City guide · Sichuan
A 3,000-year-old city where the schedule is tea, mahjong and hotpot — and the pandas are just the opening act.
Reviewed by our Beijing team Updated 2026-10-10
The short version
City guide
Photographs from the coast, and what other travellers wrote afterwards.
I became a proper Chengdu loafer. I used to be impatient, but Rongcheng ground that right out of me — I developed a serious case of procrastination and I am not sorry about it.
From 'Chengdu, Mt. Qingcheng, Dujiangyan and the Panda Base, 5 Days'
The air here is damp in a way that feels gentler than the wet of Jiangnan — my skin got better, my mood got better. I knelt on a bamboo chair, looked up at the bright sky, watched the clouds drift past and took a deep breath. That is the smell of Chengdu. I did not want to leave.
From 'That Year in Tibet, Sichuan and You and Me'
Chengdu is the only major Chinese city whose site and name have not changed in 3,000 years, and it wears that history lightly. Locals call the feeling ba shi — comfortable, just right — and the whole city seems organised around protecting it. You will find more teahouses than convenience stores, more mahjong tables than parking spaces, and nobody in a hurry to be anywhere.
The pandas are what pull most visitors in, and they deserve the hype: the breeding base north of town is home to more than 20 giant pandas, plus red pandas and black-necked cranes, all wandering bamboo groves designed to mimic their wild habitat. Go at opening time, when the keepers put out bamboo and the pandas actually move. By 11am they are asleep and so, effectively, is your visit.
But Chengdu is not just a panda stop. It is the capital of Sichuan, the political and cultural heart of the southwest for two millennia, and the launching point for the grasslands of western Sichuan, the Tibetan quarter of Wuhou, and the misty peaks of Mt. Qingcheng. Come for the pandas, stay for the hotpot, and leave understanding why Zhang Yimou called this a city you don't want to leave.
Chengdu
Seven things that are worth rearranging a day for.
Highlights
Chengdu runs on tea houses and mahjong tables, not skyscrapers. A covered-bowl jasmine tea costs about ¥20, and nobody hurries you out. Park yourself in a bamboo chair at People's Park or in Kuanzhai Alley, order a bowl of tea, and watch the city do absolutely nothing at high speed.
The Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding keeps over 20 giant pandas plus red pandas, black-necked cranes and white cranes in a park designed to mimic their wild bamboo habitat. Go at opening — pandas are most active before 10am, then they sleep and so does the show.
This is a UNESCO City of Gastronomy for good reason. Mapo tofu, Shuangliu rabbit head, fuqi feipian (ox offal in chilli oil), dan dan noodles, Long Chao Shou wontons, Zhong dumplings, chuanchuan skewers, bobo chicken — you could eat five times a day and still miss half of it.
Kuan Alley, Zhai Alley and Jing Alley sit side by side in Qingyang District, free and open around the clock. Wide Alley keeps the leisurely teahouses, Narrow Alley the slow courtyards, Jing Alley the newer bars and weekend creative markets. Morning is for photos, afternoon is for a bowl of tea and an ear cleaning.
Around Wuhou Shrine's east street, Tibetan-run shops and restaurants sell prayer beads, Tibetan jewellery and South Asian goods. Sit in a Tibetan restaurant with no Han customers, order momo and sweet tea, and you are already halfway to Lhasa — a reminder that Chengdu is the gateway to the snow mountains.
Itinerary
A no-rush route for first-timers: old poets, old alleys, pandas and hotpot, with the evenings left free for tea and wandering. Nothing here needs a pre-booked tour except the panda base.
Start at Du Fu Thatched Cottage on the Huanhua Stream, the poet's home in exile, then walk Wuhou Shrine with its 223 AD tombs and cypress courtyard. Lunch on snacks in Jinli next door, tea at Wangjianglou Park, and finish in Kuanzhai Alley at dusk before heading to Chunxi Road for hotpot.
Stops: Du Fu Thatched CottageWuhou ShrineJinliWangjianglou ParkKuanzhai AlleyChunxi Road
Get to the Panda Base at opening — the pandas eat and wrestle until about 10am and then it is nap time. Lunch at Wenshu Monastery's snack street, then Qingyang Palace, the largest Taoist temple in western Sichuan, and an evening of shopping and people-watching on Chunxi Road.
Stops: Chengdu Panda BaseWenshu MonasteryQingyang PalaceChunxi Road
Spend the morning over a ¥20 bowl of tea and an ear cleaning in a park tea house, then hit the Sichuan Museum (free, closed Mondays) next to Du Fu Cottage. Book a Shufeng Yayun Sichuan opera show on Qintai Road for face-changing and fire-spitting from ¥130, then drinks around Jiuyanqiao.
