Your destination guide 成都
Chengdu
Pandas, teahouses and the best food in China
The most relaxed of the big Chinese cities, and the one people extend their stay in. Pandas in the morning, a teahouse in the afternoon, hotpot at night — and a launching point for Leshan, Emei and western Sichuan.
Getting there
Two airports: Tianfu (TFU) for long-haul, about 50 km out and 26–30 minutes from Chengdu East by train, and the older Shuangliu (CTU), much closer in. Chengdu East is about 3 hours from Xi'an by high-speed rail.
When to go
March to May and September to November. July and August are hot, humid and wettest; winter is a damp grey with heavy haze.
How long: 3–6 days
Give it 3 days for the headline sights, or up to 6 to see it properly and eat your way around.
Three is pandas, a teahouse afternoon and one hotpot. Six adds Dujiangyan and Leshan, an opera night, and room for chuan chuan, mapo tofu and a dan dan noodle crawl on separate days.
Xi'an and Chengdu: five days, two very different cities
The classic second leg of a China trip. One city is Tang-dynasty history and the hardest museum booking in the country; the other is pandas, teahouses and the best food in China.
A little forward planning
Book these before you go
Timed, passport-linked and capable of selling out. Full detail on the reservation radar.
Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding 成都大熊猫繁育研究基地
English via resellerOpens 7 days ahead · high sell-out risk
Make a few good memories
What to see in Chengdu
Researched largely from Chinese-language sources, so it goes beyond the usual shortlist. Dollar figures are approximate, at the rate on 2026-10-08.
成都大熊猫繁育研究基地
The world's best-known giant panda facility, with dozens of pandas across hillside enclosures and a nursery for cubs. For most visitors it is the reason Chengdu is on the itinerary at all.
¥55 adult; ¥27 student. Free for under-6s/under 1.3 m and over-60s with ID
≈ US$4.02–8.19Opening hours, booking and how to get there →
武侯祠博物馆
A walled garden complex honouring Zhuge Liang, the strategist of the Three Kingdoms period, alongside the tomb of the Shu emperor Liu Bei. If you know the Three Kingdoms stories - or want to - this is where Chinese visitors come to pay respects, under some beautiful old cypresses and red walls.
¥60; ¥30 student; family package around ¥120
≈ US$4.47–18Opening hours, booking and how to get there →
锦里古街
A rebuilt Qing-style lane beside Wuhou Shrine, hung with red lanterns and packed with Sichuan snack stalls, teahouses and craft shops. Unapologetically touristy, but it is the easiest single place to eat your way through Sichuan street food.
Free
Opening hours, booking and how to get there →
金沙遗址博物馆
A 3,000-year-old Bronze Age religious site discovered under a Chengdu building project in 2001, left open as an excavation hall plus a treasury of gold, jade and ivory. The gold 'Sun and Immortal Birds' disc found here is now the emblem of Chinese cultural heritage - and of Chengdu itself.
¥70 (discounts for online purchase)
≈ US$10Opening hours, booking and how to get there →
四川博物院
The province's flagship collection: over 260,000 objects covering Han stone reliefs, Tibetan Buddhist art and the Zhang Daqian Dunhuang cave copies. The best single place to understand Sichuan as a distinct cultural region rather than a panda stop.
Free entry is widely reported for the permanent galleries, but sources do not confirm it explicitly - treat as free and check when booking
Opening hours, booking and how to get there →
杜甫草堂博物馆
The garden where the Tang poet Du Fu sheltered during the An Lushan rebellion and wrote some 240 surviving poems. Bamboo groves, ponds and a reconstructed thatched hut make it the most peaceful green space in central Chengdu, poetry aside.
¥50 (around ¥47 booked online)
≈ US$7–7.45Opening hours, booking and how to get there →
人民公园・鹤鸣茶社
Chengdu's civic living room: an open park where retirees sing, dance and run an infamous weekend matchmaking corner, with the city's oldest surviving teahouse (founded 1923) spread under bamboo at its centre. The clearest window into how Chengdu actually lives.
