Going All Out in the Cyberpunk Megacity Chongqing, China

Chongqing, one of China’s lesser known megacities, is easily one of the maddest places you'll ever visit. Known as the “8D City” for its cyberpunk architecture spread across a complex and multilevel layout, it blends chaos and subcultures with China’s decades of breakneck economic growth, spread out over a physical size equivalent to Austria. With trains speeding through residential buildings (Chongqing is home to the world’s longest monorail), winding highways built into the sky, and temples in the middle of cross junctions, it can often feel like you’re in a vortex of stimuli overload. Here, it’s not uncommon to think you’ve reached the ground floor level, only to find out you’re actually on the 22nd floor of another tall building. A city of skyscrapers built into mountains, it’s the epicenter to endless stories of ingenuity as its 32 million residents hustle against a backdrop of a now stagnating national economy.

Alongside the architecture, Chongqing’s cuisine itself is enough to travel for; in the heart of the Sichuan region, especially famous for its signature spicy noodles and hotpots, the city’s bright lights are echoed in the fluorescent red of its noodle bowls and hotpot cauldrons. You can enjoy a bowl of Chongqing xiaomian (spicy noodles) at any time of the day—there are always makeshift tables and vats of boiling water ready to serve—or try your pick of the countless mala hotpot restaurants that line the streets.The city’s energy is one that captures the essence of modern China: industry and entrepreneurship built into a wild terrain that still manages to incorporate the country’s heritage—which has been largely erased in other cities, like Beijing. This guide is a curated selection of how to make the most of everything Chongqing has to offer.

Chongqing is widely known as the spiritual home of mala: the numbingly spicy hotpot broth that originated in Mongolia, but has now been adopted in Sichuan as a regional dish. Here, hotpot is considered a way of life, a celebratory ritual in which friends and family can bond over richly spiced broth that includes chilli peppers, spices, and Sichuan peppercorns. It’s therefore unsurprising that Chongqing is home to the largest hotpot restaurant in the world: Pipa Yuan Shiweixian, which can seat 5,800 diners at once. It’s a largely outdoor restaurant with al fresco seating perched on a hillside, giving the area its colloquial name, Hot Pot Mountain.

Traditional Chongqing hotpot uses pure beef lard as the soup base and is normally divided into nine grids for different types of raw ingredients—and for the true experience, you’ll be eating nose to tail. Beef tripe, pork trachea, pig’s blood, duck intestines, and more are all on the menu—with an umami dipping sauce of mashed garlic, sesame oil, and vinegar to complement the pungent soup base. For some, it’s a sensory overload, but it also can’t be missed while you’re in the hotpot capital of the world.

At the Liziba metro station, crowds gather daily to watch trains literally zoom through a building, a unique example of Chongqing’s cyberpunk aesthetic and how its architecture adapts to the city’s hilly terrain. To create this surreal setup, the seventh and eighth floors of the building were hollowed out to make way for the train, and soundproofing was added for its residents.

Hongya Cave is an 11-story building complex made up of restaurants, traditional medicine shops, hotels, and market stalls—all built on stilts into the mountainside, facing out onto the Jialing River. At night, it’s an especially breathtaking sight that has been likened to the imaginary town in the Studio Ghibli film Spirited Away, with businesses all lit up and stacked on top of invisible structures that blend into the hillside shadows.

After all the city’s chaos, it’s worth paying a visit to Chongqing’s relaxing hot springs: a favorite is Chongqing Bailian Hot Springs which is about an hour taxi ride away from the main city (cabs are very affordable in Chongqing). It has 18 different pools, some of which are hundreds of years old, including one in a natural underground cave—and it also offers delicious, unlimited ginger tea refills.

Head to Soloist Coffee in Yuzhong, a cliffside terrace cafe with a skyline view across the city, nestled in a quirky courtyard that used to be an old French hospital. Once you’ve had your coffee, you can wander down into the streets of Xiao Hao Li, a rebuilt Old Town area with many interesting cafes, book shops, restaurants, and street stalls to explore.
 

Spend some time in nature at this sprawling green oasis, the second largest park in the city. Spread over a thousand acres of mountainous terrain, it’s home to the stunning Hong’en Pavilion viewing platform, which is over 1,300 feet high and offers the most scenic views of the city.

On a clear day, the Yangtze River cable car is a wholesome way to enjoy aerial views of Chongqing’s unique landscape of city, sea, and mountainside in just a five-minute ride. Otherwise if you’ve got a free evening, the night cruise along the same river is a relaxing way to witness the city’s illuminated skyline.

The viewing point at the top of Raffles City mall has a mechanical swing ride that propels you to the very side of the building, giving you another spectacular view of the city. If that sounds too vertigo-inducing, though, you can walk around the glass viewing platform and peer at the city beneath your feet.

Breakfast: For breakfast, there are countless streetside stalls selling freshly steamed pork buns and fried biscuit-type snacks. These are everywhere, so keep an eye out on the streets for the metal steamer baskets stacked on top of each other outside local eateries.