Stops: People's ParkSichuan MuseumShufeng YayunJiuyanqiao
Use Chengdu as a base and bolt on one of the big day trips — Dujiangyan and Qingcheng Mountain by high-speed train, or Leshan and Emei by bus. Pick one; trying both in three days is a march, not a holiday.
Land, drop bags, and do the compact old-town half: Wuhou Shrine and Jinli in the afternoon, Kuanzhai Alley at dusk, hotpot for dinner. Keep it light because tomorrow starts early.
Stops: Wuhou ShrineJinliKuanzhai Alley
Take the high-speed train from Chengdu North to Qingcheng Mountain (first train 07:01, last 20:17, ¥15) or Dujiangyan (first 06:32, ¥15). Dujiangyan's 2,200-year-old irrigation works still function today; Qingcheng is the birthplace of Taoism. A combined ticket is ¥180, or ¥90 each.
Stops: Dujiangyan Irrigation SystemQingcheng MountainJianfu PalaceShangqing Palace
Buses from Xinnanmen or Beimen stations reach Leshan in about 2 hours; the Giant Buddha is carved into the cliff where three rivers meet, and Emei Shan is 31 km further on a bus that leaves every 10 minutes. If you only have one day, do the Buddha and skip the mountain summit.
Stops: Leshan Giant BuddhaEmei ShanBaoguo Temple
Sights
Wildlife
A park built to copy the pandas' wild bamboo habitat, home to more than 20 giant pandas plus red pandas, black-necked cranes and white cranes. The enclosures and lawns let the animals sit, drink, play or doze as they please, and the bamboo groves make it feel like a forest rather than a zoo.
Tip The nursery and the sub-adult enclosures are where the action is — go there first, then loop back. Weekday mornings are far calmer than weekends.
History
The only temple in China where a ruler and his minister are worshipped together — Liu Bei of Shu Han and his strategist Zhuge Liang. Founded in 223 AD, the complex holds the Hui Mausoleum, the Han Zhaolie Temple and the shrine itself, all under ancient cypresses. Jinli, the 400-metre commercial street next door, is the busiest snack and souvenir lane in the city.
Tip Jinli is at its best after dark when the lanterns come on. Eat lunch there, but expect tourist prices — the snacks are good, the mark-up is real.
Old town
Three parallel lanes — Kuan (wide), Zhai (narrow) and Jing (well) — that preserve the most Chengdu-flavoured slice of the old city. Wide Alley is the leisurely teahouse strip, Narrow Alley the slower courtyard side, Jing Alley the newer bars and weekend creative markets. Free and open all day.
Tip Teahouses and restaurants here charge a premium — you are paying for the courtyard, not the food. For a cheaper, more local bowl of tea, walk to People's Park instead.
History
The riverside home of Du Fu, the great Tang realist poet, on the Huanhua Stream outside the west gate. The original cottage vanished after he left; the poet Wei Zhuang found the site in the Former Shu period and rebuilt it, and it has been preserved and expanded ever since. Quiet, green and far less crowded than the central sights.
Tip Pair it with the Sichuan Museum next door — free, open 09:00–17:00, closed Mondays. Two stops, one afternoon, no taxi needed.
Temple
One of the four great Buddhist monasteries of western Sichuan, first built as a Tang pagoda garden, destroyed in war and rebuilt in 1691 under the Qing. It holds over 500 pieces of painting and calligraphy from the Tang and Song onward, more than 120,000 sutra volumes, and Han-dynasty carvings and embroidery.
Tip The vegetarian snack street beside the monastery is the real draw — go hungry and graze. It is one of the best-value meals in central Chengdu.
Food
The city's defining meal. A copper pot is split into a taiji-shaped divider — clear broth on one side, red chilli-and-numbing-pepper broth on the other — and you cook your own meat, tripe and vegetables at the table. Order the yuan-yang pot if you can't take full heat; regulars dip everything in a dish of sesame oil and minced garlic, never sesame paste. Budget about ¥80 per person, and expect to smell like hotpot for the rest of the night.
Thin hand-pulled noodles under a spoonful of minced pork fried until crisp, with chilli oil, Sichuan pepper and a little preserved vegetable. In the old days vendors carried two copper pots on a shoulder pole — one for noodles, one for stewed chicken or trotters — which is where the name comes from. It is a small bowl, salty and faintly numbing, and it costs almost nothing.
A Chengdu institution: all-pork dumplings, no vegetables in the filling, drowned in sweetened red chilli oil so the sauce comes out salty-sweet rather than purely hot. The original shop dates to the 1890s and has branches near Wuhou Shrine and Wenshu Monastery. Around ¥20 gets you a bowl plus a couple of other local snacks.
