The hook
The relaxed capital of Sichuan, famous for teahouses, mouth-numbing hotpot, and the breeding base on its edge where you can watch giant pandas up close as they eat, sleep, and tumble out of trees.
01Why it's worth it
Chengdu has a reputation as one of China's most laid-back big cities, a place of old-style teahouses where people drink, play mahjong, and get their ears cleaned, and of fiery Sichuan cooking built on the tingling numbness of the local peppercorn. Its headline draw is the giant panda: the Chengdu research and breeding base on the outskirts is the best place in the world to see them, a park of bamboo enclosures where the bears, including tiny cubs in the nursery, feed and lounge, and where the work of pulling the species back from the brink is on show. Beyond the pandas, the city is a springboard into Sichuan, home to the giant carved Leshan Buddha, the sacred mountain of Emei, and further out the turquoise pools of Jiuzhaigou. It is warm, food-obsessed, and welcoming.
02How to experience it
Go to the panda base at opening, when the bears are fed and active; by afternoon they mostly sleep. Give the city a teahouse afternoon and a proper Sichuan hotpot. Use it as a base for the Leshan Buddha and, with more time, the mountains and lakes of Sichuan.