Chengdu is a relaxing city with delicious Sichuan food and beautiful natural scenery like Xiling Snow Mountain, and it is one of the happiest cities in China, and also a city regarded as suitable for living.
Reading Guide:
Sichuan hot pot or Chengdu hot pot.
Sichuan gourmet. Famous Chengdu food are Sichuan noodles(Dan Dan Noodles), Szechuan beef, Szechuan style chicken(Bang Bang Chicken & Bo Bo Chicken), Sichuan shrimp, Mapo Toufu, and Long Chao Shou(Chengdu Wonton).
Chengdu beauty. Chengdu is a beautiful city with good-looking woman.
Chengdu panda. Chengdu is a home to China panda, and Chengdu is panda breeding base.
Chengdu surrounding tours. Chengdu is a transit city to Jiuzhai Valley, Huanglong, Mount Emei, and Garze.
Chengdu leisure city. Chengdu is a leisure city, and people in here live a low pace with a high happiness index.
→Recommended Tours:
→4 Days Best Chengdu Tour
Sichuan is home of giant panda, due to its special climate and geography. Giant panda is a national treasure in China, and loved by Chinese and people from all over the world.
♦ Is giant panda endangered?
Yes, giant panda anda is endangered animal, few in number. And the number of giant panda is growing up because human protection and panda bases.
♦ Where can I see giant panda?
Sichuan is the best place to see panda. Big cities in China like Beijing have pandas bred in zoo, and some cities in foreign countries also have pandas which are gifts from China.
Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding. In Chengdu, tourists and visitors could go to Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding to see those cute giant pandas: panda house, natural play-yard of panda, baby panda, what panda eat, and how panda play.
Wolong Panda Base, Bifengxia Panda Base, and Dujiangyan Panda Base are giant panda habitat, and totally worthy visiting. They are three pandas of China Giant Panda Protection and Research Center, which are paradise to pandas and they have beautiful natural sceneries. One disadvantage is they are a little far from Chengdu. Dujiangyan Panda Base is about 65 km from Chengdu. Bifengxia Panda Base is about 160 km from Chengdu, and 8 km from Ya’an city. Wolong Panda Base is about 63 km from Chengdu.
→Recommended Tours:
→Chengdu Giant Panda Volunteer Tour
→One Day Chengdu Panda Volunteer Tour
Xiling Snow Mountain is a site of World Natural Heritage, and habitat of Giant Panda, and a paradise for skiing. Xiling Snow Mountain is located in Dayi county, about 115 km from Chengdu downtown, which is 2-3 hours driving.
Xiling Snow Mountain has a height of 5353 meters, with the peaks' top covered by snow all year round. Xiling Snow Mountain scenery area is so big that it has many attractions, even hotels for tourist and visitors. Xiling Snow Mountain is not just one mountain, but many mountains, with great natural scenery of mountains in four seasons. Xiling Snow Mountain is famous for its ski resort with over 10 snow amusement programs, where people could enjoy skiing and also see beautiful winter snow scenery. Xiling Snow Mountain has a cableway with a length of 2500 meters and a fall of 1000 meters in height for tourists to enjoy spectacular mountain scenery.
♦ How to Get to Xiling Snow Mountain from Chengdu?
Option 1. By Bus/ about 2.5 hours. Take a bus to Xiling Snow Mountain from bus station like Chengdu Bus Station, Chengdu Chadianzi Bus Station, and Chengdu Xinnanmen Bus Station.
Option 2. By taxi or car. If you are in a group of 3 or more, you can take a taxi or charter a car.
Qingcheng Mountain is a World Cultural Heritage site and a holy mountain in Sichuan. Qingcheng Mountain is located in Dujiangyan, about 68 km from Chengdu. Qingcheng Mountain is a home to Taoism, and with many Taoism temples and buildings. It is suitable for tourists who like to see natural scenery, or those who are into climbing, or people interested in Taoism culture.
►How to Get to Qingcheng Mountain from Chengdu
By train. Take train from Chengdu to Qingcheng Mountain railway station, then take bus No. 101 to Qingcheng Mountain scenery area.
