2025 Road to Shu Itinerary
Day 1, March 10, Monday – Leave the USA on overseas flight to China
Day 2, March 11, Tuesday – Arrive Chengdu, Joyhub Hotel at Tianfu International Airport
We will be flying into the new airport in Chengdu, the Tianfu International. I will meet you when your flight arrives if you arrive between 7 a.m. and 11 p.m. Otherwise, our hotel, The Joyhub, is right inside the airport and easily walkable. When you exit the terminal you are in an enclosed mall. You walk about 100 yards and our hotel entrance is on the left. Ask at the desk for the rooms reserved for the Shu Dao Tour. Dinner at the hotel is included if you arrived by 6 p.m.
Day 3, March 12, Wednesday – Sightseeing in Chengdu, Jinjiang Hotel
Our bus will pick us up after breakfast and we will leave our luggage in our locked bus, heading straight to the Temple of the Martial Marquis (pp 90-92) for a stroll around the shady grounds and a tour through a very small Three Kingdoms Museum. The original temple on this site dates from the 6th century and was built to honor the Three Kingdoms strategist, Zhuge Liang and his ruler Liu Bei, who both played an important role along the old road in the 3rd century A.D. We'll have lunch at a "Little Eats" restaurant by the temple and have a half-hour to stroll the nearby newly constructed old-style alley. We will then check into the Jinjiang hotel in time for a rest before dinner at a famous hot pot restaurant on Qintai Road where all the buildings have recently been rebuilt in the traditional imperial style. After dinner we will watch a performance of the Sichuan opera just down the street. You can read about Chengdu in my book, pp. 75-80. We’ll return to our hotel about 10 pm.
Day 4, March 13, Thursday – Bus to Langzhong, Old Town Hotel
After a buffet breakfast at the Jinjiang Hotel, we’ll board our bus for a four-hour drive to our next destination, Langzhong (pp. 187-190), one of the best-preserved Old Towns in the country. Langzhong was also a major town on one of the branch roads of the Road to Shu. We will arrive between 1 and 2 pm and check into our Old Town hotel. Lunch at a local dumpling restaurant and then we will explore the local car-free streets on our way to see Zhang Fei's temple. Then back to our hotel to rest before dinner in Old Town.
Day 5, March 14, Friday - Sightseeing in Langzhong, Old Town Hotel
After breakfast in our hotel we will visit the local market and then attend a traditional puppet show. Lunch outdoors by the river then a visit to Huaguang tower and the Civil Serivice hall where exams were held in imperial times (p. 194-98). We will finish with a half-hour foot massage then return to our hotel for a rest and dinner in Old Town.
Day 6, March 15, Saturday – Sightseeing in Langzhong, Old Town Hotel
After breakfast in our hotel, our bus will take us across the Jialing River and up to the top of the mountains which overlook Langzhong to visit the White Pagoda for a bird’s eye view of the old city enclosed in a curve of the river. Then the bus will drop us off farther down the mountain near the Zhuangyuan Cave Pavilion for a pretty short hike through this complex and then further down the mountain to visit the Tang Dynasty Great Buddha Temple. Our bus will then drive us back to Old Town for a late lunch and a rest. In the lat e afternoon we will take a short boat ride on the Jialing River and then have dinner in Old Town.
Day 7, March 16, Sunday – bus to Qiqushan Great Temple and Wulian Hike, Jiange Hotel
After breakfast we will return to our bus for a three-to four-hour ride to Zitong, the first post station we will visit along the Road to Shu (the first two post stations have become big cities with no old road.) The small highway we travel will take us through some beautiful countryside. Just outside of Zitong we will visit the famous Qiqushan Great Temple located in a cypress forest. This is one of the temples Isabelle Bishop visited when she traveled the Road to Shu in 1896. After lunch at the temple our bus will take us for a half hour drive along the Green Cloud Corridor, a highway built over the old road and still shaded by the ancient cypress trees which once lined the road (pp 100-105). Our bus will drop us off in the hills outside of Wulian (pp 133, 135-6, 138-9). Here we will take a short hike down the hill into town on the only stretch of the old flagstone road that was spared by the highway construction. Then we will continue to drive north along the Green Cloud Corridor to our next destination, Puan, (pp 106-111), arriving in about 45 minutes. Dinner in our hotel, the Jiange Hotel..
Day 8, March 17, Monday - Thursday - Exploring Puan, Jiange Hotel
After a Chinese-style buffet breakfast in the Jiange Hotel, we'll spend the morning exploring the market and the Old Town which includes the old south gate with a stretch of flagstone street and a bit of city wall on either side, the old bell-drum tower, and some of the old wooden houses which still line the original narrow street, now paved over but never widened (pp 116-117). After lunch and a rest at our hotel, our bus will take us up into the mountains overlooking the town to visit the Hemingshan Pagoda (pp 122-123). Dinner at our hotel.
