If you are dreaming of visiting China but completely overwhelmed and don’t know where to start then this post is for you. China is overwhelming, definitely not as visited by Western travellers and can feel a bit tricky to tackle. Well I am here to tell you that it is so much easier than you think, you just need a plan, know which apps you need and know what to expect and that’s where I come in. I have made mistakes, worried unnecessarily and figured it out along the way so I am going to share my 2 week China itinerary with you which I feel gives you a perfect taste of different areas and then within each destination you can tailor your itinerary to your interests. So lets get stuck in…..

Here’s what we will cover

Getting to China, how to find great flight deals, Visa requirements and what to do on arrival.
Where to visit. Copy our 2 week China itinerary for a great taster of some of the classic, incredible sights.
Where to find hotels. The best deals and what we advise you look for in a hotel.
How to get around within China.
Essential information, which apps you need and what you need to know.
How to find out where to eat and how to book attraction tickets.

Getting to China

When looking for flights to China you will definetely be met with a few options. Usually my first instinct is to go onto Skyscanner and go through my options. Now we have used Air China twice and generally Air China is fine. My only issue with them is they tend to have a morning flight from London to Shanghai and a morning flight to Asia will mean you arrive early the following morning despite it being around 10/11 pm U.K. time and therefore asking for jetlag. My preference if you can would always be to try and grab a late afternoon/evening flight, especially with kids so you can adjust so much easier and you are more likely to sleep when you would have been anyway.

Whether you choose to fly direct or stop off is another question, direct is usually around 10-11 hours and I think this is fine if you have decent flight times but if I’m honest cost and flight timings are my biggest driving factors for this. For the sake of this itinerary you will be flying into Shanghai and out of Chengdu so when you get onto Skyscanner choose the multi trip option, choose London to Shanghai then return will be Chengdu to London (or whatever your home country). Ideally you want direct flights home as your option home will usually be Air China and having a layover in Beijing is just a pain, you will likely have more options going to Shanghai as there are various airlines that fly there (BA, Finnair, Lufthansa etc) but usually Air China will be the cheapest. It is worth mentioning that flying to Shanghai with Air China is out of Gatwick and from Chengdu to London you will fly into Heathrow. We paid £440 pp in May/June 2026 and you should be able to get flights for £450-550 depending on time of year. It is also worth mentioning Air China have a very generous luggage allowance too which is great.

Visas and arrival in China

At the time of writing this (June 2026) British citizens are entitled to visa free entry to China and at present this is until at least the end of this year, hopefully will be extended as it does save a lot of time and money. Even if it is not extended China offer a really generous transit visa through the main cities, visit Gov.uk for a full list.

Our experience was great at Gatwick, the staff were very helpful. There are lots of QR codes in the queue for baggage drop, you just scan and fill your online arrival card to then get a qr code (we didn’t need ours as they had it registered but I’d screenshot incase). Last year when we flew to Japan with Air China they had a rule that the maximum one bag can weigh is 23kg which caused us some agg at the airport so we made sure that no individual bag weighed more than this however their bag allowance is really generous.

When you arrive in China you just proceed to passport control and hand it over and it was basically the same as any other border control. If you haven’t completed the pre arrival card there are screens before the passport controls to do so. We had no queues at Shanghai and was through in 10 minutes then we had a short wait for our bags.

When you’ve collected baggage you just follow the floor “lane” for E hailing and it will take you downstairs. This is common in all airports and train stations and is written in English so you will have no problems but the most important thing you can do is download the Alipay app before you leave, add a bankcard and buy and set up an ESIM. This means when you arrive you can use DiDi which is the Chinese taxi app and it makes it so easy as you can search in English and it will transfer the driver’s messages. Don’t order your DiDi until you are at the E hailing bay as we found they were always a bit of a walk.

View from Heavens Gate at Tianmen mountain

Essential info and tips for visiting

Okay so lots of people find China a bit intimidating however I do think if you do a bit of Prep you will find it easy to navigate.

