Compared to Chengdu, I prefer the lively atmosphere of Dujiangyan! Here's the itinerary

After the trip to Chengdu, I allocated 2 days for Dujiangyan, and the experience was very good! If you have time, I highly recommend visiting Dujiangyan for 1-2 days. 🏨Accommodation: ✔️I stayed directly in Dujiangyan to get to Panda Valley early in the morning. It takes 1 hour from downtown Chengdu, and I wanted to enter as soon as the doors opened when there were fewer people, so I stayed at a hot spring hotel very close to the entrance of Dujiangyan scenic area. In the evening, you can enjoy the hot springs, and in the morning, it's a 10-minute taxi ride to Panda Valley. ✔️Downtown Chengdu: You can take the subway line 2 to Xipu Station, then transfer to the intercity train and get off at Lidui Park Station. 🔺2-Day Itinerary: D1: Panda Valley▶️Zhongshuge Bookstore▶️Eat at the foot of Qingcheng Mountain▶️Yangtianwo Square▶️Guanxian Ancient Town▶️Nanqiao D2: Dujiangyan Scenic Area 🔺Detailed Arrangement: 1️⃣Panda Valley: The ticket is 55 yuan, and you need to book in advance. Tickets are only sold online, and there are far fewer people than at the panda base in the city. If you're not just there to see the flowers, I suggest visiting Panda Valley, where you can easily see more than 20 pandas, which are especially cute. You can follow the keepers and watch the whole process of pandas eating bamboo shoots. Now that the weather is cool, the pandas are active both in the morning and afternoon. Whether you can see the baby pandas up close depends on your luck, but you can get very close to the adult pandas. 2️⃣Zhongshuge: It's a 10-minute taxi ride from Panda Valley to Zhongshuge, a popular bookstore located on the second floor of a shopping mall. If you're not interested, you can skip this spot, which is known for its illusionary mirror effects. 3️⃣Eat at the foot of Qingcheng Mountain: The small shop is called 'Zhang Laodao Zao Ciba', recommended by local sisters! It's a tiny shop that only accepts cash, no QR code payments. There's another shop with the same name in the city, but it's not as highly rated. This old shop next to a food stall has a sign saying: 'Eat for free while waiting in line at Zhang Laodao Zao'. They only sell three items—fermented glutinous rice with egg, fermented glutinous rice, and glutinous rice cakes. Especially the runny yolk egg and the brown sugar in the rice cakes are delicious! The Sichuan cuisine next door is also good, and when you go to Qingcheng Mountain, you must try the cured meat! 4️⃣Yangtianwo Square: To see the world's largest panda sculpture, designed by the same artist who created the Rubber Duck! It's very photogenic. Yangtianwo Square is very close to Lidui High-Speed Train Station, so you can visit it either before or after your trip, depending on your travel plans. 5️⃣Guanxian Ancient Town: It's right out of Yangtianwo Square. The town was rebuilt after an earthquake and has been accompanying Dujiangyan for a thousand years. The front part is full of food stalls, which are similar across the country. You can focus on visiting West Street, Wenmiao Street, Wenmiao Mountain Street, and the Ming Dynasty City Wall. 6️⃣Nanqiao: In the evening, it's a gathering place for crowds. You can watch the 'blue tears' at Nanqiao, which is actually an effect created by lights shining on the water surface. The lights are usually turned on around 7 pm. 7️⃣Dujiangyan: The next day, visit the Dujiangyan scenic area. The ticket is 80 yuan, and the specific route is: Qinyan Tower - Erwang Temple - Anlan Cable Bridge - Fish Mouth - Feisha Weir - Baopingkou - Nanqiao This route is all downhill and flat, easy to walk, and takes about 3 hours. Local sisters recommended snacks⬇️ 🔸Rabbit head, available in spicy and five-spice flavors, 15 yuan each, available at several shops, freshly out of the pot and very satisfying if you like spicy food. 🔹Zhang Laodao Zao Ciba, be sure to bring cash. 🔸Soy milk with MoMo, I went to Ye Popo's, a decades-old shop, with corn MoMo and cotton grass MoMo. 🔹Ye'er Ba, Cong Cong Juan, and fried potato flowers are specialties of Dujiangyan.