Free to enter the park; tea at Heming roughly 16-¥35 a cup with unlimited refills (an early-morning jasmine is cheaper, around ¥3 from 07:00-10:00)
≈ US$0.45–5.21Opening hours, booking and how to get there →
文殊院
Chengdu's best-preserved working Buddhist temple, a Tang foundation rebuilt in the Qing, where monks chant daily among incense smoke and ancient ginkgos. The attached vegetarian canteen and the teahouse in the back courtyard are institutions in their own right.
Free
Opening hours, booking and how to get there →
青羊宫
The oldest and largest Daoist temple in south-west China, supposedly where Laozi preached, with an unusual eight-trigram pavilion built without a single nail and two bronze goats that locals rub for luck. Far less visited than the Buddhist temples.
¥10 adult; ¥5 student
≈ US$0.74–1.49Opening hours, booking and how to get there →
乐山大佛
A 71-metre Buddha carved into a red cliff at the confluence of three rivers between 713 and 803 AD, still the largest stone Buddha on earth. A UNESCO site and an easy high-speed-rail day trip from Chengdu.
¥80 for the hill-walking ticket; ¥40 for seniors. Boat tours and Chengdu round-trip coach packages are sold separately (around ¥94 and ¥198 respectively)
≈ US$5.96–29Opening hours, booking and how to get there →
峨眉山
One of China's four sacred Buddhist mountains, rising to a 3,077-metre Golden Summit where a vast gilded Samantabhadra statue stands above a sea of cloud. Wild macaques, mist-wrapped monasteries and the option to stay overnight in a temple.
¥160 peak season (16 Jan-14 Dec); ¥110 low season (15 Dec-15 Jan). Shuttle bus around ¥50 return; Golden Summit cable car ¥65 up / ¥55 down in peak season
≈ US$7.45–24Opening hours, booking and how to get there →
宽窄巷子
Three parallel Qing-dynasty lanes - Wide, Narrow and Well - of grey-brick courtyard houses, now restored into teahouses, bars and boutiques. The only surviving Qing street layout in Chengdu, and the most photogenic place in the city centre.
Free
Opening hours, booking and how to get there →
都江堰
An irrigation works built around 256 BC that splits the Min River without a dam and still waters the Chengdu plain 2,300 years later - the engineering achievement that made Sichuan rich. A UNESCO site with suspension bridges and river views.
¥80; ¥40 for students and ages 60-64. Nearby Mount Qingcheng is ¥80 (front mountain) or ¥20 (rear mountain)
≈ US$2.98–12Opening hours, booking and how to get there →
青城山
The birthplace of organised Daoism in China, a densely green mountain of wooden temples and covered walkways that feels like a different climate from the city. Far gentler walking than Emei and easily combined with Dujiangyan in one day.
¥80 front mountain (¥40 concession); ¥20 rear mountain (¥10 concession). Cable car and ferry on the front mountain are extra
≈ US$1.49–12Opening hours, booking and how to get there →
安仁古镇・建川博物馆聚落
A Republican-era town of 1930s manor houses and arcaded streets, next to China's largest privately founded museum complex - more than twenty pavilions on the war against Japan, the earthquake of 2008 and everyday twentieth-century life. Unusually frank for a Chinese museum, and almost no foreign visitors.
Anren town free; Jianchuan Museum Cluster around ¥60 for an adult combined ticket
≈ US$8.94Opening hours, booking and how to get there →
川剧变脸（蜀风雅韵・锦江剧场）
Sichuan opera's signature trick, bianlian, has performers switch painted silk masks in a blink - nobody outside the tradition is told how. Evening variety shows pair it with fire-breathing, shadow puppetry, rolling-lamp acrobatics and opera excerpts, with enough spectacle to work without any Chinese.
needs-check - ticket prices vary by venue and seat tier and the Chinese listings quote only discounted agency rates
Opening hours, booking and how to get there →
What to eat in Chengdu
If you eat only two things in Chengdu, make them a bowl of dandan noodles and mapo tofu with rice — both are the real thing, cheap, and available everywhere. Learn the words 'wei la' (slightly spicy) and 'bu yao huajiao' (no Sichuan pepper) before you order anything else.