Firstly there are a couple of Apps you will definitely need and possibly the most important is Alipay. Make sure you download Alipay and link your cards before you go as this is how you pay for absolutely everything, from large stores to a street stall selling trinkets. Alipay is also where you will find DiDi the taxi app so its absolutely essential for getting around too. You can also order food and groceries in Alipay but you need a chinese number for that. This was one thing we did find frustrating as we wanted to a few times and couldn’t but you can buy an E-Sim that has a chinese number or buy a physical sim when you arrive. We purchased our E-sim via Alipay too as it was just the easiest option.

Next up Trip.com is your go to in China, it is where you book flights, trains, hotels and attractions. We used it for nearly everything so I very much recommend downloading this before you arrive.

We did use GetYourGuide to book our Great Wall bus tour and then the Shanghai river cruise. If you download the GetYourGuide app using my link below you can get 5% off using the code BEXYTRAVELS

Currency, pricing and food and drink

The currency in China is the Yuan and currently you get 9 yuan to the pound. In terms of pricing, we found China extremely affordable of course this is considering we were visiting on a “western budget” but generally in China your £ goes far.

For a local style meal with drink it will set you back a couple of £, we were largely getting a meal for 3 with drinks for less than a tenner. Of course there are more expensive places to eat but we like to eat local food. Coffee and tea is really affordable and of course excellent quality generally the artisan coffee shops are charging £1.50-£2.50 for a coffee, Ice tea is very reasonable too and bakerys are excellent in China and offer a great value way to start your day. Taxis are amazing and to be honest I am kind of embarrassed to say we didn’t use public transport at all really. Most taxis within the city cost £1-2 and even journeys taking 45 mins to an hour were £8-10. The cars are super comfortable and smooth in China, obviously most are electric but getting around is super easy as a result.

Food varies quite a bit from place to place, in Shanghai you will find a lot of classic dumplings, lots of Xiao Long Bao, Scallion noodles and crab noodles, in Beijing we found the food quite different, lots of lamb and lots of halal options and obviously peking duck is a huge feature. Then in Sichuan you will find lots of spicy and sweet food and of course hotpot. Alongside this you will also find lots of fast food and baked goods, of course it is not expected but we didn’t find loads of other types of cuisines I think it is worth mentioning because I have found in other big Asian cities you have quite a mix but I found less so in China.

As with other areas in East Asia there are plenty of places to grab drinks and snacks, all the usual names of Lawsons, 7-11 and such.

Internet, safety and access

Now you will probably have seen lots of Westernised rhetoric about surveillance, Internet blackouts and cencorship. I cannot speak for locals of course but as a tourist we found China incredibly safe, we did not feel intimidated or watched at all and I think the main thing is if China do not use an app its likely they just have their own version. Internet and Wifi speeds are expectedly brilliant, and we got a VPN before we arrived which meant we could access Google maps, Whatsapp, Instagram and so I could still work. Maps are hit and miss, Google is generally inaccurate, Apple is much better but not perfect and you can download A Maps but as I needed to translate everything I mostly used apple and it was actually fine.

Where are we going?

So the burning question….what is our actual itinerary? Okay well this is a 2 week China itinerary of course however if you have extra time (If you can I absolutely would try to go for a little longer) I have listed 2 optional add ons.

Shanghai - 4 Nights

Beijing - 3 Nights

Zhangjiajie - 4 Nights

Chengdu - 3 Nights

I think this itinerary covers a really good mix of cities, iconic sites, nature and rest. Of course this is my personal itinerary and what worked for us as a family. The one thing I would say you could change is having a night less in Zhangjiajie however then you are reliant on the weather playing ball. If you are a city lover you could replace the Avatar mountains with Chongqing or have more time in Shanghai, Beijing or Chengdu.

