Sichuan
Sichuan is the heartland of spicy food, giant pandas and misty sacred mountains. Chengdu, its laid-back capital, is the gateway to the Tibetan plateau in the west and the karst gorges of the east — and home to the boldest cuisine in China.
Places to visit
NatureChengdu Panda Base
The Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding is the easiest place on earth to see giant pandas doing what giant pandas do: eating, sleeping and falling…
NatureDaocheng Yading Nature Reserve
Daocheng Yading's real draw isn't the overused "three sacred peaks" label. It's the vertical range: this is one of the very few places in China where a single…
NatureJiuzhaigou
Jiuzhaigou is a Y-shaped alpine valley of travertine terraces and lakes so saturated with blues and greens they look colour-graded. Multicoloured pools sit…
LandmarkLeshan Giant Buddha
Carved into a river cliff over ninety years in the eighth century, the 71-metre seated Maitreya at Leshan is the largest stone Buddha in the world. It was…
NatureMount Emei
Mount Emei is one of the four sacred Buddhist mountains of China, a 3,099-metre ridge where temples have stood since the first century. The summit statue of…
NatureWawu Mountain
Wawu Mountain (瓦屋山, Wawushan) is a flat-topped forest mountain in Hongya County, Meishan — roughly 160–180 kilometres southwest of Chengdu, about three hours…