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Destinations / The Southwest

Giant panda resting on a log in Chengdu

Chengdu成都

China's slow city — bamboo parks, teahouse afternoons, fire-flavored food, and the calmest pace in the country.

Best: March–June · September–NovemberPlan a Chengdu journey →

The city, plainly

Chengdu has made an art of taking it easy. Locals spend whole afternoons in hundred-year-old teahouses, ears cleaned and mahjong tiles clicking, and the city treats that as productivity. Add the research base where pandas are raised, Sichuan cuisine at its fiery source, and easy access to sacred mountains — this is where travelers slow down without meaning to.

What we never skip

Teahouse olympics

Long-spout tea pouring, ear-cleaning masters, and an unbeatable people-watching seat in People's Park.

Pandas at breakfast

Early entry at the research base, when the cubs are awake and the crowds are not.

Fire, mastered

A Sichuan cooking class that starts in the spice market and ends at your own wok.

Journeys through Chengdu