Overview
Visit the essences of southern Sichuan with hidden magnificent sites
Although Sichuan Basin is compassed by mountains and highlands, the rivers of Minjiang, Dadu, Jinshajiang and Qingyijiang, the main tributaries of the Yangtze, gush from the rugged terrains and roar into the southern Sichuan plain, which brings up a fertile and prosperous land so early history, and the ancient Bashu cultures could be thus spread out and penetrate into the central China and adjacent Yunnan and Guizhou from here. Southern Sichuan is simply teeming with evergreen virgin forests, spectacular flowing rivers, bizarre Karst landforms and charming remained old towns. The region is believed as one of the important centers for ancient Bashu civilizations, where has about the quirkiest mix of historical and cultural sites, including the giant dinosaur museum, the mysterious hanging coffins of the ancient Bo people, the huge Buddhist statue of Leshan Giant Buddha, the mass Shunan Bamboo Sea, the traditional salt mining and the plenty of local teahouses. Due to the geographical location at the transition zone between Sichuan Basin and Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau, southern Sichuan is the starting point and transportation hub for the historical “Southern Silk Road”, where is inhabited by a range of different people such as Han, Miao, Yi and Hui ect. From here, it could sail through downstream the Yangtze to Shanghai via Chongqing, drive southwest to Yunnan along Jinshajiang River or overland east to northern Guizhou. This tour makes altogether highlights for this fascinating and worth visiting regions, plus the combo for two UNESCO world heritage sites of Dazu grotto art and Chishui spinulosa forests respectively situated in Chongqing and Guizhou, and an ancient town of Langzhong along the loop.
Outline Itinerary
Day 01 Arrival Chengdu & City Sightseeing
Day 02 Giant Panda & Jinsha Museum (B)
Day 03 Zigong via Leshan Giant Buddha (B)
Day 04 Zigong Visits & Drive to Gongxian (B)
Day 05 Gongxian Hanging Coffins & Xingwen Stone Forest (B)
Day 06 Shunan Bamboo Sea (B)
Day 07 Chishui via Four Caves Valley (B)
Day 08 Sightseeing in Chishui (B)
Day 09 Dazu Grotto Carvings (B)
Day 10 Langzhong Ancient Town (B)
Day 11 Drive back to Chengdu via Divine Light Temple (B)
Day 12 Chengdu Departure (B)
Get Inspired
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Detail Itinerary
Day 01: Arrival Chengdu & City Sightseeing
Upon arrive at Chengdu and transfer to your hotel. Get refreshment in the hotel, we step out for the Wide and Narrow alleys (Kuan Zhai Xiangzi), two ancient streets preserved from the old architectures in Ming and Qing dynasties in Chengdu. In the evening time, enjoy the magical Sichuan Opera and Face Changing Show, the ancient Chinese dramatic art.
Day 02: Giant Panda & Jinsha Museum (B)
Morning visit Chengdu Giant Panda Breeding Research Base and have a look of cute pandas. Established in 1987, the base has more than 80 Giant Pandas living here. In the afternoon, visit Jinsha Relic Museum, learn about the civilizations and cultures of the ancient Shu Kingdom existed 3,000 years ago.
Day 03: Zigong via Leshan Giant Buddha (B)
Leave Chengdu this morning for Zigong. On the route, stop in Leshan and visit Giant Buddha, the world’s largest stone Buddha, overwhelming 71m in height. You can either walk down to the foot of Giant Buddha and then hike up to the summit, or take a short time cruise to have a front panorama. Zigong, situated at the upstream of Yangtze River, once was an important center of Chinese salt production for almost 2000 years.
Day 04: Zigong Visits & Drive to Gongxian (B)
Morning visit the Dinosaur Museum, the Asia’s first dinosaur’s museum, has one of the world’s largest concentrations of dinosaur fossils. Later visit Salt Industry History Museum that tells the history of salt mining, salt well drilling and the traditional salt making techniques in Sichuan since 10th century. Then we visit the nearby 1001m-deep artesian salt well, the world’s deepest well built in 1835. Afterwards, we will drive to Gongxia. En the route, stop at ancient town Lizhuang, known for the first port on the Yangtze River. Free stroll in this 2,000 years old town.