By bus. Take a bus in any bus station in Chengdu
Qingyang Gong is a famous Taoism Temple in China, and it has a long history for almost 3,000 years, first built in the Zhou Dynasty ( 1046 AD-256 AD). Qingyang Gong has many halls and buildings of Taoism, and the existing buildings were mainly built in the time period of 16677-1671. Qing Gong is recommended to tourists who are into Taoism culture and architecture.
Wuhou Temple is a memorial hall built for Zhuge Liang who was a strategist to Shu country, a country in the Three Kingdoms period. Zhuge Liang is a talent with great gift in military strategy, and also a writer who had left us brilliant articles.
Sanxingdui Museum is set up for Sanxingdui to exhibit unearthed relics from Sanxingdui Site which is a historic and cultural site. And it tells the history and culture of Ancient Shu Country. Those relics include bronze wares, gold objects, stone wares, and jade wares, and they were made thousands years ago. Sanxing dui Museum is recommended to tourists interested in China history, China culture and China relics.
→Recommended Tours:
→4 Days Chengdu, Dujiangyan and Mt. Qingcheng Tour
Chengdu is the capital city of Sichuan province, center of Sichuan, and has convenient transportation to Jiuzhai Valley, Mount Emei, and Leshan Giant Buddha.
Jiuzhai Valley has built its international name for its spotless beauty. I bet you must have heard it or see its unrivalled pictures. Jiuzhai Valley is famous as a wonderland and a pure world, which is composed of blue sky, white cloud, mountain,colorful forest, green river and lake. It is also a World Natural Heritage site under national protection. Jiuzhai Valley is about 520 km from Chengdu, accessible by flights and bus.
Mount Emei is a famous Buddhism mountain, with gorgeous natural scenery. Mount Emei is 3099 meters hign, and has many Buddhism buildings on the mountain. Though climbing Mount Emei is hard, its breath-taking beauty is worthy this trek. Mount Emei is located in Emei city, about 160 km from Chengdu, accessible by train and bus.
Leshan Giant Buddha is a Buddha sculpture carved out of a mountain along river. Leshan Giant Buddha was first made in 713 and completed in 803, and it is the biggest sculpture of cliff carving in China. The Buddha has stood along the river for over 1,000 years no matter how the world changes. Leshan Giant Buddha is located in Leshan city, about 150 km from Chengdu, accessible by train and bus.
→Recommended Tours:
→6 Days Sichuan Tour to Leshan & Mt. Emei
→6 Days Chengdu to Jiuzhaigou Tour
→8 Days Highlight Sichuan Tour
Sichuan food is very popular in China and also in foreign countries. While travelling in Sichuan, tourists should really try some Sichuan 8 Days Highlight Sichuan Tour. Most popular Sichuan food are Mapo Toufu, Pork lungs in chili sauce(Fuqi feipian), Szechuan style chicken, rabbit brain, Sichuan noodles and Sichuan hot pot.
►Sichuan food is renown for spicy, and peppers are putted in almost every dish people eat, especially in Sichuan hot pot. Szechuan sauce, Szechuan peppercorn and Pixian doubanjiang are popular condiments, and used to improve flavor.
►Mapo Toufu.
Mapo Toufu is a classic dish of Szechuan gourmet, with enormous fans in the world. Mapo Toufu is an easy-made dish, and everyone could make a Mapo Toufu dish.
Mapo Toufu ingredient: toufu, and ground beef(or minced pork meat).
Mapo Toufu condiment: Sichuan peppercorn, pepper, doubanjiang, minced garlic, minced ginger, and chopped green onion.
►Sichuan hot pot.
Chinese people like to eat hot pot, especially in winter. In China, three styles of hot pot are very popular, Beijing hot pot, Sichuan hot pot and Chongqing hot pot. Sichuan hot pot is somewhat like Chongqing hot pot. The most important of Sichuan hot pot is the soup in hot pot, which will give eaters wonderful flavor. Except the soup, there are various of dishes prepared for eaters, including meats, vegetable, and noodles.
Most popular dishes to locals for Sichuan hot pot are cattle tripe, beef slices, duck intestine, and crispy meat. For those dishes, you could order what you want. But remember Sichuan hot pot is really spicy.
►Sichuan style chicken.
Bang Bang Chicken is a cold dish of chicken and chicken meat is in shreds. With various condiments, chicken could have different flavors. Sichuan noodles are regarded as Top 10 Noodles in China, which are full of Sichuan food style.
