City guide · 3-day plan
Chengdu in 3 days
成都
Chengdu is about pace as much as sights. This plan front-loads the pandas, leaves real time for tea houses, and uses high-speed rail for one big day trip — the laid-back capital of southwest China at its own speed.
Day by day
Pandas, tea & the old lanes
The pandas are most active in the cool early morning, especially at feeding time — this is the one thing to do first.
💡 Arrive at opening (~7:30am); the bears nap and hide by midday.
The quintessential Chengdu afternoon — bamboo chairs, endless tea, mahjong and the famous ear-cleaning.
💡 Just sit down; a server will bring tea and top it up. No rush is the entire point.
Restored Qing-era lanes of snacks, tea and crafts — touristy but atmospheric after dark.
Sichuan hotpot 四川火锅 — The local rite — numbing-spicy mala broth. Order a half-and-half pot if you're unsure about the heat.
Big day trip & a face-changing night
The largest stone Buddha on earth, carved into a cliff at a river confluence — an hour by high-speed train.
💡 Prefer ancient mystery to a giant statue? Swap in Sanxingdui Museum (三星堆) instead.
Ease back into the city along the Jinjiang river before the evening show.
Bianlian — performers swap painted masks in a blink. A genuinely jaw-dropping local art form.
💡 Several tea-house theatres run nightly shows; book a seat near the front.
Mapo tofu & dan dan noodles 麻婆豆腐 / 担担面 — Two Sichuan classics done right — silky tofu in chilli-bean sauce, and sesame-chilli noodles.
Temples, poets & a slow finish
Chengdu's best-preserved Buddhist temple — incense, gardens and an excellent vegetarian lunch hall.
💡 Stay for the temple's vegetarian restaurant; it's a highlight, not an afterthought.
Green, literary, calm — the former home of China's great poet, or the Three Kingdoms memorial shrine.
Finish where locals go out — riverside bars at Jiuyanqiao, or the mellower bistro streets of Yulin.
Chuanchuan skewers 串串香 — Hotpot's street-food cousin — cook skewers in mala broth, pay by the stick. The local late-night ritual.
Go deeper
Travel it like more than a checklist
Chengdu invented a lifestyle: the tea house (茶馆). Spend a long afternoon at a park tea house — bottomless cups, mahjong tiles clacking, an ear-cleaner working the tables — and you understand the city's famous slowness. It isn't a sight to tick off; it's the local art of doing very little, very well.
Off the beaten path
Less-touristy picks for a second visit or a slower trip.
Astonishing 3,000-year-old bronze masks from a lost Bronze-Age culture — a day trip that rewires what you thought you knew about ancient China.
A 2,300-year-old waterworks still in use — UNESCO-listed engineering, paired easily with Mt Qingcheng.
A green, misty birthplace of Taoism — quiet temple trails a short ride from the city.
Leafy bar-and-bistro streets where young Chengdu actually goes out — low-key, local, no tour buses.
Getting around
Chengdu is flat and easygoing; the metro plus DiDi covers everything. Day trips (Leshan, Sanxingdui, Dujiangyan) run on frequent high-speed trains — buy tickets with your passport. One warning that matters: the food is genuinely numbing-spicy (麻辣) — say 'weila' (微辣, mild) if you need to dial it down.
Make it your own trip
Turn this into a dated, day-by-day plan with a readiness checklist.