Chongqing Attractions

No.1: Ciqikou Ancient Town

Type: Historic Sites

Recommended Length of Visit: 2 hours

Known as the little Chongqing, Ciqikou Ancient Town, 14 kilometers to the west of Chongqing, is perched on a hill overlooking the Jialing River in the west of the city. It is a century old town that could date back to the late Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), featuring well-restored buildings.

“One flagstone road, and one thousand years’ Ciqikoi”, visiting Ciqikou Ancient Town offers excellent cultural experience. You could see the local residents dedicated to their traditional way of life, taste the local famous snacks and food, enjoy a cup of tea in the teahouse, and appreciate the Shu Embroidery and other handcrafts.

>> 1 Day Chongqing Short Stay Tour

No.2: Three Gorges Museum

Type: Museums

Recommended Length of Visit: 2 hours

Three Gorges Museum, built in 1951, is one of the largest museums in south-west China with unique architectural design. It is not only a typical museum of the Yangtze Three Gorges but also a comprehensive museum of history and arts.

This interesting museum has over 170,000 relics and artifacts. In addition, the 23,000 meters floor-space of the museum can be divided into four major exhibition hall with several themes, one the hall is dedicated to the “history and spirit of the splendid Three Gorges”, and one dedicated to the “long history of the ancient Bashu Area”…Paying a visit to Three Gorges Museum before or after your Yangtze River cruise, you could have an overall understanding of Yangtze.

>> 4 Days Chongqing Essence Tour with Yangtze Cruise

No.3: E'ling Park (Goose Neck Park)

Type: Parks & Gardens

Recommended Length of Visit: 1-2 hours

E’ling Park, also called the Goose Neck Park, is the earliest personally owned garden. It offers a good view of both the Yangtze River and Jiangling River. Standing atop of the pagoda, you could have a bird’s eye view of Chongqing city.

Originally a private garden built during the Qing dynasty, the park was named Yiyuan, and later Liyuan. The name was changed to E'ling when a calligrapher named Zhaoxi wrote to the garden's owner and told him that the hill was shaped like the head of a goose. All the architecture and artwork is done in the traditional Chinese way. Visiting E’ling Park in summer days, you'll soon get cool. It is a great place to see all the lights up at the night time.

>> 1 Day Chongqing Short Stay Tour

No.4: Chongqing Zoo

Type: Zoos

Recommended Length of Visit: 2 hours

If you haven’t seen Giant Panda yet, you could take this great chance to have a closer contact with the cute bears in Chongqing Zoo.

Chongqing Zoo is surrounded by beautiful mountains with abundant natural scenery, making it a true treasure in the area. It is home to more than 200 different animal species, and more than 6,000 animals in total. The Panda House covers an area of about 2 hectares, and is the undoubted highlight for visitors. Visitors could see the precious and childlike giant panda as well as other rare animals such as golden monkeys and South China Tigers.

>> 4 Days Chongqing Essence Tour with Yangtze Cruise

No.5: Hongya Cave

Type: Caverns/ Caves

Recommended Length of Visit: 2 hours

Hongya Cave is located in Chongqing’s core commercial district of Jiefangbei on Cangbai Road and at the intersection of the Yangtze and Jialing Rivers. The area combines travel, business, and cultural scenery into one grand view, with an overriding theme of stilted buildings which stands for the famous traditional Bayu minority architectural style on raised wooden stilts. It’s an attraction for Chongqing visitors. The mid-levels house food courts with a wide variety of inexpensive snacks and meals while the upper floors contain upscale restaurants and a Starbucks.

Hongya Cave is a leisure, entertainment, shopping and food heaven for people, while offering a commercial kingdom of Bayu culture, cuisine, and entertainment.

No.6: Dazu Rock Carvings

Type: Ancient Ruins, Landmarks/ Points of Interest

Recommended Length of Visit: at least half day

Dazu Rock Carvings, about 120 km from Chongqing, are a series of Chinese religious sculptures and carvings, dating back as far as the 7th Century AD, depicting and influenced by Buddhist, Confucian and Taoist beliefs.

Listed as a World Heritage Site, the Dazu Rock Carvings are made up of 75 protected sites containing some 50,000 statues, with over 100,000 Chinese characters forming inscriptions and epigraphs. It has gained the fame as “the pearls of the oriental art” and are rewarded as World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1999. Among all these, Baodingshan and Beishan are the most well-known and popular sites.

As one of the spectacular grotto arts, Dazu Rock Carvings are on a par with Mogao Caves, Longmen Grottoes and Yungang Grottoes in China.

