Ultimate Chengdu Jiuzhaigou Chongqing Travel Guide 7D6N

Ultimate Chengdu Jiuzhaigou Chongqing Travel Guide 7D6N

REVIEW Chengdu - Jiuzhaigou - Mount Siguniang - Chongqing (7D6N)
⭕️ Total cost: ~23 million VND/person (comfortable dining, all-inclusive)

1. Flight tickets: From HCMC, there is a direct flight to Chengdu Tianfu International Airport Terminal 1.
   Prices range from 7.5 million to 8.5 million VND during peak season. Using Trip to book is the best option, and only Sichuan Airlines has reasonable flight times and okay prices.
   Flight duration: A little over 3 hours. Onboard, a main meal is served (rice + chicken/beef/fish) + a box containing yogurt, pastries, fruit, and a tissue. Overall, the food is quite salty and not really to my taste.
   From Tianfu Terminal 1 station, you can take Metro Line 18 to the interchange station with Line 1, then transfer to another Metro to get to your hotel.
2. Hotel
   I booked an apartment-service hotel in Chengdu; the service was okay, and the price was reasonable (~600k-700k VND/night for a double room).
   Hotel name: 漫·游高空观景酒店(春熙路天府广场店)
   Since the hotel is located near Chunxi Road, walking to IFS or Chunxi Road is very convenient.
   In Jiuzhaigou, I booked a hotel close to the scenic area (only a 10-minute drive away) and near the commercial district (with Starbucks, Chagee, KFC, etc.).
3. Itinerary:
   1️⃣ Day 1: Fly SGN - Chengdu - IFS - Kuanzhai Alley (7:50 - 12:25 local time)

• On this day, we just arrived in Chengdu in July, and it was extremely hot, so I have the following notes:
  Bring along:
• Spray sunscreen to apply continuously
• Handheld electric fan
• Electrolyte tablets/packets (because of the heavy sweating in the heat, electrolytes are needed to replenish and reduce fatigue)
• UV protection jacket (you should buy from Uniqlo or similar brands with actual UV protection functions; regular fabric jackets and hoodies are both hot and heavy)
• In the afternoon, we went to IFS to take photos with the climbing panda (only a 1.5km walk from the hotel). A tip for visiting in the summer is to go before 4:00 - 5:00 PM because after that, the sunlight will no longer shine on the panda.
• In the evening, we headed to Kuanzhai Alley (宽窄巷子) for a stroll and dinner. However, because the food didn't suit our taste, we ate very little, even though the food was diverse and dirt cheap.
• Late at night, we took a ride to Tao De Sha Guo (陶德砂锅（春熙路店）) to eat shrimp vermicelli and meat-filled dumplings. To be honest, the food here is a bit salty, but it suits the Vietnamese palate quite well! (We ordered 2 dishes + 3 drinks, and the total bill was only 80 CNY.)
  2️⃣ Day 2: Mount Siguniang (Shuangqiao Valley)
  ♦️ Our group had 6 people and decided to rent a 9-seat limousine (fits up to 8 people + 1 driver). The price was 1450 CNY for a day trip going in the morning and returning in the evening. We departed at 5:00 AM and arrived back in Chengdu at 9:00 PM. The total travel time was about 10 hours (of which only 4 hours were on the highway and 6 hours on mountain passes).
  ♦️ The entrance ticket price for Mount Siguniang is 150 CNY/person. You can buy tickets directly there without booking in advance. Inside the scenic area, you will travel by electric shuttle bus. You can refer to the following route:
• Take the internal park bus to the last stop (over 3800m) to visit first; this ride takes 40-45 minutes.
• Then cross the street to catch the bus back down through the stops in reverse order to sightsee leisurely. dak
  ♦️ Important notes:

