# Chengdu: map, what to do and when to go

Pandas, tea houses and Sichuan cuisine in the capital of western China, with the Leshan Buddha and Dujiangyan a train ride away.

Canonical: https://nilopelomundo.com/en/place/chengdu/
Language: en. Extended author commentary and itinerary notes may remain in Portuguese. Dates below belong to individual sources; this is not live availability.

## Direct answer
- **Chengdu: how do I get there from the airport?** Chengdu has two airports, and your ticket says which one: Tianfu International (TFU), about 51 km southeast of the center, handles most international flights, and Shuangliu International (CTU), 14 km southwest, concentrates domestic ones.
- **Chengdu: how do I visit the panda base?** The Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding is about 13 km north of the center.
- **Chengdu: how many days should I stay?** I'd stay three days in Chengdu.

## Pandas in the morning, Wenshu and the afternoon in People's Park
With your named reservation made and your passport in hand, take the metro to Panda Avenue station (line 3) and exit at B; from there, a bus or taxi to the base gate. Arrive at opening: 7:30 a.m. from March to October, 8 a.m. from November to February.
- Wenshu Monastery
- People's Park
- Kuanzhai Alley
- Shufeng Yayun
- Tianfu Square

## Du Fu, the Sichuan Museum and the Three Kingdoms
The day before, reserve the named entry to the Du Fu Cottage through the official WeChat and, through the official website or WeChat, the one for the Wuhou Shrine, with your passport.
- Wuhou Shrine

## Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding
https://nilopelomundo.com/en/place/chengdu/#g-lugar-chengdu-research-base-of-giant
Chengdu · Half a day or more
The Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding (成都大熊猫繁育研究基地) is about 13 km north of the center. It was founded by the city government in 1987 with six rescued pandas and is now a large park of bamboo groves, enclosures and giant panda houses, with red pandas and other animals. Entry requires a named online reservation, up to 14 days ahead, through the official WeChat or authorized platforms such as Trip.com, with the original passport shown at the gate; daily capacity is limited. An adult ticket costs ¥55 (students ¥27; people over 60 and children up to 6 years old or under 1.30 m enter free, without a reservation), and the internal shuttle cart costs ¥30. From March to October the morning entry runs from 7:30 a.m. to noon and the afternoon one until 5 p.m.; from November to February, from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The pandas tend to be most active in the morning. House no. 6 is closed on Mondays, except on national holidays. Access is via Panda Avenue station (line 3), exit B, and then a bus or taxi to the gate.
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## Wenshu Monastery
https://nilopelomundo.com/en/place/chengdu/#g-lugar-wenshu-monastery
Qingyang · One to two hours
The Wenshu Monastery (文殊院), dedicated to the bodhisattva of wisdom, dates to the Tang dynasty and is the best-preserved Buddhist temple in Chengdu, with halls, gardens and relics attributed to the monk Xuanzang. It remains in full use: worshippers light incense, monks go about their day, and a tea house is frequented by locals who read, play games and chat, along with a vegetarian restaurant overlooking the gardens. Admission is free. It is next to Wenshu Monastery station (line 1).
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## People's Park
https://nilopelomundo.com/en/place/chengdu/#g-lugar-people-s-park
Qingyang · One to two hours
People's Park (人民公园), two blocks west of Tianfu Square, is the best place to see Chengdu's park life: lakes with pedal boats, open-air tea houses, groups that sing and dance, people writing characters on the ground with a brush and water and, in one corner, parents posting the details of their unmarried children in search of a match. The best-known tea house is Heming (鹤鸣茶社), more than a hundred years old. Entry to the park is free; the tea houses are fullest in the afternoon, and some offer ear cleaning by itinerant professionals.
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## Wuhou Shrine
https://nilopelomundo.com/en/place/chengdu/#g-lugar-wuhou-shrine
Wuhou · One to two hours
The Wuhou Shrine (武侯祠) honors Zhuge Liang, minister of the kingdom of Shu Han, and brings together in the same complex Liu Bei's hall and the Huiling Mausoleum, where the emperor and his ministers are worshipped together. It has statues, steles and gardens tied to the history of the Three Kingdoms. Entry is by named reservation only, opened 14 days ahead on the museum's official website or WeChat, with a passport; the museum states that it has not authorized resellers. A full ticket costs ¥50 and the ticket for ages 6 to 18 costs ¥25; those who do not use WeChat Pay or Alipay can pay in cash at the ticket window. It is open every day from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m., with last entry at 6 p.m. In the TEA world ranking of museum attendance released in 2025, it came in second, so expect crowds. It is about 750 m from Gaoshengqiao station (line 3), next to Jinli.
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## Jinsha Site Museum
https://nilopelomundo.com/en/place/chengdu/#g-lugar-jinsha-site-museum
Jinsha · Half a day or more
The Jinsha Site Museum (金沙遗址博物馆) was built over the archaeological site discovered in 2001 and has two buildings: the hall built over the excavated area and the exhibition hall, with gold, jade, bronze and pottery about three thousand years old, including the gold sun-bird foil that became the emblem of Chengdu. It is closed for renovation; check the reopening on the museum's official website before adding it to your itinerary. In the meantime, the Shu bronzes can be seen at the Sanxingdui Museum, in Guanghan. Jinsha Museum station (line 7).
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## Du Fu Thatched Cottage
https://nilopelomundo.com/en/place/chengdu/#g-lugar-du-fu-thatched-cottage
Qingyang · One to two hours
The park-museum of the Du Fu Thatched Cottage (杜甫草堂) occupies the place where the Tang dynasty poet lived for about four years starting in 759 and wrote more than 240 poems. The original hut no longer exists; the halls in the park date from the Ming dynasty, renovated in 1811, and there is a reconstruction of the house, a hall with murals of scenes from the poems and bamboo groves. Admission is by named ticket, reserved up to 14 days ahead through the museum's WeChat service. It is open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., with ticket sales until 5 p.m., and on long holidays and in summer the museum usually extends its hours to 8:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m., as announced. Allow about two hours. It is in the west, near the Sichuan Museum, about 900 m on foot from Caotang Road North station (line 4).
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## Sichuan Museum
https://nilopelomundo.com/en/place/chengdu/#g-lugar-sichuan-museum
Qingyang · One to two hours
