What should I pack for Nanjing?

Grippy walking shoes are the one thing worth spending on in Nanjing. The 392 granite steps up to Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum turn slick after rain. The paths around Ming Xiaoling are uneven flagstone, not pavement. Thin fashion sneakers will leave your feet sore after half a day in the Zhongshan Scenic Area. For the Memorial Hall of the Victims in Nanjing Massacre by Japanese Invaders, pack long pants and a top that covers your shoulders. The hall commemorates 300,000 victims, and most Chinese visitors dress soberly and speak quietly. The Presidential Palace and Nanjing Museum are more relaxed, and shorts are common at both in summer.

Nanjing sits on the lower Yangtze, and the air in the river basin stays humid for most of the year. In late September, daytime highs tend to sit in the mid-20s °C, and mornings feel close and damp. From June to August, highs often reach 35°C or more: reason enough that Nanjing still appears on China's 'four furnaces' list alongside Chongqing and Wuhan. Cotton T-shirts stay damp for hours in that heat, so 3-4 moisture-wicking shirts work better. The plum rain season runs from roughly mid-June to mid-July and brings long stretches of drizzle and downpours. January averages hover around 2-3°C, and the cold feels wet. Nanjing lies south of the Qinling-Huaihe line, which means most buildings have no central heating: older ones rely on wall-mounted air-conditioning units for warmth. From December to February, pack a down jacket and thermal base layers. March to May and October to November are the mildest windows. Even then, a packable rain shell under 300g beats an umbrella on Purple Mountain's wooded trails.

Your phone needs more prep than your suitcase. Google Maps, Gmail, WhatsApp, and Instagram are blocked in mainland China. A foreign eSIM or roaming plan routes data through your home carrier, so those apps keep working: a local Chinese SIM won't. If you rely on a VPN, install and test it before landing at Nanjing Lukou International Airport (NKG); Chinese app stores don't carry most of them. Download your translation app's offline Chinese pack at home too. Metro Line S1 runs from the airport to Nanjing South Railway Station in about 40 minutes. Maps, translation, and a VPN running all day will drain a phone by mid-afternoon, so carry a 20,000 mAh power bank. Since June 28, 2025, China's aviation regulator has required a CCC mark on power banks carried on domestic flights. Nanjing's outlets run at 220V and take Type A and Type I plugs. Alipay and WeChat Pay have accepted foreign Visa and Mastercard cards since 2023. Small noodle shops around Shiziqiao food street often take nothing else.

Leave three categories at home. Toiletries, umbrellas, and basic medicines are all easy to source in Nanjing. A fold-up umbrella costs 15-25 CNY at FamilyMart or Lawson: roughly 2-4 USD at the current exchange rate. Watsons has branches around Xinjiekou and near most larger metro stations, stocking Japanese sunscreens like Anessa and Biore. Pharmacies sell ibuprofen over the counter for around 15 CNY a box. If you arrive without a rain jacket, Decathlon's Nanjing stores carry packable shells from about 100 CNY. Western roll-on deodorant is the one real gap: Nanjing drugstores usually stock only 2-3 options, so bring your own.