2 Days Chongqing Dazu Tour with UNESCO Heritage Grottoes Dazu Rock Carvings
Most Classic Exploration of Peculiar Internet Famous City’s Downtown & UNESCO Heritage Grottoes
If you are looking for a classic Chongqing discovery together with your Yangtze cruise fun or just want a brand-new 2-day-off from other destinations, take this one! You will enjoy one full day for an amazing admiration of the world-class outstanding Dazu Rock Carvings, which is awarded as one of the rare UNESCO World Heritage Site records and praised as the highest rock carving masterpiece worldly for its large-scaled high valued religious grottoes with fantastic carving skills, diverse interesting themes and well preserved historic treasures. Moreover, all must-sees of the extremely popular Internet Famous Chongqing City are covered in another full day, including the shutterbugs’ favorite observation deck at E’ling Park for a grand city panorama, fresh deep-in experiences of Chongqing’s quite special mountain terrain, local No.1 Ciqikou Ancient Town for a scaled-down version of old Chongqing, favored Three Gorges Museum to fully understand the link and change of Yangtze River, Three Gorges and Chongqing City, etc.
Highlights of this tour
- Admire excellent and delicate religious grottoes at Dazu Rock Carvings listed as UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Site;
- Seek the old Chongqing by savoring its traditional architecture, people’s daily life, artistic treasure, culture and history at Ciqikou Old Town;
- Appreciate Chongqing City from different angles and witness in person its magical “8-dimension” geography;
- Walk at Three Gorges Museum to have a comprehensive knowledge of Chongqing’s development and hear the detail narration about the great Yangtze River, beautiful Three Gorges and influential Three Gorges Dam project.
Basic Trip Information
- Price:
- from
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- 1. This price is for one person, based on a group of 2 adults sharing one double-bed room in a 4-star hotel and traveling in low seasons;
- 2. This price is subject to change according to your traveling season, group size, hotel class, change of activities and possible fluctuation of currency exchange rate.
- Travel Route:
- Chongqing/Dazu
- Travel Length:
- 2 Days & 1 Night
- Tour Code:
- CD-CT-02
- Group Size:
- You, your family, friends or group
- Experience:
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- Departure:
- Any day you want
Full Itinerary Day by day
- Day 1 Chongqing (L)
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Ni Hao! Welcome to Chongqing!
This morning, you will be met by your local guide and driver in your hotel in downtown or the arrival hall at the airport/railway station if you arrive in Chongqing by very early flight/train. Then, you will start your exploration of Chongqing, the “City of Mountains.”
Firstly, enjoy the historic visit to Ciqikou Old Town (磁器口) that is praised as the “epitome of Chongqing”. Take your leisure walk on the polished paved paths to admire its over 1,800-year-old historical culture dated from Song Dynasty, appreciate its well-kept tiled-roof folk dwellings of hundreds of years old, watch the well-inherited folk artistic skills, and imagine and once busy transshipping scene shown at the ancient port there. Then, be escorted to Three Gorges Museum (三峡博物馆) at the city downtown. The vast collection of more than 280 thousand pieces of precious historical relics will let you have an amazing understanding of the great Yangtze River and formation of the magnificent Three Gorges, and also tell you the gradual thriving of Chongqing from 3,000 years ago, to its war defense in 20s century, and developmental path to be one of the 4 prosperous municipalities in China. Stepping out from the museum, have a nice look at the People’s Assembly Hall that is popular with fancy classical exterior design and was listed into the History of Architecture compiled in London in 1987.
After lunch, be transferred to take Chonqing Rail Transit Line 2 (重庆轻轨二号线) from Huanghuayuan Metro Station to Liziba Metro Station to look at the city’s prototype from a different angle. Then, get off to have the never-seen magic of the train going through a 11-storey block of flats, existing only in the fantastically structured Chongqing built against mountains.
After that, travel up to E’ling Park (鹅岭公园) and embrace the impressive panorama of Chongqing City which has been highly praised as “Little Hong Kong” with its well-arranged row upon row of modern skyscrapers and two winding rivers surrounding. Then, go down to visit Hongya Cave (洪崖洞), the must-see highlight to appreciate the layers of featured Ba and Shu regional wooden tilted houses overlapped leaning the mountain up to 11 storeys, which looks quite glittery lit by the orange lights from nightfall. And continue to get up to the 11 level with vehicles and roads alongside to catch the sparkling nightscape of Jialing River and the nearby buildings with beautiful neon.
