026: Phases, Badges, Visas and Staying Online

The Canton Fair holds its 140th session at the Canton Fair Complex in Pazhou, Guangzhou, from 15 October to 4 November 2026, in three five-day phases. Its official name is the China Import and Export Fair. The spring session drew 314,000 overseas buyers, and this one has about 32,000 exhibitors across 1.55 million square metres.

Canton Fair phases: dates and what each one covers

Phase and theme	Dates	Main categories
1: Advanced Manufacturing	15-19 Oct	Appliances, electronics, automation, machinery, new energy vehicles, vehicle parts, motorcycles, bicycles, lighting, hardware, tools
2: Quality Home Life	23-27 Oct	Ceramics, kitchenware, household items, home decorations, garden products, gifts, furniture, building materials, bathroom equipment
3: Better Life	31 Oct-4 Nov	Toys, baby products, clothing, shoes, bags, home textiles, office supplies, medical products, food, sports goods, pet products

Nothing is exhibited on 20 to 22 or 28 to 30 October.

At the time of writing the October opening hours had not been published. In spring, Phase 1 was open from 09:30 to 18:00. Watch cantonfair.org.cn and the Canton Fair app for the hours, shuttle routes and any change to the sections, and check your category there before booking.

Getting your Canton Fair buyer badge

Every overseas buyer attending in person should pre-register on the Canton Fair Buyer Service System, which is open all year. Badges, replacements and renewals are all free. Do not register with a Yahoo address, because the form warns that Yahoo addresses do not receive the fair's emails. The badge photo must be taken without a hat, headscarf or tinted glasses.

To collect it, bring your original passport, a business card and the pre-registration QR receipt. Foreign passport holders are encouraged to use the offices away from the complex:

Office	Hours	Dates
Baiyun Airport, T2 Exit A7 and T3, international arrivals	08:00-24:00	12-19 Oct, 22-27 Oct, 30 Oct-1 Nov
Guangzhou South Railway Station, East and West gates	10:00-21:00	12-17 Oct, 22-24 Oct, 30 Oct-1 Nov
Pazhou Ferry Terminal, 3rd floor	10:00-20:00	14-19 Oct, 22-27 Oct, 30 Oct-1 Nov

Sixty designated hotels and offices in Areas B, C and D of the complex also issue badges. The badge guide maps them with an Amap QR code, and full details are to follow on cantonfair.org.cn. Buyers coming through Hong Kong can also collect at the fair's Hong Kong office in Wan Chai on weekdays. If you land within the airport office's dates and hours, collecting there is simplest.

An assistant or interpreter you bring needs a paid badge, at 300 yuan a day plus a 50 yuan fee, and only the buyer can apply, at least two days ahead. If you need a visa, tick the option to generate an invitation letter when you apply for the badge. It is free, up to five per session, but nobody under 18 can apply for one. Visa-free visitors do not need one.

Entering China: visa-free stays, M visas and the 240-hour transit

• Visa-free by mutual agreement, 30 days per visit: Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Georgia, the UAE and Qatar. Confirm the terms for a business visit with a Chinese embassy.
• Visa-free on China's own list, 30 days, to 31 December 2026: Germany, France, Spain, Portugal and most of the EU, the UK, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Kuwait, Bahrain, Brazil, Australia and Canada, among others. Russia is on it too, until 31 December 2027. Consular FAQs name conferences and exhibitions as permitted, and the passport must be valid for the whole stay.
• Visa needed: Turkey, Iran, Egypt, India and the United States, among others. Apply for an M visa, the trade visa, with the fair's invitation letter and a passport valid for six months with two blank pages.

Instead of a visa, nationals of more than 50 countries, the US among them, can use the 240-hour visa-free transit, which allows business. It needs a passport valid for at least three months and a confirmed onward ticket to a third country or region, and Guangdong is a permitted stay area. Turkey, Iran, Egypt and India are not on its list.

Fill in the arrival card on the National Immigration Administration's arrival card site or its NIA 12367 app, or on paper at the border. Hotels register foreign guests, but in a private rental you must register within 24 hours, which the NIA 12367 app also handles. At customs, declare commercial samples. Declare cash too if you carry 20,000 yuan or more, or foreign currency worth USD 5,000 or more.

Getting there: airport, metro and where to stay

Terminal 1 has closed. International flights now arrive at Terminal 2 or Terminal 3, depending on the airline, so check your booking.

From Terminal 3, an intercity train from Baiyun Airport East station, linked to the terminal, is reported to reach Pazhou in about 30 minutes. T3 has no metro station. A shuttle bus runs to Gaozeng station, Exit B, every 5 minutes at peak, and the last one leaves T3 at 22:40. Terminal 2 has a Line 3 stop, Airport North. From Gaozeng or Airport North, take Line 3 and change at Kecun to Line 8 for Pazhou or Xingangdong.

In October 2025 the airport's express bus to the complex cost 35 yuan with a fair badge, and the 2026 timetable had not been published at the time of writing. DiDi's app works in English, signs in with a foreign mobile number and takes international bank cards.

