Old Chengdu in Half a Day: Kuanzhai, People's Park, Wuhou and Jinli
Choose which pieces of old Chengdu belong in one half-day: Kuanzhai, People’s Park, Wuhou, Jinli or Du Fu’s cottage. The free streets combine easily, while each ticketed garden consumes real time, so all five are not one route.
The short answer
Only the two ticketed gardens: the Wuhou Shrine (50 yuan, real-name up to 14 days ahead on its website or WeChat, passport accepted) and Du Fu's Thatched Cottage (50 yuan, WeChat, passport holders exchange at the ticket window). The Kuanzhai Alleys, People's Park and Jinli have no tickets and no booking.
Kuanzhai Alleys early (Line 4, before 10:00), then walk 15 minutes south-east to People's Park and sit at Heming with a bowl of tea by the price board, 16-35 yuan. Lines 2 and 17 leave from the park's east gate.
Pair it with Jinli: they share a wall. The 50 yuan ticket is for the shrine and tomb only; Jinli outside the east wall is free. Shrine first, then eat - the museum's own line is 'worship the Marquis, soak in Jinli'. Line 10 Wuhouci (Jinli) exit A2 is 3 minutes away.
Pay by the price board at the door (16-35 yuan a bowl; a minimum per head after 18:00). Agree the price before an ear-cleaner starts - about 30 yuan, with a higher first quote for foreign faces - and complaints go to the park on 028-86132021.
At the Wuhou Shrine you pay the full 50 yuan: its free entry for over-60s covers only mainland, Hong Kong / Macau / Taiwan and permanent-residence cards. At Du Fu's Cottage the over-60 exemption names a Chinese ID or a permanent-residence card too - ask at the window.
Side by sideEach cell ends with the date of the notice it was checked against
Swipe sideways; the first column stays put
Kuanzhai Alleys
宽窄巷子Open the place →- What you see & how long
- Three parallel lanes - Wide, Narrow and Well - on the site of the Qing garrison town, rebuilt 2003-08: courtyard gates, teahouses, snack counters. The brick history wall on Well Alley is the one part that explains what you are standing on. Forty minutes · 2026-09-11
- Ticket
- Free - an open street with no ticketing; shops charge for themselves, a few old courtyards charge at the door · 2026-09-11
- Hours & closed days
- No gate and no hours - the lanes are public; the shops behind the doors mostly keep 10:00-22:00 by their door signs · 2026-09-11
- Booking & passport
- None. On big holidays the lane entrances run one-way crowd control · 2026-02-18
- Getting there
- Metro Line 4 Kuanzhai Xiangzi station, east exit on Changshun Street; from People's Park (Line 2) about 15 minutes on foot · 2026-09-11
- Food & tea on the way
- The old-name snacks (Zhong dumplings, Long wontons) have counters here at tourist prices; five minutes west, Xiaotong Lane and Kuixinglou Street serve the same at local prices · 2026-09-11
- Don't get this wrong
- Not 'old Chengdu' - nearly everything is from 2008. And agree a price before anyone touches your ears: ear-cleaning and face-changing tables here sell at tourist rates · 2026-09-11
People's Park & Heming Teahouse
人民公园 · 鹤鸣茶社Open the place →- What you see & how long
- Chengdu's first park (1911) and the source of the whole 'slow Chengdu' idea: the big lakeside Heming teahouse, ear-cleaners with tuning forks, the weekend marriage market, and the 1913 monument to the 1911 railway movement. Sit for two hours · 2026-09-12
- Ticket
- Free park, no ticketing; tea and ear-cleaning are pay-as-you-go. The orchid and bonsai gardens and the railway-movement exhibition inside are free too · 2026-09-12
- Hours & closed days
- The park publishes no opening hours - reckon on about 6:30-22:00 from its lighting times. The orchid / bonsai gardens and the exhibition close on Mondays · 2026-09-12
- Booking & passport
- None · 2026-09-12
- Getting there
- Metro Lines 2 and 17 People's Park station exit A, at the east gate; main gate 9 Citang Street; Kuanzhai Alleys about 15 minutes north-west on foot · 2026-09-12
- Food & tea on the way
- Heming is the lakeside teahouse with the two-character sign and the price board at the door: platforms put a bowl at 16-35 yuan, with a minimum per head after 18:00; ear-cleaning about 30 yuan - agree first · 2023-08-22
- Don't get this wrong
- Several teahouses share the park at prices up to half apart - find Heming. Before 9:00 the tables belong to regulars; by 10:00 on a sunny day it is full of visitors. The marriage-market CVs are real families' business - do not photograph faces · 2023-08-22
Wuhou Shrine
武侯祠Open the place →- What you see & how long