Day 05: Gongxian Hanging Coffins & Xingwen Stone Forest (B)
Today visit the hanging coffins of the ancient Bo people, one of the Sichuan’s most mysterious sights, where has the largest quantity and best preserved coffins in China, set about 1,000 years ago. Later on drive to Xingwen, a Miao minority inhabitation, famous for the Karst scenes. Then we take short distance to Shunan Bamboo Sea and spend a night among the clusters of luxuriant bamboos, enjoy the fresh air in this green world.
Day 06: Shunan Bamboo Sea (B)
The stunning Shunan Bamboo Sea is one of the ten prettiest forests in China, covering a terrain of 120 square kilometers. The gorgeous scenes once attracted many movie directors for filming, Tiger Crouched and Dragon Hidden is a famous one. Hike through the bamboo forests for pleasant landscapes, and bamboo shoot dishes are worthy to have a taste.
Day 07: Chishui via Four Caves Valley (B)
Today we drive east to adjacent Chishui located in Guizhou province, scenes switch from the green world to the red land. Before reaching to the downtown, we turn off for visiting Sidonggou. Means Four Caves Valley, there are four stunning waterfalls referring as ‘caves’ in local dialect, embellished by caves and lush foliage. A nearby old town of Datong is could be visited later on. It was thriving around 17th century and once was a bustling river pier links the Sichuan and Guizhou, now we could still look for some genuinely remains, houses and pristine locals.
Day 08: Sightseeing in Chishui (B)
Today we will have a full day exploring for Chishui’s unique geography and scenery. Chishui, sit at the border of Sichuan and Guizhou, is a stunning and primitive place studded with numerous waterfalls, greenery bamboos and red rocks. It is especially famous for the prehistoric plant of spinulosa “ferns”, huge woody ferns that grow up to 10 meters with large umbrella-like leaves, which has been dubbed “living fossils”.
Day 09: Dazu Grotto Carvings (B)
Morning, we leave for Dazu, the prominent Buddhist cave site is located this foothill city. Upon arrival, visit the exquisite rock carvings of Dazu. Designated as the World Heritage site by UNESCO, Dazu grotto art is one of China’s four extraordinary Buddhist cave sculpture sites, along with those at Dunhuang, Luoyang and Datong.
Day 10: Langzhong Ancient Town (B)
Morning we drive to Langzhong, one of the China’s four largest ancient towns, along those at Lijiang in Yunnan, Pingyao in Shanxi and Shexian in Anhui, is the Sichuan’s largest remained traditional architecture complex, its layout is skillfully constructed according to Fengshui principles. Wander in the narrow alleys, visit monument of Zhang Fei Temple and imperial examination halls of Gong Yuan.
Day 11: Drive back to Chengdu via Divine Light Temple (B)
Today we will drive back to Chengdu. En the route, visit Divine Light Temple (Baoguang Temple) at Xindu county. The temple is one of the extant Sichuan’s largest Buddhist temples, the main part of the temple initially was found in 1st century in Han dynasty and the pagoda for Buddhist bone relics was built in Tang dynasty in 9th century.
Day 12: Chengdu Departure (B)
Transfer to the airport or the train station according to the schedule.
Experiences & Activities
- Visit two world heritages of prominent rock carving arts in Leshan and Dazu
- Surprised for Dinosaur Museum & ancient salt mining in Zigong
- Wander in greenery bamboo forest and grotesque Karst stone forest in Yibin
- Off-the-beaten track to stare into the mystical hanging coffins at Gongxian
- Traipses through spinulosa forest gorgeously offset by the red earth in Chishui
- Stroll in Ming dynasty courtyard and alleyways in ancient town of Langzhong
