【Chengdu Travel Guide 2026】
Transport, Things to Do, Food & More

Chengdu Airport Arrivals Navigation ☞Airport Travel Tips ✈️ + ASMR of Giant Pandas + Cuisine to Destroy Your Taste Buds + Panoramic Views of Popular Attractions such as Dujiangyan, Dufu Qiaotang, and Wuhou Ancestral Shrine + Spicy to the point of fainting Hot Pot 

has flights closer to the city center, while Shuangliu is relatively small. You will save more time if you transfer to Tianfu Airport, which is closer to the city center

Chengdu Airport to Town Centre

Chengdu has two main airports (Shuangliu International Airport CTU and Tianfu International Airport TFU). Tianfu International Airport is heavily trafficked and has flights closer to the city center, while Shuangliu is relatively small. You will save more time if you transfer to Tianfu Airport, which is closer to the city center! For more information about Chengdu Airport, click here.

Tianfu International Airport (TFU) → City Centre (Chunxi Road/Tianfu Square)

 Browse Chengdu Metro🚇

Source from zhihu

Shuangliu International Airport (CTU) → City Centre (Chunxi Road/Tianfu Square)

Popular Chengdu Attractions

Giant Panda Base, Human Energy Station. The round snowballs are super cute, watch performances, and eat radio. Dujiangyan, which has used fish mouths to draw water for two thousand years, is still a must-visit place for Chengdu people to eat hot pot. Du Fu Thatched Cottage is one of the must-go attractions for Tang Dynasty poets and literary youth. The headquarters of Zhuge Liang Fan Club, the design of red walls and red alleys, cures the clumsy habit of taking photos. The koi has listened to "Zou Shu" for 800 years and has become a top student fish.

 Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding

📍No. 1375, North Panda Avenue, Chenghua District, Chengdu （7:30-18:00）

Panda Hiking Guide, Get up early and travel light! Observe the natural behaviors of giant pandas running, climbing, and chewing bamboo in the forest, and witness the pandas' lifestyle and ecological habitat with your own eyes.

 Travel Tips👉Avoid lunch breaks when watching pandas, because pandas will sleep indoors at noon. The park is very large, and it is recommended to buy a sightseeing bus ($30, unlimited rides).

Dujiangyan Scenic Spot

📍Park Road, Dujiangyan City, Chengdu

Dujiangyan is located in the western suburbs of Chengdu. It is named after the world-famous millennium water conservancy hub. This water conservancy system, which was built in the Warring States Period, still nourishes the Chengdu Plain. The adjacent Qingcheng Mountain is the birthplace of Taoism, where the Taoist founder Zhang Daoling once practiced. The front mountain is full of Taoist temples and cultural relics, while the back mountain is a weekend resort for citizens to escape the summer heat with its forests and springs, forming a unique landscape that blends humanity and nature

Chengdu Du Fu Thatched Cottage Museum

📍No.37, Qinghua Road, Qingyang District, Chengdu 610072, China

The thatched cottage that cultural and tourism people are scrambling to buy is the thatched cottage of the ancient poet Du Fu, and it is also an inspirational charging station for contemporary literary and artistic youth. The green grass in the yard is like Manhattan, the ancient trees are towering, and the red walls and red tiles are engraved with Tang and Song poems, full of the fragrance of books

Wuhou Shrine

📍No. 231 Wuhouyu Street, Wuhou District, Chengdu

Wuhou Temple, red walls and black tiles, three thousand literati and poets locked the screams of Three Kingdoms fans, awakened the Jinli Night Market next door, alley food captured people's hearts, spicy Jianghu hot potskewers recipes, the olfactory fragrance is written into the DNA of diners.

Chengdu Food Crazy Guide

Hot pot🍚

Hot pot is one of the ways Chengdu people make friends. Eating hot pot together = socializing together. If you eat hot pot together, you can make friends in the food circle. Taking into consideration the popularity of hot pot, the ordering strategy of outsiders is slightly spicy.

Don't make it too spicy, otherwise, it will be spicy enough to enter the ICU!! Chengdu Food Crazy Guide - Hot Pot 1. Hot pot is one of the ways Chengdu people make friends. Eating hot pot together = socializing together. If you eat hot pot together, you can make friends in the food circle. Given the popularity of hot pot, the ordering strategy of outsiders is slightly spicy. Don't make it too spicy, or it will be spicy enough to be admitted to the ICU!!!

Tips for eating broadcast✨

• Soul dipping sauce: sesame oil + mashed garlic + coriander are essential!（(vinegar can save lives）
• Fresh tripe: 30 seconds to simmer the tripe, crispy and delicious with a crackling sound
• Duck blood: cold pot with blood, tender as tofu
• Chicken feet: hot pot for half an hour, no bones in one bite

Recommendation⭐⭐⭐⭐

 Chuanchuanxiang

ChuanchuanOne of the must-eat delicacies and fresh ingredients are available as soon as you enter the store. Eat a few skewers, 50 skewers per person is the entry-level! Because you can't stop eating after eating! So you can order iced tofu and ice glutinous rice balls to relieve greasiness!

