Pandas, and then what?

The Panda Base is the reason most people put Chengdu on an itinerary. It is also over by about 11:00 in the morning, which leaves a lot of the day unaccounted for. That gap is where Chengdu gets interesting, because the city around those pandas is one of the most pleasant places in China to spend an aimless day.

This is what I tell people to do with the rest of the day.

Why there is no giant panda experience left

Let me get this out of the way, because it is the most common question I get.

Holding a giant panda is no longer possible for visitors at the Chengdu base, and has not been for years. The rules tightened as the animals moved from a zoo model toward a research and conservation model. There are occasional official programmes with very limited availability and high prices, but you cannot walk up and book one, and anyone selling you a "panda hugging experience" online is either selling something else or selling you a scam.

What you can do is get much closer than you would expect. The keepers work in view. The cub nursery, when it is open to visitors, is behind glass a few metres away. In the morning the pandas are active and genuinely entertaining.

Doing the pandas properly

Two things govern the experience: arriving at opening, and going to the right enclosure first.

• Gates open at 07:30. Giant pandas eat in the morning and then sleep for most of the day. By 10:00 they are largely motionless. If you arrive at 11:00 you will photograph sleeping animals and wonder what the fuss is about.
• The base is large. It is laid out over a hillside with several enclosures and a shuttle bus. Walk to the far enclosures first and work back, because everyone starts at the first ones.
• The red panda enclosures are at the top of the hill and are genuinely worth the climb. Many visitors skip them and they are often the highlight.
• Book tickets online in advance. The base caps daily numbers.

Allow three hours. Then leave.

The rest of the day, in order of how much I like it

A teahouse afternoon

This is the single most Chengdu thing you can do, and I would build the rest of the day around it. Order a cup of jasmine tea, sit in a bamboo chair, and stay for two or three hours. Nothing happens. That is the point.

The park teahouses are the classic and they are excellent. Go on a weekday morning if you can rather than a weekend afternoon.

A walk through the old lanes

The restored lanes near the centre are pretty and crowded and mostly shops. The un-restored ones a few streets away are more interesting: courtyard houses, laundry lines, small workshops, people playing cards on the pavement.

Walk without a destination for an hour. Chengdu is flat and easy to wander.

Hotpot, and the honest guidance

Chengdu hotpot is slightly less aggressive than the Chongqing version, but only slightly. Order the half-and-half pot. Order twice as much vegetable as meat, because the vegetables are where it gets good. Drink cold soy milk rather than beer.

Go at 18:00 or after 20:30. In between the wait is long.

Sichuan opera, the short version

There are several companies doing tourist-oriented performances with face changing, fire breathing, and acrobatics. They run about 90 minutes and are entertaining if you accept them for what they are. The face-changing is genuinely impressive even when you know how it works.

Get tickets through your hotel rather than a street tout. Prices are reasonable.

The Sichuan Opera teahouse version

If you have more time, the traditional teahouse performances with a smaller cast and a real audience of locals are better than the big theatre shows. Ask at your hotel which ones are running.

If you have a second day

Chengdu rewards a second day more than most Chinese cities.

• Qingcheng Mountain and the Dujiangyan irrigation system, an hour by train, is a full day and one of the best things in the region.
• Leshan, with its giant carved Buddha, is two hours each way but can be done as a long day trip.
• The Sanxingdui museum, about an hour away, holds bronze masks from a civilisation that is genuinely strange and not well known outside China. If you like archaeology, this is the one to prioritise.

Practical notes

Getting to the pandas

Metro Line 3 to Panda Avenue station, then a short walk or bus to the base entrance. About 40 minutes from the city centre. A taxi from downtown takes 30 to 40 minutes depending on traffic and costs 50 to 80 yuan.

Getting around the city

The metro is extensive, cheap and easy. Lines are numbered and signed in English. A single ride is 2 to 8 yuan.

When to come

March to May and September to November are the best months. Summer is humid and hot; winter is grey and mild, and the pandas are actually more active in cooler weather, which is a genuine argument for a winter visit.

Food you should not leave without trying

Mapo tofu, dan dan noodles, twice-cooked pork, and cold Sichuan noodles. All of them are cheap, everywhere, and better than any version you have had abroad. A full day of eating in Chengdu can cost less than one restaurant meal in Europe.

The shape of a good Chengdu day

Pandas at dawn, a long lunch, a teahouse for the whole afternoon, an evening walk through the old lanes, then hotpot until late. It is not a day of sights. It is a day of pacing, and Chengdu is unusually good at rewarding that.

Originally published on 71Asia Tours blog.