Chongqing, often called the biggest city in the world, is an unknown metropolis in the middle of China. This city is in contrary to Beijing and Shanghai not really westernized, so typical Chinese culture can be found here. Eat the famous Chongqing hotpot or take a look at worlds biggest toilet building. In this article you find all information about Chongqing city highlights.
Why go to Chongqing city?
Chongqing in Chinese: 重庆
As we said, Chongqing is big metropolis which is not westernized. That means that some typical Chinese culture can be found in this big city. The combination of a really big city with typical Chinese culture is in our eyes really cool. Between the skyscrapers you see old man walking to sell their handcrafted stuff, our play a game of Chinese chess.
Chongqing skyline
It is not the most famous skyline in the world, but definitely one to remember. The skyline of Chongqing is quite big and impressiv. Most skycrapers are located in the JieFangBei district between the two rivers, which looks great. There are two great places to have a look at the skyline. If you have time enough, wait for a clear day without too much smog, this will definitely improve your view.
Skyline view: Nanshan
- Nanshan in Chinese characters: 南山观光点
- Ticket price: 25 RMB (€3)
Head to Nanshan (South Mountain) to have great view at the city. Nanshan is the most easy to reach by taking a cab. Metro stations are not close. It’s about a 20 minutes drive from the city center. Finding a cab back to the city center can be more difficult because there are often a lot of people seeking for a cab.
Nanshan is a viewing point with entrance fee.
City view: Eling park
- Metro station: Eling
- Eling Park in Chinese characters: 鹅领公园
- Ticket price for Eling tower: 5 RMB (€0,70)
Eling park is a park in the middle of Chongqing. The park gives a nice view at the city because it is placed on a mountain. Especially climbing the tower in the park is worth the 5 RMB, this gives a great view!
Chongqing Zoo
Ticket fee: 30 RMB (€4)
We didn’t expect a great zoo for the little price of 30 RMB per person. This couldn’t be much, and we expected neglected animals. But that wasn’t the case! At least, not what we saw. We saw a lot of animals from all over the world, and they looked healthy to us. We are not experts, but in compare to Holland, this zoo was cool! And extremely cheap! There are even panda’s in the zoo.
All in all a great zoo and we would recommend to go here, it is a totally different experience than a zoo in Europe.
Theme park – Foreigner street
Tickets: each attractions needs to be paid seperate, but walking around is free.
If you want a typical Chinese day, then head to this theme park! It’s called foreigner street because all attractions are related to other countries, you can find for example replicas of: Statue of Rio de Janeiro, The Great Wall and Gaudi’s couch in Barcelona.
No theme park
The name of this theme park completely summarises this park. A theme park with the name “No theme park”. This park is completely crazy and so funny. Everywhere can be found funny slogans, buildings or attractions. See some pictures for funny sayings found on the billboards in this park.
Maybe funny to mention: cars are allowed to drive in the park.
Largest toilet building in the world
The largest toilet building in the world can be found in this theme park in Chongqing. It is free to enter. You can choose which toilet you want, but be carefull, not every toilet is that clean. For example the “No-Water-Toilet” is not that clean, because you can not flush it haha. The toilet “building” has three floors and should have thousand toilets, although we are not sure if we have seen them all.
Getting to Chongqing and away
Chongqing is a huge city with all facilities which you need to get there. Take the plane to the airport, high speed train or the long distance bus, everything is possible. Read more about travelling to Chongqing here…
Get around in Chongqing
Also all facilities which you expect in a big city are there in Chongqing. We have to admit that it is not always easy to use all public transport if you don’t speak Chinese. But it is possible, and not that hard. Read more information about getting around in Chongqing here…
Other Chongqing city highlights
Other highlights will be added in the nearby future:
- Ciqikou – Ancient town
- Waterpark in Chongqing South
- Cruise the rivers
After Chongqing
What can you do after you visit Chongqing?
- Head to the Grand Buddha in Leshan, read more…
- Go hiking in the Avatar mountains in Zhangjiajie National Park, read more…
- Take a plane to Lijiang, the Venice of China, read more…