The solo and group versions of the same idea. Maocai is a bowl of vegetables, tofu skin and meat blanched in spicy broth and served to one person — the classic cheap lunch. Chuanchuan xiang is the social version: you pull skewers out of a fridge, cook them in a shared pot, and pay by the stick at the end. Both run under ¥40 a head.
Chengdu eats more rabbit than anywhere else in China, and the head is the prized cut — braised until the meat falls off, then served in a ma-la chilli rub. The most famous shop is the original Shuangliu Laoma in Shuangliu county (Qingtai Road 85; 028-85825978), about ¥35 per person. It looks daunting and tastes superb; use your hands and don't worry about dignity.
Where to eat
Hotpot
The most-recommended hotpot chain among locals and visitors alike — a red-broth nine-grid pot that lets you drop different ingredients into different compartments so nothing overcooks, plus a sesame-oil-and-garlic dip you assemble yourself. It is spicy but not brutal, which is exactly why first-timers like it. Branches across the city; book or go early on weekends.
Local institution
A Chengdu fly restaurant — bare tables, plastic stools, a sign announcing it is run by disabled staff and does not issue receipts. The food is pure home-style Sichuan: the qiangxiang fish arrives buried under a mountain of chillies and Sichuan pepper that looks terrifying and turns out to be gentle. Go for lunch, expect a queue, and bring cash.
Fine dining
The old-guard upmarket choice — a quiet, elegant dining room behind two enormous ginkgo trees, with polished versions of the classics. Portions are small but precise: the camphor-and-tea-smoked duck has crisp skin and fragrant meat, and the guoba pork slices come tender in a glossy sauce. This is where you go when you want Sichuan food without the chilli assault.
Street snack
Hidden in a Yulin back alley, with a permanent queue that tells you everything. The rabbit is roasted until the skin crackles and the meat stays dry-fragrant, then torn apart by hand. They vacuum-pack it on request, which makes it the single best edible souvenir in the city.
Where to stay
Backpacker
A large, well-run hostel directly across from Wuhou Shrine, and the easiest place in the city to meet other travellers, swap route notes and book onward tickets. Dorms are cheap and the doubles are genuinely comfortable. Being right on the Wuhou/Jinli doorstep means you can walk to dinner and skip the taxi queue.
Courtyard
The only hostel inside Kuanzhai Alley, which is why it is the default choice for foreign backpackers — you step out the door into the old lanes and can eat your way through the snack stalls. The trade-off is that it books out weeks ahead, especially in spring and autumn, so reserve early.
Mid-range
A practical mid-range base on the western first ring road, beside Qingyang Palace and across from the provincial hospital. Qingyang Palace, Kuanzhai Alley and People's Park are all nearby, the metro is close, and it is noticeably cheaper than anything comparable downtown — a good pick if you plan to spend your days out at Dujiangyan and Qingcheng Mountain.
Getting around
Shuangliu is the busiest civil hub in central-western China, with direct flights from more than 70 Chinese cities and international routes to Hong Kong, Bangkok, Singapore and Tokyo. International and Sichuan Airlines flights use Terminal 1; everything else uses Terminal 2, which opened in 2012.
Chengdu is the biggest rail hub in the southwest and the origin point of the Chengdu-Chongqing, Baocheng, Chengkun and Dacheng lines, with direct services to more than 20 major cities. For Chongqing, Wuhan, Changsha, Nanning, Guiyang, Hangzhou and Guangzhou, use Chengdu East Station.
Two metro lines cross at Tianfu Square: Line 1 (Shengxian Lake to Century City) and Line 2 (Chadianzi to Chengdu Administrative College). Fares are distance-based at ¥2, 3 or 4, capped at ¥5 for a full ride. Buses reach every city sight and most nearby attractions, mostly ¥2 a ride.
Taxis are cheap by big-city standards and worth it when you are splitting the fare with two or three people. For day trips to Dujiangyan, Qingchengshan or the Panda Base, a rented car gives you far more freedom than tour coaches.
Shopping
The soul of Sichuan cooking, made in Pixian on the Chengdu plain where Dujiangyan irrigation grows unusually good broad beans. The paste is glossy red, the beans still crunchy, and the heat is serious — use it as a condiment or eat it straight over rice. Buy it in any supermarket or the Sichuan Specialty Mall at 10 Yusha Road on Xinhua Avenue, the city's biggest and cheapest souvenir hall, ten minutes on foot from Chunxi Road.
Shu embroidery is one of China's four great embroidery traditions alongside Hunan, Suzhou and Guangdong work, and Chengdu's silk production made it the finest in the empire. Shu brocade dates to the Eastern Han and Three Kingdoms, woven in dense patterns like Fangfang, Yusu and Sanhua brocades. Expect ¥200–1,000 for a 7–12-inch piece — a serious gift, priced accordingly.