>> 2 Days Chongqing Highlights Tour with Dazu Rock Carvings

No.7: Wulong Karst Landscape

Type: karst landscape, mountains

Sites: Natural Three Stone Bridges, Furong Cave, Fairy Mountains National Forest Park

Recommended Length of Visit: full day

Wulong is natural scenery and hiking resort in the UNESCO World Heritage List. There is no well-maintained road to Wulong directly years ago. But now it is visited by many travelers, both home and aboard.

Wulong Karst, an important part of South China Karst, features spectacular karst landscapes, including the three main parts of the Natural Three Stone Bridges (Tianlong Bridge, Qinglong Bridge, and Heilong Bridge), Furong Cave and Houping Tiankengs. What’s more, the Fairy Mountains National Forest Park is also a highlight in Wulong.

>> 3 Days Chongqing & Wulong Karst Landscape Exploration Tour

No.8: General Joseph W. Stilwell Museum

Type: museums

Recommended Length of Visit: 1 to 2 hours

General Joseph W. Stilwell Museum, built in 1991, is the former residence of General Stilwell from 1942 to 1944. General Stilwell, the Chief of Staff of the Allied Forces in China and the Commander in Chief of the US forces in the China Burma India Theater. By visiting the museum, one can understand the General common but colorful life in China and see the fact that General Stilwell helped the Chinese government and people flight against Fascist during World War II. The museum is composed with Stilwell’s office, bedroom, dinning room, basement and his aide’s office. Over 100 items from the past are on display, including radio, telephone, script and uniform. In the basement, over 200 old photos tell the story of Stilwell and his life in China. This museum covered only 500 square meters but receives more than 30000 American visitors every year. Although it has been renovated several times, the style of it has not been changed.

No.9: Huguang Guide Hall

Type: landmark, architecture

Recommended Length of Visit: 2 to 3 hours

Huguang Guide Hall is the largest ancient group of guide halls in south of Yangtze River in China which has the high building, cultural, historical and artistic value. The building group was fist built in 1759 under the regime of Emperor Qianlong in Qing Dynasty created as an early form of union hall and was expanded many times tuning it into a sprawling complex of buildings, courtyards, and gardens around 100 years later. The complex covered around 8500 square kilometers and composed with many halls such as Guangdong Hall, Jiangnan Hall, Lianghu Hall, Jiangxi Hall and there are four other towers for opera shows. The wooden building walls, doors and windows were delicately carved. It is a classic example of an ancient Chinese Guild hall. Unfortunately, it was damaged by fire. However with government’s support and builder’s high quality work, the complex was refurbished and reopened in 2005. The now renovated halls and rooms are about 300 years old and still in use. Many theaters, opera stage and temple-halls can be seen while local performances are shown here daily. Some of the rooms are turned into a migration museum. Visitors can enjoy the architecture, watch performance, eat and shop here.

No.10: Jiefangbei Square

Type: shopping pedestrian, landmark

Recommended Length of Visit: 2 to 3 hours

Located in the center of downtown Chongqing, Jiefangbei CBD is covered 24400 square meters, 400 meters from east to west and 350 meters from north to south. There are three main roads in Jiefangbei pedestrian street, which are Minquan Road, Minzu Road and Zourong Road, and the intersection, also the center of Jiefangbei is the People’s Liberation Monument. This drab clock tower, the landmark of Chongqing, is to celebrate the Communists’ liberation of the city from seventy years of colonial and right-wing occupation. Around the Square there are over 3000 stores and shops, it is absolutely a paradise for shopaholic. There are also many food streets here to cater for visitors who come to try local special dishes. More than 300,000 people visit Jiefangbei CBD every day on the average, and on holidays the figures may exceed 900,000. It’s definitely one of the most busiest part of downtown Chongqing.

No.11: Chaotianmen Bridge

Type: landmark, architecture

Recommended Length of Visit: 30 minutes

Chaotianmen Bridge is also known as Chaotianmen Yangtze River Bridge. The construction of this bridge started at December 2004. On April 29, 2009, Chaotianmen Bridge was officially opened to traffic. Chaotianmen Bridge connects Wulidian in Jiangbei district in the west and Danzishi in Nan’an District in the east, with the total length 1741meters, and the main span is 552 meters long. When it was first built, it was the longest arch bridge in the world. The design scheme of the bridge was called "The River Gate of The City", so as to highlight the landscape effect. Through the gate of this city, one can see the scenery of Yuzhong Peninsula. Except the piers, the main framework of this bridge is red. With few piers designed to enter the water minimized the damage to the river landscape. Besides, the bridge also integrates the two city CARDS, Jiefangbei and Chaotianmen. It is a good place to appreciate the confluence of two rivers and the night view of mountain city.