Other optional add-ons for this itinerary

Suzhou-A great day trip or overnight from Shanghai

Xian-A 2-3 day add on after Beijing including the Terracotta army, I’m told great for food and lovely streets as well as history, culture and shopping.

Chongqing-2-3 day add on after Beijing or Zhangjiajie. 2.5 hour train from Zhangjiajie or 2 hour train from Chengdu. This is the cyber punk city, home of the hot pot and some incredible buildings.

Tibetan Plateau-You could add on a couple of days in Chengdu or stay in the Tibetan Plateau and hike the mountains and explore local culture.

Day 1-4 Shanghai

Shanghai was an absolute highlight of our recent trip. I am a city gal at heart and let me tell you Shanhai just jumped straight into my top 5 cities. It is incredibly clean, green and lush, there is the most beautiful independent brands and something I learned while in Shanghai that it is home to over 9000 coffee shops more than London and New York combined. So of course this was going to jump up into my favourite cities. The skyline is stunning and wandering the Bund day or night and taking a river cruise is an absolute must. I honestly could have spent weeks here. Anyway lets jump in and here’s how I would spend your time in Shanghai.

Manner coffee on the beautiful Wukang Road

Day 1- Wukang Mansion, French concession & Anfu Road

Start your day at Apoli Itabakery which is an incredible Italian bakery serving the most delicious treats. They also serve excellent drinks. Grab your breakfast and take a wander to Wukang mansion, take your pictures and follow Wukang Road all the way to Anfu road. Enjoy the boutiques along the way and grab a coffee from Gathering, enjoy the gorgeous courtyard out the back and just take your time to enjoy the buildings and atmosphere. Anfu road is your “Trendy street” there are some class outlets and of course again coffee and eats. Cosmetic girlies check out Harmay which is a discounted store and there are two on Anfu road. One is for fragrance and the other cosmetics and not everything is better cost but the fragrance store in particular is great for discovering local brands. I have a separate post coming on this area and where to visit so stay tuned for that. If you have chance I would also squeeze in a visit to Jing’an temple which is incredible.

If you take your time this should take a big chunk of your day however you will definitely have some time in the evening to explore. I would recommend exploring Yu gardens in the evening. This is iconic and you can opt to have your photos taken in traditional clothing, there is plenty of great places to grab snacks and meals, it has a good food court, there are a few spots serving excellent pan fried soup buns and the excellent Cheese Tarts from Bake. There are plenty of great souvenirs too, I would recommend getting traditional herbal bags made up for family and friends.

Day 2 Nanjing road Peoples park Waitan tunnel

Day 2 starts at peoples park, if you are out early and can brave the queue then head to Ding Xing Egg Pancake spot near the peoples park station. We actually tried but the queue was too long and the heat was a bit much. Then we will wander the length of Nanjing road and this could take you around 30 minutes or hours depending on how much of a shopper you are. Nanjing road holds all the flapships so even if you aren’t into shopping its great to just admire the immersive nature of the experiences. Along the way I would reccomend grabbing dumplings at Lailai snack dumpling or the iconic Yang’s fried dumplings but obviously expect queues.

Once you reach the end you will reach the bund and you can take the Waitan sightseeing tunnel. We really enjoyed this but the experience is quite short, I would book tickets on Trip.com as I am pretty sure that was cheaper but it’s a cool experience and especially with kids. On the other side you have the flapship disney store, Oriental Pearl TV Tower, super brand Mall and the iconic Louis Vitton cruise ship. I am not a designer gal at all but these retail experiences are pretty cool landmarks. As an end to your day, if you like incredible views and are okay with heights head up Shanghai tower. Currently occupying spot 3 in the worlds tallest buiding rankings it is not for those who are height wary but if you like that you can actually walk on the outside of the building.

Day 3 Disneyland!!