Chengdu runs on jasmine tea. It keeps the depth of the leaf while carrying the fresh scent of the flower, and the local brands worth buying are Sanhua, Bitan Piaoxue and Xufu. Prices vary by grade and brand, and any supermarket stocks it — a tin of Bitan Piaoxue makes a better souvenir than another fridge magnet.
The jerky shelves are crowded but only a few names are worth the weight: Zhangfei beef, Liuyanggou and Hongguang beef, the last sold downstairs at the Tibet Hotel. Yak jerky is excellent and costs more. Note that Dengying beef refers to a production technique, not a brand — don't pay a premium for the label alone. Hongqi Mall on Zongfu Street is the biggest grocery retailer in Sichuan and the easiest place to stock up.
Practical
One more thing worth knowing: Chengdu is a genuine hub, not just a stopover. From here you can reach Jiuzhaigou and Huanglong by air or a 9 to 10 hour drive, Leshan and Emeishan in three days by expressway, Dujiangyan and Qingchengshan in two, and Hailuogou's glacier and hot springs in three. Compare options before you commit — see our Chengdu tour packages and Chengdu private tour pages for ready-made routes, or the Chengdu travel guide for the full city picture.
| Money and cards | Chengdu sits mid-range for a western Chinese hub — around ¥2,000 for three days including hotel, food and transport. Attractions charge more than the city does. Cards are widely accepted in hotels and malls, but street stalls, teahouses in parks and most noodle shops are cash or WeChat Pay only. |
|---|---|
| Weather and what to pack | Subtropical monsoon climate, around 16°C annual average and 1,000 mm of rain, with most of it in July and August. The city is overcast most of the year and famously short on sun — locals joke that dogs bark at the sun because it appears so rarely. Summer tops out near 35°C but the humidity makes it feel worse; winter averages above 5°C, grey and damp. Spring and autumn are the golden seasons. Bring an umbrella year-round and layers rather than a heavy coat. |
| Altitude and day trips | Chengdu itself is low and comfortable, but Jiuzhaigou, Huanglong and Hailuogou climb fast. Huanglong tops 3,500 m (11,500 ft), so give yourself a day to acclimatise before the big climbs. Food gets expensive up there because everything is trucked in — bring snacks for the road. |
| Hospitals and emergencies | Sichuan Provincial People's Hospital, 1st Inpatient Building, 32 West 2nd Section of 1st Ring Road, 028-87795180. West China Hospital of Sichuan University, 37 Guoxue Lane, Wainan, 028-85551331. Tourism quality complaints 028-87706026; bus hotline 028-85076868. Sichuan China Youth Travel Service, Room A-01, 3rd floor, 41 Dacisi Road, Jinjiang District, 028-86917661. |
| Tipping and etiquette | Tipping is not expected anywhere except upscale hotel restaurants, where a service charge is already added. In teahouses you pay for the tea, not the seat, and refills are free all afternoon — that is the whole point. Sichuan Opera tickets start at ¥130 at Shufeng Yayun on Qintai Road, with face-changing, fire-spitting, huqin solos and shadow puppetry on the bill. |
| Booking ahead | Chengdu has hotel rooms at every price and rarely sells out — except during National Day, Spring Festival and the May holiday, when you should book weeks ahead. Cheap beds: Chengdu Dream Journey International Youth Hostel opposite Wuhou Shrine (dorm ¥45, standard room ¥135, 028-85570315). Mid-range: Chengdu Lemei Holiday Hotel near Wuhou, standard rooms from ¥170, 028-61516669. Longtang International Youth Hostel is the only one inside Kuanzhai Alley itself, dorm ¥60, standard ¥260, 028-86648408 — book early, it fills fast. |
| Tourist buses and tickets | Chengdu has two metro lines and a dense bus network, and official shuttle buses run between major sights. At Wuhou Shrine you can board a free coach to Qingchengshan, Dujiangyan or the Panda Base once you have bought that attraction's ticket, with a guide along the way. Some temples and museums close one day a week — Sichuan Museum is free and closed Mondays, 09:00–17:00. |
Background
Chengdu is the only major city in China that has held the same site and the same name for its entire history — roughly 3,000 years and counting. The name comes from a Western Zhou account of a king who moved his capital to Qi: after one year it was a settlement, after two a town, after three a city — cheng du, 'becoming a capital.' The Shu Kingdom moved its seat here in the 5th century BC, and the 2001 excavation of the Jinsha site pushed the city's founding back to 611 BC.