1. For those with weak health, absolute no sleeping is allowed once the car leaves the highway, because sleeping in the vehicle increases the risk of altitude sickness and various complications. Due to the high altitude and lack of oxygen, we tend to doze off easily, so keep this in mind. If possible, buy oxygen canisters in advance at the rest stops, priced between 15 - 38 CNY/canister. Whenever you feel drowsy, just inhale continuously to wake up.
2. A tip when traveling is to take cerebral circulation supplements 15 days in advance and Diamox 3-4 days in advance. It is better to prepare thoroughly than to arrive and feel too exhausted to enjoy the trip like I did.
3. When taking the internal shuttle bus, if you reach any stop and feel unwell, get off immediately at that station. Do not try to reach the highest point, as I did the same (vomiting continuously, chest tightness, numbness in limbs, dizziness, SpO2 dropping to 85, and medical staff advised me to descend the mountain immediately for safety). At the summit, there is only one row of snack stalls (grilled skewers, instant noodles, hot soup) and a small medical station with oxygen tanks; they do not have many supplies, so if inhaling oxygen does not help, descending in altitude immediately is the only option.
4. Scenic spots generally lack much shade, so you need to bring an umbrella, a hat, and sunscreen! The UV rays in the mountains are extremely strong.
5. Since I traveled in the summer, the early morning temperature was only slightly chilly, but by noon it became hot and no longer chilly at all.
6. The travel time from the entrance to the highest point is 45-50 minutes of winding roads, so those prone to motion sickness should be prepared.
   3️⃣ Day 3: Travel to Jiuzhaigou - Eat Yak Beef

