6 Days Classic Chongqing Wulong & Jiuzhaigou Nature Exploration Tour

Day 1 Chongqing Arrival

Chongqing Airport or Train Station Pick-up

Welcome to Chongqing, the Mountain City of China! Upon your arrival, our local tour guide will meet you with a sign which says your name at the arrival hall at the airport or train station. Then, our guide and driver will transfer you directly to your hotel in Chongqing downtown by our comfortable private car (non-smoking), and the guide will help you check in. The rest of today is on your own to explore this magical "Mountain City" in China.

Arrival Ideas: Chongqing Jiangbei Airport, about 20 kilometers from the city downtown, serves flights between major domestic cities, including Beijing, Shanghai, Xian, Huangshan, Guangzhou, Guiyang, Kunming, Lhasa, etc., and some international cities like New York, Singapore, London, Sydney, etc. Besides, you can also take a normal train to the 4 railway stations in Chongqing from many destinations, like Chengdu (1-2 hours), Xian (5.5 hours around), Guiyang (2 hours around), Guilin (4-5 hours), Shanghai (11.5 hours around), Beijing (12 hours around), Guangzhou (7.5 hours around), and so on.

Chongqing Nightlife | Places to Visit & Travel Inspirations: 1. Nanbin Road: Take an evening walk along Nanbin Road to see Chongqing's cityscape lit up. This scenic route offers great views of the river and the city's vibrant nightlife. 2. Night Cruise: Experience Chongqing's beauty from the water on a night cruise. Sail past famous landmarks, enjoy live performances, and soak in the city's sparkling nightscape.

• Chongqing Night Cruise
• Nanbin Road, Chongqing Night

Day 2 Chongqing City Tour & Drive to Wulong (B)

Three Gorges Museum - People‘s Assembly Hall - Liziba Metro Station - E’ling Park - Drive to Wulong

After breakfast, your local guide and driver will meet you at your hotel. On this day, you’ll have the chance to fully experience the uniqueness of the Mountain City and the culture of the Yangtze River. First, be escorted to the Three Gorges Museum in the city downtown. The vast collection of more than 280 thousand pieces of precious historical relics will let you have an amazing understanding of the great Yangtze River and the formation of the magnificent Three Gorges, and tell you the gradual thriving of Chongqing from 3,000 years ago, to its war defense in 20s century, and developmental path to be one of the 4 prosperous municipalities in China. Stepping out from the museum, have a nice look at the People’s Assembly Hall that is popular with fancy classical exterior design and was listed into the History of Architecture compiled in London in 1987.

Later, be transferred to take Chongqing Rail Transit Line 2 from Huanghuayuan Metro Station to Liziba Metro Station to look at the city’s prototype from a different angle. Then, get off to have the never-seen magic of the train going through an 11-storey block of flats, existing only in the fantastically structured Chongqing built against mountains. After that, travel up to E’ling Park and embrace the impressive panorama of Chongqing City, which has been highly praised as “Little Hong Kong” with its well-arranged row upon row of modern skyscrapers and two winding rivers surrounding.

After the tour, be transferred to your hotel in Xiannv Town, Wulong (about 3 hours). Have a nice sleep!

• Beautiful Appearance of People's Assembly Hall
• Chongqing Light Rail Going Through a Building at Liziba Metro Station
• Chongqing City Panorama from E'ling Park

Day 3 Wulong Karst Geology Park & Back to Chongqing (B)

Three Natural Bridges - Longshuixia Gap - Drive to Chongqing - Hongya Cave

Today, you will explore Wulong Karst National Geological Park. Wulong Karst is well known for its giant dolines (sinkholes), natural bridges and caves, which were inscribed as a part of South China Karst UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2007. Besides, it is the shooting location of the globally famous movie “Transformers IV”.

After arrival at Wulong Tourist Center, hop on a sightseeing bus to the largest natural bridge cluster in Asia - Three Natural Bridges , where you can appreciate exceptionally high natural bridges with long stretches of deep unroofed caves. Take the sightseeing elevator down to the valley bottom to marvel at the magnificent Karst Mountains, miraculous caves, and beautiful waterfalls. Enjoy your hiking by passing Tianlong Bridge, Tianfu Post House (shooting location of Zhang Yimou’s movie “The City of Golden Armor”), Qinglong Bridge and Heilong Bridge.

Then, take a sightseeing bus to Longshuixia Gap, a gap-style gorge and the important part of Wulong Karst. In this natural oxygen bar, enjoy 2 kilometers of fun walking by One Line Sky, Dragon Pool Minoring the Moon, etc. and witness the cliffs on both sides, verdant original forests in the valley and mysterious waterfalls.

After the visit, your guide and driver will escort you back to Chongqing city. Then, go down to Hongya Cave to catch the symbolic view of Chongqing. The featured Ba & Shu regional wooden structures are tiered up to 11 floors on a hillside, creating a stunning sight with neon lights at night. Enjoy your leisure walk there and take some beautiful photos!

After the tour, be transferred to your hotel. Have a nice sleep! (You can decide whether to enjoy dinner and nightview at Hongya Cave or be escorted directly to your hotel. Please discuss with your tour guide.)

