4 Days Chongqing & Wulong Adventure

This morning, your private guide will escort you on a 2.5-hour drive to embrace Chongqing’s most stunning karst landscapes at Wulong Geological Park. After entering the park, your guide will accompany you to take a shuttle bus for around ten minutes to the first stop, the Three Natural Bridges, famous for being the film location of ‘Transformers 4’. Start your exploration with an exciting descending by the 360-degree rotating sightseeing elevator down to the valley. It’s just like stepping into an other-worldly ancient space, where a traditional Chinese courtyard with black tiles and grey walls stand secludedly, and there are also the stone mill and stable at the entrance. Strolling along the path meandering through the valley, you’ll enjoy the three natural bridges: Sky Dragon Bridge, Green Dragon Bridge, and Black Dragon Bridge successively, all spanning over 500 meters (1,640 ft.), with heights of over 246 meters (807 ft.), and there are two sinkholes hiding in between. It takes around 2-3 hours, soaking up the deep cliffs and chasing waterfalls in the tree-topped valley. Don’t worry steps as it is mainly downhill, not so tiring! 

Then continue a 1-hour sightseeing to Longshui Gorge to discover the ‘planet’s most beautiful scar’, offering a combination of natural karst wonders, thin strips of sky, and Hitchcock–style visuals about mysterious underground caves and rivers. On half-way, encounter a giant 50-meter (164-foot) high waterfall shrouded in mist. Finish the visit, and take the shuttle bus back to the exit, where your private driver is ready to escort you to the hotel in Wulong.  

➤ Visit Tips:
1. Wear a pair of comfortable walking shoes and be careful of the moss on some roads in the valley.
2. Even in summer, the weather is rather cool in Wulong Geological Park, especially in Longshui Gorge, whose temperature averages only about 15℃ (59℉), and remember to prepare a coat.
3. There’s only a few stores available here and it is better to bring some snacks to replenish energy.  
  
Meals: Western buffet breakfast

After breakfast, your guide and the driver will accompany you to Wulong’s another karst highlight, the UNESCO-listed Furong Cave, a fantastic “underground art palace” and home to stalactites and stone pillars of various shapes. A cable car will be reserved for you to reach the cave entrance, during which you can enjoy an open view to overlook the emerald Furong River, like a jade set between the mountains on both banks. Come to the entrance forested by green vegetation, and follow the guide to enter a magic world, where a dazzling array of stalactites, stalagmites, and giant limestone curtains like a dripping waterfall hang in the cave, formed over the course of 1.2 million years, which look particularly beautiful under the colorful neon lights. Wear non-slip shoes and a hat in case of the wet path and occasional water drops. Be sure to beware while enjoying the dramatic views, as the ground can be slippery and the steps are uneven, especially for children and elderly people. After about a 1-hour visit, we’ll go back to the Chongqing urban area. 

★ Experience Chongqing’s Unique Cableway across Yangtze River 

In the afternoon, the guide will accompany you to the cableway station to try the traditional local transport to cross the spectacular Yangtze River. Before becoming a popular site for visitors, the air transport has been operated since 1987 for locals, with a length of 1,166 meters (3,825 ft.). Today, more and more travelers come here in search of a different local experience and thus you may need to queue for a while during peak hours, generally from 15:00 to 18:00 on weekends and holidays. However, your guide will try to arrange the schedule reasonably to avoid long queues. Dare to take it? Don’t worry, you can expect low about the “thrilling” feel as it runs very smoothly at a slow speed, taking about 5-6 minutes for a single trip. Standing at the glass window, you’ll be rewarded with the cityscapes along the banks of the Jialing River and the Yangtze River, in which the modern urban buildings mix with old-style local residences, as well as ships and cruises float on the water and pass under bridges.  

After the visit, the guide will escort you back to the hotel. However, as the south cable station is located near the Longmenhao Old Street, you can also explore it on your own and then take a taxi back to the hotel. Longmenhao is a well-preserved historical neighborhood, leaving the former Italian Embassy and the US Embassy buildings, and Western-style villas from wartime, as well as restored old-style stilted houses with black bricks and tiles. Now it is a new trendy landmark, filled with coffee shops, book stores, and restaurants. Sip a cup of coffee, enjoy the slow pace while taking in the beautiful urban scenery across the river. 

Meals: Western buffet breakfast

On the last day of the 4 days Chongqing to Wulong tour itinerary, you’ll be accompanied by your private guide to take in the mountain city’s iconic sights. After breakfast, set off to Chongqing Zoo, home to over 260 species and more than 4,000 animals, including more than 20 adorable giant pandas, the stars of the zoo. To capture more of their animated scenes, arriving early is a must, as they always have breakfast, bamboo shoots, between 8:30 and 9:00, and you may also encounter four pandas enjoying their ‘desserts’ - fresh fruits on a square table at around 10:00. Chinese netizens call it jokingly that they’re like “playing Mahjong”, a traditional 4-person game. Apart from that, you may also interact with elephants, hippos and giraffes, or feed them at your own expense; the zoo staff offer proper food portions at a small fee. As the herbivore area may be a little smelly and you’re advised to prepare a mask.  

★ Get Amazed at Chongqing’s Breathtaking 8D Cityscape 

Then, the guide will accompany you to discover why Chongqing is called the ‘8D City’. There’s perhaps no place like Chongqing, packed with complex, layered buildings on steep hills so that you cannot even see the top of incredibly oppressive skyscrapers, not to mention the creative presentation of architectural marvels, characterized by Liziba Station and Kuixing Tower. Let’s head to Liziba Light Rail Station first, where you can witness the jaw-dropping train run through a building! At its 2nd floor, observe how it works through the large glass. A fun thing is that let your guide help you capture a photo of “eating the train” by standing at a certain location. Then head to Kuixing Tower, where ancient scholars once prayed and made wishes to get good grades; however, its relocation makes it a unique place. Take an elevator from the ground floor to the 22nd floor, where it is located, and you’ll find that you are like still at the square of the first floor, surrounded by high-rise buildings, which is an interesting illusion caused by the cliff-side location. Don’t miss taking selfies to hoover up your Instagram likes!

After the sightseeing, your guide and the driver will escort you to the airport or train station according to your schedule. If you’d like to extend your trip to the neighboring Chengdu City, have a true taste of the country’s history echoed from the underground Terracotta Army in Xi’an, or explore ethnic cultures in Southwestern China, just contact us for more details!

Meals: Western buffet breakfast