Mapo tofu
麻婆豆腐mápó dòufu
Silken tofu simmered in a red sauce of fermented broad-bean chilli paste, fermented black beans, minced beef and chilli oil, thickened with starch and dusted with ground Sichuan pepper just before serving.
Tastes like: Numbing-hot and oily, deeply savoury from fermented bean paste, heavy on Sichuan pepper
Not on the menu but in it: Minced beef (sometimes pork) is standard even though the dish is named for tofu, and the sauce is usually built on a meat stock. Doubanjiang is a wheat-containing fermented paste, so it is not gluten-free.
Might not be for you: The ground Sichuan pepper produces a buzzing, tingling numbness on the lips and tongue that first-timers often mistake for a reaction. It is intentional.
Where to eat it
- Chen Mapo Tofu (Qinghua Road) · Michelin Bib Gourmand 2025 (Chengdu) · ¥60–120 · Qingyang, Qinghua Road
- Mi Xun Teahouse · Michelin 1 star 2027 (and Green Star) · ¥200-400 per person · Jinjiang, 81 Bitieshi Street (笔帖式街), beside Daci Temple; Chunxi Road metro station (春熙路, Lines 2 and 3) is a short walk
Where: Any Sichuan restaurant; the original house on Qinghua Road in Qingyang is the historic address
Watch videos of Mapo tofu →Dandan noodles
担担面dàndàn miàn
A small bowl of thin wheat noodles over a dressing of chilli oil, sesame paste, soy, preserved mustard greens and crisp minced pork, mixed vigorously before eating. Authentic bowls are small and have no soup.
Tastes like: Nutty, salty, numbing and chilli-hot, with a sour note from the pickled greens
Not on the menu but in it: Contains sesame paste and frequently crushed peanuts — a serious risk for nut allergies and rarely flagged. Minced pork is part of the dressing, so 'noodles with sauce' is not vegetarian.
Might not be for you: Strong numbing effect; the sauce sits at the bottom and tastes overwhelming until you mix it.
Where to eat it
- Lao Chengdu Yi Cheng Xian San Yang Mian · Michelin Bib Gourmand 2025 (Chengdu) · ¥20–40 · Chengdu city centre, Guojielou Street
- Mi Xun Teahouse · Michelin 1 star 2027 (and Green Star) · ¥200-400 per person · Jinjiang, 81 Bitieshi Street (笔帖式街), beside Daci Temple; Chunxi Road metro station (春熙路, Lines 2 and 3) is a short walk
- Long Chao Shou (Chunxi Road flagship) · ¥25-50 per person · Jinjiang, Chunxi Road / Taikoo Li commercial district; Chunxi Road metro station (春熙路, Lines 2 and 3)
Where: Noodle shops citywide, including the hole-in-the-wall 'fly restaurants' around Kuixinglou Street in Qingyang
Watch videos of Dandan noodles →Sichuan hotpot
火锅huǒguō
A cauldron of beef tallow, dried chillies and Sichuan pepper kept at a rolling boil at the table, into which you cook your own ordered plates of meat, offal, vegetables and tofu, then dip them in sesame oil with garlic and coriander.
Tastes like: Searingly hot, heavily numbing, intensely fragrant and very oily
Not on the menu but in it: The red broth base is made with beef tallow (rendered beef fat) as standard, so it is not vegetarian even with vegetable-only plates. The dipping-sauce bar typically includes oyster sauce, crushed peanuts, sesame paste and fish-derived seasonings. A 'clear' broth is usually chicken or pork bone.
Might not be for you: The signature orders are offal — tripe, duck intestine, pig brain, pig aorta, blood curd — cooked for precise counted seconds. The numbing is at its most extreme here, and the oil content is high.
Where: Everywhere; locals favour the cluster of hotpot houses around Yulin and Kuixinglou in Wuhou and Qingyang
Watch videos of Sichuan hotpot →Skewer hotpot
串串香chuànchuànxiāng
The budget self-service cousin of hotpot: you pull pre-skewered ingredients from a refrigerated rack, cook them in a communal or personal numbing broth, and pay by the number of sticks left on the table.
