Jinli Pedestrian Street was once the commercial heart of the ancient Sichuan kingdom, and has been authentically restored. Here, you can sample local delicacies and bargain for local arts and crafts, or simply people watch from a local café.

Wuhou Temple

Wu Hou Temple was built in honor of the Marquis of Wu, an outstanding military strategist during the Three Kingdoms era (220-280 AD).

Wenshu Temple

Find peace of mind at the peaceful Wenshu Temple, a large Buddhist monastery.

Small ponds and lightly used buildings offer spots for visitors to sit down and relax, and every now and then, watch as a robed monk scurries past you and the other visitors strolling through the grounds.

Transfer back to your hotel.

Travel with an insider and discover the hidden back streets of Chengdu on pedal. Whether it's your first or thirteenth time in Chengdu, this morning bike tour is the perfect way to travel from sight to sight at a leisurely pace.

You’ll bike approximately 16 km on an easy to moderate ride, and you can make as many rest stops as you need. You'll receive superb personal service from your guide in a small group with a maximum of 10 people.

The friendly local bilingual guide will help you navigate the streets and share stories of the landmarks you see.

Itinerary

7:00 am Meet the guide and join a pre-departure briefing from your guide. Learn the local traffic rules and customs to keep you and others safe.

7:10 am Time to hit the road. Pedal along Wuhouci Main Street, passing Jinli Ancient Street and Wuhou Memorial Temple, dedicated to the legendary Chinese sage Zhuge Liang from Three Kingdoms.

7:30 am The first stop is People’s Park. Follow your guide and walk around the park. Discover how local people spend their morning, playing musical instruments, singing, playing chess and practicing Taichi.

They won’t hesitate to welcome you to join their activities.

8:30 am Cycle your way along Funan River and breathe in fresh air with the cool river breeze brushing your cheeks. The next stop WangJiang Park 7 km to the South East.

9:30 am Wander around the teahouses of WangJiang Park, home to various kinds of businesses: peddlers selling local’s favourite snacks, blind people offering massages, musicians, singers, portrait painters, shoe-polishers as well as ear-pickers offering what is apparently a Chengdu-only practice, ear picking!

9:50 am Soak up the atmosphere with some jasmine tea with the friendly locals.

Locals mostly gather to play Mahjong or cards while sipping tea to burn daylight. In traditional Chinese culture, tea-sipping was considered as a refined activity and tea-culture was synonymous with elegance.

Drinking tea goes well with spicy food for locals. If you like we might recommend where to enjoy a mouth-watering lunch in a typical Chengdu restaurant where local specialties and snacks are served.

12:00 pm Ride back and return your bike and gear.

Calling all Szechuan cuisine lovers! If you’re a gourmand or a fan of homemade cuisine, this intimate, fun half-day cooking course is for you! Where better than a Chengdu home to take an authentic Szechuan cooking class?

You will spend half a day with a local host family who will take you step-by-step through the process of preparing a traditional Szechuan meal.

The small number of participants in this class ensures you will have personalized attention from the chef and a highly memorable Szechuan culinary experience.

Unlike the rather sanitized ‘cooking-school’ cooking which focuses on modernized, watered-down dishes to cater to western palates, this experience focuses on home-made cooking and authentic Sichuan cuisine and culture. Prepare to get spicy and experience something authentic.

Itinerary

4.30 pm Meet the host family and enjoy a special local welcome tea.

5.00 pm Brief introduction to Sichuan cuisine, highlighting the contents of tradition meals.

5.15 pm Take a short walk to the local farmer’s market. Enjoy a tour of the market highlighting the ‘wet’ market with unusual fruits and animal-part delicacies (think chicken feet and pigs trotters) with the chef.

6.00 pm Back to the Cooking class and commence cooking class with the chef.

7.30 pm On completion of the cooking class, enjoy the meal and a chance to chat with the host family.

Relax in the comfort of the dining area and enjoy a local beer or wine or lemon juice offered by the host family. Take home printed recipes and some memories of authentic Sichuan cuisine.

Spend the morning at Dujiangyan Giant Panda Center or the Chengdu Panda Breeding Center with transfers from your hotel in Chengdu. This excursion includes a walk through the adult and baby panda areas with one of the keepers.

The keeper will provide an insight into the lives of the Giant Pandas. In addition to Giant Pandas there are also Red Pandas in both centres.

There is the option to upgrade the trip and hold one of the baby Giant Pandas.

Step back in time to the age of steam aboard the only narrow-gauge small steam train still in operation in the whole world. The 20 km long Bashi Railway runs on tracks just 76 cm wide.

In the mountains and hills of south Sichuan, a few miles to the South East of Chengdu runs the 19.8-km long Bashi (Bagou-Shixi) Railway.

It is fondly known as a living fossil of the 18th century industrial revolution and has been running for almost half a century.

It was built in 1958 for coal transportation and winds through the green mountain ranges outside of Chengdu.

This half-day excursion is a unique opportunity to step back in time to the last of the steam powered trains.