Chengdu Panda Base

The Chengdu Giant Panda Breeding Research Base (or Chengdu Panda Base for short) specializes in baby pandas and their care.

It's one of the most popular destinations to see pandas. And it's a must-go place when you go to Chengdu.

Chengdu Panda Base not only takes care of breeding pandas, but also focuses on providing interactive activities that teach people about pandas and their protection.

Besides cute giant pandas, there are also red pandas, black swans, and peacocks in the base.

It’s a research center, so, unlike a zoo, it does not focus on displaying the animals.

When to See Baby Pandas

Pandas usually give birth in August. Thus visitors can see new-born pandas or panda babies in August and September.
If you are visiting the base in this period, don’t forget to see the pink or fluffy panda babies in Moonlight Delivery House and Sunshine Nursery house.
If there are no new-born pandas to see, you can always go to the kindergarten to see young active pandas.

The Giant Panda Museum

The Giant Panda Museum at the base is the world's only museum that focuses entirely on the giant panda. You can learn a lot about this at-risk animal in the museum.

See Giant Panda Fossils and Life-Like Displays

The Giant Panda Museum houses giant panda specimens, fossils, and dissected pandas.
Specimens of panda food are displayed, and the museum also houses many large true-to-life exhibits of giant pandas in their natural environment in ancient times and in their present wild habitats. These true-to-life exhibits cover an area of about 300 square meters.
Education About Panda Evolution, Habitat, and Protection
The museum educates visitors about giant pandas’ evolutionary history, their ancient and present distribution in the wild, and their current situation as a vulnerable species, as well as on the present purpose and focus of scientific research.

Giant Panda Post Office

There is a post office inside Chengdu Panda Base.
You can send a lovely panda postcard to friends or family …or yourself. The postcards will be stamped with a cute panda postmark.

The panda base opens from 7:30am to 6:00pm. The best time to visit is in the morning, especially during feeding time between 8:30 and 10:00.

After that, it's likely that the pandas will be indulging in their favorite pastime: sleeping!

Giant pandas like cool weather. At cool times, giant pandas will play outside. But in summer time, pandas are likely to stay indoors to avoid the summer heat (over 26˚C or 79°F).

If you are visiting in hot summer time (June, July, August) and don’t see any pandas outside, you are suggested to go to the giant panda enclosures and delivery houses to see giant pandas indoors.

Giant Pandas: The Panda Base is known as the best tourist destination to get closer to the rare giant panda. You can closely observe the giant pandas of different ages resting, eating and drinking, playing with each other, using enrichment toys, or watch female pandas nursing their cubs in the nursery rooms.
Other Species to See: Besides the Giant Panda, the panda base is also inhabited by other endangered wildlife, including red pandas, swans, peacocks, birds, butterflies and hundreds of insects.
Giant Panda Museum: The Giant Panda Museum is located at the base, and it is the world’s only museum that focuses entirely on the critically endangered giant panda.
There are three main halls, namely, the Giant Panda Hall, the Butterfly Hall and the Vertebrate Hall. A variety of information, pictures, models, fossils and samples are displayed here. There are many scientific displays that give visitors a comprehensive education on their characteristics, habitat and distribution in the wild, and China’s conservation and breeding efforts. The museum also exhibits books and scientific literature that authors around the world have written about giant pandas throughout history.
Please note: The Panda Base is very large and sometimes you may get lost. It is good to go with an English-speaking tour guide with you.

1. This base is huge but usually crowded. A private tour is the best way to get around the base to see the most pandas and get the best experience.

2. If you visit during the highest periods, such as summer holiday (July and August), May Day holiday (May 1st-3rd) and National Day holiday (Oct. 1st-7th), book your tour as early as possible, and get there as early as possible.

3. Tru to visit the base in cool weather because you are more likely to see giant pandas in the outdoor enclosures or giant pandas’ house’s backyards.

4. When you hear a sudden loud noise, don’t miss it. Go and see what has happened. Maybe it’s a naughty panda just fallen from a tree, or the "panda daddy" (panda keeper) is feeding them.

5. Sightseeing car: The whole base covers an area of 67 hectares, and it will take about more than 3 hours to walk through the whole journey. So, the base provides sightseeing battery car for tourists, and take battery car will spend about 1 ~ 2 hours to finish the tour. The running time of the battery car is 08:00 ~ 17:30 (from April to October), and 08:00 ~ 17:00 (from November to next March), and the ticket is ¥10/person.

6. Tour guide service:
To get to know the giant panda and the research center better, tourists can hire a tour guide at the entrance. At present, they provide professional guide service in both Chinese and English.
The price for Chinese guide: 1 ~ 4 people, ¥50; 5 ~ 19 people, ¥100; above 20 people, ¥5 for each people
The price for English guide: 1 ~ 10 people, ¥100; above 11 people, ¥10 for each people

7. Important Notice: Do not shout in the panda base, in case you will disturb the giant panda; when you take photo of the giant panda, do not use the flash light, especially to the baby panda for their eyes are sensitive to the light; do not feed the giant panda with your own food for your food may not be suitable.