Chengdu, China: things to do, prices and tips 2026

Things to do in Chengdu (China): Chengdu Panda Base, Kuanzhai Alleys, Jinli Street & Wuhou Shrine, People's Park & Heming Teahouse. Prices, opening times and the author’s tips.

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What to see

🐼Chengdu Panda Base

A research centre where giant pandas are bred and raised: teenage pandas play on logs, newborns sleep in incubators.

Price 55 yuan

Insider tip Arrive at the 7:30 am opening: pandas eat bamboo in the morning and go to sleep in the shade by noon. Red pandas live here too — look for them in the bamboo grove.

🏘Kuanzhai Alleys

Three old lanes with Qing-dynasty houses, teahouses, stalls of spicy snacks and masters who clean your ears.

Price Free

Insider tip It's calm in the morning and packed by evening. Catch a bianlian "face-changing" show in one of the teahouse theatres.

🏮Jinli Street & Wuhou Shrine

An old street of red lanterns and Sichuan street food next to a shrine dedicated to the heroes of the "Three Kingdoms".

Price Street free, Wuhou Shrine about 50 yuan

Insider tip Prettiest in the evening when the lanterns glow. Try spicy rabbit heads — Chengdu's ultimate challenge 😄

🍵People's Park & Heming Teahouse

The central park where locals drink tea in bamboo chairs, play cards and sing. Heming Teahouse has been open since the 1920s.

Price Tea 20–40 yuan

Insider tip Order tea and just sit — they'll top up the hot water endlessly. At weekends there's a "marriage market" where parents look for partners for their children.

🗿Leshan Giant Buddha

A 71-metre Buddha carved into a cliff above the meeting of three rivers.

Secret spot: details and the map pin are in the full guide

☁️Mount Emei

A golden summit above a sea of clouds — one of the four sacred Buddhist mountains.

Secret spot: details and the map pin are in the full guide

All of China

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