After several days based in Dujiangyan and having an afternoon in Chengdu city centre – it was finally time to head out to the Chengdu Panda Base! I had 2 days planned to visit and I really made the most of all the time available, arriving at opening (7:30AM) and not leaving until between 5 and 6PM on both days. Having visited back in September 2023 and experienced a part of the new section of the base, I knew I needed to go in with a bit of a game-plan to see it all.
Since my last visit, buying tickets had changed a bit – before I was able to book on trip.com as a foreign tourist, meaning you could arrive and get in the queue before 7:30AM opening. This time the only way to book in advance was through the base’s WeChat app, and it would only accept a Chinese phone number, so I couldn’t book in advance and had to go to the ticket office on site (contrary to what the website says, the ticket office is open an staffed to buy tickets on the day). This didn’t open until 7:30AM, so you were at a bit of a disadvantage against visitors who could purchase in advance. It didn’t delay me too much, as there was only one person in front of me at the desk on one of the mornings, and despite the queue of guests at the gate looking long, it did move very quickly. When I’ve looked recently, you now can purchase via trip.com (and likely other vendors too) again, which is good to see and could save a little time. On my first morning, I booked my Didi to take me to the West entrance, so that I could start in the newer area to make sure I saw everything – however when I got in the car the driver was insistent that there was nothing to see at that entrance and I should want to go to the other gate. I tried to explain that I still wanted to go there, but then he called one of his friends who spoke English to really insist that I wanted the South/main gate. I gave up and just let him take me to that one! I might try doing that again on my next trip, otherwise I’ll just immediately take the tourist bus inside the park to get to the new area. The price is the same (55RMB for an adult) whether you buy in advance or on the day, and the ticket is linked to your passport/ID independent to the method as well.
This was the first time I’ve been to see the pandas in May, and quite similar to my September 2023 visit, the temperatures were a bit hot for the pandas. By around 9:30/10AM, it was around the 26 degrees celcius that is the ‘limit’ for generally seeing the pandas outside. I got pretty lucky in that some pandas were stubborn and didn’t want to go inside and some of the houses have indoor viewing, so I still got to see a lot – but it made the first few hours of the day a little stressful seeing my ‘must-see’ pandas. The newer section of the base is set up a bit better for viewing – so while I didn’t see any pandas in their very lovely looking new outdoor yards, I got to see so many in their indoor spaces. In the Panda Reception Hall area, you are outside, and viewing the pandas in their inside, while in the Panda Creek Valley the indoor viewing is also indoor for you – but with this it’s interesting to note that these houses did have different Summer/Winter viewing restrictions, so it seemed like the inside area was only open because it was Summer and in the Winter you will be viewing the pandas outside (but I’ll need another visit to confirm that).
The McDonalds on the Panda Pedestrian Street was also finally open on my visit – I had hoped they may have some sort of panda base exclusive item, maybe a burger with a panda picture stamped on top, a cute panda shaped nugget, some sort of special drink, or even a panda box for the happy meal, but there was nothing! Despite knowing nothing about marketing, I think this is a missed opportunity because panda-lovers will buy anything with a panda on it! There are plenty of food options in this area, so many cuisines are represented, so everyone can easily find something to suit them. And of course, as well as ‘real’ food, there are plenty of panda-shaped ice creams to have. I got 3 different ones on the two days of visiting. They all just taste like vanilla, but that won’t stop me buying them, they’re just too cute not to get^
The new area of the base still has some closed areas – the Panda Forest Area is set up with 5 panda houses, on my visit only 2 were open (and actually I thought these were some of the top spots in the base from my visit). The other houses do look complete, so there just may not be pandas living there yet, or perhaps they’re being used for quarantine before moving pandas around, or in May there may have still been some breeding going on, so they may have been being used for this purposes. Actually on my visit in September 2023, the map shown at that time also listed a 4th section in the new area, the Sky Meadow Area (note: all the areas have different names on that map to the names they have now; the Panda Forest was also listed with a red panda area) which was to the left of the Bamboo Tower on the below map. This area was going to consist of a restaurant, theatre and 3 panda pavillions. Where the toilets are marked on the map to the left of the Bamboo Tower that was the restaurant site, then the pandas were going to be along that winding road downwards from there. I didn’t go near this area at all, so not sure if it’s closed off or if there’s just nothing there – maybe it will all be different on my next visit.
Day 1
So with my original plan of starting in the new section out the window, I spent the taxi ride deciding what route to take around the base – that plan went out the window again when I decided to join the queue to see Hua Hua, more on that below. So I started in the original section at the No6 Villa, then did a quick look around the Sun Nursery House (not quite what it used to be). Then it was time to head up to the No1 Villa to see Yuan Meng and the Berlin Zoo-born twins, Meng Yuan and Meng Xiang. After that I planned to check out No2 Villa, then the Moon Nursery House, and then finally head on over to the new section of the base – I pretty much got all of that ticked off. But I was definitely struggling to see it all, and that was with some houses still closed/some areas without as many pandas. I wasn’t sure what transport options were available from the West gate, so I ended up hopping on the bus in the base to get back to the South entrance – and took the opportunity to visit the gift shop on my way out too.
Day 2
On the second day I started in the original section – with the aim to see Yuan Meng, Meng Yuan and Meng Xiang again first. From there I went to the new section because I needed more time earlier in the day to make sure I saw more pandas active. Plus I wore my super cute Zoo Atlanta panda shirt, so I wanted to see some of the pandas from there. I had plenty of time in the new area, and it was definitely busier on this day than the first, but I was able to get a good enough view of all the pandas that I wanted to. With more time I had a more relaxing visit in the new area on this day, then wandered back to the South entrance rather than paying for the bus.
Hua Hua 花花 + He Ye 和叶
Hua Hua 花花 (or officially, He Hua 和花) was as popular as ever on my visit – on the first day I saw the queue and thought it didn’t look too bad, so decided to join. There were signs up every so often telling you the approximate wait – the one I started at estimated a 2 hour wait from there, but it ended up being only around 1 hour, so overall it wasn’t too bad, but I can see how it’s often longer than that. The queue was very well manned by security staff and I didn’t really see anyone skipping the queue. Interestingly I didn’t see any other foreign tourists waiting in the line. I’m glad I waited on that day, because the next day I guess Hua Hua was inside because they were saying it was closed that day and there was no line or viewing. I felt bad for the group of tourists who were asking about seeing her as it could have easily been me if I hadn’t been there the day before. Anyway, the time passed pretty quickly, I did some Duolingo lessons and browsed the pictures I’d taken on my phone, so it wasn’t that bad at all.
In the end it really was just a glimpse that I got of Hua Hua and her sister He Ye 和叶 – the bottom 3 pictures do have pandas in them, I promise! They were busy playing in the trees together and a bit hidden from direct sight. It would have taken just a little patience to wait and see if they came out, but the security staff were keeping everyone on a strict viewing window and when your time was up they ushered everyone away. Completely understandable, there’s a lot of people wanting to see her so it’s only fair there’s a limit. Having visited Edinburgh Zoo countless times to see the pandas, it’s easy to add up all the visits when I didn’t even get a glimpse of a panda, so I’m quite used to the experience of potentially seeing nothing, but I’m hoping I’ll be luckier next time^
