Sichuan: More than Home to Pandas

Chengdu > The Dujiangyan Irrigation System >Leshan >Jiuzhai Valley
Recommended tour length: 8 days
Recommended entry city: Chengdu
Recommended departure city: Chengdu
Best time to visit: May to October

Sichuan: More than Home to Pandas

Day 1-5 Chengdu

Chengdu is the capital of Sichuan Province and one of the largest cities in southwest China. Famous for its food, Chengdu was named Asia’s first UNESCO City of Gastronomy.

Recommended excursions and experiences:

Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding (national 4A-level tourist attraction)

The Chengdu panda breeding base currently has the highest number of captive giant pandas in the world. Part scientific research institution for giant panda breeding, part park that simulates the wild habitat of giant pandas, the base has raised 215 giant pandas (number at the end of 2020). Through the fences or glass windows of the park, you can observe the pandas’ roly-poly lifestyles as they eat and play outdoors. If you’re lucky, you might even see some baby pandas.

Websites:https://en.ipanda.com/ and http://www.panda.org.cn/english

Jinsha Museum

Jinsha is a major archaeological site that was discovered in Chengdu in February 2001 and dates back to between 2,600 and 3,200 years ago. At this sacrificial site, archaeologists have unearthed the richest collection of gold and jade articles and the biggest cluster of ivory of anywhere in the world. The museum itself is built over the dig site. One of the museum highlights is the Golden Sun Bird, a carved gold disk that has become a symbol of Chinese history and the Chengdu city logo.

Website: http://www.jinshasitemuseum.com/site-75

People's Park (national 4A-level tourist attraction)

The Chengdu People’s Park was founded in 1911 and is home to the Heming Tea House, a famous 100-year-old teahouse. The park provides a wonderful taste of Chengdu’s famed leisure culture and slow pace of life – people come here to drink tea, meet friends, sing, play cards, chat, date and even have their ears cleaned.

Sanxingdui Museum

This museum is about 80km outside of Chengdu and can be reached in 1.5 hours by bus. Sanxingdui Museum showcases objects from the Sanxingdui archaeologicalsite, whichcovers an area of 12 square kilometres and dates back 2,600 to 4,800 years. The site is the largest, longest-lasting and most culturally-significant dig in Southwest China. At the museum, you can see a large number of artefacts made of gold, bronze, pottery and ivory, including fascinating bronze heads and golden masks.

Dujiangyan Irrigation System (UNESCO World Heritage Site, national 5A-level tourist attraction)

Dujiangyan Irrigation System is about 75km away from Chengdu and can be reached in about 1.5 hours by bus. This ancient irrigation systemwas built in 256 BC and is the oldest and only remaining non-dam water engineering project in the world.What’s more, the system still plays a role in flood control and irrigation to this very day. Dujiangyan irrigation system represents the industriousness and ingenuity of the Chinese people and helped foster the fertile soils and civilization of the Chengdu Plain.

Leshan Giant Buddha (UNESCO World Heritage Site, national 5A-level tourist attraction)

Leshan Giant Buddha is approximately 150km away from Chengdu and can be reached in about two hours by bus. The giant Buddha is a 71-metre-high seated statue carved out of a cliff that took 90 years (713-803 AD) to create –three generations of builders. The Buddha is one of the finest examples of ancient cliff statues in China and also the world’s largest seated stone Buddha. The best place to get a view of the giant Buddha is from ariver cruise,which allows you to take in the entire statue and get a sense of the impressive scale of the work. Visitors who are in good physical shape can also climb the mountain and then descend down thenine-switchback cliff path from the right shoulder of the Giant Buddha down to his feet.

Travel from Chengdu to Jiuzhai Valley

Distance between Chengdu and Jiuzhai Valley: About 400 km Flight: 1.5 hours Bus: 7 hours

Day 6-8: Jiuzhai Valley

Recommended excursions and experiences:

Jiuzhai Valley (UNESCO World Natural Heritage, national 5A-level tourist attraction)

Jiuzhai Valley (also called Jiuzhaigou) is located in Aba Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture of Sichuan. The name Jiuzhaigou means “the valley of nine villages” and the area is said to hold “six wonders”: alpine lakes, waterfalls, colourful forests, snowy peaks, blue ice and Tibetan culture. Famous scenic spots include the Multicolour Pool, Shuzheng Waterfall, Shuzhengqun Sea, Nuorilang Waterfall, and Pearl Beach Waterfall. October is the best time to visit as the forest takes on the colours of autumn. The area is also part of the Minshan mountain range, which is home to a group ofwild giant pandas.

Website: https://en.jiuzhai.com

Huanglong Scenic and Historic Interest Area (UNESCO World Natural Heritage,national 5A-level tourist attraction)

Located in Songpan County, Aba Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture, this area is famous for its multicolour pools, snow-capped mountains, valleys, forests, beaches, ancient temples and local folk customs. The area is also home to giant pandas, Sichuan snub-nosed golden monkeys and other rare species. The well-protected plateau wetland of the Huanglong Valley is the main scenic area and features rare travertine pools and karst landforms. Laid out in terraces going up the mountainside, the crystal clear pools are a mesmerising blue and beautiful to behold.

Recommended departure city: Chengdu

It takes about 1 hour to fly from Jiuzhai Valley to Chengdu

New ways to play

New ways to play in Chengdu