Obviously this is dependant on if you are a disney fan but if you are I would 100% reccommend you visit. As with a lot of our experiences in China I would book via trip.com and you just need to scan your passport on entry and that acts as your ticket. This is the only Disney in the world to have a Zootopia land and has some brillaint features and rides, Pirates of the carribbean here is absolutley epic and the pixar experience is next level. I have a full guide coming for Disney but for now I will say if you like Disney it is a must. I would reccommend buying the early entrance pass, we actually missed out and I was gutted so get it early. It is only around £19 and you get the extra hour so in that time you could head to one of the popular rides (I would choose Zootopia Hot pursuit, Tron or both).

One thing I didn’t love about Shanghai Disney and definitely something to be aware of is you have quite a walk from the carpark and even if its not busy the queue to get in snakes for so long…it took us 25 minutes even with no queue to get to the actual security queue as you had to walk through snaking queue barriers for so long. Its obviously queue management which is fine but when there is no queue and you have kids/mobility issues (which I do) it was just unnecessary. Anyway moving on, I would definitely just allow a lot more time for this and as with all the parks I’ve experienced they open the gates 15 minutes before the “opening time” so I would aim to get to the car park about an hour and 15 before opening time. The park is around 45 minutes from downtown Shanghai and you can access via the metro or by DiDi. We took a DiDi and it was around £10 so very reasonable.

One day at the park is enough but you could also spend 2 if you want to catch the shows, fireworks, shop and take your time. We opted for one due to time constraints and also to save our budget a little and we did miss out on Tron and I completely missed Toy Story Land but this was because I was struggling with pain we had plenty of time, it was just also very hot and the wait for Tron was 75+ minutes so that will be next time. Food was reasonable, merch was a mixed bag, cheaper than Paris but more expensive than Tokyo and there were some items I regret not grabbing but largely because I’m a big Disney fan and I will detail that in my full guide to Shanghai Disney.

Day 4 Jade Buddha Temple, 1000 trees Longhua Temple and Changsha park

In the morning start your day at Longhua Temple (remember to dress appropriately). Once you are done here grab a DiDi to 1000 trees mall. This is an amazing piece of architecture that essentially has a 1000 trees on top of a shopping mall but the mall and surrounding area is home to tonnes of local artists. Expect epic street art, open studios and lovely independent shops. You are also located right next to the river at this point so could take a day cruise to the bund or jump in another DiDi to Jade Buddha temple and then try and catch early evening/sunset at Changsha park.

In the evening book onto one of the many night cruises on the river. I would definitely ensure you do this after dark as the skyline is stunning. Tickets are reasonable at £17-20 pp but then we upgraded onboard for an extra £10 pp to have a seat and clear view and in my opinion it was so worth it. You can book via Klook or Trip.com but I would do it a couple of days in advance as it gets busy. Also be sure to get to the port at least 45 minutes before.

Beijing

Now to get to Beijing you can obviously fly but we opted for the bullet train. They vary in times but we took the fastest train which was 4.5 hours we left Shanghai at 5pm and arrived in Beijing right on time at 9.30pm. A quick DiDi to our hotel and we were checked in and in our hotel room by 10pm. The bullet train was comfortable and easy. Again we booked via trip.com and as with most things in China your passport is your ticket. With the kids tickets they were half price but you have to pay in full to start with but then you will receive a refund for the ½ fare. At the station you will line up around 20 minutes before at the gate and then you will scan your passport and be allowed through. There are snacks available on board and you can also grab at the station.

Beijing Day 1

Tiananmen Square, forbidden city and Nan Luo Gu Xiang

For Tiananmen Square Make sure you book tickets in advance…it is free to enter Tiananmen Square but the reservation process is complex so I would book a service to get your reservation sorted for you. You can get a package with Tiananmen Square and the forbidden city…the forbidden city is huge but I feel like if you arrive early-ish then a few hours is enough time to explore especially with kids in tow.

