The best time of day to see a panda, hour by hour
Pandas are awake for about four hours a day. Getting the timing right matters more than which base you choose.
Dujiangyan · Sichuan
Dujiangyan Panda Valley
Semi-wild hillsides, a fraction of the crowd.
Panda Valley sits in the foothills below Qingcheng Mountain, an hour from Chengdu by high-speed rail. The enclosures climb a wooded slope rather than sitting in rows, so the pandas behave more like pandas and less like exhibits.
The red pandas here are the surprise. They are not fenced away from the boardwalk in the same way, and on a quiet morning you may find one crossing the path a metre in front of you. Keep food out of sight and give them room.
What you will see
- Free-roaming red panda boardwalk
- Hillside enclosures built for wild training
- Pairs well with the 2,200-year-old irrigation system
- Quiet enough to watch one panda for half an hour
Read before you go
All guides 
What the panda keeper programme actually involves
You will not hold a panda. You will break bamboo, wash shoots, and stand closer to a feeding animal than any ticket allows.
Doing the Chengdu base properly in one morning
A route that avoids the two worst bottlenecks, and why you should take the shuttle even though it feels lazy.