In Chengdu, there are several streets, renown for their leisure style, old buildings and cuisines, such as Kuan Zhai Alley, Jinli Street.
Kuan Zhai Alley composed of three alleys, is located in Qingyang district, close to Chengdu People’s Park. It is a well preserved ancient street of the Qing Dynasty, and belongs to a historic and cultural area. In the alley stands houses in Siheyuan style, made by black and blue bricks and tiles.
Kuan Zhai Alley has many stores offering various services, where people could have a leisure day. Kuan Zhai Alley is a place where you enjoy Sichuan gourmet, drink cups of tea, and watch Sichuan Opera Performances.Kuan Zhai Alley is famous for Chengdu food and snacks, and in this alley, you could find street food and popular food restaurants.
♦How to Get to Kuan Zhai Alley
Metro: take metro Line 4 and get off from Kuanzhai Alley Metro Station
Public bus: Take Bus No. 51, No. 62, No. 70, No. 93, etc.
Jinli Street Chengdu, Jinli Ancient Street, Jinli Pedetrian Street are the same street, located in Wuhou district, and close to Wuhou Temple, and Jinli Street is a part of the Three Kingdoms culture. Jinli Street Chengdu is the oldest street in Chengdu, famous for over 1000 years, and it is a must-go street in Chengdu, with a name like Wangfujing Street in Beijing and Nanjing Road in Shanghai.
Jinli Street Chengdu is a length of 550 meters, full of food stores selling Sichuan gourmet to tourists and visitors. In Jinli Street, tourist could enjoy a wide variety of Sichuan food and snacks, drink tea and see Folklore performances.
How to Get to Jinli Street
Tourists could take bus No. 335, No. 1, No. 21, No. 334, etc.
Chengdu People’s Park is a leisure park, popular to local people. Chengdu People’s Park has a river flowing through, square , tea house, flower garden, lake, and so on. Chengdu People’ s Park is a place where people have a leisure day, playing tachi, watching performances, drinking tea and chatting with friends.
♦ Where is Chengdu China?
Chengdu is located in southwest of China, and it is the capital city of Sichuan province. Chengdu is close to Chongqing( about 400 km), Kunming in Yunnan province(about 900, 1 h 25 min flight), Guilin(about 1100 km, 1 h 45 min flight), and Zhangjiajie(about 880 km, 1 h 20 min flight).
♦ Chengdu Airport.
Chengdu has one airport, Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport. Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport has direct international flights to cities like Soul, Singapore, and Bangkok, and international flights with stay-over in another airport to cities like Paris, and Vancouver. Chengdu Airport has domestic flights to almost cities equipped with airports, and frequent flights to big cities like Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Xi’an, and Shenzhen.
♦ How Far is Chengdu from Beijing?
Chengdu is about 1800 km from Beijing, 2 h 55 min flight, and 10 h train.
♦ How Far is Chengdu from Shanghai?
Chengdu is about 1950 km from Shanghai, 3 h 15 min flights and 30+ h train.
♦ How to Get to Chengdu Downtown from Chengdu Airport?
Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport is about 20 km away from Chengdu downtown, and it is within 30 min driving.
Tourists and visitors could take airport express bus to Chengdu Downtown.
Take taxi.
Take public bus, take metro, or take inter-city train.
♦ How to Get to Jiuzhai Valley from Chengdu?
Option 1. By flight/ about 1 hour. Take flight from Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport to Jiuzhai Huanglong Airport.
Option 2 . By bus/ about 9 hours. Take a bus from Xiananmen Bus Station or Chadianzi Bus Station to Jiuzhai Valley.
Chengdu 144-hour Visa Free Transit Policy is implemented from January, 1st, 2019, and citizens from 53 countries like Austria, and Belgium enjoy 144-hour visa free transit in Chengdu on the following conditions.
♦ Conditions for Chengdu 144-hour visa free transit
♦ How to apply Chengdu 144-hour visa free transit:
Necessary materials: valid passport, connected international flights to a third country
Fill in entry card and get checked by staff from China Immigration Inspection to get temporary entry permit.
► Recommended Readings:
Top Reasons to Visit Sichuan
Top Reasons to Visit Hong Kong
How to plan a trip to Chengdu?
From $ 403