3. Dumplings and noodles-carbohydrate killers

Dumplings Sweetwater noodles

Tips👇：

• Red oil + minced garlic sauce + sweet soy sauce Chopsticks thick noodles + stir-fried soy sauce + crushed peanuts
• The filling is only pure meat, and the taste is like chewing gummy candy (the more you chew, the more delicious it is
• The impact of the sweet and spicy dual taste rolls in the stomach, so delicious that it makes you cry!!

Recommendation ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Street food killers!

Egg pancakes

• Sweet and salty egg pancakes can be stuffed with various fillings and childhood memories!
• You must have guessed it right when you saw the crowded stalls.
• Fried Glutinous Balls
• Friends who are in the physical management period should eat less, otherwise it will be a charcoal bomb! Caramel crispy skin + glutinous rice filling, it is extremely sweet when you bite it.
• Pot stickers
• It tastes sizzling, shiny, crispy, and sweet, like dumplings.

Dark cuisine warning

• Rabbit head
• Friends who are used to eating rabbit heads can try eating rabbit brains first, and then rabbit face meat (it is recommended to close your eyes to reduce guilt)
• Brain flower
• The charcoal grilled hot pot version is more delicious, don't order it if you like it!
• Before coming to Chengdu, please prepare your stomach and hemorrhoid cream, after all, the air here is filled with the aroma of hotpot!

Chengdu Shopping Guide

📍IFS (off Chunxi Road) and Taikoo Li For great photos, either get there before 10 am or go in the evening, otherwise the queues at the online shops will make you doubt your life! 📍 COSMO Chengdu (Yanshikou)  A place where you can make a forced pilgrimage to Southwest Asia if you like hipsters, a hipster collection mall where shopping is like online shopping for a national hipster show, and even the fitting rooms have neon lights!    📍 Dongjiao Memory (Chenghua District) College groups a favorite place to go, locomotive square Transformers shot the wasteland wind beyond the film, neon flashes at night, go to the small live house have a drink! 📍 Jiouyanqiao Bar Street Chengdu's nightlife is so colorful, a street along the river, listening to ‘Chengdu’ in a folk bar and shaking the dice in a hip-hop venue. 📍Traffic Cheat Codes Bike sharing in Chengdu is faster than cars, traffic jams are so bad you run out of gas, and cycling within 3km is faster than taking a taxi!

Chengdu WeatherTalk Guide 🌦️

The climate in Chengdu is like a steamer. Remember to keep an umbrella in your bag. Sichuan-style weather can change at any time, from sunny skies to torrential downpours. Keep your makeup light in summer or you'll get all sweaty. Spring and winter are humid, so pay attention to dehumidification! Clothes don't dry easily 🌧️

What to Prepare for a Trip to China?

• Visa & Entry Tips China’s ​240-hour visa-free transit policy now covers ​54 countries, incl. the US, UK, Canada, and Brazil, allowing up to 10 days during layovers. Learn more about China Entry Tips to land in China easily.
• Getting Connected to VPNs is vital for accessing Google, WhatsApp, Instagram, etc in China. Set one up before arriving.  China eSIMs are the easiest option for data and bypassing restrictions. Pocket Wi-Fi devices work best for groups but are pricier and require pickup/return.
• Money Exchange & Tax Refunds Exchange money in China banks (better rates than airports). ATMs accept foreign cards but notify your bank first. For tax refunds, spend over ¥500 at stores with a "Tax-Free" sign. Keep receipts and get forms stamped at customs before departure.

Must-Have Apps in China

• China Payment Apps Forget Cash. Chinese use ​Alipay (I like it better) or ​WeChat Pay to pay for everything in China. Scan a QR code at noodle stalls, metros, and even temples. Link your foreign Visa/Mastercard before landing.
• China Map Apps Amap (Gaode Map) & Baidu Map (limited English) are what locals use, with real-time navigation, metro/bus routes, and traffic updates. Apple Maps does a good job too if you're already an IOS user.
• China Transport Apps Street taxis are cheap, but drivers rarely speak English. Use China Taxi App like ​DiDi (China’s Uber)—set your destination in English, and pay by Alipay.
• China Travel Apps 15+ China trips taught me: Use Trip.com. It's the best English app for booking China trains/flights/hotels + finding Trip.com deals.
• China Dating Apps Locals use ​Tantan (China’s Tinder) and ​Momo. WeChat’s “People Nearby” works too, but expect language barriers unless your Mandarin is decent.
• China Food App Use Meituan (also helps find nearby restaurants) or Ele.me for food delivery—both have English mode. No English menu in restaurants? Scan the QR with Alipay's translator.