No.12: Chaotianmen Dock

Type: waterway transportation

Recommended Length of Visit: 1 hour

Chaotianmen Dock, also known as Chaotianmen Wharf, is located at the confluence of Yangtze River and Jialing River of Yuzhong District in Chongqing. More than 85% of tourists would visit Chaotianmen Dock, because it is the main embarked and disembarked place of Yangtze River cruise tour and short Chongqing city cruising trip. Since Chaotianmen Dock is settled at the city center area, it’s very convenience for you to travel from Chaotianmen dock to other scenic spots such as Hongya Cave, Jiefangbei, Three Gorges Museum, Ciqikou Ancient Town and so on. If you have several hours left before boarding the cruise, you can have a short shopping and dining time at Raffles City, It’s also recommended place for tourist to enjoy the stunning night view of Chongqing.

No.13: Fairy Mountain National Forest Park

Type: nature and parks, mountains

Recommended Length of Visit: 1 to 2 days

Chongqing Wulong Fairy Mountain is a national forest park covers 8910 hectares and with an average altitude of 1900m, belonged to Wuling Mountain Range in the eastern Chongqing. Surrounded by Wu River, Fairy Mountain is reputed as “Eastern Switzerland” and “Summer Palace in Mountain City”. Forest sea, marvelous peaks, alpine meadow and snowfield are the four wonders in Fairy Mountain. You can climb up and having a bird view of Fairy Mountain in Spring, enjoy a short leisure and adventurous vacation in summer, record the colorful Fairy Mountain with photograph in autumn and take some ice sports such as skating ans skiing in winter. The scenery is picturesque all year around.

No.14: Wansheng Heishan Valley Tourist Area

Type: nature and parks, mountains

Recommended Length of Visit: 1 day

Heishan Valley, also known as Black Mountain Valley, covers 40 square miles, located in Heishan Mountain Town of Wansheng Economic Development District in Chongqing city. The primitive natural environment in this scenic area is well preserved. You can enjoy the natural beauty of high mountains, steep cliffs, grand waterfall, deep valley, as well as various animals and plants. Heishan Valley is a summer resort and natural air conditioner in hot days. Walking on the plank roads and floating bridges in Carp River Gorges, you can see carp swimming beneath, giving a feeling of wandering in an underwater palace. Visitors can also go through the Fish Leaping Gorge and observe the carp closely. There is also a waterfall looks like a fish, called Fish-like Waterfall in Heishan Valley Scenic Area. When the sun shines right on it, a looming rainbow would appear. It would be a perfect place for you to escape from the hustle and bustle city life.

No.15: Mountain Jinfo

Type: nature and parks, mountains

Recommended Length of Visit: 1 day

Mountain Jinfo located in Nanchuan District, Chongqing city is a World Natural Heritage and National 5A Scenic Area for its’ primitive natural landscape, rare stones, mysterious caves, adventurous cliffs and historic temples. It’s a perfect place for a summer escape. In the afterglow of the sunset, Mountain Jinfo looks like a giant Buddha shinning with boundless golden radiance, hence it also being called “Golden Buddha Mountain”. There are several scenic spot in Jinfo Mountain that are recommended including Azure Stream Valley, Qianniuping Scenic Area, Chinese Medicine Pool and Jinfo Mountain Peak.

No.16: Chongqing Luohan Temple

Type: historical sites, religious sites

Recommended Length of Visit: 1 hour

Surrounded by high rise skyscrapers, Luohan Temple is located in Minzu Road, Yuzhong District. It is one of the important Buddhist temple in Han nationality region. Built about 1000 years ago, the temple has a long entrance way flanked by rock carvings, a hall of painted terracotta arhat sculptures and a hall containing a large gold Buddha figure. The original building complex was destroyed by Fascist Booming in 1942 and the Great Cultural Revolution. In 1984, the government allocated special funds for reconstruction. The building complex we see nowadays are contained with the archway, Mountain Gate, Ming Stele Pavilion, Ancient Buddha Rock, Arhat Hall, the Main Shrine Hall, Phra Mondop and Guest Room. There are total 524 exquisite and vivid clay statues in Arhat hall, even nowadays you can still find lots of people paying their respects to the buddhist deities everyday.