Chengdu Travel Forum

Hey Guys,

My girl friend and i are about to embark on a backpacking tour of asia we're starting in beijing and working our way down to singapore overland, i've got a good route in mind for most of our trip but i'm stumbling at the first hurdle in china!!!! from beijing we plan to catch train to xian then on to chengdu i'm really keen to see the leshan buddah!! but from there we're keen to see shanghai and i'm finding it hard to work out a good route. time is not a question but money is, i thought of getting the train right the way through but was wondering if anyone could come up with any good ideas or at least a good place to stop off on the way! looked at wuhan but doesn't seem to be much going on. PLEASE HELP!! thanks dan.

if you are ın sichuan then i would highly recommend that you also visit the yunnan province.
it's a very interesting province wıth lot's of dıfferent ethnic groups.

How much time do you have to get from Chengdu to Shanghai? How much time do you have in China in total?
What are your sightseeing interests and preferences?

Hey Ellyse

We're thinking we'd maybe spend four weeks in china, we'd both like to see alot of chinese history and culture i like to see stuff like the leshan buddha the forbidden place and was thinking of checking out the rice terraces (dragons backbone). i'm not to keen on the more modern stuff like newer city buildings ect... any ideas? hope this helps

Shanghai is modern; think shopping and restaurants, little else. I would give it a pass or go from Xi'an to Shanghai, then on to Chengdu and possibly down through Yunnan into Laos/Thailand and on to Singapore. Enjoy!

Whoever says that Shanghai is only shopping and restaurants is really ignorant about Shanghai.
Read up on Shanghai history and you'll realise that it's quite interesting. Spend some time to walk around the French Concession and Old City areas and you'll see loads of local life and culture. Live here and you'll probably love it as much as I do.
If you're interested in historical and cultural sights in China, I love them as much as you do. Some of my favourites for history and culture in China are Shenyang, Nanjing, Beijing, Xi'an, Hangzhou, Kaifeng... I could go on for ages! Notice that Beijing and Xi'an aren't on top of the list; personally I think Shenyang and Nanjing are very worthy destinations that unfortunately are overlooked by most travellers to China looking for historical sights.

funny, I lived in Shanghai for over a year in an 'old house' in the French Concession and thought the city sucked in general. People are allowed to have opinions on this forum about destinations without some ugly little chick saying they are ignorant.

Right... so why am I not allowed to have an opinion that you're ignorant? Hmmm?

Just like you're perfectly to your happy opinion that I'm an ugly little chick, I'm sure.

Just like you're perfectly entitled to your happy opinion that I'm an ugly little chick, I'm sure. Typo in the above post.

Hi Dan,

I'm sure ther is trains from Xi'an to Chengdu, you may take a K train, the sleeper ticket is 200, soft sleeper is more expensive. from Chengdu to Leshan is lot of bus to take(see my pages of Leshan), If you have time youcan join a Leshan - Emei 2days tour in Chengdu.

But if you don't like to see more morden cities, give up Shanghai and Singapore goto Cambodia or Vietnam for more funs.

hey guys
Thanks for all your opinions lol! i think we're set on visiting shanghai and really looking forward to the whole trip! we'll definiately checkout the french concession ellyse! and i'll check out your pages of leshan yangzhigong!! i think the plan so far is to catch a sleeper from xi'an to chengdu there seems to be some really good hostels there then visit the leshan buddah and maybe the mount emei. still a lil put off by the two day sleeper to shanghai but i think it'll be worth it! we then plan to travel down to hongkong, and checkout guilin on our way thought nanning into vietnam. the whole trip takes us down through vietnam across cambodia thailand and malaysia into singapore. I'd be really happy to hear any other tips about our comments about our trip. thanks again guys dan.

Going by that route I hope you already know that you need a double-entry visa for China? Or else you'll have to get a new visa in Hong Kong.
Hmmm you might consider going to Chongqing from Chengdu and flying Spring Airlines (http://www.china-sss.com) to Shanghai, to avoid the long, long sleeper train haul.
Personally I would highly recommend that you fly to Jiuzhaigou after Xi'an and check it out... but not sure if you're keen on that.
Anyway let me know if you'd like to meet up in Shanghai. :)

Hey ellyse
Don't worry we did apply for double entry visas and they arrived today!!!! i tried to have a look at the spring airlines sight for flights from chongqing to shanghai and how much they would be, but the english translation isn't working and i can't speak or read mandarin yet lol! We may take you up on your offer when we get to shanghai as it would be great to get some advice on seeing the city and make some friends along the way!

I'm also buying Chongqing -- Shanghai plane tickets from Spring Airlines. I do read Chinese so let me know if you need help. They're definitely cheaper than normal airlines.

ok cool well if you could give me a rough idea in Yuan how much a flight from chongqing to shanghai one way would cost that would give me something else to think about instead of taking the dreaded two day sleeper train!

I saw 750 RMB the other day, but they were gone by the time I wanted to book. Now I hope the ones for about 860 RMB don't run away!

Now, Spring Airline always has 700 Yuan ticket from Chongqing to Shanghai. Chengdu - Leshan - Chongqing -Shanghai ,is a good choice to finish your tour.

Excellent guys! Thanks this has helped alot i think chengdu, leshan, chongqing then air springs to shanghai would be an good trip to!

Well, 700 RMB isn't ALWAYS possible. Once the cheaper tickets sell out the price will start going up.