2026 Road to Shu Itinerary
Day 1, March 30, Monday – Leave the USA on overseas flight to China
Day 2, March 31, Tuesday - Arrive Chengdu, Jinjiang Hotel
We will be flying into the Shuangliu Airport in Chengdu which handles domestic flights not the Tianfu International Airport which is too far out of town. I will meet you when your flight arrives if you arrive between 7 a.m. and 5 p.m. or 8 p.m. and 11 p.m. Otherwise, you can take a cab directly to the Jinjiang Hotel. Ask at the desk for the rooms reserved for the Shu Dao Tour. Dinner at the hotel is included if you arrive by 6 p.m.
Day 3, April 1, Wednesday – Sightseeing in Chengdu, Jinjiang Hotel
After breakfast at our hotel our bus will pick us up at 9 a.m. for a visit to the Temple of the Martial Marquis (pp 90-92 in my book). 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 before returning to the Jinjiang Hotel for a rest. 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 famous excerpts from 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, April 2, Thursday – Bus to Langzhong, Old Town Inn
After breakfast 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, April 3, Friday - Sightseeing in Langzhong, Old Town Inn
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, April 4, Saturday – Sightseeing in Langzhong, Old Town Inn
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 late afternoon we will take a short boat ride on the Jialing River and then have dinner in Old Town.
Day 7, April 5, Sunday – Wulian Hike, Jiange Hotel
After breakfast we will return to our bus for a three-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 and then once we reach Zitong, we will be driving 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 the next old post station, Puan, (pp 106-111), arriving in about 45 minutes. Dinner in our hotel, the Jiange Hotel.
Day 8, April 6, Monday - Exploring Puan
We will 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). We will return to our hotel on foot, hiking down the mountain on a brief stretch of the old flagstone road. Dinner at our hotel.
Day 9, April 7, Tuesday - Liangshan Hike
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 all hike the old road lined with beautiful cypress trees for about three hours when we will stop for a picnic lunch. After lunch I will accompany anyone who wants to return to the hotel. Miss Li will continue with the remaining group to hike all the way into Puan. Diner at a nearby hotpot.
Day 10, April 8, Wednesday - Hanyang Hike
After breakfast our bus will take us north 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. The hike will take five to six hours and 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. After a picnic lunch, if anyone wants to return to Puan I will accompany them on our bus. Miss Li will accompany those who hike all the way back into Puan.We will all meet for dinner at nearby hotel.
Day 11, April 9, 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 close to 2000 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. We can now hike through the pass on a reconstructed flagstone road and then hike down the hill below the pass to the lower parking lot. Our bus will then take us to our hotel in Jiange about a half hour away. Dinner at our hotel, the Jianmenguan Hot Springs Hotel, After dinner enjoy the hot springs in your hotel room or in the several large pools out back.
Day 12, April 10, Friday - Dachao Hike - Jianmenguan Hot Springs Hotel
After breakfast our bus will take us up into the mountains to the next post station along the old road, Dachao. This is a very, very small town that when I first passed through hadn't changed much since the 19th century. We will hike the old road down the mountain back to Jianmenguan, a long hike of about eight miles. If anyone wants to return to the Hot Springs Hotel after two hours of hiking, I will accompany them. Miss Li will guide those who want to continue to hike all the way to Jianmenguan where our bus will meet them and return them to Jiange for dinner at our hotel.
Day 13, April 11, Saturday - Hike from Dachao to Zhaohua
Breakfast in our hotel and then our bus will drive us back to Dachao and we will resume our hike on the old road as well, passing though the famous Tianxiong Pass before reaching the ancient town of Zhaohua. We will stay in a new hotel built to blend in with the Old Town houses which surround it. Dinner at an excellent fish hotpot restaurant.
Day 14, April 12, Sunday - Sightseeing in Zhaohua and bus to Guangyuan, Phoenix International Hotel
After breakfast we will tour Zhaohua on foot. After lunch in Zhaohua, our bus will drive us to Guangyuan, the last post station on the old road that we will visit which is now a very large and prosperous city. Our bus will drop us off at our hotel which is on an island in the Jialing River and built in Chinese traditional style. We will have dinner at the hotel.
Day 15, April 13, Monday – Sightseeing in Guangyuan, Phoenix 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 (this is about a mile) 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 nearby Chaotien 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. It is a hike of about a mile along the cliff, and you can also climb up steps for a closer look at the Buddhas. Dinner at our hotel.
Day 16, April 14, Tuesday – Bus to Chengdu, Jinjiang Hotel
After breakfast at our hotel, our bus will take us south on the new expressway back to Chengdu. We will stop about halfway for lunch and to visit the famous Qiqushan Great Temple, located in a beautiful cypress forest. This is one of the temples Isabella Bishop visited when she traveled this road in 1896. We will then continue into Chengdu arriving about dinner time. We will eat in a Chengdu restaurant before returning to the Joyhub Hotel by the Shuangliu Airport.
Day 17, April 15, Wednesday – Fly Home
The Joyhub has a nice buffet breakfast, so try and arrange your flights to give you enough time to eat breakfast. There will be a shuttle bus to the airport from our hotel every half hour.
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