Luxury hotels in Chengdu

Chengdu guide

Giant pandas in Chengdu: why the morning matters

The Research Base is the city's most cited visit. Pandas are most active early, so plan to be at the gate when it opens.

The Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding is the visit that brings most travellers to Sichuan. Set in bamboo forest on the edge of the city, it is home to giant pandas of every age, from the nursery to the adults, and to the smaller red pandas.

Pandas feed in the early morning and spend the warm hours asleep, so arrive at opening and head straight for the enclosures with young pandas. The park is large; the internal shuttle saves time, and two to three hours is enough. Weekends and Chinese holidays are much busier than weekdays.

Spend the rest of the day at the city's own pace: tea and an ear cleaning in People's Park, the Wenshu Monastery, and dinner in Sichuan, a UNESCO City of Gastronomy, where hot pot and mapo tofu are only the beginning. The Leshan Giant Buddha is a good day trip by high-speed train.