In the Western Han the silk-weaving industry was so dominant that the court installed an official Silk Commissioner; hence the nicknames Brocade City and Brocade Official City. By the Northern Song, Chengdu's merchants had invented the world's first paper money, the jiaozi, printed under government licence. In 1644 Zhang Xianzhong sacked the city and five years of war left it all but empty; the Qing repopulated it with the great Huguang migration, and the city rebuilt itself around the teahouses and markets you walk through today.
Chengdu sits in the western floor of the Sichuan Basin at about 500 m, with the Longmen and Qionglai ranges rising to the northwest and the Sichuan plain spreading southeast. Average temperature is around 16°C, rainfall about 1,000 mm, and the signature is cloud: Chengdu gets so few clear days that an old proverb says a Sichuan dog barks at the sun. Humidity stays high year-round, which is why locals eat chillies — to sweat out the damp.
It's also why the city looks the way it does. Because the sun is weak, Chengdu people socialise outdoors in the open air rather than hiding indoors, and the teahouse became the living room of the whole city. Rain concentrates in July and August; winter is dry, rarely below freezing, and almost never snows. The result is that the city's skin is famously good — the basin's soft light and moist air are the reason Chengdu is nicknamed the city of beautiful women.
Further reading
Directed by Hur Jin-ho, starring Gao Yuanyuan and Jung Woo-sung
A Korean engineer returns to Chengdu and rekindles a romance with a former classmate, shot largely in the city's damp, soft light — the Wenshu Monastery area, the panda base and the wet streets. Watch it before you arrive and you'll recognise the way the air smells after rain.
Murong Xuecun, 2002
The novel that made a generation of Chinese readers online-famous. A group of 1970s-born Chengdu friends drink, cheat and drift through the city's smoky bars and hotpot joints; it's a gritty counterweight to the teahouse postcard and worth a read if you want the city's night side rather than its daytime one.
Local dialect novelty song, widely shared online
A jokey Sichuan-dialect track whose lyrics run through the city's daily life — a few rounds of mahjong, a bowl of malatang, an afternoon of storytelling — and which locals treat as a genuine anthem. Listen to it once and you'll understand the tone of voice this whole guide is written in.
The questions visitors ask us most about Chengdu, answered plainly.
Prices and practical details are reviewed every month by our Beijing team and updated the day a rule changes.
Yes, but don't build the whole trip around them. The Panda Base is a solid half-day, and the rest of Chengdu — teahouses, hotpot, Wuhou Shrine, Jinli, Kuanzhai Alley — fills the other two and a half days easily. Most visitors find the slow city life the real highlight.
March to May and September to November. Spring is warm and blossom-heavy, autumn is cool and clear. Summer is humid and overcast rather than brutally hot — rarely above 35°C — but the muggy air saps you. Winter averages above 5°C and is grey and damp, with almost no snow.
Three days covers the essentials: one for the pandas and Wenshu Monastery, one for Wuhou Shrine, Jinli and Kuanzhai Alley, one for tea, shopping and a Sichuan opera show. Add two more if you want Dujiangyan and Mt. Qingcheng, or four to six for Jiuzhaigou, Leshan and Mt. Emei.
Sichuan food is heavy on chilli and Sichuan peppercorn, but you can dial it down — ask for wei la (mild) and most kitchens will oblige. Order a divided yuanyang hotpot with one mild and one spicy broth, and try non-spicy classics like longchaoshou wontons, dandan noodles and sweet water noodles. Western and Cantonese restaurants are easy to find too.
Jiuzhaigou is a one-hour flight from Chengdu to Jiuzhai Huanglong Airport, or a 9–10 hour drive; buses leave from Chadianzi and Xinnanmen stations. Leshan and Mt. Emei are 2–3 hours by bus from Xinnanmen. Dujiangyan and Mt. Qingcheng are 30–40 minutes by high-speed train from Chengdu North Station, ¥15 each way.
For most of the year, no — Chengdu has everything from ¥45 hostel beds to five-star towers, and you can usually walk in. But during Chinese New Year, the May Day holiday and the first week of October, the city fills up fast and prices double. Book at least two weeks ahead for those dates.
Plan this trip
The same places, with a driver, an English-speaking guide and the tickets already bought.
The three great capitals plus a morning with the pandas of Chengdu — the trip we recommend to seven out of ten first-time visitors.
From US$1,690/per person
View tourNine days eating across four regional cuisines, with cooking classes, market walks and a Chengdu hotpot night that goes late.
From US$1,780/per person
View tourFive days in Sichuan with a half-day volunteering at a panda centre — cleaning enclosures, preparing bamboo and meeting the keepers.