- The Three Kingdoms in a walled garden: the only shrine where emperor Liu Bei and his chancellor Zhuge Liang are worshipped together, beside Liu Bei's tomb, rebuilt in 1672 - painted statues, a Tang stele of 809, the famous red wall. Two hours with the audio guide · 2026-04-24
- Ticket
- 50 yuan; half price 25; annual pass 100. Free entry for over-60s applies only to mainland, Hong Kong / Macau / Taiwan or permanent-residence cards - an ordinary foreign passport pays the full 50 · 2026-09-11
- Hours & closed days
- 9:00-18:00, last entry 17:00; 1 May-7 October 2026 extended to 8:30-18:30. Open all year; parts close for works or exhibition changes · 2026-04-24
- Booking & passport
- Real-name, up to 14 days ahead, only on the museum's website or its WeChat official account - no third party is authorised. The ticketing page says foreign visitors book with a passport; one ticket per document per day, up to 8 per account · 2026-04-24
- Getting there
- 231 Wuhouci Street: Metro Line 10 Wuhouci (Jinli) station exit A2, 3 minutes; or Line 3 / 5 Gaoshengqiao exit A, 10 minutes · 2026-09-11
- Food & tea on the way
- Nothing to eat inside - the museum's own advice is shrine first, then Jinli to eat: 'worship the Marquis, soak in Jinli' · 2026-09-11
- Don't get this wrong
- The ticket covers only the shrine and tomb inside the walls; Jinli outside the east wall is free. Tickets sold on other platforms get no after-sales service, and 'guide tickets' sold online are not the museum's · 2026-04-24
Jinli
锦里Open the place →- What you see & how long
- The museum's own folk street along its east wall, opened October 2004: 550 m of late-Qing-style shopfronts, lanterns, snack counters and a tea-stage with face-changing. Forty minutes and the lanterns · 2026-09-11
- Ticket
- Free - an open street; stalls and the small stages charge for themselves · 2026-09-11
- Hours & closed days
- The street publishes no hours; crowded from 10:30, lanterns until the stalls close, about 22:00 by the door signs · 2026-09-11
- Booking & passport
- None; stalls take QR payments and mostly cash · 2026-09-11
- Getting there
- Outside the Wuhou Shrine's east wall: Metro Line 10 Wuhouci (Jinli) exit A2. North entrance by the shrine's main gate, south entrance on Wuhouci Hengjie · 2026-09-11
- Food & tea on the way
- The museum's list of intangible-heritage snacks: sanda pao (glutinous rice balls thrown on a board), fried sugar dough, sugar painting - 15-25 yuan a portion here, half that on an ordinary street · 2026-09-11
- Don't get this wrong
- Not the Wuhou Shrine - the paid shrine and tomb are behind the wall. The red-wall bamboo path everyone posts is inside the shrine, not in Jinli · 2026-09-11
Du Fu Thatched Cottage
杜甫草堂Open the place →- What you see & how long
- The memorial garden where Du Fu lived in 759-765 and wrote about 240 poems: Ming-Qing halls, bamboo, a rebuilt thatched hut, the excavated Tang foundations and the red-wall flower path, over 300 mu. Two hours · 2026-09-11
- Ticket
- 50 yuan; 25 for 7-18s and students; annual pass 100. Foreign-language guide 60 yuan a person, QR audio in eight languages 18 yuan · 2026-09-11
- Hours & closed days
- 9:00-18:00, tickets until 17:00; May Day, summer and National Day extended to 8:30-18:30. Open all year · 2026-09-11
- Booking & passport
- Real-name up to 14 days ahead on the museum's WeChat service account; entry is by Chinese ID card at the gate - without one, exchange the booking for a paper voucher at the ticket window, which also sells tickets · 2026-09-11
- Getting there
- North gate 37 Qinghua Road: Metro Line 4 Caotang Beilu, then walk, or Line 5 Qingyanggong; main (south) gate 28 Caotang Road · 2026-09-11
- Food & tea on the way
- Nothing listed inside; the free Huanhuaxi Park outside the north gate has lakeside tea tables · 2026-09-11
- Don't get this wrong
- Not Huanhuaxi Park, the free park outside the north gate. And the thatched hut is rebuilt - the excavated Tang foundations beside it are the original ground · 2026-09-11
| Compare | Kuanzhai Alleys | People's Park & Heming Teahouse | Wuhou Shrine | Jinli | Du Fu Thatched Cottage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| What you see & how long | Three parallel lanes - Wide, Narrow and Well - on the site of the Qing garrison town, rebuilt 2003-08: courtyard gates, teahouses, snack counters. The brick history wall on Well Alley is the one part that explains what you are standing on. Forty minutes · 2026-09-11 | Chengdu's first park (1911) and the source of the whole 'slow Chengdu' idea: the big lakeside Heming teahouse, ear-cleaners with tuning forks, the weekend marriage market, and the 1913 monument to the 1911 railway movement. Sit for two hours · 2026-09-12 | The Three Kingdoms in a walled garden: the only shrine where emperor Liu Bei and his chancellor Zhuge Liang are worshipped together, beside Liu Bei's tomb, rebuilt in 1672 - painted statues, a Tang stele of 809, the famous red wall. Two hours with the audio guide · 2026-04-24 | The museum's own folk street along its east wall, opened October 2004: 550 m of late-Qing-style shopfronts, lanterns, snack counters and a tea-stage with face-changing. Forty minutes and the lanterns · 2026-09-11 | The memorial garden where Du Fu lived in 759-765 and wrote about 240 poems: Ming-Qing halls, bamboo, a rebuilt thatched hut, the excavated Tang foundations and the red-wall flower path, over 300 mu. Two hours · 2026-09-11 |
| Ticket | Free - an open street with no ticketing; shops charge for themselves, a few old courtyards charge at the door · 2026-09-11 | Free park, no ticketing; tea and ear-cleaning are pay-as-you-go. The orchid and bonsai gardens and the railway-movement exhibition inside are free too · 2026-09-12 | 50 yuan; half price 25; annual pass 100. Free entry for over-60s applies only to mainland, Hong Kong / Macau / Taiwan or permanent-residence cards - an ordinary foreign passport pays the full 50 · 2026-09-11 | Free - an open street; stalls and the small stages charge for themselves · 2026-09-11 | 50 yuan; 25 for 7-18s and students; annual pass 100. Foreign-language guide 60 yuan a person, QR audio in eight languages 18 yuan · 2026-09-11 |
| Hours & closed days | No gate and no hours - the lanes are public; the shops behind the doors mostly keep 10:00-22:00 by their door signs · 2026-09-11 | The park publishes no opening hours - reckon on about 6:30-22:00 from its lighting times. The orchid / bonsai gardens and the exhibition close on Mondays · 2026-09-12 | 9:00-18:00, last entry 17:00; 1 May-7 October 2026 extended to 8:30-18:30. Open all year; parts close for works or exhibition changes · 2026-04-24 | The street publishes no hours; crowded from 10:30, lanterns until the stalls close, about 22:00 by the door signs · 2026-09-11 | 9:00-18:00, tickets until 17:00; May Day, summer and National Day extended to 8:30-18:30. Open all year · 2026-09-11 |
| Booking & passport | None. On big holidays the lane entrances run one-way crowd control · 2026-02-18 | None · 2026-09-12 | Real-name, up to 14 days ahead, only on the museum's website or its WeChat official account - no third party is authorised. The ticketing page says foreign visitors book with a passport; one ticket per document per day, up to 8 per account · 2026-04-24 | None; stalls take QR payments and mostly cash · 2026-09-11 | Real-name up to 14 days ahead on the museum's WeChat service account; entry is by Chinese ID card at the gate - without one, exchange the booking for a paper voucher at the ticket window, which also sells tickets · 2026-09-11 |
| Getting there | Metro Line 4 Kuanzhai Xiangzi station, east exit on Changshun Street; from People's Park (Line 2) about 15 minutes on foot · 2026-09-11 | Metro Lines 2 and 17 People's Park station exit A, at the east gate; main gate 9 Citang Street; Kuanzhai Alleys about 15 minutes north-west on foot · 2026-09-12 | 231 Wuhouci Street: Metro Line 10 Wuhouci (Jinli) station exit A2, 3 minutes; or Line 3 / 5 Gaoshengqiao exit A, 10 minutes · 2026-09-11 | Outside the Wuhou Shrine's east wall: Metro Line 10 Wuhouci (Jinli) exit A2. North entrance by the shrine's main gate, south entrance on Wuhouci Hengjie · 2026-09-11 | North gate 37 Qinghua Road: Metro Line 4 Caotang Beilu, then walk, or Line 5 Qingyanggong; main (south) gate 28 Caotang Road · 2026-09-11 |
| Food & tea on the way | The old-name snacks (Zhong dumplings, Long wontons) have counters here at tourist prices; five minutes west, Xiaotong Lane and Kuixinglou Street serve the same at local prices · 2026-09-11 | Heming is the lakeside teahouse with the two-character sign and the price board at the door: platforms put a bowl at 16-35 yuan, with a minimum per head after 18:00; ear-cleaning about 30 yuan - agree first · 2023-08-22 | Nothing to eat inside - the museum's own advice is shrine first, then Jinli to eat: 'worship the Marquis, soak in Jinli' · 2026-09-11 | The museum's list of intangible-heritage snacks: sanda pao (glutinous rice balls thrown on a board), fried sugar dough, sugar painting - 15-25 yuan a portion here, half that on an ordinary street · 2026-09-11 | Nothing listed inside; the free Huanhuaxi Park outside the north gate has lakeside tea tables · 2026-09-11 |