Early afternoon grab some traditional Peking duck we went to Siji Mingfu Roasted Duck Restaurant 四季民福烤鸭店 which is right next to the Forbidden city and came highly recommended and it did not disappoint. The wait times are long, we waited an hour for our table but there is a system where you can scan a qr code take a ticket and come back when it is your time. I would also say if you come mid-afternoon then it is much quicker to get a table. There are lots of seats inside and free tea and snacks so it did go quickly but the kids went for a wander with Ben to pass the time.

Finish your day visiting one of Beijing’s traditional Hutongs. Hutongs are Beijing's historic, narrow alleyways formed by lines of traditional courtyard residences called siheyuanand there are several to visit in the city centre. We visited Nan Luo Gu Xiang as it is very well known and it did not dissapoint. A real mix of street food, souvenirs, local products and cafes and restaurants and you can also get the traditional ear cleaning here.

For dinner we ate at punk rock noodle which is a quirky punk bar with interesting fusion food. There is a noodle version like fast food style round the corner and we wanted to try there too but this was a cool place and the food was good.

Bejing day 2-The Great Wall

Personally for me you have to visit the Great Wall if you come to Beijing. There are tonnes of tours and various sections but somebody recommended to me to go to Mutianyu and use MuBus and I’m glad we did. I booked through GetYourGuide and it was £53 for the 4 of us but this is just the transfer and the Great Wall ticket. On the bus we then paid for the two cable cars and the toboggan and this was another £30 pp. All in the price I believe was good and it was really smooth. There are plenty of places to eat in Mutianyu and lots of little souvenier shops. We could have spent longer for sure, I would of loved to hike a part of the Wall but we got caught in a thunderstorm at the top of the Wall which was a bit chaotic as they stopped the cable cars so this limited our time a little.

Essentially our guide recommended we go up the part with the toboggan first, this is an open cable car and it makes sense as the queues for toboggan can be lengthy so better to do first and then the gondola style cable which we got on around 2pm had no queue so this worked well. I have a separate post on the Great Wall coming up so will go into full detail there. This was a full day out as we arrived back at 6pm and left at 9, by which point we were pretty tired so just got some local Uzbek food and crashed out at the hotel.

The Open cable car at the Mutianyu section of the Great Wall

The Mutianyu section of the Great Wall of China

Beijing Day 3

This day is dependent on what you are looking for and what your travel style is but I have 3 options for you….

Option 1. Universal Studios

Option 2. Popland and the 798 Art District

Option 3. More Hutongs, Temple of Heaven and the summer palace

Now this day obviously depends on what you are interested in and of course you can mix them up a little. Universal studios is very close to the centre of Beijing and easy in a DiDi, you can again get tickets on Trip.com.

We are massive Popmart fans so for us Pop land was a must!! I bought tickets on GetYourGuide however I feel like for this one it is best to get tickets on the gate as there are different types, we should of opted for the ones that included the carnival stalls as this can really add up cost wise and certainly did for us!

The 798 Art District is a really lovely area which art exhibitions, coffee shops, Nice independent stores and places to eat. It is definitely worth a couple of hours to see a different side to Beijing and some of the exhibitions are great.

The Temple of Heaven and Summer palace are frequently on the must see list in Beijing. We had planned to do these but on the day we had allocated the weather was horrendous and we just decided not worth dragging the kids. They are both top of my list for next time as they really are stunning! When you go to the temple of heaven you also have Qian Men Da Jie nearby which is a great area to wander with traditional buildings and Beijing Dashilan 大栅栏 which is right next door and a Hutong with places to eat and soak in that Beijing culture.

Days 8-12 Zhangjiajie

For us the Avatar mountains and Zhangjiajie national forest park were an absolute must see. Partly because we have an avatar loving boy and to be honest ever since I saw these incredible mountains about 5 years ago I’ve wanted to visit. Now if this is not your thing you can either continue straight to Chengdu, have a couple of days in the Cyberpunk city of Chongqing or visit Xi’an before you head over to Chengdu. We also wanted to squeeze in a bit of nature as otherwise our trip would have been “city heavy”.