The Sichuan Museum (四川博物院), next to the Du Fu Cottage, has three floors of bronzes, pottery, Han stone carvings and collections on the peoples of the province, and takes about two hours to go through. Admission is free with passport registration at the entrance for foreigners, and the museum is closed on Mondays; check the hours for the day before you go.
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## Kuanzhai Alley
https://nilopelomundo.com/en/place/chengdu/#g-lugar-kuanzhai-alley
Chengdu · Up to half an hour
Kuanzhai Xiangzi (宽窄巷子), the Wide and Narrow Alleys, were built in the Qing dynasty for Manchu soldiers and remained residential until 2003, when the government turned them into an area of tea houses, restaurants, bars and galleries, with the houses rebuilt in the old style. It is a short, photogenic stroll, with above-average prices. Kuanzhaixiangzi station (line 4).
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## Shufeng Yayun
https://nilopelomundo.com/en/place/chengdu/#g-lugar-shufeng-yayun
One to two hours
The Shufeng Yayun tea house (蜀风雅韵), in the Cultural Park next to the Qingyang Temple, stages an evening show of about an hour and a half with excerpts of Sichuan opera, traditional music, shadow puppetry, fire-spitting and face-changing (biàn liǎn), in which the performer changes faces in a single gesture. The audience sits at tables under a covered courtyard, with a fan and no air conditioning. Tickets ranged from ¥100 to ¥300 depending on seat and program in September 2025; book ahead.
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## Jinli Ancient Street
https://nilopelomundo.com/en/place/chengdu/#g-lugar-jinli-ancient-street
Chengdu · Up to half an hour
Jinli (锦里古街), attached to the Wuhou Shrine, is a shopping street rebuilt in an old style, full of lanterns, snack stalls, shops and bars. It works better as a stop on the way out of Wuhou, in the late afternoon, than as an outing of its own: it is heavily visited, and the restaurants and bars charge more than elsewhere.
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## Chengdu Museum
https://nilopelomundo.com/en/place/chengdu/#g-lugar-chengdu-museum
Chengdu · Half a day or more
The Chengdu Museum (成都博物馆), on the west side of Tianfu Square, tells the city's history across six floors, from prehistory to modern times; the museum itself suggests starting on the second floor and working upward. Admission is free with passport registration; it is open from 9 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. from May to October and until 8 p.m. from November to April, and it is closed on Mondays. Allow about two and a half hours.
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## Qingyang Palace
https://nilopelomundo.com/en/place/chengdu/#g-lugar-qingyang-palace
Qingyang · Up to half an hour
The Qingyang Temple (青羊宫) is the largest and oldest Taoist temple in the city, tied to the legend that Laozi preached the Tao Te Ching there, and it holds the only known copy of the scripture collection Daozang Jiyao. Most of the current halls were rebuilt between 1667 and 1671, in the early Qing dynasty; the main hall, Sanqing, dates from 1669, and the Bagua Pavilion, with the image of Laozi riding an ox, is the best-preserved building in the complex. The temple is still in use, with courtyards, a tea house and a vegetarian restaurant, and it stands next to the Cultural Park, where there is opera at night.
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## Tianfu Square
https://nilopelomundo.com/en/place/chengdu/#g-lugar-tianfu-square
Qingyang · Up to half an hour
Tianfu Square (天府广场) is the geographic center and main metro hub of Chengdu, dominated by a large statue of Mao Zedong and surrounded by the Chengdu Museum and the Sichuan Science and Technology Museum. At noon and at dusk the fountains put on a water show with music. It is worth a stop on the way to the surrounding museums.
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## Taikoo Li Chengdu
https://nilopelomundo.com/en/place/chengdu/#g-lugar-taikoo-li-chengdu
Up to half an hour
Taikoo Li (成都太古里) is an open-air shopping center of low buildings and alleys, built around the Buddhist Daci Temple, where the monk Xuanzang studied in the Tang dynasty. It sits next to the Chunxi Road shopping street and is open from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. It is for anyone who wants brands, cafés and restaurants in the center.
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## Anshun Bridge
https://nilopelomundo.com/en/place/chengdu/#g-lugar-anshun-bridge
Up to half an hour
The covered Anshun Bridge (安顺廊桥) crosses the Jin River in the center. Marco Polo mentioned a bridge at this spot; the current one was rebuilt in 2003, after a flood destroyed the previous one in the 1980s, and it has a restaurant on top. The south bank, near the bridge, concentrates bars that usually stay open until 2 a.m.
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**Chengdu: how do I get there from the airport?**
Chengdu has two airports, and your ticket says which one: Tianfu International (TFU), about 51 km southeast of the center, handles most international flights, and Shuangliu International (CTU), 14 km southwest, concentrates domestic ones. From Tianfu, metro line 18 takes 30 to 40 minutes to South Railway Station, depending on whether the train is express or stopping, with transfers to lines 1 and 7; in October 2024 the fare to Tianfu Square was ¥11, and trains run from about 6:00 to 23:00. From Shuangliu, line 10 leaves from both terminals and reaches the center in 30–40 minutes, with a transfer at Taipingyuan. Line 19 links the two airports in about 30 minutes on the express service.

