Chongqing is a very new city built on the banks of the Yangtze River. Historically this area was part of Sichuan and it shares a lot of culture and cuisine with its larger neighbouring province.
These days Chongqing is a rapidly expanding metropolis directly controlled from Beijing as a municipality. It is now the main commerce hub of central China since the Three Gorges Dam allowed container ships from Shanghai to get this far inland. It also has a gigantic population; 30 million people in the municipality.
The city is huge, chaotic, polluted and changing at an incredible pace. It is also known for having the spiciest food in China!
Basic Travel Information
- Province – Chongqing Municipality
- Nearby Cities – Chengdu
- Season to Visit – Not Summer, its too humid
- Duration – at least 3 days
- Recommended – Yes if you like spicy food and chaos
My Story
I flew to Chongqing from Japan and the difference was incredible! I’d only been out of China for 7 weeks but coming from the order and peace of Japan to the noise and organised chaos of Chongqing was a shock to the system. Don’t get me wrong, I love both but the body and brain need some time to adjust.
Chongqing struck me as the most “Chinese” of Chinese cities. Every impression I already held about the megacities in this country was heightened here. The crowds, the noise, the smells (good and bad), the endless tower blocks rising around you, the complicated transport and infrastructure, the pollution and the appallingly wasteful light shows on the skyscrapers at night. Anything I had seen in the other cities just didn’t seem to compare.
Hongya Caves – really worth a visit if you can wait through the evening queues
The Yangtze river in this area is lined with tower blocks and covered by a haze of pollution
A Temporary Lack of Motivation
The first couple of days here were mostly spent settling back into being in China. I was at a low point in my motivation which seems sadly inevitable when you spend this long on the move. Fortunately I absolutely adore Sichuan style spicy food and Chongqing has the best of it. Night markets, crammed with a million options each of which will blow your mind, are an excellent place to recover motivation.
I cannot speak for everyone who goes through these low point but for me there are three things that get me back into good spirits.
- Great food
- Rest
- Planning absolutely insane routes with far too many amazing places crammed into the following weeks
That last one actually has a tendency to work out well, despite all reasons it shouldn’t. This time the plans involved going far too far into Tibetan Sichuan to some spectacular Buddhist Monastaries far far away from any easy transport route. (Ok this one didn’t work out but only because it turned out foreigners were banned).
Chongqing was a stop like this for me. I did a day trip to Dazu Rock Carvings but decided against Wulong Tiankeng despite hearing good things. I think I was heading to the bus station when I found the best spicy barbecue meal I’d seen yet and that plane went out the window. Such is travelling!
Places Nearby & Trip Planning
Chongqing could be included on trips to Sichuan, the Yangtze or Zhangjiajie. The following could also be included:
- Dazu Rock Carvings
- Wulong Tiankeng Three Bridges
- Chengdu
- Emeishan
- Leshan
- Yichang
- The three gorges dam
- Zhangjiajie
When to Visit
Not in summer! Chongqing gets incredibly humid in summer which combined with the pollution would make it extremely unpleasant to visit.
Further Information
These websites were my favourite sources of general information for this location:
Last Updated: November 2019
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