Now Zhangjiajie needs its own post and that absolutely is coming because there’s a lot to plan but I am going to put the basics here.

Firstly you need at least 3 days here.

There are several parts to Zhangjiajie and we had no idea really until we arrived.

You have the national park…all tickets are for 4 days. For us, if you have good weather then 2 days will allow you to see most things and if you are pushed for time and get an early start then you can see the big hits in one. This was a problem for us as being mountainous and almost a microclimate our first two days saw torrential rain and massively limited what we could do.

Then you have Tianmenshan mountain. Separate ticket and separate area. This is basically accessible from downtown Zhangjiajie.

Finally you have the canyon and Baofeng lake. Not together but both around 45 minutes from downtown Zhangjiajie.

Now one mistake we made was staying in downtown Zhangjiajie…great for the tianmenshan mountain but to get to the national park we had to take a 45 minute taxi each day. The cost was very reasonable (around £9 each way) but it added a lot of time onto our days so I would recommend staying in Wulingyuan 武陵源区 as there is a nice town centre, some great hotels and very close to entrance of the park.

National park tickets are issued as standard for 4 days. You can get as standalone entrance or with the cable cars and shuttle bus included and this is definitely the best option. It is unlimited trips and includes the elevator. You can buy your tickets through trip.com or via your hotel and again, your passport is your ticket and the park actually has facial recognition once you’ve entered it is very smooth but I would still recommend taking your passport.

Here’s how I would structure your time In Zhangjiajie

Day 1 National park visit

Enter via the East gate, take the epic Tianzi cable car up the mountain, Catch the bus to this area to hike the stunning Tianbo Mansion and the natural Great Wall trail. You will find plenty of places to eat up at this part, there’s a food court and several outlets such as McDonald’s and Luckin coffee. Take the shuttle to the Yuanjiajie Scenic Area (Avatar Mountains) and then head down the Bailong elevator and finish your day at the east gate.

Day 2 Baofeng lake and National park

For Baofeng Lake I would recommend getting a taxi to the entrance and whilst you can pre book tickets we just purchased on the gate. It isn’t that cheap to enter, when we visited it was 110 yuan for adults and 55 yuan for kids so it cost us around £36 total to enter and this included the shuttle bus and the boat. You can hike to the boat ride or get the shuttle, if you don’t want the shuttle then it’s 25 yuan cheaper.

The boat ride takes about 45 minutes and it’s a lovely ride, you will hear traditional singing on boathouses from the Tuija people. Afterwards you can see a lovely waterfall which is a couple of minutes walk from the ticket office. You can also buy some local products, tea and see salamanders…Salamanders live here and are actually used in local food 😬 but there is an information centre near the waterfall and it’s worth a visit to be honest.

Afternoon I would recommend going back to the National park and exploring the golden whip stream, 10 mile gallery, big oxygen square and Huangshizhai (Huangshi Village). For these you will need the south entrance and an afternoon won’t be enough time to do everything but you can chose 2 or 3 to see if you’ve managed to get to Baofeng lake early.

In the evening head to the largest stilted building in the world back In Zhangjiajie town, quilou 72. It is an epic nighttime show and entrance is 88 yuan pp and kids go free. You can buy tickets at the machine at the entrance and as always they are attached to your passport or you can book in advance via trip.com or GetYourGuide. Whilst definitely touristy there are loads of brilliant shows and there are places to eat and stalls available inside. They even do an opening ceremony each evening (it is open in the day but the nighttime is where it comes alive) We had a great time and would definitely recommend.