**Chengdu: how do I visit the panda base?**
The Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding is about 13 km north of the center. Entry requires a named online reservation, up to 14 days ahead, through the official WeChat or authorized platforms such as Trip.com, with the original passport shown at the gate; daily capacity is limited. An adult ticket costs ¥55 (students ¥27; people over 60 and children up to 6 years old or under 1.30 m enter free, without a reservation), and the internal shuttle cart costs ¥30. From March to October the morning entry runs from 7:30 to 12:00 and the afternoon one until 17:00; from November to February, from 8:00 to 16:30. The pandas tend to be most active in the morning. House no. 6 is closed on Mondays, except on national holidays. Access is via Panda Avenue station (line 3), exit B, and then a bus or taxi to the gate.

**Chengdu: how many days should I stay?**
I'd stay three days in Chengdu. The first starts at the panda base at opening time and ends between the Wenshu Monastery, an afternoon at a tea house in People's Park and the opera at night; the second goes from the Du Fu Cottage and the Sichuan Museum to the Wuhou Shrine, with both entries reserved; the third is the bullet-train day trip to the Leshan Giant Buddha. With a fourth day, I'd go to Dujiangyan to see Li Bing's irrigation system and climb Mount Qingcheng; those more interested in Shu bronzes can swap that day for Sanxingdui. Mount Emei needs an overnight stay to reach the top without rushing, so I'd treat it as a two-day extension, leaving from Chengdu and sleeping at the foot of the mountain.

**Chengdu: how do I get to the Leshan Giant Buddha?**
The bullet train leaves from Chengdu East or Chengdu South station and reaches Leshan station in 52 minutes to 1 hour 20 minutes; from there, the K1 bus takes about 30 minutes to the Buddha's gate. The ¥80 ticket is sold in timed sessions, and the park is open from 7:30 to 18:30 from April 1 to October 7 and from 8:00 to 17:30 the rest of the year. The narrow staircase that descends beside the statue to its feet forms lines that can reach about two hours on busy mornings; the boat (¥70, about 15 minutes) shows the whole figure from the front without docking. It is a full day, returning to Chengdu in the evening.

**Chengdu: when is the best time to go?**
March to May and September to November; July and August are the hottest and rainiest months, and the week of October 1 to 7 and Lunar New Year fill the panda base and Leshan.

**Chengdu: can I do Mount Emei as a day trip?**
Climbing to the Jinding and returning to Chengdu the same day does not work: the train ride, the mountain buses and the cable cars take the whole day, and sunset and sunrise at the top call for an overnight stay. The bullet train reaches Emeishan station in about an hour, on the same line as Leshan, and the summit temples, on the Jinding, at 3,077 m, are reached by mountain bus and cable car. The ticket costs ¥160 from January 16 to December 14 and ¥110 from December 15 to January 15, according to 2026 guides; the park is open from 6:00 to 17:00 from May to October and from 7:00 to 16:00 from November to April. To reach the top without rushing, sleep one night in Baoguo, at the foot of the mountain, or near the summit; as a day trip, only the lower part, with the Baoguo Temple.

**Chengdu: how do I get around the city?**
The metro is the best way to get around: lines 1, 2, 3, 4 and 7 cover the center, and line 7 forms a loop with transfers to the others and to the railway stations. Ticket machines have an English option and accept WeChat Pay, Alipay and, for the most part, international credit cards; you need the ticket to exit as well. Official taxis are green or blue and have meters; drivers rarely speak English, so carry the address written in Chinese characters and small bills, because many refuse ¥100. Apps such as DiDi work in the city and for Dujiangyan.


## In the Nilo app
- Plan these 3 days on the map: https://nilopelomundo.com/en/app/guide/chengdu/?utm_source=llm&utm_medium=markdown&utm_content=door-itinerary
- Mark your hotel on the map: https://nilopelomundo.com/en/app/map/chengdu/?utm_source=llm&utm_medium=markdown&utm_content=door-stay

## Full editorial guide (Portuguese)
https://nilopelomundo.com/llm/chengdu.md