Pandas, teahouses, courtyard lanes and chili-laden evenings — unhurried Sichuan
A deliberately unhurried five days in China's most laid-back megacity: mornings with the pandas at the research base, ear-cleaning and tea in People's Park, the courtyard shops of Kuanzhai and Jinli, Wuhou and Du Fu's thatched retreat, a leisurely Dujiangyan irrigation day and face-changing opera at night — punctuated by long hotpot dinners.
Fly into Shuangliu (CTU) or Tianfu (TFU). Evening stroll down Jinli's lantern street for snacks and shadow-puppet shops.
Metro-plus-shuttle for the 08:00 panda feeding, back by noon for a long teahouse lunch and an afternoon nap-or-people-watch in People's Park.
Slow loop of Kuanzhai Alleys, then Wuhou Shrine's Three Kingdoms cypresses and Du Fu's thatched cottage; Sichuan opera's face-changers at night.
Leisurely intercity train to the 2,300-year-old irrigation works: walk the Fish Mouth weir and Anlan bridge, tea above the river, back for hotpot.
Last slow breakfast of bell dumplings, then metro to the airport.
Travel in China