From US$980/per person
View tourFive regions, one journey: imperial north, panda country, the karst rivers of Guilin and the skyline of Shanghai, with Hangzhou's West Lake.
From US$2,580/per person
View tour
Chengdu
At the gates for 07:30 when the pandas are feeding, then the nurseries, then a Sichuan lunch and a teahouse afternoon.
From US$109/per person
View tour
Chengdu
A morning in People's Park with the retired crowd, sichuan opera at lunch, and an evening of hotpot — the city's own version of a good day.
From US$95/per person
View tour
Chengdu
A 71-metre Tang Buddha carved into a cliff above three rivers, and the Lingyun temple complex behind it — two hours south of Chengdu.
From US$139/per person
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Wutai Mountain
City guide · 12 tours
China's foremost Buddhist mountain — fifty-plus temples in one valley, crowned by five flat-topped peaks up to 3,058 m.
Hulunbuir
City guide · 12 tours
China's finest grassland — a 263,000 km² sweep of steppe, birch forest and border river, best driven with the windows down.
The Forbidden City
City guide · 12 tours
Beijing's 600-year imperial palace — 8,700 rooms behind a 72-hectare wall, and the largest surviving wooden palace complex on earth.
Sanya
City guide · 12 tours
China's only true winter-sun coast — four very different bays, a coral island and a 108 m sea Buddha, all at 18° north.
Haikou
City guide · 12 tours
Hainan's capital is the island's living city — 600-year-old arcade streets, a volcanic village, and a morning-tea-to-midnight food culture.
Beihai
City guide · 12 tours
24 km of fine white sand on one side, a volcanic island of coral and lava on the other — plus a 19th-century arcade old street in between.
Nanning
City guide · 12 tours
Guangxi's green capital is a gateway to Detian Falls, Beihai and Vietnam — and a genuinely excellent food city if you let it slow you down.
Guangxi
City guide · 12 tours
One autonomous region, a dozen landscapes — limestone peaks and rice terraces in the north, a Vietnam border and a warm gulf coast in the south.
Huizhou
City guide · 12 tours
A free West Lake, a Taoist mountain and 200 km of white-sand coast — the Pearl River Delta's most underrated weekend.
Beidaihe
City guide · 12 tours
Northern China's classic beach escape — one sunrise headland, 10 km of calm swimming water, and a bird flyway overhead twice a year.
Shanhaiguan
City guide · 12 tours
The town where the Great Wall stops being a rumour of mountains and walks into the Bohai Sea.
Baiyangdian
City guide · 12 tours
The biggest freshwater lake on the North China Plain — and almost none of it can be reached except by boat.
Qinhuangdao
City guide · 12 tours
126 km of Bohai coast in one municipality — a working port, two famous resorts, and the only desert dunes that meet this sea.
Yesanpo
City guide · 12 tours
Gorge country where the Taihang and Yan ranges collide — 52.5 km of canyon walls, a cave that spits fish, and a river to fall off.
Zhuhai
City guide · 12 tours
The delta's slow city: a 28 km promenade, 146 islands, oysters fattened where the river meets the sea.
Wuyi Mountain
City guide · 12 tours
Nine bends of clear water, red sandstone cliffs, and the tea that made a mountain's name.
Jiuzhaigou
City guide · 12 tours
108 mineral-blue lakes in one 55 km valley — the place that ruins water everywhere else for you.
Mount Siguniang
City guide · 12 tours
Four snow peaks, three valleys, and the friendliest 5,000 m mountain in China to stand on top of.
Hailuogou
City guide · 12 tours
A glacier that comes down to 2,850 m, hot springs in the forest, and Gongga Shan filling the sky above both.
Daocheng Yading
City guide · 12 tours
Three 6,000 m sacred peaks, glacial lakes at 4,600 m and twenty hours of road — the hardest, highest payoff in Sichuan.
Shunan Bamboo Sea
City guide · 12 tours
Seventy thousand mu of bamboo over twenty-eight hills, a red sandstone corridor under a closed green roof, and a banquet made entirely of bamboo.
Dujiangyan
City guide · 12 tours
Not a monument but a machine: three pieces of engineering with no dam, still doing their job after 2,270 years.
Qingcheng Mountain
City guide · 12 tours
The mountain where Daoism was organised, and the one Chengdu escapes to when the basin turns into an oven.
Qingdao
City guide · 12 tours
Red-tiled roofs, cold beer and a granite mountain that walks straight into the sea — the easiest good time on the Yellow Sea.
Mount Tai
City guide · 12 tours
1,545 metres, 6,290 stone steps and three thousand years of emperors — the one mountain in China that is also a document.
Jinan
City guide · 12 tours
A provincial capital with 700 springs under the pavement — people still queue at the spouts to fill their kettles.