Tastes like: Same numbing-hot chilli profile as hotpot, slightly lighter
Not on the menu but in it: Beef-tallow broth; processed skewer items (fish balls, luncheon-meat slices, 'crab stick') contain fish and wheat binders.
Might not be for you: Shared broth, offal on many sticks, and no labelling of what each skewer actually is.
Where: Backstreets of Qingyang and Wuhou, and the student areas; usually open late
Watch videos of Skewer hotpot →Sweet water noodles
甜水面tiánshuǐ miàn
Short, very thick chopstick-width wheat noodles in a dressing of sweetened soy, chilli oil, garlic and sesame paste. Chengdu's most distinctive snack noodle.
Tastes like: Sweet first, then garlicky and chilli-hot, with a dense chewy bite
Not on the menu but in it: The sweet soy (fuzhi jiangyou) is made with brown sugar and spices; crushed peanuts are a common topping.
Might not be for you: The noodles are unusually thick and chewy, and the sweet-plus-chilli combination is unfamiliar to many.
Where to eat it
- Long Chao Shou (Chunxi Road flagship) · ¥25-50 per person · Jinjiang, Chunxi Road / Taikoo Li commercial district; Chunxi Road metro station (春熙路, Lines 2 and 3)
Where: Snack shops and street windows in Qingyang, including the Kuixinglou and Wenshu Monastery areas
Watch videos of Sweet water noodles →Zhong dumplings
钟水饺zhōng shuǐjiǎo
Small pork-filled boiled dumplings served without soup under a pool of sweetened soy, mashed garlic and red chilli oil.
Tastes like: Sweet-savoury, garlicky, gently chilli-hot
Not on the menu but in it: Pork filling only; the sauce contains a lot of raw garlic and brown-sugar soy.
Where to eat it
- Chen Mapo Tofu (Qinghua Road) · Michelin Bib Gourmand 2025 (Chengdu) · ¥60–120 · Qingyang, Qinghua Road
- Long Chao Shou (Chunxi Road flagship) · ¥25-50 per person · Jinjiang, Chunxi Road / Taikoo Li commercial district; Chunxi Road metro station (春熙路, Lines 2 and 3)
Where: Old snack houses in Qingyang and the Chunxi Road area
Watch videos of Zhong dumplings →Sliced beef and offal in chilli oil
夫妻肺片fūqī fèipiàn
A cold starter of thinly sliced spiced beef, beef tongue, tripe and heart, dressed in chilli oil, Sichuan pepper, soy and crushed peanuts. The name says 'lung' but lung is not actually used today.
Tastes like: Numbing, chilli-fragrant, savoury-sour, served cold
Not on the menu but in it: Crushed peanuts are integral. Contents vary by shop and may include tendon and cartilage.
Might not be for you: Cold offal — tongue, tripe, heart — with visible cartilage and a chewy, slightly crunchy texture.
Where to eat it
- Chaimen Hui · Michelin 1 star 2027 · ¥400-900 per person · Wuhou, 2F China Overseas Uni Elite, 289 Jiaozi Avenue (交子大道)
- Fu Rong Huang · Michelin 1 star 2027 · ¥150-300 per person · Qingyang, 3F, 66-16 Guanghuacun Street (光华村街)
Where: Cold-dish counters of Sichuan restaurants and old-brand snack houses
Watch videos of Sliced beef and offal in chilli oil →Rabbit head
兔头tùtóu
A whole braised or marinated rabbit head, sold in numbing-spicy or five-spice versions, eaten by hand by dismantling it piece by piece. A Chengdu beer-snack obsession.
Tastes like: Intensely numbing and spicy, or aromatic and five-spiced; the meat itself is sweet and delicate
Not on the menu but in it: Marinated in a long-running braising stock, usually with rice wine.
Might not be for you: It is a recognisable animal head, teeth and eye sockets included, and eating it well means prising apart the jaw and tongue and sucking the brain. Few visitors get past the look of it.
Where: Shuangliu district is the famous home of it; also sold vacuum-packed in any Chengdu supermarket
Watch videos of Rabbit head →Ice jelly
冰粉bīngfěn
A wobbly clear jelly set from the seeds of a fig-relative plant, served cold in brown-sugar syrup with crushed peanuts, raisins, rice balls and fermented rice.
