8 Days Chengdu, Chongqing and Zhangjiajie Tour

Early in the morning, your guide and driver will pick you up from your hotel for a visit to the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding. Home to more than 200 giant pandas, the base allows you to witness these roly-poly animals playing, eating, and napping at a close distance. As international superstars, they have fanbases and take turns holding “fan meet-and-greets” every day. However, under the halo of celebrities, lies an ongoing debate about whether pandas are better protected in captivity or should be returned to the wild. Some believe that captivity is the most effective way to protect this endangered species, while others argue that it diminishes their wild instincts and survival skills. The base has made a perfect compromise: some pandas are raised in secure semi-wild enclosures for rewilding training. Professionals monitor their health and behaviors, helping them regain their instincts in preparation for potential future release. This strategy reflects both a commitment to species conservation and respect for the laws of nature. 

After bidding farewell to the adorable pandas, we’ll visit the Thatched Cottage of Du Fu, the former residence of a celebrated poet in the 8th century. Its lush bamboo groves embody the ancient Chinese saying, “Better to eat no meat than live without bamboo.” While the poet’s original dwelling no longer stands, the recreated thatched house reveals his daily life through carefully arranged furniture. Beyond understanding Du Fu’s personal story, you’ll discover special exhibitions that chronicle the Tang Dynasty’s (618-907 AD) rise and decline through his perspective, offering a poignant literary window into this pivotal historical era.In the afternoon, let’s continue to People’s Park to experience Chengdu’s legendary “slow life”. We’ll include a cup of Chengdu’s signature lidded-bowl tea for you at a traditional teahouse. After you savor the aromatic brew, your guide will show you around the matchmaking corner, a unique social space where parents often gather to share information about their unmarried sons or daughters, offering fascinating insights into contemporary Chinese attitudes toward marriage and relationships.

Finally, we’ll go for a leisurely walk along the Wide and Narrow Alley. Once the residential quarter for the ancient nobility, its traditional courtyards are now revitalized into restaurants, trendy bars, cafes, and teahouses. Along the path, the aroma of street food will make your mouth water, delicate bamboo handicrafts will catch your eyes, and stores overflowing with fluffy giant panda dolls will stick your steps. In the end, your guide and the driver will escort you back to your hotel.

► Tips: Not satisfied with dilettante roaming at the Wide and Narrow Alley? You can explore further on your own and finally manage your own way back to your hotel. For an animated atmosphere, stick to the main streets where bars play popular music and teahouses often host traditional face-changing performances at their entrances. If you prefer a quieter experience, wander into the back lanes where you’ll lose yourself in souvenir markets and culture exhibits, and relax in a cozy bar sipping a cocktail.  

Meals: Western buffet breakfast

After breakfast, your guide and the driver will escort you to the railway station for a 1.5-hour high-speed train to Chongqing. When you arrive, your Chongqing guide and the driver will directly accompany you to visit the Ciqikou Ancient Town, aka Porcelain Town. True to its name, the town was famous for producing and trading pottery since the 14th century. Now, you can still admire the well-preserved historical bamboo and wood buildings. Along the alleys, customers haggle with vendors, locals beat with a stick to make glutinous rice cakes, while chefs fry hotpot flavorings with a huge spoon, and buskers perform traditional local opera. If interested, step into the Chongqing Memory Museum, where the miniature landscape of folk residences and teahouses, traditional handicrafts, such as local embroidery, paper cutting, and dough figurines will open a window into the vicissitudes of Chongqing. 

Then, visit the Liziba Light Rail Station to grasp the unique layout of Chongqing’s multi-dimensional cityscape, where roads, rails, and buildings intertwine like a rotating Rubik’s Cube. Standing at the viewing platform, you’ll witness the surreal sight of a metro train being “devoured" by a residential building. For a playful photo, try a forced‑perspective shot that makes the train appear to enter your mouth!

Next, let’s continue to Kuixing Tower, a place that perfectly illustrates why Chongqing is called the “8D Magical City.” When you reach the 22nd floor, you might expect a bird's-eye view of the city, but surprisingly, this “top” level actually serves as a ground‑level to neighboring buildings. Leaving Kuixing Tower, we’ll escort you to your hotel for check-in.

► Recommendations for Nighttime Activities (at your own expense): 
Rather than spending your evening in the hotel, you are welcome to explore Hongya Cave independently, China’s only “pedestrian street in the air”. Built alongside a steep cliff on the bank of the Jialing River, this 11-story stilted building complex is a perfect place to enjoy old Chongqing culture. When night falls, thousands of lights illuminate the structure, turning it into a golden and brilliant spectacle reminiscent of the scene in the animated film “Spirited Away”. It is also a paradise for food lovers. Featuring similar flavors of Chengdu cuisine, Chongqing food, such as Bean Curd Skin, Cold Bean Starch Noodles, Spicy Skewers, and Sticky Rice Cake, will not disappoint your palates. 

