Previous studies on rural tourism intentions focused more on the characteristics of tourists themselves and ignored the possible role of the relationship between tourists and rural residents. This paper introduces social capital as the antecedent variable and psychological distance as the intermediary variable to explore urban residents’ rural tourism intentions in the post-epidemic era through a questionnaire survey. Firstly, relational trust and common vision can reduce the psychological distance of urban residents and improve their rural travel intention, but the effect of social interaction is not significant.Secondly, psychological distance has a significant negative impact on rural tourism intention. Finally, psychological distance plays a mediating role between relational trust, common vision and rural travel intention.This paper is the first empirical study to apply the three dimensions of social capital to the phenomenon of rural tourism in China.The research conclusion can help rural areas in the post-epidemic era understand and use social capital, pay attention to the impact of psychological distance, and formulate more flexible and effective rural tourism development strategies.