Chongqing to Yichang Downstream on a Yangtze Cruise: Days 7 - 9

There are two flights (50 min) from Chengdu to Chongqing, leaving either late afternoon or early evening, giving you at least a half-day in Chengdu to explore or just relax at a teahouse. Since the cruises don’t depart until around 10 pm you can take your time getting to Chongqing, where there is not much to do or see.

• Cruise past traditional farmlands and scenes of daily life, extraordinary scenery with dramatic cliffs and rock formations shrouded in mist and the Three Gorges Dam...

  The cruises don’t depart daily, so you may need to adjust the order of the itinerary to match up with a departure.

• I recommend only the 3-night/4-day cruise downstream from Chongqing to Yichang. Anything else is overkill.

Cruise Companies

• Orient Royal Cruises – With two 5-star vessels and a new deluxe ship, the Yangtze Explorer, launching this year, and well-run sightseeing excursions, this cruise line is tops.

• Yangtze Explorer departs every Thursday and finishes on Sundays.

• The other ships, East King and East Queen, are newly renovated and depart Sundays and Thursdays respectively

What to See

Cruise past traditional farmlands and scenes of daily life, extraordinary scenery with dramatic cliffs and rock formations shrouded in mist and the Three Gorges Dam, one of the largest construction projects in the world.

• Fengdu – Called the ‘City of Ghosts’ due to the mountain Ming Shan dedicated to the afterworld with statues of ghosts and devils as well as graphic wax depictions of life in hell

• Wanxian – Stop at this former treaty port to visit the produce market selling seasonal delicacies like live eel and mountain mushrooms

• Shibao Zhai – Majestic 11-story wooden monastery painted red on an island and built into a cliff. Climb to the top on the interior spiral staircase for a striking view over the river.

• Mini Three Gorges – Cruise up the Daning River past the cliffs of Longmen Xia and wild monkeys.

• Three Gorges – The river snakes through the triad, Qutang Xia (gorge), Wu Xia and Xiling Xia, which are phenomenal, extending nearly 120 miles through sheer precipices interspersed with wide valleys.

• Qutang Gorge – The shortest, rockiest and most narrow of the three

• Wu Gorge – Sail around the twelve peaks of the Wu Mountains, creating a diverse and whimsical landscape

• Shennong Stream – Located in the Wu Gorge, sail up the narrow stream past Parrot and Dragon Boat Gorges, Han dynasty plank roads and three hanging coffins of the extinct Bai people, over one thousand years old.

• Xiling Gorge – Known for its uniquely shaped rock formations with quirky names like Ox Liver, Horse Lungs and Yellow Cat. This used to be the most dangerous part of the journey before rocks were removed in the 1950s.

• Three Gorges Dam – This marvel of engineering is harnessing the power of the Yangtze for energy and curbing the river’s tendency to flood. Unfortunately the project has also caused the relocation of thousands of people, the moving and flooding of numerous cultural sites and environmental damage.