Day 3 Tiananmen mountain

Day 3 I would highly recommend you get up early. Get a DiDi to the cable car for Tiananmen mountain. Now usually you can get the cable car from the city centre right to the top and it is actually the longest cable car in the world. Unfortunately when we visited it was closed for refurbishment so we had to take the shorter cable car which takes you to heavens gate. When you arrive at Heavens gate you can take the steps up (I believe it’s 999 😮) but if like me that is not within your capability then you can pay to use the escalator to the top it’s 32 yuan per person for a return ticket and Raffii was free (he’s 8).

Once you reach the top you can take in the view and check out the cave and then when you go round the corner you will come to more escalators to the top of the mountain. These take a while as there are 8 or 9 escalators and at the minute that is the only way to the top. I would 100% arrive early for this at 7-8am…we got on the cable car at 8.15 and this was perfect. It was not busy or crowded at all, when we were getting ready to leave (10.30 ish) the walkways at the top were getting real busy. At the top there are some traditional restaurants, a Burger King and stores so you won’t go hungry and from there you can take several hikes with amazing views and some are glass walkways. We didn’t go too far as it was hot and I didn’t want to push Raff but you could very easily spend a 1/2 day here.

For the rest of your afternoon you can go back to the National park, have a wander In the town or relax at your hotel. If you visit in the summer months I would definitely get a hotel with an outdoor pool as it is a nice refresher if you’ve been hiking in the heat.

Day 4 - Zhangjiajie Grand Canyon

Now you may not have a full day on day 4 depending on how you are travelling and how you structure your time so I would think of this as an add-on. We actually didn’t manage this and I was pretty gutted but the weather was not playing ball for the first two days so we had to sacrifice. I would say everything I’ve listed can be done in 3 days but it is subject to good weather. Anyway at the “Grand Canyon” you can choose a package and you will get to do a variety of fun activities including ziplining, a slide down the mountain and the iconic glass bridge. Of course there is loads for adventure lovers and you can do various via Ferrata courses. The canyon is a separate entry fee and you can take a DiDi, again it is around 45 minutes from Zhangjiajie.

Days 13-15 Chengdu

The home of Pandas!! Chengdu is an amazing city you will find Panda stuff EVERYWHERE and they have really leaned into the branding of being the city of Pandas to be honest. There is so much more to Chengdu though from amazing Sechuan cusine, amazing shopping, lovely parks and temples and it’s just got a very cool vibe.

For our time in Chengdu we did decide to splash out a little as it was our final 3 nights and we wanted to rest and recover a little. We stayed at the Grand ParcVue Residence and whilst usually I prefer to stay in independent and locally owned accommodation as much as possible this was a perfect end to our trip. We paid £280 and booked on Trip.com for three nights and we had a gorgeous apartment with huge living room and washing machine 🤩 (a must for me at the end of a trip) and there is a pool. It’s just a really nice place to stay and great for a family.

To get to Chengdu from Zhangjiajie we booked another high speed train, it takes around 4-5 hours depending on the train you get and then once you arrive in Chengdu you follow the signs on the floor to the “E-hailing” bay (it’s a bit far but go with it) then you can call your DiDi to your hotel. We paid £75 per person, kids are half price but you pay the full fee and then you will get half of their fare refunded and again your passport is your ticket. We again booked through Trip.com (our essential app in China) as it is the easiest platform In my opinion.

Day 1 Chengdu

There was only one thing I wanted to do on day 1 and that was pandas!! 🐼 I had debated going to Dujiangyan panda valley as I was worried the Giant Panda research base was going to be very busy and a bit like a zoo. Dujiangyan is definitely smaller and the town looks beautiful and if you’ve seen the panda with selfie stick on social media along with the famous library then that is in Dujiangyan not Chengdu.

