Adventure Travel in China

Smart Stopover China Guides: Chengdu

Post by Marco FerraresecloseAuthor: Marco Ferrarese Name: Marco Ferrarese
Email: info@monkeyrockworld.com
About: Marco Ferrarese has been teaching English, living and travelling around East, South and South East Asia since 2007. An underground musician and writer for many years, he has lived in Europe, the USA, China and Australia and is currently based in Malaysia. He has explored 22 of the 34 provinces by train, foot, rickshaw and any other overland form of transportation. He writes for CnAdventure Blog and has published a book about his Chinese adventures in Italian language.See Authors Posts (32)

We want to launch another series of articles dedicated to Smart Stopover China, or better, some good information to explore the travel hubs of China in a 24 to 48 hours time span. With the increase of the cheap air routes in and out of Southeast Asia and Australia into China mostly operated by Airasia and Tiger Airways, travelers are constantly faced with the dilemma of what to do with a limited time in some of these tourism hubs. Imagine you only had a day to spare in Beijing, what would you decide to do among its infinite offerings? This is exactly the aim and scope of this new series of CnAdventure Blog posts, Smart Stopover China!!

Chengdu Overview
Capital city of Sichuan province and air travel hub of Southwest China, Chengdu is a massive, sprawling and interesting Chinese city. In a nutshell, it is famous for its spicy hotpot and peppers, the beauty of its women, the panda breeding base and the gateway to the Giant Buddha statue in Leshan. Not to forget Emei shan, one of the sacred peaks in China and a great hiking destination.

Airport information
Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport is seated in the central section of Shuanxi Plain and is 16km southwest to the center of Chengdu City. Airasia flies to and from Chengdu into Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and into Paris, France. This fact contributes to the strategic position of this airport, making it the new important stopover route in-between Europe, China, the Southeast Asian region and furthermore Australia. Keep an eye wide open for Airasia give-aways and promotions, since it is possible to fly from and to Southeast Asia for a bargain during the whole year… tickets can be purchased for as low as 20 US$ each!!

Getting into town
By Bus: The cheap way is to take bus 303: just go out of the arrivals terminal and turn right, the bus should be waiting for passengers there, and generally runs from 7 am to 7 pm. The cost for a ride into town is 10 RMB, and the trip takes around half an hour, being the last stop by the MinShan Hotel, opposite the JinJiang Hotel. You can also get to/from the airport for much cheaper relying on buses number 16 and 99 from the city center to the Southern Bus Station, and from there taking bus 404 bound to the airport. On the other way around, do the same, but look for buses 16 or 99 after you cross the Macao/Jiuzhaigou terminal.

By Taxi: you won’t have a problem finding one, and a trip into town should cost you around 35/50 RMB, going to the upper price if you want to be dropped somewhere near the hostels area near TianFu square. Be on the lookout for “illegal cabs” as well; some people might offer you a ride into town in a private car. This is generally not dangerous, but control the cars’ conditions and level of occupancy first (most likely you’ll end up in share vehicle) before agreeing on any price and always consider, it has to be cheaper than the taxi fare, for a good reason!! It is ILLEGAL!! But especially useful in the wee hours of the night!

24 hours Smart Stopover
Essentially, people come to Chengdu to see the Panda breeding base (check our article here) or the Leshan Giant Buddha, but you won’t be able to see both of them in one single day unless you set off VERY EARLY in the morning and hit the Panda base first, in order to see the feeding… and remember that the Giant Buddha park closes around 4.30 pm and it takes 2 hours to get there by bus. So, a 24 hours stopover would only allow time for one of the two, especially when using public transportation. Unless you are ready for a very long, exhausting day.

Leshan To go to Leshan, spend 2 hours on the bus from XinNanMen bus station (around 30 rmb one way), or take a taxi from in front of the bus station. In half a day you can definitely get from the airport to the bus, travel to Leshan and see the park, and get back to overnight in Chengdu. But if you have 48 hours, you might consider an overnight in Leshan to see the big one really early in the morning, and then see the other Buddhas. Check out some very good Leshan veggie food and make an early start. Motor boat over to in front of the Buddha, get dropped off at a temple, stroll along the paths, stop off at some cave excavations, and then go down the steps from the top of the 71-metre high statue. Best if you can avoid the crowds – walking up the steps is better.

Chengdu City and the Pandas If you decided to stay in Chengdu for the day, head to the Panda Breeding center first. You have three transportation options: firstly, a private taxi from the city center, for about 30/50 RMB one way. You can also take bus 902 from Xinnanmen Tourism Coach Center to the panda center directly.
The last and cheaper option is to take bus 1, 32, 49, 53, 63, 64, 69, 70, 71, 83, 156 to Zhaojuesi Bus Stop. Then change to Bus 198 to the Panda center. After your close encounter with the black and white extremely cute kind, get back in Chengdu city and go paying a visit to Da Ci Temple in the centre of town (10-15 mins walk from Crowne Plaza/Holiday Inn).  Aside from its main worshipping purpose, this temple has a very lively yet relaxing outdoor (part of it has a roof shelter) teahouse (various teas, average price 5-8 Rb), and there’s a folklore museum.  This represents an oasis of calm and tea in the middle of the bustling Chengdu citylife not to miss to unwind.  The entrance fee is 3 Rmb, and opening from 9am to 6pm. After that, head back to the airport to catch your onward flight, or relax in your hotel/guesthouse and get ready to hit the road the next day, since Chengdu sits in the middle of some of the most outstanding scenery in China and connections would virtually take you anywhere further afield.

Ah, do not forget to taste some of the amazing Sichuanese foods in-between all of this travelling!!

Tags: Adventure Travel, buddha carvings, China Train Travel, dai ci temple, giant buddha, hike chengdu, leshan, panda breeding base, Sichuan Province, southwest China