Meals: Western buffet breakfast

After breakfast in your hotel, hop on your private vehicle and hit the road with your guide and the driver to Wulong Karst National Geology Park in 3 hours, which is celebrated for its karst formations, such as karst caves, eroded sinkholes and gorges, and stone bridges. We’ll mainly focus on the iconic Three Natural Bridges. With an average height of over 300 meters (984 feet), they run parallel across the river within a span of 1,200 meters (3,937 feet), creating a breathtaking sight that seems to connect earth and heaven. Winding along the narrow path at the valley bottom, your eyes will be occupied by green ancient trees with tangled vines and waterfalls. Crossing the Sky Dragon Bridge, we’ll drop by the Tianfu Posthouse, an antique courtyard that was once a stop for ancient officials to rest. Further along lies the Sky Dragon Sinkhole, where “Transformers: Age of Extinction” was filmed. Move forward, and the mountain incredibly presents a spectacular scene of “a carp leaping into the dragon gate.” 

If it’s early, you may also experience the charm of Fairy Mountain, known for its rare high‑altitude grasslands, forests, and snowscapes. A legend goes that one day, a poor cowboy once picked up a gorgeous dress of a beauty by a pond and fell in love with its owner at first sight. They married, but later, a wealthy man was captivated by the girl’s beauty and tried to take her for himself. Unexpectedly, the girl was a fairy, and she cleverly outwitted the villain and ultimately transformed into the mountain, becoming a symbol of righteousness for thousands of years.

After today’s sightseeing, your guide and the driver will escort you back to your hotel in Chongqing. 

Meals: Western buffet breakfast

The last morning in Chongqing is free for you to explore at your leisure. You can head to Jiefangbei Pedestrian Street by yourself, a 5 to 10-minute walk from your hotel. As Chongqing’s most vibrant commercial area, it is a crossroad of international and Chinese lifestyles. Here, you can explore from international luxury brands to charming local boutiques.

Please return to your hotel at the appointed time, so that your guide and the driver can escort you to the train station on time, for your 2.5-hour high-speed train to Zhangjiajie. Upon arrival, your local Zhangjiajie guide and driver will offer you a smooth private car ride to your hotel.

► Essential Travel Tips for Zhangjaijie Tour:
1. Queuing Problem: While you’ve already experienced the energy of Chengdu and Chongqing, queues in Zhangjiajie can be even more pronounced. During peak seasons from May to October, waits at popular sites and transport hubs can exceed 2 hours; even in the off-season, lines of an hour are common. We appreciate your patience and understanding.
2. Physical Demand: Zhangjiajie’s terrain is steeper and more rugged than that of Wulong Karst Park. Daily walking on mountain paths reaches about 10 km (6 miles). To ensure your comfort, we can pause for breaks whenever you need, and we’ll include elevators, cable cars, and shuttle buses to minimize exertion.
3. Dining Tips: If you wish to treat yourself to local flavors, Tujia Stewpot, cured pork, and rice noodles are recommended. However, if you found the food flavor in Chengdu and Chongqing too strong, please note that Zhangjiajie cuisine tends to be even saltier and spicier, which is even hard to accept for many Chinese visitors. International fast-food chains are more reliable alternatives.

Meals: Western buffet breakfast

After breakfast, your guide and driver will escort you from your hotel to Zhangjiajie National Forest Park.

★ All-inclusive Ticket

We offer not only park admission but also key in‑park transport: the Bailong Elevator, shuttle buses, and cable cars. Lunch is also included, so you can enjoy the day without worrying about extra costs.

Upon entering the park, let’s head directly to the Bailong Elevator. More than just transportation, it is a perfect combination of natural beauty and man-made wonder. When the cabin rises out of the shaft, a myriad of lofty quartz-sandstone pillars spread across the horizon like a vast painting. Built with corrosion-resistant steel and armor-like protective coating, this structure can endure Zhangjiajie’s humid climate. Thanks to regular engineering inspections and maintenance, it can coexist harmoniously with the clouds and peaks. In just 88 seconds, you’ll arrive at the Yuanjiajie Scenic Area on the mountaintop, the real-life inspiration for the Hallelujah Mountain in the film “Avatar”. The best viewing spot is the Enchanting Platform. When the mist swirls, dozens of pillars fade in and out of view, which is so captivating that you may indulge in the scenery and lose direction. Standing on the platform, you’ll find that the Hallelujah Mountain is not just a solitary peak but rather “the first violinist in a symphony,” performing the prelude of the entire valley. 

