Chengdu

Chengdu is Sichuan's laid-back capital and the base for two of China's great pleasures: pandas and food. The city's giant-panda research base lets you watch the animals at their most active in the early morning, while the teahouses, parks and hotpot restaurants define a famously unhurried way of life.

Spend a day with the pandas, an afternoon in the People's Park watching mahjong and tea-pouring, and your evenings chasing the city's legendary málà (numbing-hot) cuisine. Chengdu is also the gateway to the mountains and Buddhist sites of western Sichuan and to the high-altitude landscapes of Tibet and Yunnan.

Getting there: Chengdu has two airports — Shuangliu (CTU) and the newer Tianfu (TFU) — with extensive domestic links. High-speed rail connects it to Xi'an, Chongqing and Kunming, making it a natural stop on a longer overland route.

Getting around: A modern metro system covers the city cheaply. The panda base is best reached by metro plus a short taxi or the dedicated tourist bus. Didi is ubiquitous and inexpensive.

Sichuan food is the star: hotpot bubbling with chilli and Sichuan pepper, mapo tofu, dan dan noodles, kung pao chicken and countless street snacks. Even the simplest noodle shop delivers a chilli-and-numbing-spice hit. Ask for wēi là (mildly spicy) if you're easing in.

Mar–Jun and Sep–Nov

Arrive at the panda base by 8am — the pandas nap through midday. Bring your spice tolerance and tissues (some hole-in-the-wall places don't supply them). Chengdu's teahouses are an experience, not just a drink stop — order a bowl of green tea and sit for an hour.