Wonders of Sichuan Pandas, Sacred Peaks and Jiuzhaigou

Around two hours by expressway across the Chengdu Plain brings you to Leshan and the Giant Buddha, carved into the cliff above the meeting of three rivers between 713 and 803. At 71 metres it is the largest stone Buddha in the world, and a boat on the river shows the full figure from the water, with the outline of a sleeping Buddha in the hills beyond.

In the afternoon, on to Mount Emei, one of the four sacred mountains of Chinese Buddhism and the seat of the bodhisattva Samantabhadra. The day ends with a visit to Fuhu, a nunnery in the forest at the foot of the mountain. Around 196 km of driving.

An early start by park bus up 52 km of switchback road, then a cable car to the Golden Summit at 3,077 metres. On a clear morning the view runs across a sea of cloud to the snow peaks of Gongga on the horizon, and on the right day a halo of light called Buddha's Glory appears in the mist below.

After the gilded statue of Samantabhadra on the summit, descend by cable car and bus to Wannian Temple and its bronze of the bodhisattva on a white elephant. The day finishes on foot down old stone steps past the Qingyin Pavilion to One Thread of Sky, before the drive down the mountain.

North across the plain to Daoming, a village whose bamboo weaving is listed as national intangible cultural heritage, where you can watch the craft being practised.

Then Dujiangyan, the irrigation system built around 256 BC under the governor Li Bing, which still waters the Chengdu Plain today and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Visit the Temple of Two Kings, the Anlan cable bridge and the Fish Mouth dividing dam, with a view over the whole system from the Qinyan Pavilion. Around 236 km of driving.

Into the mountains to the Wolong Nature Reserve, one of China's earliest, and the Shenshuping panda base, a breeding and research centre inside the UNESCO-listed Sichuan Giant Panda Sanctuaries.

The road then follows the upper Min River through villages of the Qiang, an ethnic group recorded on oracle bones more than 3,000 years old, to Taoping, a village of stone houses and watchtowers built for defence. Around 200 km and four hours of driving, on mountain roads.

North through the old walled town of Songpan to Huanglong, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1992. The valley climbs to around 3,600 metres beneath Xuebaoding, the highest peak of the Min Mountains, and its mineral-rich water has built terraces of travertine pools in blue, turquoise and gold. Boardwalks lead up the valley to a Ming-dynasty temple at the top.

Take the cable car up and walk down, then continue to Jiuzhaigou. At around 283 km and more than five hours on the road, this is the longest day of the tour, and at the highest altitude.

Jiuzhaigou, the Valley of Nine Villages, is named for the Tibetan settlements along its two branches and has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1992. It runs for around 50 km at 1,900 to 3,100 metres, a chain of lakes and waterfalls coloured by minerals and algae, among forest and snow peaks.

Park buses link the scenic areas, so the day is spent walking the boardwalks between the lakes and falls at your own pace. Local legend says the lakes are the pieces of a mirror dropped by a mountain goddess.

The high-speed train from Songpan brings you back to Chengdu in a fraction of the time the road would take.

In the afternoon, Sanxingdui, 40 km north of the city, the site of a Bronze Age kingdom of Shu more than 3,000 years old. Its museum, rebuilt and reopened in 2023, holds the great bronze masks with protruding eyes and ears, a standing figure larger than life, and bronze trees, unlike anything else in early Chinese art.

A last morning around Chunxi Road and Taikoo Li in central Chengdu, including the giant panda climbing the side of the IFS tower, before the transfer to the airport.