Chengdu is China at its most laid-back: tea houses, spicy hotpot, and of course giant pandas. It’s also the gateway to some of the country’s best day trips.
Where to stay
The Chunxi Road / Taikoo Li area puts you central with great food and metro access. Find Chengdu hotels on Booking.com or Agoda.
Getting there
Chengdu is well connected by air and high-speed rail. Book on Trip.com and arrive into Chengdu East railway station or Tianfu/Shuangliu airports.
Day 1 — Pandas & old streets
- Giant Panda Breeding Base first thing in the morning — pandas are most active before 10am
- Pre-book a panda tour with transfers on Klook or Viator
- Afternoon stroll through Jinli Ancient Street for snacks and souvenirs
Day 2 — Tea, temples & hotpot
- Morning tea at People’s Park (try the ear-cleaning, if you’re brave)
- Wuhou Shrine and the adjacent Jinli lanes
- Evening hotpot — Chengdu’s signature experience
Day 3 — Day trip
- Leshan Giant Buddha — the world’s largest stone Buddha, an easy day trip by train
- Or the Dujiangyan ancient irrigation system, often paired with nearby panda valley
- Chongqing — Chengdu’s mountain-city neighbour is just 1–1.5 hours away by high-speed rail, making a day trip easy: ride the famous Liziba monorail through an apartment block, see the cliffside Hongya Cave lit up at night, and eat the spiciest hotpot in China. (Trains run constantly between Chengdu East and Chongqing — book on Trip.com.)
- Book Leshan or Dujiangyan as a guided day tour on Viator
Chongqing’s cliffside Hongya Cave at night — a 1–1.5 hour bullet-train hop from Chengdu.
Where to eat
Chengdu is the meal — one of the world’s great food cities, from bubbling hotpot to Michelin tables:
Chengdu’s “mandarin-duck” hotpot — a fiery red broth on one side, a mild one on the other.
- Shu Jiu Xiang (蜀九香) — a long-running, reliable hotpot favourite for first-timers (order a half-spicy “mandarin duck” pot).
- Yue Fugui Hotpot (岳富贵火锅) — a much-loved local hotpot name for a more authentic, local-style night.
- Chen Mapo Tofu (陈麻婆豆腐) — the birthplace of mapo tofu, serving it since 1862.
- Song (宋川菜) — elegant, contemporary Sichuan fine dining, plating the regional classics with real finesse.
- Yu Zhi Lan (玉芝兰) — Chengdu’s most exclusive table: an intimate, two-Michelin-starred tasting-menu temple to refined Sichuan cooking by chef Lan Guijun (reservation-only — book well ahead).
Pace yourself with the chilli — and see the full Sichuan cuisine guide for what to order.
Short on time? An 8–10 hour layover plan
Transiting through Chengdu on the 240-hour visa-free scheme? You can still meet the pandas.
- Airport ↔ city: about 60 minutes each way from Tianfu (TFU), or ~40 minutes from Shuangliu (CTU), by metro or Didi. The Panda Base is on the north side, so factor extra travel time and traffic.
- Buffer: budget an hour for immigration plus the extra run out to the Panda Base, and return 3 hours before your onward flight — Tianfu’s distance makes this the tightest of the layover cities.
- That leaves ~4 hours. Best single stop: the Giant Panda Breeding Base (go as early as possible, when pandas are active) — or, if time is tight, a People’s Park tea house and a hotpot lunch closer to the centre.
