Dujiangyan and Mount Qingcheng

The oldest working irrigation system on earth and the reason the Chengdu plain is rich: built around 256 BC by the governor Li Bing and his son, it splits the Min River with no dam (the Fish Mouth divides the flow, the Flying Sand Weir spills the floods and silt, the Bottleneck lets a measured stream into the plain), and it has done so for 2,270 years. A World Heritage site with Mount Qingcheng (2000). The scenic area wraps the works with Lidui Park, the Two Kings Temple on the hill above, the Anlan suspension bridge across the torrent, and Yulei Hill's lookout. ¥80, three hours, real-name tickets with a passport lane and an on-site window, and a suburban train from Chengdu's Xipu that stops 23 minutes later at Lidui Park, the gate. The engineering needs the story told — read it before you stand on the Fish Mouth.

One of the birthplaces of religious Taoism (Zhang Daoling founded his movement here in the 2nd century) and the 'green' World Heritage half of the Dujiangyan listing: a forested climb of stone stairs past working temples (Jianfu Palace at the gate, Tianshi Cave where the founder is said to have preached, Shangqing Palace near the top), with a lake boat and a cable car to shorten it. Real-name ticket, cable car and boat extra; roughly four hours up and down on foot, two with the lift. The station named Qingcheng Mountain is 5 km from the gate, a bus or taxi hop. The front mountain is a separate place from the back mountain 15 km away.

The Chengdu Panda Base's country outpost at Yutang, on the hills just south of Dujiangyan (about 3 km from town by the base's own figure): a rewilding-training centre where a small number of pandas live in large forested enclosures, plus red pandas, in a park that sees a fraction of the city base's crowds. Same institution, different ticket (the city base says in its own tariff that its tickets do not cover Panda Valley). Tickets are ¥55, with real-name online booking up to 7 days ahead through the 'Panda Valley' WeChat official account, and the official English page states outright that passports can book by entering the number. No ticket window on site. Fewer pandas, more space, and a proper reason to make a second panda day out of Dujiangyan.

The other panda institution near Dujiangyan — the national China Conservation and Research Center's 760-mu base at Qingchengshan Town, built in 2013 for wild-panda rescue, disease control and, uniquely, a retirement home for pandas over 26 — and the site of the 'keeper for a day' volunteer programme that foreign visitors used to travel here for. It has been closed since 23 April 2026 for an upgrade, 'reopening date to be announced' (Xinhua, reporting the center's notice). Until then this entry exists to stop you booking it: nothing here is open, and it is not the Chengdu base's Panda Valley 15 km away.

The old county town at the scenic area's gate — Dujiangyan was Guanxian until 1988 — rebuilt after the 2008 earthquake as a walkable grid of grey-tile streets between the railway station and the irrigation works: South Bridge, the covered timber bridge over the roaring inner channel that is lit blue after dark (the 'blue tears' shot the scenic area itself says is outside its ticketed grounds), West Street, the start of the old tea-horse road into the mountains, and the food lanes off them. Free, open at all hours, and the reason to stay for dinner after the works rather than catch the 17:00 train.

The quieter old town on the far side of the back mountain, 25 km from Dujiangyan and administratively in Chongzhou: a river-front grid of Qing timber shopfronts around a Jin-dynasty temple, the birthplace of the Tang recluse poet Tang Qiu ('the one-gourd poet'), millennial ginkgos, and a food street known for sesame 'Tang' pancakes and leaf-wrapped rice cakes. Free core area, reachable by bus 102 from Qingcheng Mountain station. It is the antidote to Huanglongxi and the other coach-tour towns — smaller, slower, and mostly Chengdu families on a Sunday.

The other Qingcheng: 15 km west of the temple mountain, a gorge of waterfalls, plank walks and stone stairs above the old town of Taian, with no temples of note and a quarter of the ticket price (¥20 by the platforms). Two cable cars (Jinli from the town, Baiyun higher up) and a full loop of five to six hours on foot. This is where Chengdu people go on a hot Sunday; foreign visitors mostly never hear of it. Separate gate, separate ticket, and a separate decision from the front mountain — you cannot do both in a day.

The small old town at the mouth of the Qingcheng back-mountain gorge: one street of timber guesthouses, tea terraces over the stream and the Jinli cable-car station, rebuilt after 2008. It is the base for the gorge walk — sleep here and the trail is empty at 8:30 — and the place to eat the Qingcheng 'four specialties': ginkgo-nut stewed chicken, cured mountain pork, the local tea and kiwi wine. Free, no gate; the back-mountain ticket is bought at the trailhead beyond the town.