Within a few hours of Chengdu’s urban core, you can walk through the mossy Taoist temples of Mount Qingcheng or head west to the alpine valleys and jagged peaks of Siguniangshan, where multi‑day treks, glacier-fed rivers, and high meadows await on the edge of the Tibetan Plateau. Add in world‑class food, giant pandas, and cultural offerings, and it becomes clear it’s one of the best destinations in Asia for travelers looking for something new.
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Many cities in China are food destinations, but Chengdu is a cut above as the birthplace of bold and spicy Sichuan cuisine. It’s earned a UNESCO City of Gastronomy designation thanks to everything from back‑alley noodle stalls to chic, modern lounges riffing on classic dishes. You can try má‑là (meaning “numbing‑spicy”) hotpot, eat mapo tofu by the laddlefull, and work your way through late-night crispy skewers and chilled noodles.
Perhaps most famously, Chengdu is known as the home of pandas. And at the China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda’s Dujiangyan Base (about 1.5 hours from Chengdu), you can volunteer for the day as a panda keeper, helping conservation staff behind the scenes protect one of the world’s most endangered animals. It’s not a zoo, and it’s not a photo opp – participants help prepare meals, clean enclosures, and have a chance to get close to pandas and red pandas. The center works to keep the animals as wild as possible, so even volunteers are not allowed to touch or hold the furry residents.
For US travelers, getting to China in 2026 is notably less cumbersome than it was just a few years ago. Americans traveling onward to a third country can take advantage of China’s expanded 240-hour (10-day) visa-free transit policy, which applies at major hubs including Chengdu, allowing short stays without a visa as long as onward travel is confirmed.
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Traveling in and around Chengdu has also never been easier, as the last decade has brought a host of modern infrastructure offerings. Chengdu Tianfu International Airport opened in 2021, the Chengdu Metro has been rapidly expanding since 2020, and the city is building what it calls the world’s longest urban greenway network. When completed, the nearly 12,500-mile long walking and cycling path will connect various rivers, parks, and cultural sites. The first phase was completed in 2020, and cyclists have compared it to routes in the Netherlands, but with even more of a focus on leisure. 