Objective To investigate the clinical features of 30 patients with Cryptococcus neoformans meningitis (CNM).Methods A retrospective analysis was performed for the clinical data of 30 CNM patients who were admitted to Department of Neurology in Xiangya Hospital of Central South University from 2013 to 2016, and the data were analyzed with reference to relevant literature.Results Of all CNM patients, only one patient had a definite contact history of pigeons, 6 were complicated by underlying diseases causing hypoimmunity, and 11 were healthy and had no underlying diseases before the onset of CNM. There were 3 patients with an acute onset, 6 patients with a subacute onset, and 21 patients with a slow onset. The main clinical manifestations included persistent or intermittent headache, pyrexia, and non-projectile vomiting. The patients underwent a mean number of 2.1 times of lumbar puncture before a confirmed diagnosis was made, and there was a mean number of 24.3 days from the onset of the disease to the day when a confirmed diagnosis was made. Twenty-one patients were once misdiagnosed with other diseases. Fifteen patients were lost to follow-up, and the other 15 patients had complete follow-up data, among whom only 3 underwent amphotericin B (AmB) or lipo-AmB combined with 5-flucytosine and fluconazole sequentially. Among the 15 patients with complete follow-up data, 2 died and 13 survived, resulting in a survival rate of 87%.Conclusions Both normal population and the population with low immunity are susceptible to CNM. Due to atypical clinical manifestations and cerebrospinal fluid test results and the fact that the method used to make a confirmed diagnosis lacks sensitivity, there is a long time from disease onset to a confirmed diagnosis and a high rate of misdiagnosis. Although the treatment regimens vary in clinical practice, the overall survival rate remains high, and active treatment helps to improve the survival rate of patients with CNM.