Chengdu Travel Guide: Pandas, Teahouses, Sichuan Food

Heming, a teahouse open since 1923, sits here under the trees by a pond. Order a jasmine tea, sit as long as you like, and let the ear-cleaner with his tuning fork find you. Around the pond, retirees dance, sing and play mahjong. A short walk north, the Kuanzhai Alleys are three lanes of old courtyard houses from the Qing, China’s last dynasty, reopened in 2008 as teahouses, snack shops and bars.

The shrine honours Zhuge Liang, chief minister and strategist of Shu in the Three Kingdoms, and is a quiet old set of halls and gardens. Next door, Jinli is a rebuilt old street of snack stalls, shadow puppets and lanterns. Do the shrine by day and Jinli after dark, for the lanterns and a skewer of everything.

A 71-metre seated Buddha carved into a river cliff between 713 and 803, the tallest stone Buddha in the world. About an hour from Chengdu East or South by fast train, then half an hour by bus or taxi to the site. Walk down the stairs beside it to stand at its feet, or take the boat for the view from the river. A full day.

A pot of chilli-and-pepper broth boiling in the middle of the table, in which you cook meat, offal and vegetables yourself. Ask for a yuanyang pot (鸳鸯锅), half spicy and half clear, and for 微辣 (wēilà), mild, the first time. It will not be mild.

Soft tofu in a sauce of fermented beans, chilli and ground Sichuan pepper, hot and numbing at once. The dish that explains málà in one bowl.

A small bowl of noodles with minced pork, preserved vegetable, chilli oil and sesame paste. Named after the pole the sellers once carried them on.

Spring (March to June) and autumn (September to November) are mild. Summer is hot and muggy, about 31°C by day in July, with most of the year’s rain. Winter is mild but grey; Chengdu gets only about 1,000 hours of sun a year.

Avoid Golden Week, 1 to 7 October, and Chinese New Year, when the queues at the panda base and Leshan are longest.

Most international flights land at Tianfu, about 50 km southeast. Metro Line 18 reaches Chengdu South station in 35 to 50 minutes; allow an hour or more to the centre. Shuangliu, about 16 km southwest, handles mostly domestic flights, and Line 10 reaches Wuhou Shrine in about half an hour.

Most fast trains use Chengdu East. The quickest take about three hours from Xi’an North and just over an hour from Chongqing.

The metro is cheap, signed in English and often faster than a car at rush hour. Didi, the ride-hailing app, has an English interface and takes foreign cards.

Pay with Alipay or WeChat Pay, both of which link foreign cards; keep a little cash for street stalls. Menus in small noodle shops usually have no English, so point at what the next table is eating.

Around Chunxi Road and Taikoo Li, the shopping heart of town, you are on Lines 2 and 3 and can walk to dinner anywhere. Near People’s Park and the Kuanzhai Alleys is calmer, with teahouses on the doorstep.

Flying from Shuangliu? The Wuhou Shrine area is on Line 10, straight to the airport.

1. Day 1. The panda base at opening, back by lunch. Tea in People’s Park, then the Kuanzhai Alleys at dusk.
2. Day 2. Wuhou Shrine in the morning, Jinli after dark, and hotpot for dinner.
3. Day 3. An early fast train to Leshan, down the stairs to the Buddha’s feet before the midday queue, and back for dinner.