4 Days in Chongqing: Hotpot, Hongyadong & Dazu Carvings
Lit-up cliffside towers, a monorail through an apartment block, UNESCO Buddhist carvings and plenty of hotpot: four days in China's hilly river city.
Lit-up cliffside towers, a monorail through an apartment block, UNESCO Buddhist carvings and plenty of hotpot: four days in China's hilly river city.
Chongqing Jiangbei International Airport (CKG) uses Terminal 3 for most international flights, with some domestic airlines at Terminal 2, so check which one yours uses. Metro Line 10 is the usual way in: change at Hongtudi to Line 6 and ride to Xiaoshizi in the Yuzhong center. Line 3 also serves the airport but is slower and crowded at rush hour, and the K01 airport bus to Jiefangbei and Didi are the other options.
🚇 ~50-60 min on Line 10 and Line 6 💵 ~¥5-10 by metro (about $1) 🕐 Plan around your flight's landing time, check the last trainJiefangbei is Chongqing's central pedestrian and shopping district, built around the People's Liberation Monument and ringed by high-rises. After checking in, walk the streets around it and notice how steeply the old peninsula drops toward the two rivers. Chongqing is built on hills, so even short routes involve stairs, and it is worth getting used to them on a light first day.
🚶 Walkable from central Yuzhong hotels 💵 Free to wander 🕐 Late afternoon, before heading to the riverHongyadong is an 11-story stilted complex built into the cliff above the Jialing River, about 1 km from Jiefangbei. Entry is free, and the lights come on between about 6:00 and 8:00 PM depending on the season (check current times). Go in at the top entrance on Cangbai Road and walk down, or photograph it from the pedestrian walkway of Qiansimen Bridge, because the inside is packed at peak hours. Then order a first hotpot as a yuanyang (split) pot with one spicy side and one mild side, and ask for a sesame oil and garlic dipping bowl, since even the "wei la" (mildly spicy) setting is hot.
🚶 ~15 min walk from Jiefangbei, hotpot restaurants nearby 💵 Free entry, ~¥100-160 per person for hotpot (about $14-23) 🕐 Arrive before the lights come on, weekends and holidays may need a free reservationCiqikou is an old porcelain port on the Jialing River in Shapingba, with stone lanes, teahouses and snack stalls climbing a hill to Baolun Temple. The main street is packed by late morning and on weekends, so arrive early and then drift into the quieter side lanes. Try mahua (fried dough twists) and spicy peanuts as you go.
🚇 Line 1 to Ciqikou, Exit 1 (~35-55 min from Yuzhong) 💵 Town is free, ~¥4-5 by metro, small fee at Baolun Temple 🕐 Arrive by about 9:00 AM, allow 2-3 hoursAt Liziba on metro Line 2, the monorail runs through the sixth to eighth floors of a 19-story apartment building. Use the free viewing platform across the road, wait for a train (they come every few minutes), and bring a hat, since there is no shade. The station is being rebuilt in stages, so exits may change (check current). Then change at Jiaochangkou to Line 1 for Chaotianmen, where the Yangtze and Jialing rivers meet and the muddier Yangtze often runs beside the clearer Jialing.
🚇 Line 2 to Liziba (~15 min from Jiaochangkou), then Line 1 to Chaotianmen 💵 Free viewing, ~¥2-4 per metro ride 🕐 Early afternoon, ~30 min at Liziba and ~1 hour at ChaotianmenThe Yangtze River Cableway crosses the river in about five minutes, with views of the Yuzhong skyline and Dongshuimen Bridge. Buy a ticket in advance through the operator's official channels or at the visitor center with your passport, and expect to take a queue number on the day, with waits of an hour or more on weekend evenings. A one-way ticket is enough, because you can return from the south bank by metro or Didi. If the queue is too long, a Liangjiang river cruise or ferry gives similar night views (check current schedules).
🚇 North station is at Xiaoshizi, one stop from Chaotianmen on Line 1 💵 ~¥30 one way (about $4), check current price 🕐 After dark, weekdays are quieter (open about 8:00 AM to 10:00 PM)The Dazu Rock Carvings have been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1999. Take a high-speed train from Chongqing West to Dazu South (about 30 to 35 minutes, booked on the 12306 app, and only a handful of trains run each day), then a taxi or Didi to Baodingshan, about an hour away. Check in at the visitor center first. The 12th and 13th century carvings fill a U-shaped valley and include the Wheel of Reincarnation, the Thousand-Hand Guanyin and a reclining Buddha about 31 m long. A hired driver for the day is the simplest option for a small group.
