Travel Information
Below is some important information you should know before you tour to Sichuan and Kham.
Get into Sichuan and Away
Flight to Sichuan
Chengdu Shuangliu Airport is the largest international airport in China’s Southwest. There are 222 air routes connecting Chengdu and 105 Chinese cities and 62 international cities, including 151 China internal airlines and 71 international airlines.
International destinations include but are by no means limited to London, Seoul, Tokyo, Bangkok, Bombay, Hongkong, Hanoi, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Karachi, Kathmandu, Melbourne, Frankfurt, Abu Dhahi and Amsterdam. For internal airlines, Chengdu is served by all Chinese airlines and has daily flights to most cities. It is the gateway airport flying to a few airports in Tibet including Lhasa, Nyingchi, Shigatse, Ngari and Chamdo. The province also has some domestic airports include the ones connecting to Jiuzhaigou and Xichang.
From 1st September 2013, foreigners from designated 51 countries who hold the visa and confirmed air tickets to the third country can enjoy the short stay in China for 72 hours under the China’s visa-free transit policy, which allows transit passengers to stay in the opened cities for up to 72 hours without visa, Chengdu is one of those cities next to Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and plus Chongqing. Chengdu Shuangliu Airport is the China’s fourth and western China’s first city to carry out this new policy.
Train to Sichuan
Chengdu is an important railway hub in China’s southwest. The biggest train terminal here is Kunming. Direct or high-speed trains run to cities such as Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, and the trains are easily accessible to Kunming, Xi’an, Xining and other cities throughout the country. There is a direct train for Lhasa, Tibet, taking nearly 48 hours ride. The railway from Chengdu to Lanzhou is building and expected to complete by 2017, which spans some truly scenic regions including Sichuan’s treasure land of Jiuzhaigou and Zoige grassland.
Travel Sichuan by Road
Highways in Sichuan have been largely constructed since the mid-1990s as part of China’s ‘Develop the West’ migration plan. High-speed expressways link Chengdu with Chongqing, Leshan and Xichang, and the construction of highways to Kangding begins 2014. The highways are fairly good in the most of province, and the highways in northern Sichuan (Amdo in Sichuan) are better than the roads in western Sichuan (Kham), which are pretty basic or under paving or construction, and there are frequent landslides. There are a few overland roads that you can take into neighboring provinces of Gansu, Yunnan, Guizhou, Shannxi, Qinghai and Tibet TAR including the famous Sichuan-Tibet highway, one of the challenging roads in the world.
High Altitude Sickness
You won’t be affected from the high altitude sickness when you are traveling in Sichuan basin or non-mountainous areas, as the altitude here is really low to 500 meters above the sea level. But if you are travelling the north Sichuan (part of Amdo) and western Sichuan (Kham) on Qinghai-Tibet plateau, you may suffer from the high altitude sickness, as the altitude may increase to at least 3,000 meters above the sea level, some mountain passes could reach more than 5,000 m.
Altitude sickness, also known as acute mountain sickness (AMS), is the reaction of the body adjusting to decreasing amounts of oxygen. Normally, the higher the altitude, the less oxygen available for the body to carry on normal functions. It commonly occurs above 2,400 metres (8,000 feet) but this is different for everyone. One may experience the symptoms of headache, Loss of appetite, disturbed sleep or drowsiness, irritability, fatigue, nausea/vomiting, dizziness, swelling of hands, feet & face and such before adjusts to altitude. In most cases, the symptoms are mild and will subside in several hours to several days as the body acclimatizes. So the proper acclimatization is very important before you continue to go higher, and below methods may be helpful to better avoid the symptoms of the altitude sickness.
- Have a body check or take your doctor's advice before travelling high altitude areas in Yunnan
- Avoid catching cold or respiratory problems before or during the travelling
- Prepare AMS medication with your doctor's advice
- Don’t increase psychological burden to yourself. Be relax!
- Drinking plenty of water - at least 4 litres per day on top of other forms of fluids such as tea or soups
- Avoiding eat too much at the beginning of your arrival to highland
- Taking it easy or have a regular break and walk at a slower pace to avoid over-exertion
- Avoiding alcohol, tobacco and substances that can interfere with good delivery of oxygen to the body or cause dehydration
- Eating high-carbohydrate food
If the symptoms increase, please let our guide to know immediately!
Best Time to Travel Sichuan & Kham
Due to the complex topography, the weather in Sichuan is diverse that makes the different travel seasons to different areas. Generally, the suitable time to visit most of places in Sichuan is from March to November, especially in the fall season, it is often the most beautiful time throughout the year. For Kham area in Sichuan, April to October is recommended, July and August is the raining season that may cause the landslide in some worse road condition areas, , but it is the season to witness many Tibetan festivals.
Things to Bring for Sichuan & Kham Tour
Sichuan is a relatively large province, with very large differences areas, we will provide a list of appropriate travel stuffs depending on your travel types, itineraries and travel areas.
Transportation for Sichuan & Kham Tour
The wide variety of vehicles can be best available for tourists according to the group size, itinerary and road conditions. 4WD Toyota Land Cruiser or Mitsubishi jeep are commonly used in Kham area, as it is capable for the areas involve tough road driving and off road excursions. In Amdo of Sichuan, the road condition is better than Kham, so the jeep or car, van are used here. For the rest part of Sichuan, the road condition is fairly good that make the business van, smaller and medium sized vans to be widely used for the group. Large buses are available for larger groups.
Hotels, Guest Houses and Lodges in Sichuan & Kham
Main Cities in Sichuan basin and popular travel destinations such as Mt. Emeishan, Dujiangyan and Jiuzhaigou have the reputed or good hotels ranging from budget to luxury. In other lesser cities in Xichang, Yibin, Ya’an and Kangding have hotels at least 3 or 4 star categories. In smaller towns, the hotels are more basic. Further in remote or mountainous towns such as Kham and Amdo, the accommodation is rudimentary or the guest house with dorm bed and outhouse toilet that may be the squatting pot. Sometimes you have to spend night in local family for an experience or limited conditions.
Food & Cuisine
Sichuan cuisine, is very famous as one of the eight traditional Chinese cuisines. The cuisine here is featured on being spicy and numbing heat, with the advanced skills of making sources that are the ingredients with Sichuan peppercorn, chilli, ginger, spicy herbs and broad bean chilli paste for various flavors. Sichuan cuisine has major four styles by location: Chengdu, Chongqing, the Yangtze and Jialing River. So the flavor includes Chongqing, Chengdu, Leshan, Neijiang, Zigong and other local style dishes' characteristics. The representative local food include Kung Pao Chicken, Twice Cooked Pork, Mapo Tofu (Stir-Fried Tofu in Hot Sauce), and extremely spicy hot pot.
Featured Commodities
Yunnan is famed for Sichuan embroidery, Sichuan brocade, tea, mushroom and the variety of ethnic handicrafts available here is vast.
Money & Exchange
Foreign currencies cannot be used directly in Sichuan, but you can exchange your money at the many Bank of China outlets throughout the province. Most major hotels in Sichuan's larger cities will accept major credit cards. Your hotels also can change money for you and ATMs are easy to find. But if you are travelling for lessor-visited, smaller or Kham, Amdo mountainous areas, remember to bring sufficient cash incase there is no bank to withdraw money.
Tipping
Guides and Drivers are generally expected and pleased to receive a tip if you are satisfied with their services and hard works, though it is not compulsory.