Weihai
City guide · 12 tours
1,000 km of clean coast, a free bathing beach, the island where the Beiyang Fleet died — and thousands of wild swans every winter.
Qufu
City guide · 12 tours
One family, two thousand years of steles, and a ¥150 pass that covers the lot — the easiest serious day trip in Shandong.
Penglai
City guide · 12 tours
China's immortals' coast — a Song-dynasty naval harbour you can walk for free, a mythology nobody ever found, and the ferry to 32 islands.
Changdao
City guide · 12 tours
32 islands, one causeway, a ¥150 land pass, tens of thousands of gulls and nowhere you can drive — the place where everything happens by boat.
Nanjing
City guide · 12 tours
Capital of six dynasties, capital of the Republic, and the city that eats more duck than anywhere else on earth.
Suzhou
City guide · 12 tours
Two thousand five hundred years of canals, sixty surviving gardens, and a city that shuts its gates at half past five.
Zhouzhuang
City guide · 12 tours
Nine hundred years, fourteen bridges, one ticket — and a town that only makes sense before eight in the morning.
Tongli
City guide · 12 tours
Fifteen canals, seven islets, forty-nine bridges — and a town that still gets up at dawn because it lives here.
Wuxi
City guide · 12 tours
Taihu on one side, a Grand Buddha on the next hill, and ribs sweet enough to argue about — the most underrated city on the Yangtze delta.
Yangzhou
City guide · 12 tours
A city built by salt merchants who had more money than restraint — gardens, a narrow lake, and the best breakfast in China.
Zhenjiang
City guide · 12 tours
Three hills, one ferry landing, and an unreasonable share of Chinese literature — the Yangtze city people drive past.
Changzhou
City guide · 12 tours
A 2,500-year-old canal city that built a dinosaur park and refuses to apologise for it.
Wuzhen
City guide · 12 tours
A town that is two towns: the older, quieter East Zone and the lit-up West Zone you sleep inside.
Xitang
City guide · 12 tours
Nine canals, 122 lanes, one long roofed corridor — and a town that still works for a living.
Hangzhou
City guide · 12 tours
A lake in the middle of a city, a tea village in the hills, and two thousand years of getting the mood right.
Xixi Wetland
City guide · 12 tours
Ten square kilometres of marsh inside Hangzhou, and the only way into half of it is a boat.
Ningbo
City guide · 12 tours
A 7,000-year-old port with Asia's oldest private library, a free waterfront 20 years older than Shanghai's, and the best seafood before the islands.
Mount Putuo
City guide · 12 tours
A Buddhist island with no cars, three great temples and a ¥10 lunch that is the point of the place.
Qiandao Lake
City guide · 12 tours
A thousand islands that did not exist sixty years ago, and the cleanest big-lake water in China.
Shaoxing
City guide · 12 tours
Two and a half thousand years of water-town China, and Lu Xun's house is free.
Zhoushan
City guide · 12 tours
1,390 islands, one road bridge in, and a harbour that lands more fish than almost anywhere on earth.
Hengdian
City guide · 12 tours
A backlot the size of a town, where the palaces are copies and the film crews are real.
Yandang Mountain
City guide · 12 tours
A volcano that weathering turned into scenery — 500-odd sights of peak, cave and waterfall across eight scenic areas.
Zhejiang
City guide · 12 tours
One small, mountainous, absurdly rich province that holds a lake, two canal towns, a Buddhist island and a dead volcano.
Hong Kong Outlying Islands
City guide · 12 tours
Two hundred-odd islands, half an hour of ferry from the financial district, and not a car on three of them.
Hong Kong Shopping
City guide · 12 tours
A duty-free port where the tag starts lower, two citywide sale seasons knock a third off, and every mall sits on an MTR exit.
Macao
City guide · 12 tours
Four hundred years of Portuguese streets, a fake Venice under a painted sky, and the best egg tart in Asia.
Urumqi
City guide · 12 tours
The city furthest from the sea, with a snow range on its doorstep and dinner starting at nine.
Hong Kong SAR, China
City guide · 11 tours
A harbour skyline you already know by heart, dim sum trolleys at dawn, and 260 islands an hour from the neon.
Taiwan, China
City guide · 11 tours
Night-market alleys, high-mountain railways, and a coastline that changes character every hundred kilometres.
Qinghai Lake
City guide · 12 tours
A 4,400 sq km inland sea at 3,200 m, ringed by rapeseed gold, prayer flags and the best cycling road in China.
Mount Emei
City guide · 11 tours
A 3,099-metre Buddhist summit you can reach by cable car before lunch — and a mountain full of monkeys that will absolutely rob you.
