Location: Chengdu
Top Things to do in Chengdu
- 1. Dujiangyan Panda Base and Center for Disease Control
- 2. Giant Panda Breeding Research Base (Xiongmao Jidi)
- 3. Chengdu Metro
- 4. Mount Qingcheng
- 5. Jinsha Site Museum
- 6. Wenshu Yuan Monastery
- 7. Anshun Bridge (Dongmen Bridge)
- 8. Opera House Chengdu
- 9. Happy Valley of Chengdu
- 10. Wuhou Memorial Temple
Top Restaurants in Chengdu
- 1. Chen Mapo tofu (Luomashi）
- 2. Zaozishu Vegetarian Restaurant
- 3. Mike's Pizza Kitchen
- 4. Cafe (InterContinental Century City Chengdu)
- 5. Shu JiuXiang Hotpot Restaurant (YuLin)
- 6. Shangri-La Hotel Chengdu Cafe Z
- 7. La Rotisserie
- 8. Ponti's Ristorante
- 9. Lixuan Chinese Restaurant (The Ritz-Carlton, Chengdu)
- 10. FLAIR Restaurant & Bar(Ritz-Carlton Chengdu)
Top 10 Things to do in Chengdu, China
Perched in a high mountain valley, Huanglong or Yellow Dragon National Park offers invigorating adventure options. The ambitious can trek to Lhasa, whitewater raft or embark on multi-day river journeys. Alternatively, a five-mile trot brings you to five terraced, temple pools glowing with stunning hues.
Restaurants in Chengdu
1. Dujiangyan Panda Base and Center for Disease Control
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 148 reviews
Dujiangyan Giant Panda Base enjoys a favorable climate and natural environment with vast bamboo forest coverage and lovely scenic surroundings. The base covers an area of about 51 Hectares (126 acres), including a panda hospital, a medical lab, 10 sets of monitoring enclosures, 30 sets of enclosures, a panda kitchen, an educational center and staff housing.
Reviewed By bubblebath89 - london
Very expensive volunteering trip. Also repetitive. You do the same volunteering tasks in the same panda pen before and after lunch, photo experience too short.
2. Giant Panda Breeding Research Base (Xiongmao Jidi)
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 5 reviews
Reviewed By Erwin H - Antwerp, Belgium
It takes approximately 25min with taxi from Shangri La hotel to the Panda Park. The best is to go as early as possible. The park opens at 07:30 (closes at 18:00), no queue to buy your ticket, less people and very active panda’s.
They are very cute but also very lazy. All the pandas have very clean and spacious outside areas.
Don’t forget to go to see the red panda’s as well they don’t have the same cute factor, but they are beautiful as well!
Park is well maintained, clean and smoke free :)
The entrance price is 58 RMB
When leaving the park be aware of the taxi ‘cheaters’. Ensure before entering they using the taximeter!!!
3. Chengdu Metro
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 225 reviews
Reviewed By Jim V
For about 50 cents you can go Anywhere on this huge ultramodern subway system. Subway machines to purchase tickets are in English and Chinese however not all of the menu options are clearly explained in English .
Navigating is difficult as a result. Station names are announced in English and in Chinese. The helps.
Road signs are often not in English however.
4. Mount Qingcheng
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 987 reviews
A natural scenic area and a holy mountain of Taoism.
Reviewed By Alex W - Singapore, Singapore
If it's your first time in China, it may be quite a wow, but frankly, there are thousands of temples all over the continent-sized country similar to these ones on QingChengShan (the Chinese name for Mount QingCheng). To aficionados, however, these temples do have added significance for their age and historical relationship with Taoism. As for the mountain scenery, many places will offer just as good, if not better views.
My overall score is two stars: somewhat disappointing, go only if you have extra time to spare.
Nevertheless, it makes for a nice change of pace as a day trip out of Chengdu. That said, even though it was the middle of the week, there were still a lot of domestic tourists. You’re never alone.
I paired QingChengShan with visiting the Dujiangyan project (see my review at Dujiangyan), doing Dujiangyan in the morning and QingChengShan in the afternoon.
I notice that most reviews are from people within organised tours. If you're planning to go solo on public transport, there are details below.
If you're planning to get here directly from Chengdu, take the train from Chengdu's Xipu Railway Station. You can reach Xipu using Chengdu's metro system -- it's the last stop on Metro Line 2 (to the northwest). The train and metro stations virtually share the same building though they have different entrances.There are trains roughly hourly from Xipu to QingChengShan via Dujiangyan. Journey time Xipu to QingChengShan is about 50 minutes.
Always have your passport with you. You cannot buy a train ticket without it.
As mentioned above, I didn’t get here directly from Chengdu. Instead, I had spent the morning in Dujiangyan’s Lidui Park (see my review in Dujiangyan). After that, from outside Lidui Park, I took the local bus #101 that went directly to QingChengShan scenic area.