Day 9, March 18, Tuesday - Liangshan Hike, Jiange Hotel
Miss Li, a local lady who helped me find the Road to Shu, will meet us at our hotel after breakfast. Our bus will then take us south of Puan on Route 108 to Liangshan were the old road is preserved all the way into Puan. We will hike the road lined with beautiful cypress for about three hours, returning to Puan for lunch. Miss Li will accompany anyone who wants to continue to hike all the way into Puan and we will all meet for dinner at our hotel
Day 10, March 19, Wednesday - Hanyang Hike, Jiange Hotel
After breakfast our bus will take us north again on Route 108 until we reach Hanyang, a half-hour ride out of Puan. We will disembark here and hike south back toward Puan along one of the prettiest remaining stretches of the old flagstone road which is lined with more than 400 old cypress trees and winds its way past small villages and along the crests of hills with long views into the valleys below. We will hike for three hours which will involve some climbing of stone steps up hills, but with lots of rest stops and climbing will be intermixed with many level and downhill stretches as well. After a picnic lunch, our bus will meet us to take us back to Puan. Miss Li will accompany anyone who wants to continue to hike all the way back into Puan. We will all meet for dinner at our hotel.
Day 11, March 20, Thursday - Sword Gate Pass, Jianmenguan Hot Springs Hotel
Today we will head north again through the Green Cloud Corrider (p 118) all the way into Jianmenguan (pp 140-142), the next post station along the old road. On the way we will stop to visit the official Green Cloud Corridor tourist site (p 145-146), where a special fenced in section of the old road is lined with more than 100 ancient cypress trees some over 1000 years old. Lunch in Jianmenguan at one of the local restaurants that specialize in excellent doufu dishes. After lunch we will spend the rest of the day exploring Sword Gate Pass, (pp 147-150), the site of a famous Three-Kingdoms battle where a small Shu army held off a much larger Wei force. The site has been much improved by building a tunnel to divert the highway that in the 1930s was built over the old road right through the pass. Dinner at the Jianmenguan Hot Springs Hotel, about a half hour away in Jiange, where we will also be staying. Enjoy the hot springs in your hotel room or in the several large pools out back.
Day 12, March 21, Friday - Da Chao Hike - Zhaohua Old Town Hotel
After breakfast our bus will take us up into the mountains toward the next post station along the old road, Dachao. We will hike along a lovely section of the old road here for about two hours then drive into Dachao to explore the town and have lunch. This is a very, very small town that when I first passed through hadn't changed much since the 19th century but has since been modernized. After lunch in town our bus will continue north to Zhaohua, another post station on the Road to Shu, and one that has preserved quite a bit of its old town, including three gates, some city wall, and many old houses. After a rest at our hotel we will have dinner at a local fish hotpot restaurant.
Day 13, March 22, Saturday - Sightseeing in Zhaohua Old Town Hotel
Breakfast in our hotel and a tour of Zhaohua including city gates, a Confucian temple and a district examination hall. After lunch in town free time to explore on your own and do some shopping. Dinner at our hotel.
Day 14, March 23, Sunday – Sightseeing in Guangyuan, Feng Tai International Hotel
After breakfast, our bus will take us into Guangyuan, our last post station on the old road which is now a very large and prosperous city. Here we will meet my friend Mr. Chen Yang who will take us to visit a local pre-kindergarten school. Lunch at a local hot pot restaurant and a possible visit to a local house to sample life in this prosperous city. Then we will check in to our Chinese-style hotel which is located on a small island in the Jialing River and dinner at our hotel.
Day 15, March 24, Monday– Sightseeing in Guangyuan, Feng Tai International Hotel
After a buffet breakfast at our hotel, our bus will take us north along the Jialing River to visit the site of a famous ancient plank road (pp 176-80) which once stretched along the side of a cliff above the river. A long section of the original plank road has been reconstructed by inserting new wood into the old holes. We can walk along the cliff on this rebuilt road and then take a cart ride through the Tiger’s Mouth, a section of half-tunneling directly above the plank road blasted out of the solid rock in the 1930s in order to run the highway along the cliff. A new highway has been built farther inland, leaving the old highway as a tourist area with no cars. Our bus will then take us to a nearby town for lunch and after lunch for a visit to the Thousand Buddha Cliff, once one of the most treacherous spots along the Road to Shu. It is also a famous site of early Buddhist carvings and has recently been improved by rerouting the highway that once passed right next to it. Dinner at our hotel.
Day 16, March 25, Tuesday – Bus to Chengdu, Joyhub Hotel, Tianfu International Airport
After breakfast at our hotel, our bus will take us south on the new expressway back to Chengdu, about a three-hour to four-hour ride. We'll have lunch in Chengdu before returning to our hotel near the airport that we stayed in the first night we arrived. Dinner at our hotel.
Day 17, March 26, Wednesday– Fly Home
After breakfast, we will walk along the mall to our terminal for our flight home. As we gain a day on the way home, with good connections we will arrive home on the same day.
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