Chongqing Attraction Guide

Downtown Chongqing

• Hongyadong (洪崖洞) — A cascade of stilted wooden houses stacked 11 stories high above the Jialing River, revived as a dining and nightlife complex; it glows gold after dark and is the city's most photographed skyline.
• Ciqikou Ancient Town (磁器口古镇) — A 1,000-year-old riverside old town in Shapingba District famous for porcelain trading in the Ming and Qing dynasties, now packed with tea houses, street snacks like jiaoyan peanuts, and the 1,500-year-old Baolun Temple.
• Yangtze River Cableway (长江索道) — The "air bus" across the Yangtze, a 1,166-metre cable car between Yuzhong and Nan'an districts that locals still use for commuting; ride at dusk for the best city-lights views.
• Jiefangbei (解放碑) — The People's Liberation Monument, Chongqing's downtown landmark and the dense shopping district around it; the commercial heart of the city and a good base for a first-night stay.
• Liziba Station (李子坝站) — The monorail station where Line 2 passes through the middle of a 19-story residential building, with a dedicated viewing platform; ten minutes from downtown and free to photograph.
• Raffles City Chongqing (重庆来福士广场) — The "sail" complex at the meeting of the Yangtze and Jialing rivers, crowned by a 300-metre-long sky corridor with a glass-bottom observation deck facing Chaotianmen.

Dazu (Day Trip)

• Dazu Rock Carvings (大足石刻) — A UNESCO World Heritage site with some 50,000 statues across 75 protected sites, carved from the 9th to 13th centuries and uniquely blending Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism; about 1.5–2 hours west of downtown, best as a full-day trip.
• Baoding Mountain (宝顶山) — The highlight cluster of the Dazu carvings, a U-shaped gorge near the Holy Longevity Monastery with the famous thousand-armed Guanyin and the "Eighteen Layers of Hell" panorama; the classic half-day carving route.
• Beishan (北山) — The older Dazu cluster (9th–12th century) with Tantric Buddhist and Taoist carvings along a 300-metre cliff face; combine it with Baodingshan if you arrive by mid-morning.

Wulong

• Three Natural Bridges (天生三桥) — Three massive limestone bridges — Tianlong, Qinglong, and Heilong — spanning deep karst valleys and tiankeng sinkholes in Wulong District, part of the South China Karst UNESCO World Heritage; filming location for several Chinese blockbusters.
• Fairy Mountain (仙女山) — A grassy alpine plateau around 2,000 metres above sea level, famous for summer meadows and winter skiing (a rarity this far south in China); the national park offers hiking, horseback riding, and paragliding.
• Furong Cave (芙蓉洞) — A 2,846-metre limestone cave near the confluence of the Furong and Wu rivers, packed with stalactites and vertical shafts; daily guided tours run through its lit chambers.
• Longshuixia Fissure Gorge (龙水峡地缝) — A narrow, cliff-walled canyon beneath the Three Natural Bridges area with waterfalls and hanging walkways; the standard Wulong combo ticket covers all three sites.

Yangtze Gorges Area

• Baidi City (白帝城) — The "White Emperor City" on a hilltop above Qutang Gorge in Fengjie County, immortalized in Li Bai's poetry as the gateway to the Three Gorges; the classic upstream landmark of a Yangtze cruise.
• Fengdu Ghost City (丰都鬼城) — A hillside temple complex on the Yangtze themed around the Chinese underworld, with vivid "judgment hall" statues dating back nearly two thousand years; reachable by high-speed train from Chongqing.
• Three Gorges Cruise (三峡游轮) — Multi-day sailings from Chongqing's Chaotianmen Port through Qutang, Wu, and Xiling gorges to Yichang; the downstream route takes 3–4 days and passes the Three Gorges Dam.
• Qutang Gorge (瞿塘峡) — The shortest and most dramatic of the Three Gorges, famous for the 10-yuan banknote backdrop at Kui Gate (夔门); day cruises from Fengjie/Wushan visit the viewing platforms.

Practical Tips

• Best season: March–May and September–November, when the mountain fog lifts and temperatures are mild; summers are notoriously hot (Chongqing is one of China's "furnace cities"), and winter is damp and grey.
• Getting around: The metro/monorail (Lines 1, 2, 3, 6) reaches most downtown sights cheaply; Dazu and Wulong are best done by high-speed rail plus local shuttle or a day tour from Jiefangbei; the Three Gorges cruise departs from Chaotianmen Port.
• Altitude notes: Fairy Mountain in Wulong sits around 2,000 m — cool even in summer, and the air is noticeably thinner on hikes; the Three Natural Bridges area is much lower. Bring a jacket for Fairy Mountain year-round.

ShareCopied!

Scan with WeChat to share