QingChengShan is also the name of the small town and the surrounding district; not just the mountain area. So, be careful which “QingChengShan” you are referring to when asking for directions or schedules, otherwise you may get wrong information. The mountain (or scenic area) is some distance from the town.
Anyway, bus #101, after going through the town, proceeds to the mountain, stopping at QingChengShan railway station along the way. The bus took about 45 minutes from Dujiangyan’s Lidui Park.
Things get a bit more complicated at the mountain. Best to think of it as four different segments.
The first is from the bus park to the ticket gate. It’s about 1.0km to 1.5km, and a gentle climb upwards. There’s a shuttle bus (10 yuan) if you prefer not to walk.
Then pay 90 yuan admission at the ticket gate. The second segment, on foot, is another gentle climb with some steps, from the ticket gate to a lake. Follow the broad path (and other people). If you ignore the people, you can enjoy the many trees and greenery.
It’s a small lake, held by Mountains on three sides. There are toilet facilities here. The cable car station is on the other side of the lake. You can walk to the cable car station along a wooden path around the lake or you can pay more money and take the ferry.
The third segment is the steep part. You can take the cable car ride up a few hundred metres. 35 yuan one way. There is a path you can walk if you think you're fit enough. There are many steps.
The cable car does not take you to the top, but it does take you to where the cluster of Taoist temples begin. No two are the same. They’re brightly coloured and richly ornamented, and very much in use by the devout.
The fourth segment is on foot again – a lot of steps, as you wander around from one temple to another, ascending higher and higher, with lovely views of Valleys beyond. If you take it slowly, you can get to the top-most pagoda.
Have good shoes. The stone steps get slippery when wet. No grab bars for your hands.
Getting back to Chengdu: Down at the bus park below the ticket gate, I took bus #101 again. Two stops and 5 minutes later, I was at QingChengShan railway station. It may not be obvious that you have reached the railway station. Depending on which side of the bus you’re sitting at, it may look as if the #101 bus is pulling into a bus park instead of a railway station, but there is a reason why there are other buses waiting here: because there’s a railway station nearby. Look a little beyond and up: you will see a massive modern building too big for the little town of QingChengShan. That’s the railway station, from where you can catch a train back to Xipu in Chengdu (via Dujiangyan).
5. Jinsha Site Museum
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 417 reviews
Reviewed By sunyswimpurch - Hefei, China
We went there expecting to see dirt. And dirt we did see, but because we paid for an English speaking guide we could understand so much more about the site, the history of the people, and the future plans for the site. It brought to life the dirt and beautiful artifacts. We took a 7yo and 3yo. After the "dirt" section the 3yo got bored but the guide made it interesting enough for adults and 7yo throughout. Highly recommend for 2 hours worth of time.
6. Wenshu Yuan Monastery
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 904 reviews
Reviewed By kisssit_xo - Fuzhou, China
Both were closed when we arrived around 7pm. But it had some great places to take place photos and a cute little garden area.
7. Anshun Bridge (Dongmen Bridge)
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 83 reviews
Reviewed By TangCS74 - Singapore
Nice bridge spanning both banks of jin Jiang river. Hotel, eateries and bars on both sides of the bank. There are baskers too performing for a living. Lots of human traffic. However the bridge is currently closed for upgrading so you might have to make a big detour to go over from one side to another.
8. Opera House Chengdu
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 94 reviews
Reviewed By Shaka_Frank - Aiea, Hawaii
Nitpickers will always find something annoying or negative about this show. But, we found it to be an outstanding experience overall. The shadow performance, the face-changers and the man playing the two-string Chinese instrument to me were the highlights. It's not the Shanghai Circus. It is, for lack of better description, a variety show, and a very colorfully costumed one at that. The performers are representative of local talents, meaning somewhat traditional Chinese performance art that isn't seen many other places. You won't like all of it, but you will love the other parts. One of the face-changers came up to my wife and demonstrated his blink-of-an-eye ability to change masks. Next to the Pandas, this was our second favorite memory of Chengdu.
9. Happy Valley of Chengdu
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 280 reviews
Reviewed By Annarita D - Chengdu, China
I went there with some of my friends, despite the fact that is located in China, the park is not crowded at all except the Spring Festival (Chinese new year) period. The entrance is a little bit overpriced 190RMB, the attractions are good, but it can happen that sometimes some are closed for maintenance which is a pity. Big but not huge.
10. Wuhou Memorial Temple
Overall Ratings
4 based on 693 reviews
Reviewed By Daniel A - Beijing, China
There was another surprise for us here. The place was very beautiful but there weren’t that many people here and the 60RMB price was cut in half. There must’ve been some special promotion going on in Chengdu during Christmas time because many attractions were half off. I sure didn’t mind that at all. The grounds were absolutely stunning and people weren’t pushing and shoving so the Memorial is an excellent place to come and unwind, relax and enjoy some pleasant Gardens and trees.
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