🚄 ~30-35 min by train, ~1 hr by taxi 💵 ~¥115 ticket in peak season (about $16), ~¥40 train, ~¥80-110 taxi 🕐 Reach Dazu South by about 9:00 AM, bring your passport (tickets are real-name)Beishan's carvings date mostly from the late 9th to the 12th century and run along a cliff face about 300 m long. They are smaller and finer than the ones at Baodingshan, and Niche 136 is widely regarded as the best single carving at Dazu. A combined ticket for both sites costs less than two separate ones (check current), and last ticket sales are around 4:00 PM, so have lunch in Dazu town between the two.
🚕 ~20 min by taxi from Baodingshan 💵 ~¥70 in peak season (about $10), combined ticket is cheaper 🕐 Afternoon, allow 1-1.5 hoursTake a taxi to Dazu South and a train back to Chongqing West (check the last trains before you set off), or ride back with your driver. Xiaomian, "small noodles", is the everyday Chongqing noodle bowl in a chili-oil sauce, eaten mostly at breakfast but served all day in noodle shops. A plain bowl is cheap, and toppings such as peas and minced pork cost more. Start with "bu la" (not spicy) or "wei la" (mildly spicy), and skip the broth, which is mostly chili oil and salt.
🚄 ~30-35 min by train, then metro to your hotel 💵 ~¥8-12 for a plain bowl (about $1-2) 🕐 Leave Dazu by about 4:30-5:00 PMThe two stand a short walk apart in Yuzhong. The Great Hall of the People is a domed auditorium: the exterior is free, going inside costs a small fee, and it can close for events (check current). The Three Gorges Museum is free and covers the Three Gorges, Chongqing's history as a river port and its wartime years as China's capital. Bring your passport as ID, expect a security queue, and note that it is closed on Mondays except public holidays.
🚇 Line 2 or 10 to Zengjiayan, Exit 3, then ~120 m to the museum 💵 Museum free, small fee for the Great Hall interior 🕐 Arrive at the 9:00 AM opening, allow 2-3 hoursThe Mountain City Trail (Shancheng Bubu Dao) is a stepped footpath of roughly 1.7 km through the old terraced streets of Yuzhong. Start at the top and walk down to Shibati, the "Eighteen Steps", a renovated old lane that once linked the upper and lower city. Expect a lot of stone stairs, so go slowly in shoes with good grip, and find the top entrance in your map app, because a taxi set to the trail's name may drop you at the bottom.
🚇 Line 1 or 2 to Jiaochangkou, then on foot, mostly downhill 💵 Free to wander 🕐 Afternoon, allow about 2 hoursIf your flight is in the evening, spend a last half hour at Chaotianmen, where Chaotianmen Bridge lights up across the Yangtze after dark. It is the Line 1 terminus, so ride back to Xiaoshizi, change to Line 6 for Hongtudi and take Line 10 to the airport, about an hour in all. A Didi takes 40 to 60 minutes. Check last-train times in your map app, since a late departure may need a Didi instead.
🚇 ~1 hr on Lines 1, 6 and 10, or 40-60 min by Didi 💵 ~¥5-10 by metro, ~¥60-100 by Didi (about $9-14) 🕐 Leave at least 3.5 hrs before an international flightJiefangbei, Hongyadong, Ciqikou's lanes, the Liziba viewing platform, Chaotianmen, the Three Gorges Museum, the Mountain City Trail and Shibati are all free to enter, so the main paid items are the cableway and Dazu. Buy the cableway one way only and ride the metro back, and buy the combined Baodingshan and Beishan ticket (check current).
A plain bowl of xiaomian is around ¥8 to ¥12, against roughly ¥100 to ¥160 per person for a mid-range hotpot, so keep hotpot to one or two dinners and eat noodles at breakfast or lunch.
Most metro rides cost ¥2 to ¥7, and a day pass (reported at ¥18, sold at staffed counters only) only pays off on days with many trips, so count your rides first.
A 10 to 15 minute climb above the station gives a view with the train, the building and the river in one frame, and far fewer people go up than stand at the street-level platform.
For the classic Hongyadong night photo, stand mid-span on the bridge's pedestrian walkway, reached from Grand Theatre station on Line 6, and get there about 30 minutes before the lights come on, since police may run a one-way flow at peak times.
Chongqing was China's wartime capital, and the shelter ruins at the Shibati complex (Exit D) are a quick, atmospheric stop on Day 4 (check current opening).
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