• Wilson from Singapore visited Wulong Longshuixia Gap in September 2023.
• Josh's Family from USA visited Wulong Three Natural Bridges in July 2024.
• Hongya Cave Night View

Day 4 Flight to Jiuzhaigou from Chongqing (B)

Huanglong National Park - Drive to Jiuzhaigou

This morning you will be driven to Chongqing Jiangbei Airport to catch the flight to Jiuzhai Huanglong Airport (about 1.5 hours). Upon arrival, you will be greeted by our local tour guide and driver who will then transfer you to Huanglong National Park directly (about 28 km/less than 1 hr). (Note: since the flight schedules from Chongqing to Jiuzhaigou are not available all the time, especially during the off-season period, the itinerary may make a stop in Chengdu and then arrive in Jiuzhaigou by high speed trains.)

Situated in the Minshan Mountains in northwestern Sichuan Province, Huanglong Valley (Huanglong National Park) has one of three most outstanding travertine lake terraces in the world, which is 3.6 kilometers long, and lies under the grandiose peak of Xuebao Peak (Snow Treasure Mountain: 5,588 meters) like a yellow dragon. This is how the valley gained the name of Huanglong (Yellow Dragon). The travertine scenery was created by geological evolution for thousands of years, including glacial revolution, terrane movement, chemical reaction, climate changing, etc. At the top (3556 m) of the valley lies the best highlight - Five-Color Ponds consisting of 693 ponds of different sizes, shapes, colors, dazzling like beautiful emeralds. Huanglong Valley is also renowned for superlative sceneries of snow mountains, glaciers, waterfalls, wild forests, etc. as well as an important habitant of Giant Pandas and Snub-nosed monkeys. All these magnificences of nature helped Huanglong gain the title of World Natural Heritage Site in 1992.

It usually takes about 6 hours to hike from the entrance to Five-Color Ponds, then return to the entrance. To save energy and time, you will take a quick cable car directly to the top, and then walk down the valley to enjoy the scenery. After about 3-hour sightseeing in the valley, you will leave the park and be driven about 2 hours to Jiuzhaigou to check in your hotel.

Useful tips: 1) some attractions in Huanglong valleys are located over 3500 meters above the sea level, which may cause high altitude sickness for some travelers. You’d better walk at a slower pace. If you feel hard to breathe or headache, you can go to the Oxygen Bars to rest and take oxygen; 2) there is no restaurant in the valley, you can bring some food or snacks, or have lunch before entering the park.

• Five-color Pool in Huanglong National Park
• Plank roads in Huanglong National Park

Day 5 Jiuzhaigou Valley (B)

Zechawa Valley, Rize Valley, Shuzheng Valley

After breakfast at your hotel, set out for the full-day exploration of Jiuzhaigou National Park. Your guide will accompany you to hop on a sightseeing bus to enter the park to explore the fairyland landscape of Jiuzhaigou.

Having been hidden as a mysterious home to nine Tibetan villages and never been bothered by outsider until the first discovery in the middle 20th century, Jiuzhaigou is a reserve of superb and diverse natural beauty of which the waterfall and plateau lakes are praised as the most stunning waterscape in the world. According to official records, there are up to 114 turquoise pools and lakes, 47 tranquil springs, 17 groups of waterfalls, 11 rapids and 5 beautiful tufa shoals scattering in the three main valleys of Jiuzhaigou, Rize Valley, Zechawa Valley and Shuzheng Valley. They present various color patterns of white, blue, green, turquoise and emerald in different seasons. The visual feast of Jiuzhaigou also expands from waterscape to spectacular jagged alpine mountains, wild forests with multi-colors and many other remarkable natural features.

Visiting Jiuzhaigou Valley is relaxing and enjoyable. There are sightseeing buses running from the entrance to the three valleys with stops near the scenic spots. Travelers hop off the bus, walk along wooden plank roads to enjoy the sights, then hop on another bus to next attractions. Our tour guide will organize your visit route according to your time, energy and crowd level, and accompany you to explore the essence of Jiuzhaigou at a comfortable pace. The classic visit route is to take tourist bus from the entrance to Nuorilang Water Fall first, then transfer to Zechawa Valley to visit the Long Lake and Five-Color Pond, then move to Rize Valley to visit the Panda Lake, Five Flowers Lake, Pearl Shoal, Mirror Lake, etc. Lastly, get back to Nuorilang, and descend along Shuzheng Valley to the park entrance and visit Rhinoceros Lake, Tiger Lakes, Shuzheng Waterfall, Sparkling Lake, etc. on route.

After Jiuzhaigou sightseeing, your tour guide and driver will escort you back to your hotel.

Useful tips: 1) try to have breakfast and enter the park earlier to escape the crowds of tourist groups; 2) wear comfortable walking shoes and seasonal cloths based on your travel month; 3) Buffet lunch is provided in Nuorilang Restaurant (the only restaurant in the valley) but food options are limited. You can also bring some snacks or let your hotel prepare packed food for you if you like.

• Five-color Lake in Zechawa Valley
• Jiuzhaigou in autumn - world of colors
• The most beautiful waterfall - Nuorilang Waterfall in Jiuzhaigou

Day 6 Jiuzhaigou Departure (B)

Train station/airport drop off

Today is free for you until your tour guide and driver escort you to train station/airport in time for the scheduled train/flight to Chengdu or other destination.

Next destination ideas: 1) By Air: there are daily flights to Chengdu, and weekly flights (which may be subject to cancellation in low seasons) to Beijing, Hangzhou, Xi'an, Chongqing, and Shanghai. 2) By train: you can take a train to Chengdu and some other stations along Sichuan-Qinghai Railway; 3) By Land: if you want to extend your trip from Jiuzhaigou, you can travel northward to Hongyuan, Ruoergai, Langmusi, even Gansu and Qinghai Provinces.