Private Panda Tour and Tea Hill Hiking with Taoist-Temple Visit

Private Panda Tour and Tea Hill Hiking with Taoist-Temple Visit

On this private day trip, we will not only visit Dujiangyan Panda Base, but also take you to walk up to the tea hill and explore the mysterious Taoist Temples. For those who want to combine the experience of the panda tour and the real country life experience together, this off beat track is absolutely recommended.

After picking you up in your hotel lobby at 8 a.m. We will drive for about 1.5 hours to Dujiangyan Panda Base. It is located at the bottom of Mt. Qingcheng, northwest to Chengdu, which makes it the one with more scenery but fewer tourists compared to Chengdu Panda Base.

Around 09:30 am we will arrive at Dujjiangyan Panda Base that functions to rescue the injured pandas and control diseases. We will probably see more than 15 pandas, and even cubs and red pandas. Then lunch is scheduled after the 1.5-hour visit in the Panda Base.

In the afternoon, we will first go to an elegant tea house to taste tea. The tea lady there will share with us the knowledge of Chinese Tea Ceremony, and we will try 2-3 different kinds of tea. Since you may get enchanted by the charm of Chinese tea, we will arrange a soft walking tour up the tea hill for you to experience everything about tea.

The hiking route is a 10-kilometre loop line which takes about 4-5 hours. This is a real off-beat hiking route to enjoy the country views that even the locals seldom know. We will first walk half way up the hill from where we can have a wonderful bird view of Chengdu Plain. It will give us a clear idea of how Chengdu Plain spreads out. Then en route to the top, we will cross the tea plantation and the factory where you can see how different kinds of tea are made from the same-looking leaves.

Apart from tea culture related experience, you will also see the village life, enjoy the scenery and learn about Taoism as we go further. The villagers living on the hill still remain the traditional lifestyle. We may see them cutting branches in the orchards or fertilizing vegetables in the fields. It’ll be fun to greet them and chat for a while. The higher we get, the better views we will have. Once we get to the top, we will first encounter a hidden Taoist Temple called Zhangrenguan, which is regarded as the true birthplace of Taoism. It is said to have a much longer history than Taoist temples on Mt. Qingcheng. Even as old and shabby as it is, there are still 4 to 5 Taoist priests practicing Taoism there.

Further down the track, there are two more mysterious temples hidden in forests, but we can still see people from cities coming there to meditate and practice Taoism. If we are lucky enough, we may have a chance to talk to them and learn about Taoism.

Finally, we will walk down along the valley trail and meet our driver on the road. If it’s still early, you can choose to have an afternoon tea in Six Senses Hotel Qingcheng Mountain on your own cost before driving you back to your hotel to end the tour.