One Day Chengdu Food Tour

This is a one day tour including the Dujiangyan Irrigation Project and the Chuancais Museum (Sichuan Cuisine Museum) for independent travelers.

There are direct buses for Dujiangyan Irrigation Project. One is from the Wuhou Temple South Suburb Park parking lot, departing at 10:30 and 12:30 every day and the other is from the head of the narrow alley of Changshunshang Street no. 127, departing at 10:30 every day. It's the easiest way which takes CNY29 and around one and a half hour. However, if you miss it, the intercity trains are also available from Xipu railway station in Chengdu to Dujiangyan. You can take subway line 2 or 6 or bus (116, 119, 231, 708, 710, 720, 723, G174 and etc.) to Xipu railway station first. Upon arrival, take the train to Dujiangyan City, which takes CNY10 for the soft seat and less than half an hour on the way. There are around 30 trains every day from 07:36 to 23:07 and you're suggested to take the one leaving at 07:50. If you travel during Chinese holidays, you’d better book the train tickets online in advance. Upon arrival in Dujiangyan, you can take bus no. 4, 9, or 32 to Liduigongyuan station to reach Dujiangyan scenic area, which takes CNY2 and around 50 minutes.

Dujiangyan Irrigation Project, built over 2,200 years ago, is still in use today. It is one of the earliest no-dam irrigation and anti-flood systems in the world and you will be definitely in awe by the wisdom of ancient Chinese people when seeing this amazing engineering feat. It opens from 08:00 to 17:00 and the entrance ticket is CNY80. You may rent a headset at a fee of CNY20 to learn more. Generally, two hours are enough to tour around.

After that, continue to the Sichuan Cuisine Museum. You can take bus no. 7 or 10 first to Dujiangyan Bus Station, from where you can transit to the regular buses to Pixian Country, where the Sichuan Cuisine Museum is located. The bus is available hourly from 08:00 to 16:40, taking CNY9.5 and around 1 hour. Upon arrival, you can take bus no. P23 to Gucheng bus station, which is only 256 meters far from the Museum. If you want to be faster, you can consider taking a taxi after arriving Pixian, which takes about 25 minutes with a cost of around CNY35.

The Sichuan Cuisine Museum was built in local traditional architectural style with a beautiful outdoor garden. You can spend the whole afternoon here. It is fascinating to tour around this museum, not only because its great collections of cultural relics, which shows the cooking stories of Sichuan people, cooking utensils, liquors, table wares and tea sets, etc. but also for its interactive activities with travelers, which means the cooking class. In the class, you will watch the real chef cooking Sichuan dishes and learn to cook some classical ones, such as Kung Pao chicken, Mapo Tofu and panda dumplings. It will be a quite delightful experience to cook behind the hot woks in chef uniform, enjoy the food of your own creation and finally get the cooking certificate "Rookie Master Chef" by the master chef. In addition, you will also see how spicy bean paste is made and fermented as there are more than 200 pots of chili bean paste displayed in the outdoor. During the tour, you will also has some yummy stops along the way to taste various kinds of snack, noodles, steamed buns, dumplings and soup.

The admission fee of the Sichuan Cuisine Museum is CNY360 including the cooking class and English speaking tour guide. The reservation should be made at least one day beforehand. You can call the museum for reservation at 028-87918008. The opening hour is 09:00 - 18:00.