Tastes like: Light, cool, sweet and caramelly; the standard antidote to a mouthful of chilli
Not on the menu but in it: Crushed peanuts and sometimes walnut are standard toppings; some versions include fermented glutinous rice (slightly alcoholic).
Might not be for you: Slippery, gelatinous texture.
Where to eat it
- Ma Lu Bian Bian (Zhimin Road) · ¥40-70 per person · Jinjiang, 48 Zhimin Road (致民路48号), about 170m from Xinnanmen metro station (新南门, Line 3), Exit B
Where: Stalls beside every hotpot street, especially Kuixinglou and Yulin
Watch videos of Ice jelly →Egg pancake snacks
蛋烘糕dàn hōnggāo
Small batter cakes cooked in tiny copper pans over charcoal and folded over a filling — sweet (red bean, chocolate, condensed milk) or savoury (pickled vegetable, minced pork, salted egg).
Tastes like: Light, eggy, crisp-edged and soft inside
Not on the menu but in it: Butter or lard is used to grease the pans; savoury fillings often include pork floss or minced pork.
Where: Charcoal-pan street carts near schools and in the Wenshu Monastery and Kuixinglou areas
Watch videos of Egg pancake snacks →Tea-smoked duck
樟茶鸭zhāngchá yā
Duck marinated, smoked over camphor leaves and tea, steamed, then deep-fried for crisp skin. A banquet dish rather than street food, and one of the few famous Sichuan dishes with no chilli.
Tastes like: Smoky, aromatic, salty and rich with no heat at all
Not on the menu but in it: Marinade uses Shaoxing wine and sometimes nitrite curing salt.
Might not be for you: Served chopped with bones in.
Where: Traditional Sichuan restaurants and old-brand banquet houses
Watch videos of Tea-smoked duck →Boiled fish in chilli broth
水煮鱼shuǐzhǔ yú
Fillets of freshwater fish poached in a chilli-and-bean-paste broth, then buried under dried chillies and Sichuan pepper and flooded with smoking-hot oil at the table.
Tastes like: Numbing, very hot, oily and fragrant; the fish itself stays silky
Not on the menu but in it: Fish is often marinated with egg white and starch; the broth is doubanjiang-based (wheat).
Might not be for you: A bowl that looks like pure chilli oil; fish bones are often left in, and the numbing level is high.
Where: Everyday Sichuan restaurants across the city; a dish for two or more
Watch videos of Boiled fish in chilli broth →Where to eat in Chengdu
- Dianping (大众点评) — the real ratings. Chinese only, but photos, prices and a 4.5+ score survive translation. Its 必吃榜 "Must-Eat" list is the mainstream benchmark.
- Black Pearl (黑珍珠) — China's own fine-dining guide, published annually by Meituan and taken more seriously domestically than Michelin.
- Michelin covers only a few Chinese cities, so its absence means nothing outside them.
- Xiaohongshu (小红书) — what is actually busy this month, rather than this year.
Chen Mapo Tofu (Qinghua Road) 陈麻婆豆腐 (青华路店)
¥60–120≈ US$8.94The direct descendant of the 19th-century shop that invented mapo tofu, still the reference version of the dish.
Order: Mapo tofu in the stone pot (麻婆豆腐), Zhong dumplings in sweet garlic soy (钟水饺) and 2 more
What to order, booking and allergens →
Yu Zhi Lan 玉芝兰
¥2,000–3,000≈ US$298Chef Lan Guijun's tiny private dining room serving a long tasting menu of refined, mostly un-spicy Sichuan cooking — Chengdu's only two-star restaurant.
Order: Hand-pulled gold-thread noodles in clear broth (金丝面), Chicken-stock velvet tofu (鸡豆花) and 1 more
What to order, booking and allergens →
Wu Ji Guai Wei Mian 吴记怪味面
¥20–45≈ US$2.98Neighbourhood noodle shop known for 'strange-flavour' noodles balancing sweet, sour, numbing, spicy, salty and nutty in one bowl.