Red Pandas at the Giant Panda research base Chengdu

Anyway everyone says that you should visit early as pandas are most active then and you can beat the crowds. We paid £9 for myself and Raffii via trip.com and arrived at opening time (7.30)….it is about 30 mins from the centre in a DiDi and that cost about £7. We opted to buy shuttle bus tickets as I’d read the park is huge and it was a bit of a pain as you can’t use Alipay we had to via WeChat and I’d deleted the app so that took a bit of time but once we had sorted the eco shuttle (an electric golf buggy) was great for getting us around. My thoughts on it being a bit of a Zoo weren’t completely wrong but the grounds were huge, everything was very spread out and the enclosures were well kept. If you’ve read up you will probably know but they have done amazing work in reviving the panda population.

For us a full morning was enough and it was HOT so we headed back to the apartment and had a swim before going out for the afternoon.

Now if you visit Chengdu the people’s park is a MUST. It is the best place for people watching and to just enjoy local life and the culture. People tend to retire young in China and the parks are always full of people playing cards, drinking tea and exercising and it is just so lovely to be around. Peoples park isn’t huge but Chengdu is known for its tea pouring with long spouted tea pots so I would definitely recommend grabbing tea. I would also check out the marriage market which is really interesting as people will essentially advertise family members and hang laminated posters in a certain part of the park with the view of finding a suitor. A kind of in person dating app if you will. I would allow a couple of hours here so you can enjoy yourself. For food Zhongshuijiao is a great local eatery. The dumplings are delicious, garlicky and spicy with a sweet sauce, the Dan Dan noodles are also great and for 2 dishes with drinks we paid around £4.50.

For the evening head over to Chunxi Road. There are some great places to wander and people watch and it really comes alive at night. You can see the iconic Panda billboards and the hanging Panda from the IFC mall and its also worth a wander around Taikoo Li which does have a lot of designer stores but it has an amazing Muji and the flagship adidas is great too. At night there are lots of vendors and the atmosphere is really buzzy so its great to grab a tea and a pastry and just soak it in.

Day 2 Chengdu

For our last day in Chengdu we opted for a slow morning, and had a wander. There is loads to do and see in Chengdu but I decided to accept I would revisit and just enjoy what we could. There are several ancient streets in Chengdu and we decided to check out Jinli Street and Kuan Zhi Alley. To be honest we didn’t enjoy Kuan Zhi alley at all, it was so busy, very touristy and just overwhelming. Jinli on the other hand we loved…..It is touristy yes but there is a beautiful park, a shrine and a temple, loads of street food and actually great shops. We found this amazing elderly gentleman hand carving these stunning pieces. His grandson helped to run the store and they were both so lovely. Not cheap but for an artisan piece it was incredible. I would highly reccomend a visit here.

For the last night in Chengdu I would visit SKP mall and the iconic bamboo towers. Now its the largest underground mall (apparently) and whilst full of designer brands you are coming here for the art and installations. It has an epic selection of immersive experiences and pieces and of course the colour changing bamboo towers are a poster sight for Chengdu. After this head over the road to the “Magic Mall” to see the interactive “waterfall” (trust me it does not disappoint). This was the perfect end to our time in Chengdu.

Getting home
Our flight out of Chengdu was at 4pm and this seems like the standard flight time. It was quite a good time as given it was a 10 hour flight we arrived at 8pm UK time. While it was a bit brutal as it was 2am China time it meant we could get a full nights sleep and keep jet lag to a minimum. Chengdu airport is about an hours drive from the city and it is lovely and clean, passport control is easy and you can get a tax refund done. This is after passport but before security and you hand over the forms and then you can claim a refund after security but they did give it us in cash. Customs do really want to see your purchases so it is advisable to have in your hand luggage.

Our experience with Air China was good, as it was last time and the airport is okay at Chengdu but a little lacking in food options. There are a couple of local options, a KFC, Starbucks and 7-11. We loved our trip to China and I cannot wait to return. If you are considering it what I can say is just book it as you won’t regret it.

I have more posts coming up for China but in the meantime I hope this is helpful and if you have any questions at all drop me a comment or reach out to me on Instagram @Bexytravels.

2 weeks in China the perfect travel itinerary