The short answer
Use days one and two for the Panda Base, teahouses, Wuhou Shrine, Jinli, and Kuanzhai Alley. Add a day trip to Leshan or Qingcheng on day three, a cooking class and food crawl on day four, and a museum or garden plus departure on day five.
Days 1–2: the essentials, slowly
Start with the Panda Base at opening, then People's Park and hotpot. On day two, visit Wuhou Shrine, Jinli, and Kuanzhai Alley, with Sichuan opera in the evening. The extra days let you linger at lunch and take a nap instead of rushing. Use the metro where it is direct and DiDi for the last kilometer; traffic in the center is slow from 5 p.m. onward.
Book the panda visit for your first morning if you are rested. If jet lag is severe, swap day one and day two; the pandas are still best in the morning, but a later start is better than exhaustion. Keep the first evening simple: a neighborhood restaurant within walking distance of your hotel, an early night, and no cross-city taxi ride.
- Day 1 — pandas, teahouse, hotpot
- Day 2 — Wuhou, Jinli, Kuanzhai, opera
Day 3: choose one day trip
Leshan is the easiest day trip: about an hour by high-speed train, with the Giant Buddha as the main sight. Qingcheng Mountain is greener and more active; Dujiangyan is flatter and more historical. Sanxingdui is a strong museum option. For Qingcheng, decide between the front mountain with its cable car and the longer back-mountain hike before you buy tickets.
Do not combine two day trips. Pick one and give it a full day, including transfers. If the weather is bad, switch to Sanxingdui or stay in the city for museums and a cooking class. Book train tickets a few days ahead on weekends and holidays, and check the last return train before you leave; missing it means a long, expensive taxi or an unplanned hotel night.
Days 4–5: food and a soft landing
Spend day four on a cooking class, a market visit, and a food crawl through Yulin or Wangjiang. Try dan dan noodles, long chao shou, and a shared Sichuan dinner. This is often the most memorable day of the trip. Book the class a week ahead if you want a specific dish or a market visit, and tell the instructor about allergies or heat tolerance before the shopping starts.
On day five, keep the morning light: Du Fu Cottage or the Sichuan Museum, a final long lunch, and enough time for the airport. Tianfu Airport is far southeast; allow 60–90 minutes by metro or 50–80 minutes by car, plus check-in. Shuangliu is much closer to the center, so confirm which airport your ticket uses before you plan the final morning.
- Day 3 — Leshan, Qingcheng, Dujiangyan, or Sanxingdui
- Day 4 — cooking class and food crawl
- Day 5 — museum or garden, then departure
Where to base yourself
Stay within walking distance of a metro station in the center, around Tianfu Square, Chunxi Road, or the edges of Yulin. This puts you on Line 1, 2, or 3 and keeps taxi rides short for early panda starts and late dinners. Rooms near the main shopping districts cost more but save time; Yulin is quieter and better for food, with a 15–20 minute metro ride to the center.
Avoid hotels near Tianfu Airport unless your stay is under 12 hours. The airport is convenient for an early flight but isolating for everything else, and the transfer can erase a half-day. If you have an early departure, stay central and book a DiDi the night before, or move to an airport hotel only for the final night after dinner.
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Sources and further reading