What to order, booking and allergens →
Lao Chengdu Yi Cheng Xian San Yang Mian 老成都一诚鲜三样面
¥20–40≈ US$2.98Old-style Chengdu noodle counter doing the classic 'three toppings' bowl — a good cheap introduction to local noodles.
Order: The 'old' dry-tossed noodles with spicy minced pork and diced green beans (老三样·干拌面), Dan dan noodles (担担面) and 1 more
What to order, booking and allergens →
Yang Bo Ying Chuan Tong Zhajiang Noodles 杨伯莹川统杂酱面
¥15–35≈ US$2.23Specialist in Sichuan-style zhajiang noodles — a drier, spicier cousin of the Beijing dish.
What to order, booking and allergens →
Shu Di Dang Gui (Wuhou) 蜀地荡归 (武侯店)
¥100–180≈ US$15Modern Sichuan home-cooking restaurant doing well-executed classics in a comfortable setting.
What to order, booking and allergens →
Song Yun Ze 松云泽
¥800–1,500≈ US$119Classical Sichuan banquet cooking in the lineage of chef Zhang Songyun, with long multi-course menus and historic, mostly non-spicy dishes.
What to order, booking and allergens →
Shuangliu Laoma Rabbit Head 双流老妈兔头
¥40–80≈ US$5.96The best-known name in Chengdu's rabbit-head obsession, in numbing-spicy and five-spice versions, eaten with beer.
What to order, booking and allergens →
Xin Rong Ji (Jiaozi Avenue) 新荣记
¥400-1000 per person≈ US$60A Taizhou seafood house from the coastal Zhejiang group of the same name, occupying the fifth floor of a financial-district tower with views over the Twin Towers. The MICHELIN Guide describes it as sourcing premium ingredients from Taizhou alongside seasonal buys such as live seafood from Dalian and lamb from Hulunbuir, cooked plainly to let the raw material speak. It is not Sichuanese and it is not spicy, which makes it the single most useful booking in Chengdu for a visitor whose palate has been flattened by three days of chilli.
Order: Raw crab marinated in amber yellow wine (黄酒呛蟹), Taizhou-style steamed fish of the day (台州家烧时鲜鱼) and 1 more
What to order, booking and allergens →
Chaimen Hui 柴门荟
¥400-900 per person≈ US$60The flagship fine-dining room of the Chaimen group, on the second floor of an office development on Jiaozi Avenue. The cooking is modern Sichuanese: premium seasonal ingredients bought globally, plated mostly as individual portions, with the kitchen chasing natural umami and layered flavour rather than brute chilli. The room is expensive but deliberately understated, and it is the easiest high-end Sichuan meal to sit through if your tolerance for heat is limited.
Order: Minced chicken silken tofu in amber broth (鸡豆花), Chaimen-style sliced beef offal (柴门夫妻肺片) and 1 more
What to order, booking and allergens →
Mi Xun Teahouse 谧寻茶室
¥200-400 per person≈ US$30A courtyard-house tea room inside the Swire hotel complex on Bitieshi Street, right beside Daci Temple and the Taikoo Li shopping district. The kitchen is open to the room and the cooking is vegetarian and largely plant-based: classic Sichuanese flavours rebuilt without meat, served alongside a serious tea list. It runs a farm-to-table programme with local tea gardens, wineries and tenant farmers near panda habitat, which is what earned it the Green Star.
Order: Vegan mapo tofu with termite mushroom (素麻婆豆腐), Handmade dan dan spinach noodles (菠菜担担面) and 1 more
What to order, booking and allergens →
Fu Rong Huang 芙蓉凰
¥150-300 per person≈ US$22A third-floor Sichuanese dining room on Guanghuacun Street where the tables are screened from each other by wooden slatted partitions and private rooms are available. The kitchen team are veterans working through the traditional Sichuan repertoire - the dishes that take real knife work and real wok control rather than a shortcut through chilli oil. It is the best-value one-star on this list and the one where you will eat the most recognisably Sichuanese food.
