Chongqing
China's cyberpunk mountain megacity — inbound visitors up 170% in 2025, now level with Beijing and Shanghai in holiday popularity.
Best time
March–May and September–November
Suggested stay
3 days
Getting there
~1–1.5 h bullet train from Chengdu. Downstream Yangtze cruises to the Three Gorges depart here.
Don't miss in Chongqing
The experiences Western travelers rate highest here.
Hongyadong
An 11-storey stilted complex glowing over the Jialing River like the bathhouse from Spirited Away.
Jiefangbei & Downtown Peninsula
The neon CBD where you realize Chongqing — not Hong Kong — is China's true cyberpunk capital.
Liziba Monorail (train through a building)
The metro line that runs straight through the middle of an apartment block — the shot every visitor films.
Ciqikou Ancient Town
A Ming-Qing porcelain port quarter of teahouses and snack alleys — try the glazed rice cakes it's named for.
Yangtze River Cableway
Cross the Yangtze in a 30-year-old aerial tram that skims straight through apartment towers.
Chongqing Hotpot
The fiercer, tallerow ancestor of Sichuan hotpot — born on the docks, best eaten at a plastic-stool sidewalk joint.
Keep exploring
More destinations at the same level of the journey.
Beijing
The capital and the single strongest draw for Western tourists — Great Wall, Forbidden City and 3,000 years of imperial history on one subway map.
Xi'an
Eastern terminus of the Silk Road and home of the Terracotta Army — the ancient capital every history-loving Westerner comes for.
Shanghai
China's gateway city and the #1 inbound destination for both American and European visitors — colonial waterfront meets Blade Runner skyline.
Guilin & Yangshuo
The karst landscape on the 20-yuan note — the scenery Westerners picture when they imagine 'China'.