成都
China's most laid-back megacity. Tea houses, mahjong parlors, and the world's most famous bears. Pandas, hotpot, and the slow life. Below are the 20places we've vetted for foreign visitors — explore them on the interactive map above, or open any one for hours, ticket prices, English-service notes, and how to get there.
The world's #1 panda research center — see 100+ giant pandas (and red pandas) up close in semi-natural enclosures.
Three parallel restored Qing-era alleys (Wide / Narrow / Well) — the postcard Chengdu old-town experience.
Open-air luxury district built around the Tang-dynasty Daci Temple — Chengdu's most photogenic shopping zone.
Reconstructed Three Kingdoms-era pedestrian alley jammed with Sichuan snacks, teahouses, and lantern-lit photo ops.
Mysterious 3000-year-old Shu civilization site, 40 km from Chengdu — alien-looking bronze masks that rewrote Chinese history.
Sichuan's most famous hotpot chain — copper-pot mala broth, hand-cut beef, and tomato-tea palate cleansers.
Chengdu's century-old pedestrian shopping street and Sichuan's busiest commercial axis — adjacent to Taikoo Li.
2300-year-old still-functioning irrigation system — UNESCO World Heritage and the engineering miracle that made the Sichuan Basin habitable.
Tang-era memorial to Zhuge Liang and Liu Bei — China's only joint temple to a king and minister, the spiritual home of Three Kingdoms history.
Free 110-year-old public park with Chengdu's most famous outdoor teahouse — Heming Teahouse on the lake.
Upscale Chengdu hotpot with a nightly Chuan opera face-changing performance — the foreigner-favorite splurge.
On-site museum of the 3000-year-old Shu civilization — home of the famous Gold Sun Bird (Sichuan's symbol).
Birthplace of Taoism — UNESCO World Heritage mountain with Han-era Taoist temples in cedar forests.
The 'Chengdu' of Zhao Lei's hit song — working-class bar street with hole-in-wall hotpot, indie music, and the city's youth energy.
Tang-era poet Du Fu's reconstructed garden residence — sacred site of Chinese classical poetry and a tranquil bamboo park.
1300-year-old active Tang-dynasty Chan Buddhist monastery — Chengdu's largest functioning temple complex.
Provincial flagship museum — Han ceramics, Tibetan thangka, Tang Buddhist art, and Sichuan opera masks. Free.
Repurposed 1958 electronics factories — Chengdu's industrial-cool arts district, gigs, indie shops, anime conventions.
Chengdu's geographic and political heart — Mao statue, Sichuan Science Museum, and the city's main metro interchange.
China's oldest existing Taoist temple — Tang-era complex with the famous bronze qingyang (green goats) statues.
Step-by-step deep dives covering the questions every foreign visitor asks before flying in.
Set up Alipay in China with your own Visa or Mastercard — no Chinese bank needed. Tour Pass vs full Alipay, top-up tricks, daily limits, and where foreign cards still fail (2026).
Plain-English 2026 guide to China's 240-hour visa-free transit (TWOV) — the 55 eligible countries, which 65 ports accept it, the 24 provinces you can roam, what an onward ticket really means, and the mistakes that get tourists turned away.
Honest 2026 guide to staying online in China as a foreign tourist — which apps are blocked, which VPNs still work behind the Great Firewall, and why an international-roaming eSIM is the lower-stress alternative.
Google Maps in China is broken by design — your blue dot lands 500m off, transit fails, no Street View. Here's the 2026 setup with AMap, Apple Maps, and Maps.me offline.
Visa, vaccinations, VPN, Alipay, SIM, banking — the ordered 30-day timeline so you don't show up at the airport unprepared. Tested by hundreds of first-time travelers.
WeChat Pay accepts foreign Visa, Mastercard, Amex since 2024 — but should you use it instead of Alipay? Side-by-side comparison plus 5-minute setup for tourists in China.
Welcome to Chengdu — China's calmest megacity. Locals invented the work-life balance: 4-hour lunch breaks, tea-house culture from the Tang dynasty, and a panda research base where you can watch 80 giant pandas eat bamboo for hours straight. Add Sichuan hot pot (mala flavor was invented here in 1862), and Chengdu is the only Chinese city where you'll want to extend your trip by 2 days.