Canton Fair metro stations and exits

Line 8 stops at Pazhou and Xingangdong, and Line 11 at Pazhou. Metro ticket gates take contactless Visa, Mastercard, American Express, JCB and UnionPay cards. The spring guide gave these exits:

• Areas A (Halls 1 to 8) and D (Halls 17 to 20): Xingangdong Exit A
• Area B (Halls 9 to 13): Pazhou Exit A or B on Line 8, or E or F on Line 11
• Area C (Halls 14 to 16): Pazhou Exit C

Where to stay

Pazhou is closest, and local press reported some nearby hotels full in spring. In the Zhujiang New Town business district, Grand Hyatt Guangzhou quotes about 15 minutes to the complex, with a free shuttle during the fair. Further out, Baiyun International Convention Center quotes about 35 minutes to both the complex and the airport. In 2024 Guangzhou's market regulator warned hotels against colluding on prices or advertising false "original" prices, but set no cap, so compare total prices and book early.

Money, weather and power

WeChat Pay and Alipay both take foreign cards, and neither needs a Chinese phone number: you register with the mobile number you already have, and a travel eSIM then carries only the data. WeChat Pay charges nothing on a payment under 200 yuan and 3% above that, and Alipay is reported to charge 3% over 200 yuan. Some banks may refuse to link a card, so test yours at home. In spring 2025, vendors in the halls took foreign cards, mobile payment and cash.

Guangzhou's October averages are a high of 28.6 °C, a low of 20.5 °C and 7 rain days, from China Meteorological Administration normals for 1961 to 1990. The UK government puts China's typhoon season at May to November.

China runs on 220 volts, with sockets for plug types A, C and I. The UK government advises bottled water, not tap water.

Staying connected at the Canton Fair: why a Donesim eSIM fits

The UK government lists Google, Facebook, YouTube and X as blocked in China, and China's official tourism site adds Instagram and WhatsApp. The blocks apply on local SIMs and hotel Wi-Fi alike. WeChat and Alipay work, and Apple Maps reportedly does.

The fair has published no Wi-Fi details for the halls, and China's tourism site says public Wi-Fi logins usually need a code sent to a Chinese number, which a foreign SIM cannot receive. A local SIM gives you that number. Baiyun's 24-hour service centres in the T2 and T3 arrival halls sell local SIMs, but registration takes your passport and a face scan, and the SIM sits behind the same filters.

Roaming day passes for China cost 12 USD with AT&T or Verizon and 9.99 EUR for 500 MB with Vodafone Germany.

A Donesim plan is bought and installed at home. Once you land and turn on roaming for the eSIM line, data is ready for the Canton Fair app, DiDi, maps and your badge QR receipt. The checkout asks for an email address, not a passport, and your own SIM and number stay in the phone. Donesim's China page says many familiar Western apps and sites "are blocked on local networks but generally remain reachable on data connections that roam through an overseas home network". The apps the page lists include WhatsApp, Google Maps, Gmail, Instagram and Facebook. Routing is outside your control and can change, so set up WeChat as well.

At the time of writing 3 GB for 15 days costs 3.61 USD, under a third of one 12 USD roaming day. 10 GB for 30 days costs 11.12 USD, still under one 12 USD day, and its 30 days are long enough for all three phases. The page lists China Mobile, China Unicom and China Telecom among its networks.

The plan is data only, with no Chinese number. WeChat needs a number that receives SMS, so keep your home SIM in the phone. If your home plan receives texts abroad, WeChat and bank codes still reach you. A plan cannot be renewed or extended in place, so choose the size before you buy. Our China eSIM guide covers travel in China beyond the fair.

Set up your eSIM before you fly

1. Confirm your phone is on our compatibility list and not locked to a carrier.
2. Buy a day or two before you fly, since Donesim notes that a plan "may begin when it is provisioned, installed, activated, or first connected".
3. Install it on home Wi-Fi by QR code, as our install walkthrough shows.
4. Set up WeChat and Alipay and link your card at home, where their SMS codes reach your SIM.
5. Save the badge QR receipt and your hotel address offline.
6. After landing, turn on data roaming for the eSIM line only, and keep your home line for calls and texts.

Buyers going on to Hong Kong, 47 minutes from Guangzhou South to West Kowloon on the fastest train, can switch to a Hong Kong eSIM plan.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need a visa for the Canton Fair?

Not if your passport is on either 30-day list above. On China's own list the 30 days count from the day after entry, and you can enter more than once. Otherwise it is the M visa, or the 240-hour transit where your nationality and route qualify.

Is the Canton Fair badge free?

Yes. A valid badge from an earlier session still works without activation, and the fair says a pre-registered buyer collects a new one in about 30 seconds.

How do I get from Baiyun Airport to the Canton Fair?

By intercity train or the Gaozeng shuttle and metro from Terminal 3, by metro from Terminal 2, or by taxi. Local press reports Guangzhou taxi fares of 12 yuan for the first 3 km and 2.6 yuan a km after that, with 10% added at rush hours and extra charges for long trips and late nights.

Does WhatsApp work in China with an eSIM?

Not on a Chinese SIM or hotel Wi-Fi. On a Donesim plan it is among the apps the China page lists as generally reachable, though routing can change, and the UK government notes that internet access can be limited around key political events.