Six days in one province: will we run out of things to do?

No. The register changes daily: stage, panda base, wok, Taoist trail, evening temple, river Buddha and tea field. Staying in one province removes flights and leaves time to talk with people.

We cannot eat very spicy food. Is that a problem?

No. Heat adjusts across the route, the cooking menu follows your needs and the food night lets you choose stall by stall. Sichuan cooking also has gentle dishes.

Will the pandas actually be doing anything?

Mornings are their active window, so the base is the first stop. They are animals, not performers; the breeding and conservation work still carries the visit on a sleepy day.

Is the temple evening guaranteed?

The grounds and evening visit are included. Conversation and vegetarian dinner follow the temple's schedule; if the kitchen is closed to guests, dinner is booked nearby.

Sichuan, Face to Face

Overview

Most first journeys to China cross half the country in a week. This one stays inside one province and goes deeper. Three nights in Chengdu hold the opera community, the teahouse, the pandas and a wok you work yourself; two nights by Mount Emei hold craftspeople, martial arts, an evening temple and, on the last morning, a cliff-carved Buddha seen from the river. A private van links everything: no internal flights, and only two hotels in six days. The people are the itinerary: performers, cooks, a Taoist practitioner and a tea-farming family. Once you are home, you will notice your China stories all have names in them.

LyrikTrip travel designers

Your route is designed and noted before you land; a licensed English-speaking local guide is with you throughout.

Why you'll love this trip

One province, no flights. Pandas, Sichuan Opera, a cooking class, a Taoist mountain trail and a family tea farm, with an English-speaking guide throughout.

Eat where the neighborhood eats, carried in by tuk-tuk through Chengdu's evening lanes.
Walk a working food market with a chef, then cook your own Sichuan dishes and eat them.
Time your visit to the pandas' morning meal, the hours they actually move.
Follow a Taoist along the quiet side of Mount Qingcheng, forest overhead, learning how balance works.
Stand in an Emei temple courtyard after the day visitors leave, evening bells overhead.
Look up at the Leshan Giant Buddha from the water, then end at a tea family's table in the hills.

Things to do

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Itinerary

Arrivals

Chengdu · Day 1 - Day 2

Day 1 · Chengdu: arrival and the first table

No monuments today. Chengdu introduces itself the way it lives: seated, then eating.

Arrival Your guide meets you at the airport or station; a private vehicle brings you to the hotel, and the afternoon paces itself to your landing time.

Community opera theater You step into a neighborhood troupe's world: painted faces, costumes, and technique handed down inside families and companies; when the day's schedule allows, you watch the backstage preparations.

People's Park teahouse You take a bamboo chair beside local residents, a gaiwan kept topped up in front of you; around you, the park gets on with its afternoon, and your guide translates what a teahouse means to a Chengdu neighborhood.

Tuk-tuk food night From the back seat, lit stalls and open kitchens slide past until the driver pulls up at the first family-run eatery; you eat your way through the neighborhood, dish by dish, story by story. By the second stop, you'll be asking the cooks their names.

Day 2 · Chengdu: pandas, then the wok

Morning belongs to the pandas' breakfast. By evening, Sichuan's flavor is in your own hands.

Panda base, early You arrive in the morning window when pandas are most active: a few meters from the rail, bamboo cracking in black-and-white paws; your guide fills in behavior, breeding and the conservation work behind the base.

The market In the afternoon you walk a working food market with a culinary host: chili, Sichuan pepper, pickles and fermented pastes; how locals choose ingredients, and how mala, "numbing and hot," gets built.

The wok Under a local chef you cook several dishes yourself, the menu fitted to your table's needs and the season; then everyone sits down and eats the results.

Private vehicle

Dujiangyan · Day 3

Day 3 · Qingcheng and the water

A mountain that teaches slowness, then the water that feeds the plain. Today your dinners get traced to their source.

The quiet-side trail Away from the main sightseeing route, you walk forested paths on the outer mountain, temple roofs showing through the leaves, to a lesser-visited Taoist temple.

A practitioner You sit with a local Taoist practitioner: balance, breathing, movement, and how a human life fits inside a natural one; conversation, not ceremony. On the walk down, you'll notice you've stopped checking the time.

Mountain lunch A simple local meal of regional ingredients, included.

Dujiangyan You stand above the point where the Min River is made to split, flood water sent one way, irrigation the other, as it has been for more than 2,000 years without a conventional dam; the farmland this water feeds grew the chilies you cooked yesterday. Return to Chengdu after the visit.

Private vehicle

Leshan · Day 4 - Day 5

Day 4 · To Mount Emei: hands, fists, bells

The drive trades the plain for temple country. Skills while it's light, stillness after dark.

The drive The private van leaves Chengdu for the Mount Emei area; the plain thins out and the hills take over outside your window.

Craft households In a community near the mountain you sit with working craftspeople: bamboo, metal, wood or food, skills that grew out of daily needs and still earn their keep; you watch a real workshop at work, not a staged demonstration.

Emei martial arts A local practitioner introduces the Emei tradition: movement, discipline, lineage; if you want to move, a light beginner session is yours.

Evening temple You arrive as the daytime visitors thin out and walk the grounds in the half-light, evening bells overhead; when the temple's evening allows, there is a word with a member of the community and a simple vegetarian dinner. You'll lower your voice without anyone asking.

Day 5 · Mount Emei

One mountain gets your whole day. Pilgrims have climbed it for centuries; you get the shuttle.