After lunch, take the park’s eco-shuttle to the Yangjiajie Scenic Area to see the Natural Great Wall. This spectacle began forming 380 million years ago and is now in its geological infancy. From a distance, dozens of stone peaks stand row upon row like undulating walls, creating an out-of-print sight on the earth. Local folklore describes these rocky walls as a protective barrier left by ancient immortals to guard this sacred land. Then, let’s continue to Tianzi Mountain, where the sandstone peak forest still dominates the valley. Among them, the Imperial Brush Peak stands out uniquely. Consisting of three parallel peaks with different heights, it resembles brushes placed upside down in a holder. Its distinctive silhouette is a result of hard, straight-fissured rock that water has carved with surgical precision. This stands in sharp contrast to other pillars made of softer stone, whose uneven erosion makes them look more like gnawed carrots. Opposite the “brushes” sits the Fairy Dispersing Flowers Rock, which is in the shape of a smiling fairy ready to present flowers to the local king.

After descending by cable car, your guide and the driver will finally escort you back to your hotel. 

Meals: Western buffet breakfast, Lunch

Bathed in morning light, your guide and the driver will pick you up from your hotel and head for Zhangjiajie Grand Canyon. Beyond its captivating waterfalls, springs, and verdant cliffs, an exhilarating highlight awaits: the world’s highest and longest Glass Bridge. Not only does it provide a panorama of the canyon’s natural beauty, but it is also a test of your courage. Tread on its transparent panels for an unforgettable adrenaline rush. Looking down through the glass, you’ll find the canyon is so deep that its floor is hard to see. For a playful photo, you can lie on the glass to create the illusion of falling over the edge! While in the middle of the bridge, you may even witness bungee jumpers truly “falling” into the abyss, their shouts of excitement echoing through the canyon.

In the afternoon, we’ll re-enter Zhangjiajie National Forest Park to hike along the Golden Whip Stream, the park's most poetic and heart-throbbing trail. Along the way, the stream sneaks through the peaks and gorges, all kinds of flowers compete for beauty, and the birds and cicadas sing, making you feel as if you’ve stepped into a living painting. Natural rainfall, snowmelt, and underground springs endow the stream with crystal clear water. Such a pristine environment shelters a variety of wildlife. You may spot troops of macaques or even rare Chinese giant salamanders. However, as more and more visitors flock into the valley, their life is inevitably disturbed. To minimize the interruption to nature, a local women’s conservation team has been established to clean the banks and monitor water quality, preserving the environment while providing meaningful employment for women in the community.

After the hike, your guide and the driver will escort you back to your hotel.

Meals: Western buffet breakfast, Lunch

After breakfast, set off from your hotel with your guide and driver to begin your exploration of Tianmen Mountain. To ensure a seamless and effortless experience, we will include for you the round-trip cable cars and the trans-mountain escalators. The true highlight of the mountain is the Tianmen Cave, aka Heaven’s Gate. Carved by natural forces, this world’s highest natural arch appears to open straight into the sky, creating a magical passage for clouds and sunlight to stream through the heart of the mountain. It is said that over the past 50 years, the orientation of this opening has shifted by roughly 45 degrees, with local lore suggesting it turns toward the regions of growing prosperity. Actually, the “rotation” is an optical effect caused by erosion of surrounding rock walls, while the cave itself remains unchanged. Once you reach the summit, you can enjoy the sea of clouds and experience the cliffside Glass Skywalk, which is as thrilling as the Grand Canyon Skywalk in America. On clear days, the reflection of the blue sky and clouds on the glass creates the sensation of strolling in the air. Here, you can also gain a bird’s-eye view of the Heaven’s Gate and see the kettle-shaped Yuhu Peak. After taking in these wonders, we’ll descend the mountain by cable car. 

To conclude your 8 days Zhangjiajie tour with Chengdu and Chongqing, your guide and the driver will see you off at the Zhangjiajie airport or high-speed train station. Since your ticket for Zhangjiajie National Forest Park is valid for 4 days, you can consider further exploring the Yellow Stone Stronghold or Ten-mile Gallery in the park if you have extra days. We also offer extensions to nearby ancient towns such as Furong and Fenghuang. Please feel free to contact us to tailor a custom itinerary if you are interested.

Meals: Western buffet breakfast, Lunch