Chengdu trip tentative planning...

[tanithryudo]

For reference, the rough list of places looking to visit on this trip...
1. 熊猫基地 - must visit for me, my parents don't care about it
2. 武侯祠 - I am interested, parents are meh
3. 杜甫草堂 - I am somewhat interested, but optional
4. 三星堆 - must visit for my dad
5. 金沙遗址 - must visit for my dad
6. 都江堰 - mom wants to visit, I am more interested in 二郎庙 (二王庙), dad will go
7. 九寨沟 - mom wants to visit, I am meh
8. 黄龙 - mom wants to visit, I am meh

So I looked around pedestrian/eatery streets found the following...
锦里古街 / Jinli pedestrian street
宽窄巷子 / Kuanzhai Alley + 奎星楼街 (right north of it)
春熙路 / Chunxi pedestrian street
安顺廊桥 / Anshun Bridge (night scene)

Plotted out a few places out on the map.




Skipped 九寨沟 since that scenic spot is too large to nail down. Also, the more scenic places are more my mom's cup of tea than mine. Not too much interested in going out that far for it, honestly...

Chengdu has 2 airports. But I ruled out the CTU airport as it doesn't have convenient flights to Shanghai whereas TFU does, so for departure on the 17th, it's probably better to just look at TFU.

For hotels, I did a search on trip advisor, based on the theory that if foreign visitors gave recent reviews for a place, it's gotta be accepting foreign guests, yeah?

* Shangri-la is rated highest and close to Anshun Bridge, but also seems to be the most expensive. Pass.
* These are next to Kuanzhai Alley by rating: Diaoyutai > Wren Culture
* These are close to Chunxi by distance: Crowne Plaza < St. Regis < Grand Hyatt < JW Marriot
* These are more of a centralized location: Canopy by Hilton


ADDENDUM:

From these, taking the top 5 by rating...
* Diaoyutai - the most expensive option of the list, also next to 成都博物馆
* JW Marriott
* St. Regis
* Crown Plaza bookings.com
* Canopy by Hilton bookings.com - also next to 成都博物馆新馆



Then looking at metro lines (not sure how accurate/current this is)

地铁1号线:　成都站　天府广场　(传18号线)　天府机场TFU
地铁2号线:　一品天下(传7号)　宽窄巷子(通惠门)　天府广场　春熙路　成都东站
地铁3号线:　熊猫基地西&南门　春熙路　武侯祠(高升桥)
地铁4号线:　文化宫(传7号)　杜甫草堂(草堂北路)　宽窄巷子
地铁7号线:　(传2号)　金沙博物馆　(传4号) 成都东站
地铁3号线 -> 传10号线: 双流机场CTU

Seems like the hubs are located around 天府广场 for travel convenience or 春熙路 for tourism convenience.

Leaning more towards Canopy Hilton... Seems like the plan could go like this:
Hotel --L2-- 春熙路 (breakfast) --L3-- 熊猫基地 --L3-- 春熙路 (dinner) --L2-- Hotel
Hotel --L2-- 宽窄巷子 (breakfast) --L2L7-- 金沙博物馆 --L7L4 -- 奎星楼街(宽窄巷子) (dinner) --L2-- Hotel
Hotel --L1L3 -- 武侯祠 (breakfast/lunch) -- taxi? -- 杜甫草堂 --L4-- 宽窄巷子 (dinner) -- Hotel


ADDENDUM2:


Found a site that offers a 1 day tour for Dujiangyan. Not sure if this is current. Also have DIY instructions on how to get to dujiangyan.
Seems tripadvisor also has something similar for DJY.

They also have a 5 day tour for Jiuzhaigou but that's too long. But another page indicates there's a sightseeing bus available, so it might be DIY-able.
- Guide on how to get there

Different package for Leshan. 1 day, 2 days + Emei

Found a 3 day package for JZG+Huanglong. But not sure how reliable this is...

E-mei

Sightseeing bus lines also has these destinations...
- 青羊宫
- 文殊院
- 东安湖
- 青城山 (separate from 都江堰)
- 峨眉山
- 安仁古镇

Comments

[cashew]

So I consulted with Dad over lunch and he had the following suggestions:

1. 宽窄巷子 being the main famous eatery street.

2. 三星堆 is apparently the representative tourist spot.

3. 武侯祠 + 杜甫草堂 are inside the city and should be easily accessible.

4. For hotels, there is also Holiday Inn, which is supposed to host foreigners, along with Marriott, Hilton, Shangri-La, those are the ones he knows of.

So you've basically found out all the stuff I managed to gather so far. Metro wise, it shouldn't be that difficult, the city is fairly modernized so it's just a matter of reading the metro maps. Dad recommends taxis because he doesn't like struggling with the transit crowd. But if the traffic is anything like the traffic here in Beijing, I'm gonna go with Metro for reliable schedules.

