Address card for China: show the driver where to go
The first ten seconds of every taxi ride in China are the hard part: the driver needs your destination in Chinese, and a spoken street address usually means nothing. Locals don't speak addresses either — they show them. Paste your hotel's Chinese details once, and this card is ready for every ride.
The one sentence that goes with it
请带我去这个地址。
Qǐng dài wǒ qù zhège dìzhǐ. · Please take me to this address.
Show the card first, then say it. If the driver asks something back you can't follow, point at the card again — that is the whole protocol.
Your card
Copy the Chinese name and address from your booking page or the hotel's own website. It is saved on your own device, and it also fills in the hotel lines of the emergency card.
Copy it from your booking page — hotels show the Chinese name next to the English one.
From the booking page or the hotel's own site. Chinese addresses run city → district → street → building.
The front desk number. A driver who can't find the address will call it.
A landmark near your hotel, or the airport you fly into — somewhere any driver knows.
我的酒店 · MY HOTEL
Fill in the fields above — what you type shows up here in big print, ready to show or screenshot.
Saved only on this device · works offline
Three habits that make it work
- Fill it in before you fly, while you still have your booking email open — hotel Wi-Fi may not reach it.
- Screenshot the card and keep it in your phone's favourites so it opens without unlocking anything.
- When you check out, ask the front desk for a card with the hotel's Chinese address — paper still beats screens when your phone battery is at 5%.
Questions
How do I show a taxi driver an address in China?
Show the Chinese characters and say 请带我去这个地址 (please take me to this address). Drivers read the characters in about two seconds; a spoken English or romanised address can take minutes and still fail. This page turns your hotel's booking details into exactly that card.
Why don't Chinese taxi drivers understand spoken addresses?
Three reasons pile up: Chinese addresses run from largest to smallest (city, district, street, building) which is the reverse of English, street and hotel names have many near-identical sounds, and your accent reorders the tones. Every local solves this the same way — by showing text, not speaking it.
What do I do if the driver can't find my hotel?
Show the phone number on the card — the driver calls the front desk, and the front desk explains in Chinese. That is why the phone line is on the card. If the driver still can't place it, head for the backup destination (a landmark or metro station nearby) and navigate the last stretch on foot.
Does the address card work offline?
Yes. The card is saved on your own device, not on a server, and this site works offline after your first visit — which is exactly when you need it, standing outside a station with no signal.