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Private family journey · 5 days / 4 nights

Pandas & Sanxingdui Family Adventure

Kid-paced, parent-approved. Pandas when they're actually awake and playing (dawn, before the crowds), a 3,000-year-old mystery that fires up young imaginations, dumplings they fold themselves, and enough downtime that nobody melts down. Including you.

US$680 / adult · kids from US$475 Family rooms & car seats Ages 5+ sweet spot Max 6 · private

Day by day

Day 1

Arrival — jet lag, handled gently

Airport pickup with car seats pre-installed, eSIMs for every phone, and an easy first evening: an early hotpot dinner (mild broth pot split for the kids — the "yuanyang" dual pot was made for families) and an early night. Your guide gives the kids a panda-spotting checklist for the week. Parents get a Sichuan tea welcome pack.

Dinner included · family room
Day 2

Pandas at dawn — the golden hour

We leave at 7:00 to beat the coaches, and it pays off: the Chengdu Research Panda Base at opening time means baby pandas doing morning tumbles with maybe thirty other people watching, not three thousand. The red pandas are a guaranteed hit. Afternoon back at the hotel for a nap (this is the schedule working for you), then People's Park: tea for the grown-ups, the famous ear-cleaning masters for the brave, and goldfish-feeding for everyone else.

Breakfast included · early night, happily earned
Day 3

Sanxingdui — the mystery day

Is it aliens? (No — but we let the kids argue it out.) The new Sanxingdui Museum's giant bronze masks with their telescope eyes give every kid their own theory, and the museum's interactive hall lets them "excavate" a sacrificial pit and cast their own small bronze-goodness souvenir in the hands-on workshop (optional add-on, brilliant for ages 6–12). The guide carries a kid-friendly story track in parallel with the adult archaeology. Even the lunch stop is a win: the museum area's local dishes are the mild end of Sichuan.

Breakfast, lunch included
Day 4

Fold, stuff, eat: the cooking class

A family Sichuan cooking class: fold dumplings (the kids' shapes get progressively more avant-garde; all are eaten with pride), stir-fry kungpao chicken with the peanuts picked out for picky eaters, and make the sweet rice-ball dessert. Everyone gets a little chef certificate, and dinner is the work of your own hands. Afternoon: Kuanzhai Alleys' lanes for sugar-painting artists and panda merchandise with taste (we know the honest shops).

Breakfast, cooking-class feast included
Day 5

Slow morning, airport drop

A free morning — hotel pool, last souvenir run, or one more teahouse hour. Then your transfer with plenty of buffer. We check the 240-hour visa-free paperwork for the whole family at breakfast, and the kids keep their panda checklists as the souvenirs that don't fit in a suitcase.

Breakfast included

What's included

Included

  • 4 nights family rooms in a 4★ hotel (central Chengdu)
  • Private English-speaking guide & car with car seats, days 1–5
  • Airport transfers
  • Panda Base early-entry tickets
  • Sanxingdui Museum tickets + kid story track
  • Family cooking class (dumplings, kungpao, dessert)
  • All breakfasts, welcome dinner, day-3 lunch, class feast
  • eSIMs for the whole family, Alipay setup
  • Kids' panda checklist + point-and-show travel card

Not included

  • International flights
  • China visas or entry permits
  • Travel insurance (required for families — kindly)
  • Optional bronze-casting workshop (¥280/child)
  • Stroller rentals & personal purchases
Honest notes: Child price is 70% for ages 5–11 sharing a family room; under 5s are largely free of tour costs (just food and tickets). Summer is doable but we shift starts earlier and build in pool time; pandas are more active in cool weather. Avoid the first week of October (Golden Week crowds). More practical basics in our Chengdu first-timers guide.