[tanithryudo]

Added metro notes based on the info found on baidu. Seems like 宽窄巷子 is less convenient than 春熙路 for transit hub.

Or alternatively the hotels near 天府广场 for a more centralized location and more convenience for travel to the train station / airport. (BTW can you confirm if the 成都站 north of 天府广场 is indeed the 高铁站 for Chengdu or not?)

Currently leaning towards Canopy Hilton or Crowne Plaza.

[cashew]

高铁站 is 成都东站, which is 8.35km from 天赋广场. There's a direct metro line (line 2) between the two places.

[tanithryudo]

Do you know which 高铁站 in Chengdu connects to Nanjing (or Chongqing or Wuxi)?
Trying to figure out which station I am likely to be arriving at.

[cashew]

According to the Railway's official app, the direct route from 南京 is 南京南站 to 成都东站 for high speed rail and it's an overnight train.

For 重庆 there are multiple options: 重庆北 to 成都南, 重庆西 to 成都东, 沙坪坝 to 成都东; also, there's like one train every hour — this is probably the most convenient train to take if you'll be stopping in 重庆.

无锡 doesn't have any high speed rail connecting to 成都 at all. There's only two trains (regular speed) per day connecting into 成都西站.

Honestly, if you want to go from Nanjing to Chengdu, the least painful way is probably take overnight train and sleep on the train. Unless you're really bad at sleeping on trains, in which case, flying in is better. I have no idea how reasonable flying into Chengdu then high speed rail-ing into Chongqing is on a logistical level, as I have no idea how long it'd take to get from airport to train station. If you're going to stay a few days in Chongqing regardless, tho', then high speed rail into Chengdu is very convenient.

[tanithryudo]

Nanjing to Chengdu is only overnight? My mom was trying to sell me on going by train "because of the scenery on the way". If there's no scenery, then might as well go by plane, which I hear is actually cheaper and faster...

For Chongqing, my mom was thinking about going there for 2+ days after Chengdu and I was wondering if I wanted to fit that in. It's a little tight but possible.

Hrm. Do you have any preferences for places you'd like to see in Chengdu/Chongqing?

[cashew]

Welp, I looked over the app, this time selecting a different date and new schedules are showing up. It's an 11 hour ride, but there are daytime trains. Pricing wise, the day tickets are in the 500-600RMB range. The most convenient times are a little over 1000RMB. Overnight rides are slightly under 250RMB.

Personally, I find trains more convenient because there's less security stuff to go through and train stations tend to be located inside the city rather than on the outskirts, so getting to the hotels is just a quick metro ride. Planes are faster time wise, but the logistics of going from metro area to the airport is usually a pain and a half. Also, I don't get motion sickness on trains the way I get them on planes. Plus, more leg room! But if you're traveling with a lot of suitcases, then flying is more convenient. (For domestic travel, I don't usually bother with checked luggage.)

You could probably swing by Chongqing after Chengdu easily since it's only 1 hour by high speed rail. Depends on how you schedule things and where you pick the hotels, too, of course.

As for places in Chengdu/Chongqing, I haven't been to either city, so I don't really have a preference. All of it is going to be new. I guess 宽窄巷子 would be high on the list because dad pushed for it really hard. Dad said 三星堆 would be a full day's worth to really experience the place, so if you're on a tight schedule, that might slide down the priorities a little. I guess my preference is for not rushing through the sites and take it at a leisure pace if possible.

[tanithryudo]

Hmm, if I go by train, then 成都西站 is on Line2, which makes the Crowne hotel more attractive for arrival purposes.

Though, Hilton is probably still better for departure.

BTW, how much is taxi fare these days? For example, if you get a car from center of a major city like Beijing to the outskirts/airport?

[cashew]

Beijing taxi from PEK (the closer airport) to where I am (which is more like city outskirts) is around 150RMB-ish? I think. That's basically with minimal traffic and pretty average distance, I would say. (Basically the route goes from North-East corner to North-West corner.) A lot of the fare rate depends on how shitty traffic is, especially once you get into inner city. From city center, I think it'd easily run over 200RMB.

Edit: I noticed you said you're thinking about 成都西站, are you coming out via 无锡？Because from what I have seen the other cities all arrive in 成都东站.

[tanithryudo]

Sorry, I meant 东站 is on line 2. Copy paste error.

Hm, taxi is last resort I guess.

My dad finds the Hilton price too expensive. The Crowne price range is more acceptable to him. That's the one on Chunxi Rd, which seems like it is also a hub for tour buses. If there's one that goes out to the airport, then that might be a better location than Hilton then...