Chengdu Travel Tips

One of China’s most popular tourist destinations, Chengdu is home to giant panda and known for its gastronomic delights. The article has been put together to offer the useful travel tips for Chengdu trips and vacations, so that travelers can understand the best time to travel to Chengdu, how many days needed, the safety travel tips, transportation guide, where to eat, go shopping and enjoy nightlight.

Giant panda in Chengdu

Best Travel Time Chengdu

Chengdu, located in the Sichuan basin, influenced by the subtropical monsoon climate with annual temperature around 16 C (61 F), with distinctive characters of humidity with clouds and mist. Summer is sultry with low temperature morning and evening while a burning after noon; winter is cold and humid, with occasional snow. July and August is the hottest month and Jan the coldest one and the best time to visit Chengdu is in Spring (March to June) and Autumn (September to November). >> Know more about Chengdu weather

Avoid visiting Chengdu during

• May Day Holiday (May 1-3)

• National Day Holiday (October 1-7)

• Spring Festival Holiday (usually falls on late January to middle February)

• School Holidays: Summer holiday (June-September) and winter holiday (January-February)

How Many Days Will Be Needed for a Chengdu Trip?

Two days are enough for a Chengdu highlights tour. For the first day, visit Chengdu giant panda base in the morning, visit the enchanted Wushu Monastery, and have a stroll at Renmin Park to witness local life; For the second day, take a bullet train from Chengdu to Leshan Giant Buddha, come back to Chengdu late afternoon and idle about JInli Old Street to taste famous local snacks. If planning a cooking class at Sichuan Cuisine Museum or a trip to Qingcheng Mountain, one more day is needed. For a tour to JIuzhaigou and Chengdu together, 4 to 6 days are needed.

Suggested Chengdu travel itinerary:

3-day Chengdu Panda Tour With Leshan

6-day Chengdu Jiuzhaigou Tour

Chengdu Safety Tips

Watch out when crossing streets since traffic are hectic in Chengdu, even the walk sign is green; make sure there's no traffic at your both sides.

Keep valuable possessions such as jewels and mobile phone at a safe place.

Be careful around train station as well as crowed areas in city, as thieves would use zazors to cut open pockets and bags.

Avoid taking unlicensed taxi at the airport / rail station.

Watch out for scams and tourist traps, refuse firmly if you don’t want to a souvenir or something.

Ask for help from police or local people if needed; Chinese people are very kind to help foreign travelers.

Chengdu Transportation

Bus and Taxi

As of December 2018, Chengdu has had 13,939 buses and operated 786 bus lines.

As of October 2020, there have been 24 night buses in Chengdu.

As of July 2019, Chengdu Bus has a total of six airport lines. Among them, 3 runs during the day time and the other 3 runs during the night.

All 465 lines and 12,835 buses in the 6 districts of Chengdu City accept the payment via "Tianfu Tong" APP and "Alipay" QR code scanning.

Taxi

Chengdu taxis are green or blue.

Chengdu taxis operating within the downtown area of Chengdu (including the airport and the airport expressway) must be priced by meter.

The taxi fare starts for 8 yuan for economic car (1.6L) and 9 yuan for mid-range car (1.4T, 2.0L) for up to kilometers during the daytime, and then the fare increases at 1.9 yuan increments for each kilometer (2.2 yuan during the night time between 23:00 and 06:00, and normally plus 1 yuan will be charged).

Metro

Chengdu is the 12th city in mainland China that has opened metro. As of December 31, 2020, the mileage of metro in operation in Chengdu is 557.8 km, ranking the third in mainland China. Metro is most convenient way to travel in Chengdu.

By December 2020, Chengdu has opened 12 metro lines, which accept the payment via "Tianfu Tong" APP and "Alipay" QR code scanning.

For travelers in Chengdu, note that Metro Line 1 goes to Tianfu Square, Chengdu North Railway Station, Chengdu South Railway Station, Wenshu Monastery. To visit Jinli Old Street, Wide and Narrow Alleys, or Wuhou Temple, please change for Line 3 or 4.

Public bicycle (shared bicycle / electric bicycle)

If you have Alipay or WeChatPay, you can use the shared bicycle / electric bicycle, which are normally charged 1.5/2 yuan for the first 30 minutes, and then the fare increases at 1 yuan increments for each 30 minutes.

Chengdu Shopping Tips

Popular souvenir on Chengdu tours are Sichuan embroidery, vases, coffee sets, flowers sets of procelain body woven by bamboo, silver filament handiwork, Quanxiang Distilled Liquor and thick broad-bean sauce. Those specialties are available in South Huanhua Road, Huazhaocun Road, Shaanxi Street and Zhulinxiang Road.

Chunxi Road is the main shopping area in Chengdu, with more than 700 shops and malls, department stores, boutiques and street stalls available; Songxian Qiao Antique Market fills of communist relics, old porcelain dishes, jewelry, calligraphy equipment and some Tibetan stuff. Bargain is available; Lotus Wholesale Market is a huge market place for local people, with kinds of local stuff from clothes to home decoration to toys; Wuhou Tibetan Area selling kinds of clothing, textiles, jewelry and Tibetan stuff; Near the Panda base there are some pretty stalls or shops selling kinds of panda toys.

Eating / Drinking in Chengdu

Sichuan cuisine in Chengdu is delicious, fiery as well as spicy, with heavy use of Sichuan pepper which causes your mouth to become a little numb. You may also find the local food too oily or too salty for your taste, and may want to advise your server accordingly. Try the authentic Sichuan dishes with Sichuan pepper is a great experience and use a bottle of milk or something sweet would much better than water.

Hotpot is the most special food in Chengdu, comes with a big pot of soup and spices simmering in a hole in the middle of your table and add-ins like lamb, mushroom, beef, tofu and kinds of vegetables; the served soup in hot pot is spicy or non-spicy available;other reprehensive Chengdu dishes are Tea smoked duck, Twice cooked pork, Mapo dofu, Sichuan hotpot, Fuqi Feipian, Spicy deep-fried chicken, Shuizhu, or literally "Water cooked", dishes, Dan dan noodles, Bon bon chicken.

For where to eat local cuisines and food in Chengdu; please come to Chengdu Food and Restaurants page

Nightlife / Entertainment in Chengdu

Chengdu is famous for its relaxed and laid back lifestyle, from traditional teahouse to modern pubs, cafe, theaters, you will find many place for night activities on your Chengdu tour.

Jinli Old Street is an relaxing area with ancient Chinese style houses, and a great place for night stroll, shopping and eating; if you want to have a drink, go to the bar street located by the river. There are around 30 bars together. Another recommended activities for visitors in Chengdu is enjoying the Sichuan Opera, see their unique technique of changing masks in unbelievable speed and camera shots are forbidden during the performance.

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