Chengdu – pandas, hotpot and the world’s largest Buddha statue of Le Shan

Nature
The wow factor for nature - does it show nature at its best? Doesn't need to be the wildebeest migration or diving with hundreds of hammerheads. Rather make you pause as you realise just how awesome the natural world can be
8
Culture
How much does this experience showcase some of the better and finer things that us humans can offer? Sure, it can be ancient ruins and renaissance churches, but it can also be festivals or soaking up some of the great modern cities of the world
7
Fun factor/activity
Very simple - was it fun? This is usually linked in with doing some kind of activity - i mean, walking along some cliffs is nice, but paragliding from them, now that is fun. Its a vastly underrated factor in a truly great experience
7
Avoid the crowds
Big tour groups and being surrounded by loud fellow tourists can sap the life out of even the greatest of travel experiences. This score is to reflect just how much you can avoid this. But. . . The score also takes into account if the crowds actually add to the experience, such as with a party town or a bustling local market
2
World famous
How world famous is the experience?
5
unique
How hard is it to have a similar experience in other places round the world?
9
Overall TE Score
The overall travel experiences score:  fun factor + avoid the crowds + (best of nature or culture) + (best of world famous or unique). Then convert into a score out of 100
65 *What the scores mean and where do they come from
RANKING
How this travel experience ranks compared to all the other experiences on this site, based on the travel experience (te) score
230th/456
Top 50%
continent
Asia
country
China
Length of time
1 day or less
Typical daily price
This gives you a rough idea of the daily price based on 2 people travelling where they can split costs like accommodation. It excludes travel there and back, and factors in inflation the numbers in brackets show the price range for the full time of the experience (so not necessarily daily). It is a range to reflect different budget vs higher end
$140 (typically $90 - $190)
Time of year visited
May
Primary Tags
Click on any of the tags to see all travel experiences with the same tag
Big city Buddhist site Wildlife - Pandas
All Tags
Boat trip Cliffs Foodie focused Restaurant recommendations UNESCO world heritage site
Wow Factor
Two scores: first is the wow factor which ranges from ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ to ⭐️, and a separate category for the truly "gash". The second is the more analytical travel experience score, which considers 6 varied criteria to give an overall score out of 100.
⭐⭐

Summary

Chengdu is far from the highlight of Sichaun province, but it will naturally be one of the transit spots you pass through on your way to some of the wonderful natural landscapes surrounding it.

Make sure though to give yourself at least a day in Chengdu to see the pandas (giant and red versions) at the Giant panda Breeding Research Base; for a half day trip to the UNESCO world heritage listed Giant Buddha in Le Shan (1200 years old carved into the confluence of 3 rivers) and to generally spend either an afternoon in one of the traditional tea houses or an evening eating the super spicy Sichaun hotpot.

It’s punchy, but doable to do all this in a day.  Makes most sense to get to the Panda Base when it opens at 8am for the morning feed (they are often asleep in the afternoon) and then try to get a tour to the Buddha leaving from Chendgu at around 11am.  It’s 2hours to the site, half an hour or so getting a boat up to it, and potentially quite a bit more time if you want to walk around it – the queues at weekends and holidays will be very slow moving.

Last tip, do make sure to try the Sichaun hotpot, the province’s world-renowned dish.  But be warned that it packs a put-the-toilet-roll-in-the-fridge-the-night-before punch.  We tried Long Sen Yuan Hotpot which was great, with a good location and atmosphere.  You’ll have had spicy food before, but its something about the combo of the spice (which is strong), plus the temperature of the broth, plus the numbing effect of the pepper corns that really does make this quite the experience – “enjoy”!

 

Highlights

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#1 Taking a boat trip to the confluence of 3 rivers for the UNESCO world heritage listed Giant Buddha in Le Shan. 1200 years old and 70m / 220ft tall, with finger nails bigger than a human

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#2 Spending the evening sampling the world-renowned Sichaun hotpot

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#3 Seeing the pandas in the giant breeding ground. The red pandas were especially cute

Some broad tips for travelling in China

I lived in China for 2 years or so, and have now been living in Hong Kong for 10+ years.  I’m fascinated by what is such an awe-inspiring and vast place.  Here are 3 tips I would give to any first time visitor:

 

China is vast, try to get some context – huge in terms of its sheer land area, population, economy, but also its history and culture.  You could spend a lifetime travelling what is effectively like another continent and still only scrape the surface.  To help start to get your head around it, it helps getting some context.  For this, I would really recommend the book Wild Swans by Jung Chang, which tells the true story of 3 generations of women living in China from 1909 to modern day.  Highly recommend.

The Chinese people – it’s often difficult to interact with locals in China.  There are certainly strong cultural differences that go deeper than you would experience in most other parts of the world, but the main problem is of course the language.   Get out google translate for simultaneous translation.  You’ll be surprised how keen the locals will be to speak to you, and just how interesting you may find their stories.  It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to suggest those conversations could be the highlight of your whole trip.

Frustrations – travelling in China can often be difficult.  Scream-out-loud, pull-all-your-hair-out, call everyone a a f***ing ****, never-ever-going-back style difficult.   The language barrier, the often radically different way of doing things, the combo of an often world leading digital country mixed in with archaically manual processes can all make it feel at times like a challenge rather than a joy.   My advice is simply to go with it it’s all part of the adventure, and above all don’t lose your temper.  Shouting at someone or generally showing frustration will just be viewed by the Chinese as embarrassing and, at worst, a loss of face for them.  Which means you’ve got very pretty much zero chance of them helping you.  Patience, politeness and a smile will often see them wanting to help you.  They’re not trying to be difficult . . . most of the time 🙂

 

Experiences Nearby

Wow Factor Score Two scores: first is the wow factor which ranges from ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ to ⭐️, and a separate category for the truly "gash". The second is the more analytical travel experience score, which considers 6 varied criteria to give an overall score out of 100. LowHigh
  • Elite, unmissable
  • World-class, downsides
  • Meets the Wow Factor
  • Worth it
  • Meh
  • Gash

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Score Detail

The scores above are the real point of this site.

Over 20+ years and 100+ countries, I’ve tried to rank the world’s best travel experiences — from genuinely mind-blowing ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ to the properly gash.

Every one of the 500+ places on this site has both a Wow Factor rating and a more analytical Travel Experience (TE) score based on the things that actually make travel memorable.

If you're curious about the thinking behind it, head to the About page.

Otherwise, explore the map above or on the Home page and see which places truly deliver maximum wow.

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