Lunch: You can’t come to Chongqing without trying its famous xiaomian noodles. These are always mouth-numbing and deeply aromatic, served with toppings like braised beef or pork mince, chilli oil, and cowpeas (the milder cousin of chickpeas). They can be served with or without soup, most commonly with wheat noodles—although my favourite is the thick, flat sweet potato noodles. Go grab a bowl at TiKanMian or Ban Deng Mian, both beloved noodle houses with multiple branches across the city.

Dinner: You will never be more than 100 meters away from a hotpot restaurant in Chongqing, and chances are good that any spot you choose will be delicious—but a well-respected institution is the Zhao’er Chongqing Hotpot restaurant, where the owner famously makes the red soup base himself. For adventurous eaters, the restaurant’s hotpot specialties include cattle stomach and duck intestines.

I’d also recommend grabbing a homestyle Sichuanese meal at Jin Zhao Zui Xiao Jiu Guan, which offers regional classics like the refreshing squid ink noodles in vinegar and chilli, dry fried green beans with minced pork, and a deeply red mapo tofu served hot and bubbling.

For another local culinary experience in the nose-to-tail style, visit Ti Kan Er Xiao Jiu Guan. The casual eatery in a residential area of Chongqing serves up traditional delicacies, including sauteed frogs, stir-fried tripe, fatty pork knuckles, and pig brain noodles in tofu soup.

Dessert: Chongqing’s favourite local dessert is a bulbous rice pudding coated in a sweet, caramely glaze and known for its refreshingly simple taste. Grab a bowl at the no-frills Yanjing Liangxia Lianggao, which serves a variety of rice-based desserts with various toppings.

Bars: For a cocktail-fueled evening, Suzie’s Sky Bar has stunning views over the city from the 74th floor, with regular live music performances. It’s definitely best to come at night so you can truly appreciate the lit-up skyline.

Otherwise, for a more low-key beer, Unknown 82.5 is a vibey queer bar for locals in the know. There’s always DJ decks blasting music out onto the streets, inviting customers in to try beers from local breweries and to sit amongst the eclectic rave posters plastered on the walls.

Banyan Tree Chongqing Beibei ($$$$)
Banyan Tree is a great option if you want to enjoy nature’s tranquillity near Chongqing, rather than situate yourself in the hustle and bustle of the city. With a backdrop of Jinyun Mountain, every room looks out onto stunning hillside scenery and has a private hot spring bath.

Intercontinental Chongqing Raffles City ($$$)
Located in the high end mall Raffles City, which has the epic viewing platform mentioned above, the Intercontinental is a convenient and luxurious option to choose as your base. Its sleek, modern rooms come with cityscape views.

Glenview ITC Plaza Chongqing ($$)
This spacious hotel with modern design is centrally located, surrounded by restaurants in the heart of the central business district. The indoor pool is a peaceful way to relax after a day in the busy city.

Wuyu Hotel ($)
For a super affordable option, Wuyu Hotel is on the outskirts of the city but unbeatable in value; it has the trifecta of comfort, price point, and exceptional reviews. And while it’s not in the most central location, it’s still only about a 15-minute cab ride into the city center.

China’s official currency is the Chinese Yuan (¥). Make sure to download the app Alipay to link your international bank card to, or set up Wechat Pay through the app. Mobile payments are the most common form of payment, as very few places take international bank cards directly.

Chinese plug sockets are type A, C and I, with the most common being A.

For the best weather, visit in the spring (March to May) or fall (September to October) when temperatures are a comfortable mid range, as summers can be unbearably humid during monsoon season and winters can get extremely chilly. However, try not to schedule your visit during national holidays, when the city can become overwhelmed with domestic tourism. For example, steer clear of China’s Golden Week, normally the first week of October, when the entire country is on break.

Do be brave with what you eat! Be prepared to try everything; if the spice levels are daunting, know that many hotpot restaurants offer milder broth options.

Don’t wear white; you will inevitably spill chilli oil on yourself, whether from hotpot or noodles.

Do get a local Chinese number—you’ll need to download China-specific apps like Gao De (for maps), Didi (for taxis), and Dazhong Dianping (for restaurant recommendations), all of which usually require a local number to make an account.

Don’t get too stressed if you get lost. The city is extremely dizzying, as there are so many levels, so just know it’s part of the experience (and wear comfy walking shoes in preparation).

Do learn some Mandarin phrases or have a translation app handy, because English isn’t widely used in the city.

Don’t forget to carry around a little packet of tissues, as public toilets usually won’t provide toilet paper.

Because of Chongqing’s complicated urban planning and geography (after all, it’s known as the “Mountain City” and “8D City”), it’s one of the few places where you’ll see a building with multiple ground floors. For example, a 20-story skyscraper might have an entrance on level 1 and another on level 15, because of the city’s mountainous, vertical layout.