Order: Sautéed pork liver with chilli (火爆肝腰), Fu qi fei pian, sliced beef offal in chilli oil (夫妻肺片) and 1 more
What to order, booking and allergens →
Long Sen Yuan (Qingyang) 龙森园火锅
¥100-200 per person≈ US$15A no-frills hotpot house on Qintai Road that has run the same single-item menu for more than twenty years: old-Chengdu hotpot, nothing else. What stops it being monotonous is the choice - eighteen soup bases, a wall of dipping sauces, and a long list of meat, offal and river and sea fish. The famously good order is Emei eel cut into pencil-width strips, crisp and juicy out of the broth. It is the one hotpot in Chengdu carrying a MICHELIN distinction, and a far better bet than the big neon chains (蜀九香 Shu Jiu Xiang, 小龙坎 Xiaolongkan, 电台巷 Diantaixiang) that visitors usually get steered towards.
Order: Emei eel strips (峨眉鳝丝), Spicy rabbit loin (麻辣兔腰) and 2 more
What to order, booking and allergens →
Ma Lu Bian Bian (Zhimin Road) 马路边边串串香 (致民路店)
¥40-70 per person≈ US$5.96The best-known chuan chuan xiang chain in Chengdu and consistently the top-ranked skewer house on Chinese review sites, done up as a deliberate 1980s-90s streetside flashback: grey brick, red tiles, a fake corner shop, low tables and little wooden stools under yellow lamps. You walk to the chilled racks with a basket, pick raw ingredients already threaded onto bamboo skewers, hand them over to be cooked in the mala broth, and eat. Open until 01:00, so it doubles as the late-night option.
Order: Poached pig brain (冒脑花), Spicy beef skewers (麻辣牛肉) and 2 more
What to order, booking and allergens →
No.37 Lao Yuan Ba Chao Shou 老院坝抄手 37号
¥20-40 per person≈ US$2.98A plain neighbourhood chao shou shop that has been feeding its own street for over a decade and picked up a Bib Gourmand for it. Chao shou are Sichuan wontons - thinner skin and more of it than a Cantonese dumpling, pleated loosely so the tail floats free - served either in a clear pork broth or, better, in the hot-and-sour or red-oil dressing. A bowl plus a plate of noodles is a complete cheap lunch.
Order: Red-oil chao shou (红油抄手), Hot and sour chao shou (酸辣抄手) and 1 more
What to order, booking and allergens →
Long Chao Shou (Chunxi Road flagship) 龙抄手
¥25-50 per person≈ US$3.72A state-era institution in the Chunxi Road / Taikoo Li shopping district and the one-stop version of Chengdu xiaochi - the small-eats tradition of ordering a dozen tiny plates rather than one dish. The move is the sampler set: a tray of miniature portions covering most of the city's classic snacks at once. It is unapologetically touristy, service is canteen-brisk and purists will tell you individual snacks are better elsewhere, but for a visitor with one afternoon it solves the whole xiaochi problem in a single sitting.
Order: Hot and sour chao shou (酸辣龙抄手), Dan dan noodles (担担面) and 3 more
What to order, booking and allergens →
Heming Teahouse 鹤鸣茶社
¥10-40 per person≈ US$1.49Opened in 1923 and the oldest surviving teahouse in Chengdu, set in a west-Sichuan pavilion-style hall in People's Park with hundreds of bamboo chairs spread under the trees by the water. You pay for a covered gaiwan of jasmine or flower tea and the seat is then effectively yours for the afternoon; staff top up the hot water endlessly. Card players, pensioners, people with caged birds, roaming ear-cleaners with their tuning forks and long picks. This is the single best hour a visitor can spend understanding how Chengdu actually lives, and it costs almost nothing.
Order: Jasmine flower tea in a covered gaiwan (三花盖碗茶), Roasted melon and sunflower seeds (瓜子) and 1 more
What to order, booking and allergens →
Ma's Kitchen (Jinjiang) 马旺子·锦江
¥¥ on the MICHELIN price scale (moderate); exact per-head price unconfirmedBegan in 1923 as a stall in Weishan and is now the polished Chengdu flagship of a Sichuan restaurant group, sitting a minute from the Taikoo Li shopping district. The dining room plays vintage-hipster rather than banquet-hall, and the kitchen cooks the Sichuan canon properly instead of softening it for the mall crowd. It is the easiest one-star in the city for a visitor to get into and the best single introduction to Sichuanese cooking above street level.
