Top 10 Things to Do in Chongqing: The 8D Cyberpunk City (2026)

It sounds like a joke, but it's real. At Liziba Station (李子坝), the monorail line runs directly through the 6th to 8th floors of a residential apartment building.

How to conquer it: First, ride the train to experience it from the inside. Then, get off, walk down to the street level viewing platform, and take the video of the train "eating" the building.

Hongya Cave is an 11-story stilt building clinging to a cliffside. By day, it's just a souvenir market. By night (lights on ~7:30 PM), it transforms into a glowing, golden fortress that looks exactly like the bathhouse from Spirited Away.

Unlike Chengdu hotpot (vegetable oil), Chongqing hotpot uses beef tallow blocks. The flavor is richer, heavier, and sticks to your clothes for days. Key ingredients: Duck intestines, beef tripe, and brain (if you're brave).

Before stunning bridges spanned the Yangtze, this cable car was public transport. Now it's a tourist favorite. It glides across the misty river, offering cinematic views of the skyline.

This defines Chongqing. You enter a square on the ground floor. You take an elevator down 22 floors. You walk out... and you are on another ground floor street. The city is built on mountains, creating vertical layers that defy logic.

At the tip of the peninsula where the two rivers meet stands Raffles City. It looks like a spaceship landed on four skyscrapers. It's an engineering marvel with a huge glass-bottom exploration deck ("The Crystal") connecting the towers.

It is very touristy, but essential for buying souvenirs like spicy chili crisp, hotpot base bricks, and watching "sugar blowing" art. If the main street is too crowded, duck into the smaller side alleys for tea.

For the best panoramic view of the peninsula, go to Eling Park. Then walk next door to Testbed 2 (Erling Er), a former banknote printing factory turned into a hipster arts district with cool cafes, craft beer, and graffiti.

Famous as the filming location for Transformers: Age of Extinction. The Three Natural Bridges are massive stone arches that look like gateways to another world. It's a full day trip but stunning.

An entire street where everything—buildings, walls, utility poles—is covered in colorful graffiti. It surrounds the Sichuan Fine Arts Institute. It's gritty, authentic, and perfect for street photography.