After the visiting, your guide and drive will send you back to your hotel. Have a great rest!
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- Day 2 Dazu Rock Carvings Side Trip (B, L)
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Good morning! After breakfast, you will be met by your guide and driver at your hotel and then escorted to visit Dazu Rock Carvings at the northwest suburb of Chongqing with about 2 hours’ riding.
Earliest in 1999, Dazu Rock Carvings had been listed as a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Site for its historical significance, rich themes, and delicate carvings, which reflecting the social daily life as well as the harmonious coexistence of Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism. During this side trip, we shall make a full exploration at the top 2 clusters: Baodingshan Rock Carvings and Beishan Rock Carvings.
Baodingshan Scenic Area (大足石刻宝顶山景区) is normally the first stop and the best highlight of Dazu Rock Carvings’ Exploration. Watching two digital films regarding the history, development, and masterpieces of Dazu Rock Carvings will give first-time visitors a clear view of what to see and expect in this scenic area. After the film, tourists can take the sightseeing buses to get to the top highlight of Baodingshan Scenic Area, Dafowan (大佛湾), where most representative works of Baodingshan rock carvings are situated. Leaving Dafowan, along the excursion trail, you will pass by Wansui Tower (万岁楼) and Xiaofuwan (小佛湾) to reach the Shengshou Temple (圣寿寺). The buildings along the path are antique in style. Here, travelers are also recommended to glance back at the Big Buddha Bay, which definitely will bring a different view. Your last stop would be the Dazu Rock Carvings Museum (大足石刻博物馆), which not only introduces the basic characteristics of Dazu Rock Carvings but presents the whole thread of world cave temple art, a can-not-miss site for grotto enthusiasts.
After visiting the Baoding Rock Carvings, your next stop is the Beishan Scenic Area (大足石刻北山景区).
Although not as large and visually striking as the Baodingshan Rock Carvings, rock carvings at Beishan Scenic Area were built earlier, yet they are of irreplaceable significance to the explorer who has a greater willingness to engage with the history of China’s grottoes. As locals often say, “The professionals know the ropes from Beishan Rock Carvings”. One of the critical ropes narrating the beginning of the construction of Dazu Rock Carvings was collected at the Buddhist Bay (Fowan). It is an inconspicuous stone tablet from the Tang Dynasty, “Weijunjing Stele (韦君靖碑)”, which meticulously records all crucial moments in the development of Dazu Rock Carvings. Moreover, you can see representative statues of the earliest constructions in the style of the glorious age of the Tang Dynasty, including Niche No. 5, the Vaisravana Devaraja (毗沙门天王龛), as well as diverse and exquisite statues of Guanyin, such as Avalokitesvara with a Rosary (数珠手观音) in Niche No. 125, and the most extensive and artistically crafted Niche No. 136 - “Wheel of the Sutra Collection (转轮经藏),” which significantly projects the folk belief attribute of Beishan Grottoes. Beishan Scenic Area is not large; Fowan is presented in a semi-circular shape, divided into two districts, and the overall visiting time is 1-1.5 hours. With enough time and physical strength, after appreciating the cliff statues, you can climb up to the opposite peak to worship the twin Buddhas under the Duobao Pagoda (多宝塔), which takes another 15-20 minutes of mountain road walk.
After the visiting, your guide and driver will escort you to Chaotianmen Dock and help you board your Yangtze River cruise. If you have the schedule to leave Chongqing today, they will escort you to the airport/railway station for catching your flight/train to the next destination, for instance, Chengdu, Xian, Guilin, Beijing, Shanghai…… Service Ends!
Travel Tips: 1. Visiting Hours: The visiting hours for the Baodingshan Scenic Area vary from 3~6 hours, depending on whether tourists watch the digital films and time spent in the museum. Compared with the former, the time for tourists to visit the Beishan Scenic Area is relatively fixed, generally 1-1.5 hours. If you are planning to take the Yangtze River cruise or scheduled to leave Chongqing on the same day, the time could be tight to visit both Beishan and the Dazu Rock Carvings Museum. You are recommended to select one spot to visit. 2. Physical Demand: Taking tourist buses leaving the Baodingshan Scenic Area requires crossing Song-dynasty Street North, which takes approximately 20-30 minutes to walk through.
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