| Don't get this wrong | Not 'old Chengdu' - nearly everything is from 2008. And agree a price before anyone touches your ears: ear-cleaning and face-changing tables here sell at tourist rates · 2026-09-11 | Several teahouses share the park at prices up to half apart - find Heming. Before 9:00 the tables belong to regulars; by 10:00 on a sunny day it is full of visitors. The marriage-market CVs are real families' business - do not photograph faces · 2023-08-22 | The ticket covers only the shrine and tomb inside the walls; Jinli outside the east wall is free. Tickets sold on other platforms get no after-sales service, and 'guide tickets' sold online are not the museum's · 2026-04-24 | Not the Wuhou Shrine - the paid shrine and tomb are behind the wall. The red-wall bamboo path everyone posts is inside the shrine, not in Jinli · 2026-09-11 | Not Huanhuaxi Park, the free park outside the north gate. And the thatched hut is rebuilt - the excavated Tang foundations beside it are the original ground · 2026-09-11 |
Wenshu Monastery：A working Buddhist monastery in the north of the old city: free, no booking, 8:00-17:00, Metro Line 1 Wenshuyuan exit K; its garden teahouse and vegetarian canteen turn a look into a half-day. Do not bring your own incense - the monastery hands it out free Another free half-day, on Line 1.
Wenshufang：The rebuilt lanes wrapped around Wenshu Monastery (draft entry): come for Zhang Laoer's sweet noodles and the palace-style pastry boxes, and finish before the counters close around 18:00 - monastery first, since its halls shut at 17:00 Pair it with the monastery.
Qingyang Palace：The city's oldest and largest Taoist temple, still in use: 10 yuan at the gate window and about 8:00-17:00 - both platform figures (draft entry). Metro Line 5 Qingyanggong exit D; about 20 minutes south-west of the Kuanzhai Alleys on foot Forty minutes of halls.
Huanhuaxi Park：The free park outside Du Fu's north gate - 444 mu, a lake, a poetry avenue and the stream from the poems - with the Sichuan Museum in its north-east corner, all within 500 m of Line 4 Caotang Beilu. Platforms give 6:00-22:00 The free walk after the cottage.
One by one
Kuanzhai Alleys
宽窄巷子The city's busiest free sight and its least original: three lanes rebuilt in 2003-08 on the Qing garrison town's plan, with 183,000 people on one day of the 2026 Spring Festival. Give it forty minutes early on a weekday - before 10:00 or after 21:00 - read the brick history wall on Well Alley, then spend your money one street west in Xiaotong Lane, where the same snacks cost half as much. People's Park is 15 minutes' walk. For a first look, early in the day.
Open the place →People's Park & Heming Teahouse
人民公园 · 鹤鸣茶社Where the slow-Chengdu cliché comes from, and where it is still true. Order a bowl of jasmine tea by the board at Heming, let the attendant keep topping up the water, and sit for two hours; the park is free and the metro is at the gate. The tea house is priced for visitors and the ear-cleaners quote foreign faces high, so pay by the board and agree prices first - and come on a weekday morning, before the tables fill. For anyone who wants to sit, not sightsee.
Open the place →Wuhou Shrine
武侯祠If you know one Chinese story, it is this one, and this is where its two heroes are worshipped side by side next to the emperor's tomb. Treat it as a timed museum, not a park: 50 yuan, real-name, booked up to 14 days ahead on the museum's own website or WeChat - its ticketing page explicitly accepts a passport - and one ticket per document per person, children included. Rent the audio guide if you do not know the story, allow two hours, and leave by the red-wall bamboo path into Jinli. For the Three Kingdoms, with a booking made ahead.
Open the place →Jinli
锦里The snack street that comes with the shrine: 550 m built by the museum in 2004, free, and the quickest way in town to try ten Sichuan snacks in an hour - at tourist prices, and shoulder to shoulder from mid-morning. Come straight from the shrine, or after 20:30 when the crowd thins and the lanterns are the point; the south exit onto Wuhouci Hengjie puts you in the Tibetan quarter within 200 m. For snacks straight after the shrine.
Open the place →Du Fu Thatched Cottage
杜甫草堂The other ticketed half-day, and the one that depends on you: without the poems it is a lovely Ming-Qing garden with a rebuilt hut and a 50 yuan ticket; with three poems read on the way, it is the reason you came. Book on the museum's WeChat service account up to 14 days ahead - the gates read Chinese ID cards, so with a passport go to the ticket window for a paper voucher, or simply buy there - and take the foreign-language audio or guide. For anyone who will read three poems first.
Open the place →