✨ Chengdu-Chongqing travel review, 16,000 baht budget, 8 days, 7 nights

🌄 Day 1: Arrive in Chengdu – Say hello to the panda city at the airport in the evening. Take a chill bus into the city. After passing through immigration and claiming your luggage, follow the signs for the Airport Bus. Keep walking and you will find an escalator going down. Buy a bus ticket for 25 yuan per person to get off at Chunxi Road and wait for the bus at stop number 1 (as shown in the picture). It takes about 1 hour to travel into the city. ⸻🐼 Day 2: Dujiangyan The highlight of Dujiangyan is the giant panda and the 2,000+ year old dam (Tian fu yuan). How to get there: Take the train at Chengdu Railway Station. The train fare is 10 yuan per person. It takes about 45 minutes to walk. When you reach the final station, walk up and you will see the giant panda, a check-in photo spot. At night, there is an ancient street in the city selling street food. Near the photo spot of the dam, Tian Fu Yuan Bridge, we stayed at Anya Man Two Hotel (room price 844 baht per night, but the starting price is only 500 baht). Clean, good price ⸻🍜 Day 3: Kuai Zhai or wide and narrow alleys (Kuai Zhai) & Jinli Ancient Street Kuai Zhai: It is an ancient street from the Qing Dynasty. There are courtyards in the style of Southwestern China. At night, there will be a bar zone, tea shops, coffee shops, and a red lantern atmosphere at night. It is fun to walk and take beautiful pictures. Jinli: An ancient Chinese atmosphere. There are many shops. There is a lot of food. The price is a bit high. There are vintage souvenirs, crafts, and embroidery. There are red lanterns all over the street. The culture is clear. The difference between the two places in terms of shops and souvenirs is not much different. But if you want a chill, cool atmosphere, go to Kuai Zhai. If you want a red lantern, the culture is clear. Ancient Chinese style, go to Jinli (personal opinion)⸻🚌 Day 4: Take a bus to 4 Maidens from Chengdu to 4 Maidens, get on the bus at Chadianzi bus station, fare 120 yuan, sit on the bus for about 3.5-4 hours, the bus stops at 1 point to eat and use the restroom. If you have heard stories about traveling that there are a lot of curves, dizzy, I confirm that it is true. The day we went, there was a lot of fog, almost couldn't see the road. Emphasize to take motion sickness pills 30 minutes before getting on the bus and then sleep for a long time, it helps a lot. For people who are afraid of the cold, I emphasize that it is cold all the time, no matter what season. Bring thick clothes, just in case. The air is quite hard to breathe. It is good to buy an oxygen can. We went 1 day before going up the mountain to let our bodies gradually adjust. The atmosphere around the hotel is very good, the city is cute. We stayed at Chang Ping Inn Hotel, very good service, 100/10, delicious food for every meal, clean room. I will review the hotel later. Next episode⸻🔥 Day 5: Shi Gu Niang Mountain, also known as “Mountain of Four Girls” in Thailand, we asked the hotel to call a taxi to the park. The price was 15 yuan and the park entrance fee was 150 yuan. We chose the Shuangqiao Gou route to enter the park. There will be a bus up to the mountain. It takes about 30-40 minutes (the road is so curved that it is hard to compare. Please take motion sickness pills 30 minutes before getting on the bus and do not sit in the back of the bus under any circumstances). We will tour from above, slowly taking the bus down or choosing the walking route. It is stunningly beautiful, as the rumors say. It is very cold up there and very difficult to breathe. If you have time to walk, I recommend walking down. There will be a walking path where you will see more natural views. Note: We couldn’t walk much because it was so cold that we had a headache. I’m not sure if it was just the cold or the lack of air. The headache was excruciating. In the end, we only spent 4 hours in the park and had to hurry back to the hotel. If anyone is going to travel, I recommend getting plenty of rest before going and taking care of your health.⸻🚄 Day 6: Take the high-speed train to Chongqing! The day of arrival We asked for the bus driver's contact. When we were about to return, we WeChatted him and arranged a pick-up time at the hotel for the driver. The price was 120 yuan. When we arrived in Chengdu, at the Chadianzi Bus Station, in front of the station, there is a subway from Chadianzi by subway line 2 and got off at Chengdu East Railway Station (15 stations in total). The subway fare is 5 yuan. We bought a high-speed rail ticket to Chongqing, sitting in first class, for 1,234 baht, and it took 1 hour and 38 minutes (travel time depends on the ticket purchased. Some trains take 2-3 hours). Note: If you have a lot of luggage or valuables and don't want to leave your bags in the baggage area, we recommend sitting in the first class. We have a 28-inch bag and put our bags in the footrest. ⸻🏙️ Day 7: Bei Cang Beichang Street is a vintage street with many cafes and restaurants. The price is the same as a cafe or restaurant in Thailand. We went to eat at "1995 Bistro". Every menu item was delicious. The strangest thing was the Mala Spaghetti. We're not sure of the name of the menu but we've never eaten Mala Spaghetti before. Indescribably delicious. I recommend you to try it. Those who like taking photos should try it out. It's not too busy. Many Chinese teenagers go there to take photos. At night, we went to Hong Ya Dong and took photos on the opposite side. We hired a local photographer to take photos. If you don't want to pay a fixed price, you can ask them to take 2-3 photos for 10 yuan per photo. After taking photos, we went to a famous restaurant among Chinese teenagers. We happened to have a Chinese friend in Chongqing. Our friend took us there. It's a very young restaurant with good taste. There were no foreigners in the restaurant. The food was very delicious. The craft beer was good. If you've never drunk before, the restaurant will recommend some. You can ask to try it. (The restaurant is a bit outside the city. It's about a 15-20 minute Didi ride away.) All the bars have good taste. ⸻✈️ Day 8: Luohan Temple, Luohan and go to the airport to say goodbye to China. Luohan Temple is in the heart of Chongqing. It is a thousand-year-old temple that has been renovated many times. Until it became the center of the Han Buddhist Association in Chongqing. The entrance fee is 20 yuan. There are 500 Arhat statues and souvenir shops where anyone can stop by to pay their respects. ⸻💸 Summary of expenses (roughly): • Round-trip airfare: 7,920 baht • Accommodation (7 nights): 8,697 baht (split in half with my girlfriend = 4,348 baht per person) (staying at a 2-3 star hostel/hotel) • Travel expenses in China (train, subway, bus): 1,234 baht • Internet fee: 170 baht • Travel expenses in the city by didi: 1,735 baht • Entrance fee to the 4 Girls' Park: 680 baht* The cost of food depends on the person, but my girlfriend and I ate together, 2 people, about 10,000 baht Total for the trip: about 16,087 baht (not including food)

Post by Qianliyun | Nov 1, 2025