Beijing
City guide · 11 tours
Six centuries of imperial red walls, a Great Wall you can climb before lunch, and the best roast duck on earth.
Taipei
City guide · 11 tours
A 24-hour bookstore, a night market that never stops sizzling, and a city that apologises when you bump into it.
North Xinjiang
City guide · 11 tours
Alpine lakes the colour of poured enamel, a village of log cabins under birch trees, and the last tear the Atlantic ever sheds.
Lanzhou
City guide · 11 tours
A city split in half by the Yellow River, where beef noodles are a breakfast ritual and the Silk Road still runs through the streets.
Mount Hua
City guide · 11 tours
Five granite peaks, one plank road bolted to a cliff face, and a sunrise that justifies the 2am start.
Dunhuang
City guide · 11 tours
A desert oasis where Buddhist cave art survived a thousand years and a crescent lake refused to dry up.
Gannan
City guide · 11 tours
433 kilometres of the Yellow River's first bend, a 3.5 km prayer-wheel circuit, and Tibetan grasslands almost nobody has commercialised yet.
Sichuan–Tibet Highway
City guide · 11 tours
2,142 kilometres of cliff-edge switchbacks, four of China's most beautiful mountains, and a road the Tibetans walk on their knees.
Kangding
City guide · 11 tours
The town that gave Asia its most famous love song, a 7,556m sacred peak on its doorstep, and the last real Tibetan town before the road climbs to Lhasa.
Lhasa
City guide · 12 tours
A city of prayer wheels and butter lamps at 3,700 metres, where the sun shines 3,000 hours a year and the world's highest palace watches over it all.
Nyingchi
City guide · 11 tours
Tibet's greenest corner — peach blossom valleys, a 7,782 m peak that hides from almost everyone, and the world's deepest canyon.
Namtso
City guide · 11 tours
A 1,920-square-kilometre sheet of impossible blue at 4,718 metres, ringed by snow peaks and prayer flags.
Chongqing
City guide · 12 tours
A vertical city of fog, cable cars and cliff-side stilt houses, where the火锅 never stops boiling and the night skyline outshines Hong Kong.
Qiandongnan
City guide · 11 tours
A thousand Miao households stacked up a mountainside, drum towers and wind-rain bridges in Dong villages, and a 600-year-old Ming garrison town on the road to Guiyang.
Libo
City guide · 11 tours
Emerald rivers threading through karst peaks, a 600-metre forest growing out of a riverbed, and China's largest wild plum grove.
Guiyang
City guide · 11 tours
China's summer capital at 1,100 metres, where the nights run on sour fish soup, street-side barbecue and mahjong that never quite stops.
Zhenyuan
City guide · 11 tours
A 2,000-year-old river town where the Wuyang River carves an S through the mountains and every lane hides a story.
Huangguoshu
City guide · 11 tours
Asia's biggest waterfall, and the only one on earth you can walk behind, above and around — plus 600-year-old Ming dynasty villages a short drive away.
Harbin
City guide · 11 tours
Minus 30 degrees, a frozen river you can walk across, and a cathedral built by Russians who never went home.
Yunnan
City guide · 11 tours
Snow mountains, tropical rainforest, twenty-five minorities and a plate of rice noodles — all in one province.
Shanghai
City guide · 11 tours
A 1920s waterfront of colonial banks facing a science-fiction skyline, soup dumplings you eat with a straw, and 20 million people moving like clockwork.
Zhangjiajie
City guide · 11 tours
Three thousand sandstone pillars straight out of Avatar, a glass skywalk bolted to a cliff, and a cable car that leaves from downtown.
Guangzhou
City guide · 11 tours
A 2,200-year-old trading port where dim sum is a religion, colonial islands sit beside 600-metre towers, and the food never stops.
Guilin
City guide · 11 tours
Karst peaks rising straight out of a green river, rice terraces carved into mountainsides, and the best bowl of noodles you'll eat in China.
Shenzhen
City guide · 11 tours
A fishing village that became a megacity in forty years — and it still has 500-year-old banyans, empty beaches and dim sum worth the border crossing.
Xinjiang
City guide · 11 tours
Snow peaks, grassland, desert and oasis — one-sixth of China, and the longest road you will ever ride.
Xi'an
City guide · 14 tours
Thirteen dynasties of emperors, a terracotta army buried for 2,200 years, and a walled city you can cycle in 100 minutes.
Qinghai
City guide · 11 tours
China's high-altitude blue heart: a salt lake you can walk on, a 3,200-metre sea, and yak butter tea at the roof of the world.
Tibet
City guide · 11 tours
A plateau the size of Western Europe where the sky starts at your feet, prayer flags carry the wind, and the roads run past 8,000-metre peaks.
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