Up the mountain Park shuttles and scheduled cable cars move you between monasteries, viewpoints and stretches of forest; your guide reads the mountain as you go: how the temples spread across it, and how pilgrims, monks and villagers have shared it for centuries.

Elevations The forest changes as you climb: old trees, mist filling the valleys below a temple terrace, roofs sunk deep in the green.

Your pace The day's route follows the season and the weather, and the walking flexes to your legs; back to the hotel when you've had enough, not when a list says so.

Private vehicle

Chengdu · Day 6

Day 6 · Leshan: the Buddha and the tea table

The biggest thing you'll see all week, then the smallest table. The journey ends on tea.

The Buddha from the river At the meeting point of three rivers you board a sightseeing boat; the cliff-carved figure rises over the deck, head to feet in one look, mountains behind it.

Tea fields Outside the city you walk the rows with a tea-farming family and follow the leaf from bush to cup: growing, processing, tasting; in harvest season, you pick.

The family's table The kettle goes back on the stove. A second cup is poured before you ask. The talk drifts from tea to the household itself, and a small tea gift from your hosts goes into your bag. Somewhere in that second cup, you'll stop feeling like a visitor: when someone asks you about China, this table is where you'll begin.

Onward A private transfer to Chengdu airport, the rail station or your next hotel, timed to your schedule with room to spare.

Departures

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Hotels

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Included / Excluded

What's Included

Private vehiclesAir-conditioned private vehicle for all listed touring and transfers, with airport and station pick-ups
Hotels5 nights in selected four-star, five-star or quality boutique stays, breakfast daily
GuidesLicensed English-speaking guide throughout
Tickets and experiencesAll listed attractions and experiences, including opera, teahouse, tuk-tuk food night, cooking class, Qingcheng and Dujiangyan, Emei community visits, park transport, Leshan boat and tea family visit
Meals listedDaily hotel breakfast, day 1 neighborhood dinner, day 2 cooking-class meal and day 3 lunch near Qingcheng
AlsoBottled water on touring days and travel accident insurance

Not Included

FlightsInternational and domestic flights to and from Chengdu
MealsBeyond the listed meals, lunches and dinners remain flexible and on your account
PersonalVisas, gratuities, single supplement, personal spending and optional activities
OtherExtra costs caused by severe weather, transport disruption or closures beyond reasonable control

Special Notes

A few things on this route follow real schedules: a troupe's, a temple's and the tea plant's. Here they are, with what you get either way.

Opera backstage — Backstage access follows the troupe's working day; when preparations are closed, you still meet members and see costumes and makeup.
Craft visit — The receiving workshop is set on the day; the constant is working craftspeople, never a staged show.
Temple evening — Conversation and vegetarian dinner follow the temple evening; if the kitchen is not receiving guests, dinner is booked nearby and the courtyard visit goes ahead.
Mount Emei route — Temples and sections are chosen by season and weather; cable cars run to the operator's schedule.
Tea picking — Hands-on picking runs in the main harvest season; other months center on processing and tasting with the family.
Pandas — The early start targets active hours; the animals set their own pace, while the conservation story carries the morning.
Hotels — Named in your written confirmation; or similar means the same class and comparable location.

Is Six Days Your Length?

Tell us your dates and who is coming: we will shape it around you.

Have about a week?

This is the full shape: three city nights, two mountain nights, one province, no internal flights.

Fewer days?

The Chengdu days and mountain days can each stand on their own.

Want the rest of China too?

This six-day block joins longer journeys; tell us your full window and we place it in the arc.

Good to Know

Group: Private; from 1 guest: no minimum
Arrival: Day 1 flexes to your landing time; later arrivals shift the visits within the six days
Language: English-speaking guide throughout
Shopping Policy: No shopping stops or commission detours on the route; your time is dedicated solely to the places listed here.
Tailoring: Fully flexible. Days, stops, and pace can be added, removed, or swapped. We'll reshape the plan together before you confirm and pay.
Payment: A 10% deposit, minimum $399, locks your dates and resources; the balance is due 14 days before departure
Flexibility: Walking distances adapt to your pace; schedule-dependent items and their alternatives are listed in Special Notes
Season: Spring and autumn are comfortable; spring overlaps the main tea harvest, summer runs green and hot, winter quiet
Ports: Chengdu In · Chengdu Out
Gateway markets: Lead country marker: FR. Gateway markets from inventory: WEU, SEU, UK, ANZ. Some source markets may need a connection.

Your Private Concierge

Jason Hu

Private China Route Concierge

“A bilingual planning desk for tailor-made China journeys.”

Our China team tunes pacing, hotels and local hosts around each route style.

20+

Years

300+

Trips Designed

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On-Trip Care

Step 01

Tell us what excites you

Not your dates and budget — your curiosity. Where have you always wanted to go? What do you want to feel? We start there.

24h

First concept delivered

Step 02

We design it around you

Your specialist builds the itinerary from scratch — routes, hosts, hotels, and experiences you won't find anywhere else.

100%

Bespoke, never off-the-shelf

Step 03

Lock it in with 10%

When the plan feels right, a 10% deposit holds your entire trip. Balance due 30 days before departure.

10%

Deposit to secure everything

Step 04

Travel. We handle the rest.

Your Trip Pack arrives before you fly. On the road, your concierge is one message away — for the expected and everything you didn't plan for.

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Support throughout your journey

Free cancellation up to 30 days

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Sichuan, Face to Face

Overview

Why you'll love this trip