One-Day Chengdu Highlights Tour

You’ll receive a welcome call from your guide via hotel, he/she will tell you the exact pick-up time for the next day’s trip. If you are not available at that moment, the tour guide will leave a message for you.

Just in case that if you don’t receive our emails or phone calls, please call our 24-hour hotline at +86-18074837277 or add WeChat ID: tracy-tang829 and we will put things right.

The guide will be waiting in your hotel lobby (or at the appointed location) at the appointed time (usually between 7am and 8am) with a Trippest banner so that you can recognize him or her immediately. You’ll join a group with no more than 6 members, a good size for a better tour experience.

Professional tour guide and our vehicle / Photo by: David Deng

Good to Know:

• In order to escape the crowds, the tour guide might inform you an earlier pickup time in the morning (at about 7am – 7:30am), you will be told by the tour guide in the welcome call.
• We offer free hotel pick-up and drop-off services if your hotel/airbnb/accommodation is within the 3rd ring road of Chengdu City. For further distances, there might be an extra cost for the transfer. Please provide your hotel information on the booking form.
• Our drivers are licensed and experienced with at least 5 years of driving experience to make sure you have a safe trip, while our vehicles are comfortable and spacious, equipped with a safety belt on every seat, air conditioners and unlimited bottled water.

After picking up all the group members we will head to our first destination – Chengdu Panda Base. As you know, Chengdu is a paradise for pandas. Now at least 5 places are opened to the public for seeing pandas in the city and its environs. In order to save your precious time and visit with a best possible experience, we choose Chengdu Giant Panda Breeding and Research Base (Chengdu Panda Base) as the first choice. You may also have a chance to see cute newborn panda babies here.

Chengdu Panda Base

Baby pandas

To make sure you have a better experience, we have designed the best possible routes to avoid crowds and queues, and save your time, so you have more time to see pandas and take photos!

Pandas are more than good-looking and cute, they are special! Join us to find out a full story of how do they live and why do they live in Sichuan. You might not know, the giant panda has been downgraded from endangered to vulnerable species. Follow your tour guide to learn more about what we have done and how human being to protect these cute nature treasures.

The Giant Panda

At the panda base

Good to Know:

• The best time to visit pandas is in the morning, as they are more active in the morning and they usually rest in the afternoon.
• Some panda houses are a little away from fencing. We suggest you bring a telephoto lens if possible, so you can capture panda details.
• Please DO NOT use flashlight. Particularly baby pandas, their eyes are very sensitive to light. Flashlight may well hurt them.
• Please DO NOT feed them with your own food. Your food is not good for them. They have their own daily diet.
• Please DO NOT shout loudly at them, just still looking and respect their living habits, they don’t like being disturbed.

It’s about 40-minute driving back to Chengdu downtown. We’ll drive to a local restaurant to have a Chengdu Hot pot lunch.

While in Chengdu you should not miss hot-pot! It is not only a meal but also a local cultural phenomenon. Because of the hot and humid weather in summer and cold and wet weather in winter, Chengdu locals love to eat hot-pot, especially spicy hot-pot, as hot-pot helps to remove the moisture in your body to keep you healthy.

Nowadays there are hot-pot restaurants in almost every street in Chengdu, more than 30,000 in the city, and now hot-pot is famous the world over. You may have seen hot-pot restaurants in your own country, right?

Today we’ll head to one of the most famous hot-pot restaurants in Chengdu, highly recommended by local people, to experience the original Chengdu hot-pot.

Hot-pot in Chengdu

Good to Know:

• Don’t like spicy food? Don’t know how to use chopsticks? Don’t know how to order hotpot or understand table manners while having hot-pot? Don’t worry, we have considered all these questions. We can order two-flavor hot-pot, allowing you to taste both spicy and non-spicy flavors. Your guide will help you order food and help you eat hot-pot like a local.
• Locals in Chengdu like to eat hot-pot in the evening. That’s why you’ll see long lines of people queuing for food. But we’ll have hot-pot at midday so we don’t have to wait, and we’ll enjoy it in a more comfortable environment.

In the grass-root style opera house, lots of old fans gather round here everyday, meet up friends and enjoy the show. You can be one of them, watching the performance and drinking tea. But the most interesting part of this place, you have a chance to go into their backstage to see how the actors and actresses make up and rehearse.

Good to Know:

• What do they sing? Just some stories from ancient times down to now. Performers tell audiences about these stories in exaggerated and theatrical ways. The tour guide will make a brief introduction to you when the show is on.
• We usually call these venerable performers “Masters”. They are respected. And they’re happy to teach Sichuan Opera if you have great interest. You can also pay 128 yuan per person to try on opera costumes and do a little opera makeup (This part is optional and the fee is on your own expense.).
• You won’t see the celebrated artistic performances like changing faces, rolling light, etc, because Chengdu locals don’t watch these perfomances in every day life.

Local opera troupers in Chengdu

Actors and actresses are making up at the backstage

Rehearsal before the show

After the opera show, we’ll head to Chengdu People’s Park and you’ll see how Chengdu locals spend their free time and observe their unique culture and leisurely lifestyle.

You’ll see people gathering in tea houses, drinking tea, and playing mahjong. You’ll see earwax-cleaning services, old ladies singing and dancing, and parents putting advertisements in the marriage market for their adult children.

Slow down, and put down your burdens. Let’s have a cup of tea and enjoy life just as these Chengdu locals do!

Tea house in the People's Park

Playing mahjong and drinking tea in Chengdu People’s Park

Ear-wax cleaning in Chengdu

Marriage market in Chengdu

After visiting Chengdu People’s Park our trip comes to an end. You will be dropped off at your hotel (or other appointed place).

Night Activity Recommendation: (This is not included in the itinerary)

Chengdu people have a colorful nightlife. In addition to all kinds of modern pubs and bars, you can see there are many theaters in Chengdu. Sichuan Opera is very popular in the city.

We recommend that you watch Sichuan Opera in Shu Feng Ya Yun. You’ll have a chance to experience the celebrated changing faces, hand concepts, suona horns and all kinds of distinctive local arts performed by local Chengdu artists. Amazing and funny!

Sichuan Opera

Good to Know:

• This play starts at about 8 pm and lasts about 1.5 hours.
• In order have a better experience we suggest you book VIP ticket, which cost 320 yuan.
• If you would like to watch this opera please feel free to ask your guide to help you book tickets. Your guide will escort you for the whole show and finally send you back to your hotel in Chengdu. If you choose to watch the show, your guide can also recommend a restaurant for dinner nearby (this isn’t included in the price).
• Please note that if you decide to watch the show it means you agree to give up taking our vehicle back to your hotel. You’ll need to pay the taxi fee back to your hotel, which usually costs around 30–50 yuan.

Share Your Experiences

• We encourage you to share your happy experiences of the day with friends on Facebook or via TripAdvisor. This gives more people the chance to see the beautiful scenery of Chengdu. Follow us on our Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/trippest/ for updates and our trip photos. We hope to see you again soon.