Order: Duck blood curd with pork offal (鸭血旺), Sliced eel (黄辣丁 / 鳝鱼) and 1 more
What to order, booking and allergens →
Rongrong Beida Pugaimian 蓉蓉北大铺盖面
¥ on the MICHELIN price scale (lowest band); exact per-head price unconfirmedA cheap neighbourhood shop in Jinniu known for pugaimian — "quilt noodles" — hand-torn sheets of dough dropped straight into broth, so they come out thin, soft and with real chew. It is a Sichuan comfort food that rarely appears in English-language guides, and a useful break if two days of chilli oil have caught up with you.
Order: Flat torn-sheet noodle soup (铺盖面), Pea and minced pork topping (豌豆杂酱) and 1 more
What to order, booking and allergens →
Gangguanchang Wuqu Xiaojungan Chuanchuanxiang 钢管厂五区小郡肝串串香
Typically well under ¥100 per person, since skewers are priced individually at a few yuan each; current prices unconfirmed≈ US$15The best-known of the Chengdu chuan chuan chains, founded in the late 1980s around a steel-pipe factory housing block — hence the name. Chuan chuan is hotpot disassembled: everything comes pre-skewered on bamboo sticks, you take what you want from a chilled rack, cook it yourself in the bubbling pot, and pay by counting your empty skewers at the end. It is cheaper, faster and far less committing than a full hotpot, and it is how young Chengdu eats on a weeknight.
Order: Chicken gizzard skewers, the house signature (小郡肝), Beef skewers in rice flour (粉蒸牛肉) and 2 more
What to order, booking and allergens →
See the Chengdu panda base
Other people's videos, on YouTube — we link, we don't host. Worth knowing: YouTube is blocked in mainland China, so watch these at home, or download them in the YouTube app before you fly.
- Chengdu Panda Base Guide! Best Time to Go, Tickets and What to Expect in Sichuan ChinaShort briefing on when to arrive at the panda base, how to buy tickets and what to expect inside.Travel Reviews · opens on YouTube · Auto-generated subtitles
- Everything You Need to Know About Chengdu's Panda Base!Detailed practical guide to the Chengdu Research Base: tickets, timing, getting there and what you see.Abby and Logan Travel · opens on YouTube · Auto-generated subtitles
- I visited the CHENGDU PANDA BASE!!!! *warning: extreme cuteness*A long-term resident's visit to the Chengdu panda base, showing the enclosures and best viewing spots.Blondie in China · opens on YouTube · Auto-generated subtitles
- Inside China’s Secret Panda Capital 🇨🇳🐼Chengdu vlog built around a day at the panda base, including giant and red pandas.Jaggi · opens on YouTube
Videos belong to the channels credited above. We have no affiliation with them and earn nothing from these links.
See Chengdu itself
Other people's videos, on YouTube — we link, we don't host. Worth knowing: YouTube is blocked in mainland China, so watch these at home, or download them in the YouTube app before you fly.
- Travel in China: Drinking tea in chengdu | Popular drinks in China | 成都品茶之旅Drinking tea in a Chengdu teahouse, which is the city's defining activity.Journey to the east · opens on YouTube
- We Spent 18 HOURS In CHINA'S ALL-INCLUSIVE SPA in Chengdu 🇨🇳 (Better Than Staying in a Hotel?!)Eighteen hours inside a Chengdu bathhouse-spa — a local institution foreigners rarely try.Flora and Note · opens on YouTube
- First Time in Chengdu 🇨🇳 Top Things To Do, See & EatA first-timer's Chengdu: what to do, see and eat across the city.JoeyP · opens on YouTube
- Travel Chengdu - Introduction to Chengdu, Sichuan ChinaAn introduction to Chengdu and Sichuan, with the language and culture explained as it goes.Learn Chinese with ChineseClass101.com · opens on YouTube
Videos belong to the channels credited above. We have no affiliation with them and earn nothing from these links.