6 Days Dujiangyan Panda Tour with Mt. Siguniang Trekking

Jinli Street at night

Renmin Park

In the morning, we will firstly visit a highly distinctive Chengdu scenic spot, Jinli Ancient Street. Known as “the First Street in Shu Kingdom”, it’s one of the busiest streets in the history of Xishu. Buildings on both sides are constructed with the architectural style of traditional old town in western Sichuan during Qing Dynasty. Here you can not only experience the old Chengdu by appreciating the age-old street, but also have a taste of the authentic Chengdu flavor by trying local snacks and specialties. Besides, along the street are numerous stores selling special local products like Shu Embroidery, lacquer products, folk handicrafts, curios, or calligraphies and paintings of celebrities. If you are tired after walking, you can have a cup of coffee at the roadside and enjoy the picturesque street view.

After that, we will have a glimpse of nowaday Chengdu daily life in Renmin Park. Renmin Park is locate in the central downtown of Chengdu with a long history of over 100 years. Nowadays, it’s still a resort of Chengdu people to enjoy their leisure time especially in sunny days. Parallel of outdoor tea houses crowded with guests drinking teas and chatting with friends constitute a special scenery of the park. Sit down, order a pot of Chinese tea, make a casual chat with your friends while watching tourists boating on the lake, your exhaustion on road will be eliminated.

When you have had your lunch, we will drive to Dujiangyan to see the world architectural marvel Dujiangyan Irrigation System. During the 1 hour drive, you can have a rest on the vehicle. Dujiangyan is a great engineering paralleled to the Great Wall in the civilization history of China. It is the only oldest grand water conservancy engineering in the world so far that piloted the water without a dam. Yu Zui, Feishayan and Baoping Estuary are three projects inseparably interconnected, addressing problems of automatic bypass flow, desilting, and water inlet control of the river in a scientific way. In over two thousands years, the ancient weirs have lead surging Minjiang River into the vast Chengdu plain, creating the rich and beautiful “heavenly state”where people control the water.

Stay overnight in Dujiangyan

Dujiangyan Panda Base

Dujiangyan Panda Base in winter

In this special day, you will get a rare chance to have an intimate contact with giant pandas in Dujiangyan Panda Base as a volunteer.

In the early morning, your tour guide will pick you up from your hotel and then drive to the Dujiangyan Panda Base. In the base, you will get a uniform, gloves, and a volunteer’s card. Your guide will introduce you to the professional panda keepers who can speak simple English. Your guide will be there all the time to help you to translate and take memorable photos with the adorable pandas.

During your work, you need to clean panda enclosures. Panda keepers need to supply fresh bamboos to these national treasures three times each day. The pandas usually eat only 30% of the bamboo, wasting 70% of it. You will need to sweep out the leftovers, replace it with fresh bamboo, and clean out the feces. Besides, you also need to feed pandas, offering them panda cakes, apples, and carrots four times a day. The panda keepers will show you how to feed a panda with your own hands at close proximity.

In the noontime, you will have lunch and take a rest in the base. You will also see a special documentary (40 minutes) about how the shy pandas mate, give birth, grow up, and are returned to the wild.

In the afternoon, you will continue your work to do more cleaning and feeding, and learn to make panda’s cakes. The bamboo you supplied in the morning will have become dry by the afternoon. You should remove and replace it with fresh bamboo and then feed the pandas with some more panda cakes and apples. Having fed the pandas with panda cakes, aren’t you curious as to how they are made? It is time to make some panda cakes with your own hands. The ingredients will be prepared in advance. Get creative about the shapes of the cakes.

At about 4:00pm, your volunteer work will end and you will receive a certificate for this unforgettable day. Say goodbye to the pandas you take care of and drive back to your hotel.

Stay overnight in Dujiangyan

Qingcheng Mountain

Wolong Panda Reserve

In the morning, we will leave from hotel to climb Qingcheng Mountain. Known as “the most tranquil place”since ancient times, Mount Qingcheng was the origin of Taoism of China with thousand stairs leading to tranquility. The ancestral mountain and ancestral hall in Tianshi Path has gathered the essence of Taoist culture. In 2000, Qingcheng Mountain was identified as World Cultural Heritage and the first batch of national 5A scenic area. With mountains in four sides, the hills, brooks, valleys and temples are hidden in the lush woods. You will obtain inner peace and embrace the nature in this tranquil mountain.

Optional Activity: In the afternoon, we will drive to Siguniangshan in the boundary between Xiaojin County and Wenchuan County of Aba Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture in western Sichuan Province. It’s 139 kilometers away from Dujiangyan. On the way, we will pass Wolong County. If you are interested, we can stop for a panda holding tour in Wolong Panda Reserve in which you can hug and take a photo with lovely pandas. Different from other regular zoos, Wolong Panda Reserve provides wide natural environment for pandas so that they would never be kept in cages. While touring in the reserve, you may come across cute pandas accidentally.

Since limited in number of tourists everyday, you need to book it in advance to make sure you can join in this program. The expense for panda holding will be used as a donation to the non-profit center to continue vital research into the endangered species.

Stay overnight in Siguniangshan Scenic Area

Mt. Siguniang

Sea of flowers in Mt. Siguniang

In the morning, we’ll begin our trek in Mt. Siguniangshan. Renowned as “Oriental Alps”, Mount Siguniang shines visitors’ eyes for its steep peaks, breathtaking natural scenery, and abundant species. Mount Siguniang consists of four peaks which are said to be transformed from four fairy sisters always covered with white snow like four girls wearing white veils, namely the Eldest Sister Peak, the Second Sister Peak, the Third Sister Peak, and the Fourth Sister Peak (or Yaomei Peak).

There are three valleys in the mountain: Shuangqiao Valley, Changping Valley, and Haizi Valley. Most attractions are located along the three main valleys in the Scenic Area. Among them, Shuangqiao Valley is the only valley, where eco-buses are running through. So, we can take visit all the best of Shuangqiao Valley leisurely in one day by taking the eco-buses. Since it has splendid scenery in autumn and amazing sea of flowers, and tourists can see its different views at various locations, this valley becomes the most appealing spot in Mount Siguniang.

On the way, azure sky, sapphire-like lakes, vigorous blossoms, white snow forests and super high snow peaks as well as some vigorous wild animals will make you feel like strolling in a heavenly state. The most marvelous view of the valley is on Pearl Beach, where snow-broth flows through in spring of every year. Along the way, not only the natural attractions, but there are also Tibetan Temples or Monasteries to visit. During your day tour, Your guide will accompany you and arrange lunch and dinner for you.

Stay overnight in Siguniangshan Scenic Area

After breakfast, we will drive back to Chengdu. You’ll spend about 4 hours on the way. When you arrives, our guide will escort you to the airport for your flight to next destination or home.