After having such an amazing trip to China and Hong Kong in May 2024, I already knew I needed to plan to return again. I spent some time over the Summer of 2024 thinking about where and when I might like to go – having always had a good experience with seeing cubs on my November China trips, a Winter trip was very appealing. Looking at the timing of Chinese New Year and also my field hockey schedule, I ended up with a ‘sweet spot’ of time in February. I also knew I wanted to see pandas somewhere new, so I focused on Asia so that I would be able to easily get to China as well – and in the end Singapore won^ Let’s get started with the Asia Diaries: February 2025.
I can finally tick off the list seeing all of the Panda bases in Sichuan Province, or more specifically in the Chengdu area! When I had the dream of seeing all the bases, I don’t think I intended to see them all on one trip, but that somehow managed to happen (although I’ve seen some on multiple previous trips too) – and I think it was completely worth it. When I was first looking up about seeing pandas in China, and even on more recent trips, I could never really find one resource that covered all of the bases – or even where they all were, especially somewhere that wasn’t a tour company. So hopefully this is something I can contribute to with this post summarising all 5 of the main giant panda bases in Sichuan Province that you can reach from Chengdu – covering the pros and cons of each, perhaps helping you figure out what might be the best option for what you want to see of pandas!
My first time to see the pandas at Ocean Park Hong Kong, and my first time in Hong Kong! I’m not sure why I didn’t really think about visiting before, but when I was booking this trip, getting back home directly from Chengdu was quite expensive with at least 2 stops, I looked at the different options to get home via Amsterdam/Paris, and Hong Kong came up – having never been, it was a no-brainer!
Ocean Park Hong Kong is a bit of a combination between a theme park and a zoo, they have both rides to go on, entertainment, and lots of animals to see. It’s split up into two different areas, the Waterfront and the Summit, and within each area there are different themed lands. I ended up staying at the Waterfront – to get to the Summit you can either take the cable car or the train as the two areas are separated by a mountain. I did try to go and take the train but it was closed when I wanted to go, and the queue for the cable car was over an hour, so I decided not to go. I was just particularly interested in seeing the pandas, so I didn’t go on any attractions, I stuck to seeing the pandas and most of the other animals living in the Waterfront area.
The pandas are located in the Waterfront, so easy to get to from the entrance of the park. This trip was in May 2024, at that time there were only 2 giant pandas at Ocean Park and they were staying in the Giant Panda Adventure building. The Hong Kong Jockey Club Sichuan Treasures building only had golden snub nosed monkeys in it when I visited, but now there are two brand new pandas also featuring there – the building has a lovely design with pandas all over the front, this did seem to confuse some visitors. Despite there being a staff member at the door saying ‘only monkeys, no pandas in here’, people were still leaving and asking her why they didn’t see any pandas in the building! And also on my visit, turns out Ying Ying was pregnant, so now there are two precious cubs to be seen as well – honestly what a few months Ocean Park had with their pandas^
There is of course also other panda themed things at Ocean Park – when you leave the Giant Panda Adventure area, you leave via a gift shop. They have many different panda souvenir options and I left with quite a few of them XD They had some deals on t-shirts, so I got a couple and am excited to wear them on future panda trips. I also picked up a magnet, my favourite holiday souvenir and there were plenty of soft-toys and kids games as well. I’ve seen now they have a huge range with the new pandas (both adults and cubs) so I’m excited to check these out next time. And there is of course the Club Panda Cafe, I didn’t eat here on my trip because I think at that time there didn’t look to be too many foods that looked like pandas, but now I think that’s changed with the new arrivals. Next time I’m having lunch there! And that will be soon – because I’m back in Hong Kong as this post goes live and I’ll be in Ocean Park seeing all 6 pandas tomorrow^
Onto the final part of my trip – time to visit Hong Kong for the first time! I had a great few days in Chengdu to round up my time in mainland China. When I was looking at flights, there are no options from Chengdu directly back to Europe, so I was going to need to transfer somewhere like Shanghai or Beijing – I’d already started my trip in Shanghai, and I was in Beijing back in September 2023, so I had a look around and found Hong Kong was an option. With both pandas and Disney to see, I was sold!
