On my fourth day in China, it was finally time to visit Ya’an Bifengxia Giant Panda Base for the very first time! Before planning this trip, I really didn’t think getting to this base was ever a possibility for me. It seemed very far away from Chengdu, it didn’t seem hugely accessible, and it seemed like it was a several hour bus journey which didn’t sound good at all! But, when Yang Guang and Tian Tian were moved here after their 12-year stay in Edinburgh I really started thinking about how to make it work. I was very happy to wear my Edinburgh Zoo panda shirt for my visit. I already posted about getting to Ya’an itself, but read on to hear my experience in getting to the base itself:

There isn’t much recent information online about getting to the base, and information online that you can access outside of China about the base is limited with maps really not available. I could figure out that I needed to get to the main tourist centre of Bifengxia, and then needed to go separately to the panda base, but how to go about that?! Not a lot of info out there. My concern was mainly knowing I was going to the right place, because finding Bifengxia/Bifeng Valley on GoogleMaps/iPhone maps was a challenge and I wasn’t seeing very clear information. Online I had seen about walking across the bridge in Ya’an from the hotel and eventually finding yellow minibuses which would take you to the tourist centre for 6RMB. But honestly that sounded a bit sketchy! Luckily, first, I ended up being with a friend to get there who had been before, and secondly, Didi saved the day as the tourist centre was easy to search on there (in English). The drive from the Holiday Inn Express Ya’an to the tourist centre cost 75RMB and took approximately 30minutes. The drive was also pretty hilly on winding roads. On the way though there were some cute panda decorations at the side of the road and on many of the buildings. We got there around 8:40AM, I’m not sure the opening time, I think either 8:30 or 9AM – it was surprisingly quiet around the main tourist centre at this time. I’m sure you could buy tickets online, but I didn’t see information easily on how to do this before arriving so we bought tickets at the desk, it cost 100RMB per person to get into the panda base (there are other sites to see up the mountain that you also access from this tourist centre). At the tourist centre there is also a panda themed restaurant (didn’t try it out I’m afraid), and nearby are many stands selling every piece of merchandise you can think of with a panda on it!

From the tourist centre, you then need to take a bus up the mountain to the base itself, this is included with your ticket. There were some signs to the bus, but basically when facing the tourist centre at the top of the stairs, head round to the right, along the road and past stalls selling food and more panda merchandise. There are very few food options inside the base so if you want anything you can either buy in town to bring, or get something here if you want more than a snack. The bus stop is a little further down the road on the right and they check your ticket before letting you join the queue. This was by far the busiest part of the day – there was a huge queue of around 60-70 people waiting for the bus and once you got near the front it was everyone for themselves and elbows out to get on! The buses were coming regularly though, took around 15 minutes on more winding roads up the mountains and overall it was 30minutes from buying our entrance tickets to arriving at the entrance of the panda base itself. I was really glad I was with someone who had been before because if I had been on my own I think it would have taken longer to figure it all out!

And now you’re at the panda base, with that famous main entrance gate, I just love it! I still can’t believe I was actually there! From here you just scan your ticket at the entrance turnstile and you’re in. As the bus was full, we sped walked down the road from the bus stop so we could get some relatively quiet pictures at the gate and get on in before the larger tour group we seem to have been with. Once inside though, we really didn’t see many if any large groups of people, so there was quick dispersal of people inside the base which made for a relatively quiet visit. Make sure to keep your entrance ticket safe, you’ll need to show it to get back on the bus to make it back to the tourist centre at the end of your visit. Next time on the blog, finally, lets see some pandas!