What's a good 3-day itinerary for Chengdu?

Day 1 stays inside the 2nd Ring Road's western half. Start at People's Park by 9am, not earlier. Jet lag from a westbound flight hits hard the first morning, and Heming Teahouse inside the park opens at 8 and stays open all day. A bowl of covered-bowl jasmine tea costs 25-35 CNY (about $4-5 at the current 6.7 rate). The park smells like wet camphor in September and sounds like a dozen erhu players tuning against each other. Walk 1.2 km south to Du Fu Thatched Cottage by 11am. The 50 CNY ticket buys a large bamboo-grove garden where the Tang poet lived during the 760s. Lunch at Chen Mapo Doufu on Qinghua Road, the original 1862 branch, where the signature mapo tofu runs 38 CNY and your lips will go numb from the Sichuan peppercorn within two bites. Afternoon at the Temple of Marquis Wu (Wuhou Shrine, 60 CNY) and the adjacent Jinli pedestrian street. Skip Jinli's overpriced snacks but walk the lane for the red-lantern photos before 5pm when tour groups peak.

Day 2 demands an early alarm. The Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding, founded in 1987, opens at 7:30am and the pandas feed before 10am. After that they sleep. Take Metro Line 3 to Panda Avenue station, then the shuttle bus for 2 CNY. Book tickets online the night before, because walk-up slots sell out on weekends. The base covers a forested hillside and the loop between enclosures runs 2-3 hours at a comfortable pace. The air is thick with wet bamboo and mulch. By noon, Metro back downtown for the Jinsha Site Museum (70 CNY), where 3,000-year-old gold masks from the Shu Kingdom sit in darkened halls. Budget 90 minutes. Late afternoon, walk 2 km north to Wide and Narrow Alleys (Kuanzhai Xiangzi). The three parallel Qing-dynasty lanes are touristy, but the courtyard cafes serve decent 15-CNY dan dan noodles and the brick walls date to the 1700s. Dinner at Yulin Chuanchuanxiang on Yulin East Road for skewer hot pot, where you pick cold skewers and pay by the stick, roughly 1-3 CNY each.

Day 3 opens at Wenshu Monastery, a 10-minute walk from Wenshu Yuan station on Metro Line 1. Entry is free. The morning incense makes the courtyards thick with sandalwood smoke, and low chanting from the main hall carries across the garden. The vegetarian restaurant inside the complex serves a 30-CNY set lunch that might be the best-value meal in the city. From Wenshu, walk 1.5 km south to Chunxi Road and the open-air Taikoo Li shopping district. The IFS building's climbing panda sculpture is free to photograph from the rooftop terrace. Save the evening for Sichuan hot pot at Xiaolongkan on Yulin Road, a local chain where a two-person pot with 15-20 ingredients runs 150-200 CNY total. The ma la broth's numbing heat builds slowly, then stays on your tongue for an hour after you leave. A cold Tsingtao draft at 8-12 CNY helps cut through the chili oil.

Chengdu's Metro covers all three days' stops across 13 lines. A single ride costs 2-7 CNY depending on distance, paid via Alipay or with a physical ticket from station machines with English menus. September temperatures currently sit around 24 degrees but the humidity makes it feel closer to 27, so carry a small towel and drink water between stops. The Sichuan dialect is thick enough that even Mandarin speakers sometimes struggle. Restaurant staff in tourist areas use picture menus. Pointing works fine. Solo travelers rate a 7.2 out of 10 on TTDI's safety rubric (see the TTDI Solo-Safety Index), and the main risk is digestive, not criminal. Start mild with your spice orders. Sichuan peppercorn tolerance builds across meals, and by day 3 your tongue will handle what defeated it on day 1. Walking runs roughly 7-8 km each day, with Metro rides filling the gaps between clusters.