• Because we were too exhausted from the Mount Siguniang trip, the group booked a 10:00 train to Huanglongjiuzhai station (travel time 2 hours and 30 minutes).
• Upon arrival, there are 2 ways to get to Jiuzhaigou: 1 is to hire a private car, 2 is to take a bus. I bought a bus ticket to Jiuzhaigou on Trip for 115k VND/way, and the travel time took over 2 hours. You can proactively add the hotel on WeChat to see if they can arrange a pickup. If you don't have WeChat, ask the tour guide on the bus to contact them on your behalf (they are locals, so almost everyone knows each other).
  Hotel we stayed at: 九寨沟玺舍云山设计师汤池酒店
  This hotel has hot springs for soaking, priced around 1.2 million - 1.3 million VND/night. From the hotel to Jiuzhaigou takes about 10 minutes if there is no traffic jam (the distance is about 3km).
• Arriving there at past 3:00 PM, we rested and went out to the street to eat Yak hot pot and beef dishes at:
  Himalayan Music Tibetan Restaurant (large hot pot priced at 288 CNY, side dishes outside of hot pot priced at 40-70 CNY, extremely delicious and completely free of any numbing mala spice flavor). Our group of 6 only had a bill of 488 CNY and ate until we were stuffed.
• After eating, the group went to buy milk tea and strolled around the dining area (to be precise, around the restaurant area is like a dining and hotel complex with plenty of options).
  4️⃣ Day 4: Visit Jiuzhaigou (Sparkling Lake, Mirror Lake, Five Flower Lake, Panda Lake)
• In the morning, the group woke up early for breakfast and booked a car, and after a bit of back and forth, we arrived at the entrance at 8:15 AM. Truly, this area is extremely crowded with tourists. Therefore, I think if you want to take good photos, you must queue from 7:00 AM to enter Jiuzhaigou with the first batch to have any hope of getting great pictures.
• If you already bought tickets on Trip, you just need to scan your passport to enter. Once inside, board the internal shuttle bus to be transported to the Nourilang Center. From there, we can decide to take either the left or right branch.
• We stopped at Shuzhen Village to rent Tibetan costumes for photos, but this was a wrong decision. I rented costumes + makeup + photography for 250 CNY/person. This shop is located right on the main street, and they conduct business in a super deceitful manner. Initially, they said the photo shoot would take 2 hours, but my photographer only shot for 1 hour and then made me go inside and wait to copy the photos. Not to mention the photos turned out extremely ugly, and afterwards, to get all the photos, I had to pay extra money (instead of the initial deal of getting 30 photos for free). They kept dragging it out and refused to hand over the photos unless I paid extra. I had never hired a photographer before, so I didn't know this could happen and felt so resentful.
• Our group spent a lot of time taking photos at the middle branch lakes, so we didn't get on the bus to Nourilang Center until 1:00 PM. Afterwards, I told the bus attendant to go straight to Five Flower Lake (taking about 15-20 minutes).
• From Five Flower Lake, we walked up to Panda Lake (~1km).
• We took the bus back to Nourilang for lunch. Those who want to save money can buy self-heating rice in advance (15-20 CNY/box + water) to bring along and eat. I found the food in the food court quite expensive.
• Supposedly, after eating, I would visit Long Lake and the left branch, but heavy rain suddenly started pouring, so everyone boarded the buses and left. How unlucky! Well, let's save Jiuzhaigou for another occasion when we are smarter, haha.
  5️⃣ Day 5: Jiuzhaigou - Chengdu
• In the morning, we were all tired from getting caught in yesterday's rain, so we slept until 11:00 AM and checked out around 12:00 PM. Please note that you can ask the hotel to assist with a car to the bus station booked via Trip. If you are a foreigner, ask someone who is Chinese to call and confirm with the driver regarding the exact number of people and where you will be standing to wait (the driver almost forgot our group of 6).
• Ticket price: 112k VND/way (same as the outbound trip)
• Travel time: 2.5 hours
• Afterwards, they dropped us off at Huanglongjiuzhai station, and we caught the train back to Chengdu.
• In the evening, the group was tired and hungry, so we went to eat hairy crab noodles at a restaurant in the Taikoo Li area (蟹叁宝（油婆街店）). The restaurant sells better crab rice than noodles, and their kimchi is especially super delicious.
• After eating, the group strolled around the Taikoo Li area for a while before returning to the hotel to rest.
  6️⃣ Day 6: Chongqing (Guanyinqiao, Liziba Station, Shibati Ancient Town, Bomb Shelter Chongqing Hot Pot)
  Warning/Complaints: Chongqing's scenery is beautiful and its culture is interesting, but people's attitudes are unbearable. They are both as irritable as grumpy people and completely lacking in patience. By the second sentence of talking to them, they snap right back at you. Encountering situations where I didn't speak the language fluently, 60% of the time I had to rely on Google Translate, but it seemed not a single person had the patience to wait and help foreigners. This is the only city out of 10 cities in China that I will NEVER return to!
• This trip to Chongqing was a spontaneous decision by the group, and we traveled as follows:
1. Early in the morning (7:00-8:55), we took a train from Chengdu East to Chongqing North (I searched and found this station more convenient for getting to the center than the others), priced at 300k-500k VND/way. For the return trip, we took the train from (8:56-23:16) arriving back in Chengdu.
2. Upon arrival, we immediately took a ride to Guanyinqiao pedestrian street to take photos. You can take photos from the street level (to the right of the LED billboard looks better), then walk up to the pedestrian overpass to continue shooting. There are quite a few people here bargaining prices (20 CNY/photo); after shooting, you choose however many you want to pay for, and they will transfer the photos to you via Airdrops.
3. Afterwards, we took another Didi to Liziba Station to take photos of the monorail running through the building. A tip is that you can go at noon (it's sunlit overhead, so it's less crowded than in the afternoon. When I went at noon, there was only the hassle of waiting for the train, no shoving or crowding).
4. In the afternoon, we took a Didi over to Shibati Ancient Town. Due to the mountain terrain here, the old streets are also tucked away rather discreetly. The vibe here is unlike many other places and has quite a unique character. However, items and food are super expensive.
5. We wrapped up the day with a bomb shelter hot pot meal (which food vlogger Khoai Lang Thang has reviewed). Our group of 4 ordered tomato and mushroom hot pot, and a quite filling order cost 301 CNY. This restaurant is decent, as long as you don't order spicy hot pot. I am extremely allergic to China's numbing spicy flavor; smelling it too much makes me want to...
6. Afterwards, heavy rain started pouring, and fearing we might miss our train, we booked a Didi straight to Chongqing North station. Ending the day at 23:16 at Chengdu East.
   7️⃣ Day 7: Fly back to Vietnam

Source: Võ Ngọc Trâm Anh