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Beijing hits 40°C. Chongqing turns into a sauna. But China in summer is still incredible — if you know where to go and how to handle the heat. Here is everything I have learned from 15 years of summer travel across China.
Took a German couple to hotpot yesterday. It was 38°C outside. The husband looked at the bubbling red oil and said: "You want us to eat boiling food in this weather?" I just smiled and ordered extra beef. Two hours later he was rolling up his sleeves, sweat dripping, declaring it was the best meal he has had in China. His wife was quieter — too busy fighting for the last piece of tripe. Here is the thing about Chinese food culture that surprises most tourists: we eat hotpot year-round. In fact, summer is when it hits different. The TCM logic is that the sweat cools you down from the inside out. I do not know if that is scientifically accurate, but I know that after a hotpot dinner in July, walking out into the hot night air feels... refreshing? It makes no sense until you try it. The German guy asked for the restaurant name before leaving. Said he wanted to come back tomorrow. I told him the place does not have an English name. He said: "Good. Means the food is real."
Summer break is coming and my two girls have already started their campaign for the best summer ever. My 6-year-old wants to see pandas again (we went to Chengdu last year and she still talks about it). My 4-year-old just wants to swim. Win-win: I found a hotel in Chongqing with an indoor pool AND a panda-themed kids club. Booked it in 10 minutes. Sometimes being a travel planner means planning for your own family too. If you are traveling to China with kids this summer, send me a message. I have a list of hotels that actually welcome children — not just tolerate them.
Chongqing in summer hits 40°C — and I mean that literally, not as a figure of speech. The kind of heat where walking from your front door to the car feels like a bad life decision. So where do locals go? Underground. Not basements or malls. Real air-raid shelters dug into the mountains during World War II. Today they're converted into hotpot restaurants, tea houses, and even a museum. The temperature inside stays around 22°C year-round, no AC needed. I took a British family to one last week. We sat in a cave tunnel eating hotpot while outside the city baked at 41 degrees. The dad kept touching the stone walls, amazed that 80-year-old military tunnels now serve the best goose intestine I've ever had. That's what I love about this city. Nothing gets thrown away. Every space finds a new purpose.
