2 Days Private Chengdu Panda & Food Tour

Upon your arrival at Chengdu airport or the train station, your local guide and driver will welcome you and escort you to check into a hotel downtown. Take a short break to refresh yourself. As the capital city of Sichuan, Chengdu has many surprises for you. Before a proper city exploration, we recommend trying local food for lunch, as Sichuan Cuisine enjoys a high reputation in China and abroad, featuring numbing and spicy flavors.

► Lunch Recommendation (at your own expense)
Located within 4 km of your hotel, Wan Chong Jin Sichuan Restaurant specializes in authentic Sichuan cuisine. Decorated in a typical Chinese traditional courtyard style, it offers a good dining environment and serves delicate signature dishes, including Mapo Tofu, Spicy Chicken, Poached Beef in Hot Chili Oil, and Kung Pao Chicken, which may be vastly different from the dish you have ever tasted.
Average Cost per Person: CNY 70 (USD 10) 
Address: 1F, Gate 2, R&F Plaza, No. 289 Shuncheng Street, Qingyang District, Chengdu

Now it is time to start your sightseeing! The first stop is the Jinsha Site Museum, built on an archaeological site that once belonged to the ancient Shu Kingdom, which flourished from the 12th century BC and vanished hundreds of years later. It houses many cultural relics of the lost civilization, a key highlight of which is the “Sun and Immortal Bird,” a decorative piece of gold foil with a sun carved in the center and four flying birds around it, indicative of the Shu people’s worship of the sun. Now it has become the symbol of Chinese Cultural Heritage. Aside from its delicate exhibits, the site is worth a leisurely wander, surrounded by a green park filled with lush forests and bamboo groves, and well-connected by stone paths. After this educational trip, we will have a break back at your hotel until it’s time for our evening food tour.

★ Enjoy a Food Tour in Yulin Night Market

At around 17:30, your guide will accompany you to take the subway or taxi to Yulin Night Market for an exciting food tour. Yulin is a local community in Chengdu’s old town, featuring a comprehensive market at its center. The market is where locals frequently shop for daily necessities, offering local produce, fresh vegetables, spices, meat, and ready-to-eat products. While exploring the market, you’ll get to know Chengdu better and experience the local lifestyle. As night falls, numerous food stands appear around the market and stretch along several streets of the community, selling a myriad of snacks you won’t have another chance to taste: scissor-cut fried potato, brown-sugared sticky rice cake, ice jelly with shredded nut… The best part is that we’ll treat you to 3 or 4 of the most popular snacks while enjoying the vibrant atmosphere throughout the market. To top it off, let’s stop by a local brewpub for some refreshing beer! With your eyes and stomach satisfied, your guide will escort you back to your hotel by subway or taxi.

Please note: In addition to delicious local snacks, the bustling market features lively folk music houses, unique boutiques, coffee shops, and great bars. If you are interested, you can spend your time experiencing the local nightlife at your leisure and return to the hotel independently. 

Meal: Dinner (local snacks)
Accommodation: Holiday Inn Chengdu Oriental Plaza (4 stars) or Grand Hyatt Chengdu (5 stars)

After breakfast in the early morning, we’ll head to the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding. You must visit Chengdu primarily for this! We have specially planned your panda visit in the early morning because the giant pandas are more active during that time, as they are fed between 8:30 am and 9:00 am. You can see pandas climbing trees, eating bamboo and sometimes apples, playing with each other, or just lying around. The panda base is home to over 240 adorable pandas in different zones, so you’ll have sufficient time of two hours to visit this site. However, not all pandas will be visible, and generally, you can see more of them on cooler days when the temperature is below 26℃ (79℉). 

Next, let’s explore the Wide and Narrow Alley, a 300-year-old street lined with traditional Chinese buildings that serve as restaurants, teahouses, and artistic studios. It is precisely where the new meets the old, greatly highlighting the cultural spirit and historic essence of Chengdu City. Here, you can taste local delicacies, watch artists creating clay figurines and sugar paintings, appreciate folk arts such as Sichuan opera, hand shadow play, and long-mouth pot tea art performances, and enjoy a unique ear cleaning service. You might try ear cleaning at your own expense and discover why it’s regarded as one of the three happiest things in life by Chengdu locals.

Afterward, we’ll visit Wenshu Monastery, Chengdu’s best-preserved monastery, which dates back 1,400 years. Upon entering, you’ll be guided to appreciate six main halls that successively line the central axis, featuring spectacular gilded Buddhist statues inside. The monastery also houses precious relics, including ancient Buddhist scriptures, embroidered Buddhas, paintings, and Buddhist ritual instruments. The most significant attraction here is the finger bone of Sakyamuni, the founder of Buddhism, and the head bone relic of Xuanzang, the famous Chinese Buddhist monk. These two relics are generally displayed only on specific days, such as Buddha’s birthday. In addition to these treasures, the compound offers insights into classical Chinese garden aesthetics, allowing you to escape the hustle and bustle of city life and experience serenity through strolling around.

At the end of the Chengdu 2 days tour itinerary, your guide and the driver will escort you to the airport or train station and see you off. If you want to extend your tour, please feel free to contact us. We wish you a pleasant onward journey!

Meal: Western buffet breakfast