Walking and Cycling in Chengdu
The center part of Chengdu includes most of the interesting places like Jinli Street, Kuanzhai Alley, People’s Park, Wangjianglou Park, Qintai Road, Chunxi Road, Taikuli, Wenshu Monastery. Walking and cycling in Chengdu is easy and a lot of fun.
Cycling
If you manage to come by a bicycle you can cycle along the Funnan River to see the city life and streets of Chengdu. What’s even better is that you have an Alipay or Wechat Account that allows you to use the many Blue/Green bikes that are parked everywhere. The good thing about the bikes are that you can park them anywhere it’s convenient and safe, and it is really cheap. But in order to do this you will need to have Chinese payment apps on your phone, thus you need internet on your phone while visiting.
A recommended cycling route in Chengdu is to start by Wenshu Temple and then go to Peoples’ Park, then walk to Kuanzhai Alley, cycle to Jinli Street through Qintai Road and then follow the river and then continue on to Chunxi Road. At each place you can park your bike and go on foot to visit and explore.
Cycling is basically safe in Chengdu. The drivers are more polite and patient than years ago. Although the only you need to worry a little is the quiet and fast electronic bikes that will be sharing the same lane with cyclists. And Chengdu is flat, it is easy to cycle around.
Walking
To walk within Chengdu one can follow the same route as cycling listed above. Walking is also easy once you get used to the traffic. Pedestrians follow traffic lights for most of the time. You are recommended to stay watchful while crossing a road. Some map apps may not work here but Chengdu is not a very difficult place to navigate even without maps. Where you can see you can walk to. There are no complicated flyovers or intersections that may confuse you.