Sichuan (四川省) · 15 places · 10 cities
15 places in Sichuan, grouped by city. The last column is the gate: 1 of them are open at all hours, and the others close, often earlier than the light does.
Most common here: Mountain and forest (7), Wetland and lake (2), Geopark (2). See all provinces, or the background on parks.
3 places
Aba (阿坝)
| Place | Kind | Opens |
|---|---|---|
| Daocheng Yading (稻城亚丁)Three peaks held sacred in Tibetan tradition, Chenresig at 6,032 m with Jampelyang and Chanadorje beside it, over glacial lakes, forest and meadow. Altitude here is a real constraint. | Mountain and forest | 7:00 to 18:30 |
| Huanglong (黄龙)UNESCO NATURALOver 3,400 travertine pools stepped down a valley, coloured yellow, green and blue by dissolved calcium carbonate, and counted as the largest such group in the world. | Geopark | 8:00 to 17:00 |
| Jiuzhaigou Valley (九寨沟)UNESCO NATURALA hundred and eight lakes stepped down three valleys, coloured by mineral deposits and shifting with the light and the season, with terraced falls between them. World Heritage for nature. | Wetland and lake | 7:30 to 17:00 |
2 places
Aba Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture (阿坝藏族羌族自治州)
| Place | Kind | Opens |
|---|---|---|
| Mount Siguniang (四姑娘山)UNESCO NATURALFour peaks in line, from 5,025 m to 6,250 m, the tallest of them listed as the second highest summit in Sichuan. Three valleys below, Shuangqiao, Changping and Haizi, carry the walking. | Mountain and forest | 7:00 to 17:30 (旺季) |
| Ruoergai (若尔盖（花湖+黄河九曲第一湾）)Recorded as China’s largest high-altitude peat marsh, and a water source for the upper Yellow River, returning about 4.4 billion cubic metres a year. The river’s first great bend is here. | Wetland and lake | 7:00 to 19:00 |
2 places
Chengdu (成都市)
| Place | Kind | Opens |
|---|---|---|
| Chengdu People’s Park (成都人民公园)Opened in 1911 as the city’s first park. The Heming teahouse of 1923 still serves under the trees, and the corner where parents advertise their unmarried children is the busiest in China. | City park | Open at all hours |
| Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding (成都大熊猫繁育研究基地)Recorded as the largest captive panda breeding centre in the world, holding 244 animals on 245 hectares landscaped as bamboo forest rather than enclosures. Go at feeding time in the early morning; the animals sleep through the middle of the day. | Specialist park | 7:30 to 18:00 |
2 places
Leshan (乐山)
| Place | Kind | Opens |
|---|---|---|
| Leshan Giant Buddha (乐山大佛)UNESCO MIXEDA seated Maitreya 71 m high cut into the cliff where three rivers meet, begun in 713 and finished ninety years later. The boat shows the whole figure; the stairs show the detail. | Historic garden or scenic site | 7:30 to 18:30 |
| Mount Emei (峨眉山)UNESCO MIXEDOne of the four Buddhist mountains, given to Samantabhadra, rising to 3,099 m through climate zones from subtropical to near-alpine. Wild macaques work the upper paths, and cloud sits on the summit most days. | Mountain and forest | 6:00 to 17:00 (旺季) |
1 place
Bazhong (巴中市)
| Place | Kind | Opens |
|---|---|---|
| Guangwu Mountain (光雾山)UNESCO GEOPARKSix hundred and eighty square kilometres of maple and beech that turn in October and November, described as the largest such area in Asia. Five sections, and the colour is the reason people come. | Mountain and forest | 7:00 to 18:00 |
1 place
Chengdu (成都)
| Place | Kind | Opens |
|---|---|---|
| Dujiangyan Irrigation System & Mount Qingcheng (都江堰-青城山)UNESCO CULTURALAn irrigation works begun in 256 BC that still divides the Min river and still waters the Chengdu plain, without a dam anywhere in it. Qingcheng, behind it, is where Daoism took organised form. | Historic garden or scenic site | 8:00 to 18:00 |
1 place
Garze Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture (甘孜藏族自治州)
| Place | Kind | Opens |
|---|---|---|
| Hailuogou (海螺沟)A glacier 14.7 km long on the east side of Gongga, running six kilometres down into old forest and ending at 2,850 m, the lowest glacier terminus at this latitude anywhere. | Mountain and forest | 7:00 to 17:00 |
1 place
Guangyuan (广元市)
| Place | Kind | Opens |
|---|---|---|
| Jianmen Pass (剑门关)UNESCO CULTURALThe pass on the old road into Sichuan that Li Bai wrote about, where one man holding it could stop ten thousand. Cliff paths run beside the gate itself. | Mountain and forest | 8:00 to 18:00 |
1 place
Ya’an (雅安市)
| Place | Kind | Opens |
|---|---|---|
| Bifengxia (碧峰峡)A V-shaped gorge with waterfalls, and the panda research base that holds about sixty animals, described as the largest such centre in China. | Geopark | 8:00 to 17:30 |
1 place
Yibin (宜宾)
| Place | Kind | Opens |
|---|---|---|
| Shunan Bamboo Sea (蜀南竹海)Seventy thousand mu of bamboo over 27 ridges and 500 hills, described as the largest natural bamboo forest anywhere. The fight scenes in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon were filmed here. | Mountain and forest | 8:00 to 17:30 |
Which Ones Need a Whole Day
A city park is an hour before dinner. A geopark can be a full day with a shuttle and a cable car, and the gate closes earlier than the park does. Tell our local team where you will be and they will say which of these fit the day you have.