Where to Stay in Chengdu, Sichuan

What is Chengdu known for?

Chengdu is known as the historic capital of Sichuan, set on a broad fertile plain. Its easygoing teahouse culture and old temples draw visitors, and the city keeps a run of famous sites: the Du Fu Thatched Cottage, where the poet lived, the Temple of Marquis Wu, and the Wenshu Monastery. The Chengdu Museum and the Sichuan Museum hold the region's antiquities.

It is the largest city of the province and its long-standing seat.

What are the main landmarks in Chengdu?

Chengdu's landmarks reach deep into its past. The Du Fu Thatched Cottage keeps the garden home of the great poet, while the Temple of Marquis Wu honours a famous statesman of the Three Kingdoms era. Among the old streets, the Wenshu Monastery and the Fugan Temple remain working Buddhist grounds.

Three collections, the Chengdu Museum, the Sichuan Museum, and the Chengdu Art Museum, gather the region's antiquities, and the Shi'erqiao Site preserves ancient timber remains beneath the modern city. The West Pearl Tower marks the skyline.

What is the history of Chengdu?

Chengdu is one of the long-settled cities of ancient China. Standing on the fertile plain of Sichuan, it grew where good farming land and sheltered ground let a city hold its place across dynasty after dynasty, so that its name and its site have stayed constant for a very long time. The Shi'erqiao Site and the Donghuamen Site show how far back the settled ground reaches.

People never left this plain. The city's past runs through its temples and gardens. The Temple of Marquis Wu honours a statesman of the Three Kingdoms era, a period Chengdu played a central part in, and the Du Fu Thatched Cottage marks where the great poet settled and wrote during his years in the region.

Buddhist life left the Wenshu Monastery and the Fugan Temple among the old streets. The collections of the Sichuan Museum and the Chengdu Museum draw those threads together, keeping the record of a plain city that has been a provincial capital and cultural centre through most of recorded Chinese history.

Where is Chengdu?

Chengdu lies at the centre of the fertile Sichuan plain, a broad lowland basin ringed by high country. The flat, well-watered ground made the plain one of the great farming regions of the interior, and the city grew as its natural hub, sheltered by the mountains that close the basin on its far edges. Rivers thread the plain.

Fed by channels running down off the surrounding heights, the level ground around Chengdu has been irrigated and farmed for a very long span, giving the city a soft, green setting well away from any coast.

What is the climate of Chengdu?

Chengdu has a mild, humid climate softened by its sheltered place on the Sichuan plain. The ring of high country around the basin holds in moisture and keeps out the harshest cold, so winters stay cool rather than bitter and the air runs damp and often overcast through much of the year. Grey skies are common here.

Because the surrounding mountains trap cloud over the plain, the city sees little strong sun, and mist and haze settle over Chengdu far more often than its inland setting alone would suggest.

How do you get to Chengdu?

Chengdu sits at the hub of the Sichuan plain, long the gateway into the western interior. Rail lines and roads converge on the capital of Sichuan from every direction, crossing the flat basin and climbing the mountains that ring it to reach the rest of the region. Most long-distance visitors arrive by air or fast train.

From either, the run into the old centre is short, leaving the temples, the teahouse lanes, and the Chengdu Museum within easy reach.