Dujiangyan Panda Base

The sprawling 126-acre site is divided into six separate zones dedicated to various areas of research and care. Choose from among a range of experiences at the Dujiangyan Panda Base, which spans 40 sets of enclosures, a panda hospital, a medical lab, and an educational center with a small auditorium and interactive displays covering the center’s rescue and rehabilitation efforts.

The most popular tour option is to volunteer for a day. After a physical exam to ensure you’re safe to work with the fragile bears, you’ll be outfitted in work garments and work alongside dedicated panda experts to observe and record animal behavior, clean enclosures, prepare food for the pandas, and simply explore the base.

• The panda base is a must-visit for animal lovers and families with kids.

• Book tours and activities in advance of arriving; the base allows a daily limit of 30 volunteers.

• Volunteer experiences at the panda base generally last between 6 and 9 hours.

The Dujiangyan Panda Base is located about 34 miles (55 km) from Chengdu city center. The best way to get there is to join a guided tour from Chengdu with included round-trip transportation.

The panda base is open daily from 8:30am to 5pm. Arrive early and book any special experiences in advance to avoid disappointment on the day. If possible avoid visiting on weekends and Chinese national holidays when the base can get particularly busy with domestic tourists.

The animals who live at the Dujiangyan Panda Base are there for a variety of reasons. Most are being cared for as elderly, disabled, sick, injured, or vulnerable wild pandas on the road to recovery, but some may be healthy pandas being held in quarantine before or after they leave the country.

Dujiangyan Panda Base is a giant panda education and research center about an hour from Chengdu, where the focus is on breeding, disease prevention, and educating the public. At the center you will have the opportunity to see pandas eating and playing, and you can volunteer to feed the pandas.

Yes, for an additional fee you can hold baby giant pandas at Dujiangyan Panda Base. You’ll first put on protective clothes, and then sit with and hold the black and white animals while staff use your camera to take photos and videos of you and the panda.

There are several different ways to get to Dujiangyan Panda Base. From Chengdu it will take anywhere from 1–2 hours to ride in a private car or taxi, depending on traffic. High speed trains or tourist buses also can get you there, when combined with a local taxi or bus.

Both group and private tours go to Dujiangyan Panda Base. Some offer the option to volunteer, cleaning the enclosures and feeding the giant pandas. Other tours combine a trip to the panda base with a visit to Mt. Qingcheng or a stop at the nearby Dujiangyan Irrigation System.

Visit Dujiangyan Panda Base early in the morning for feeding time—and the best chance of seeing the pandas active and moving around. Spring and fall are the most temperate seasons and are the most enjoyable for most visitors, since much of the area is outside.

Yes, Dujiangyan Panda Base is worth visiting. The base provides the chance to see endangered giant pandas playing, eating, and interacting with each other in a natural environment. You even can take opportunities to help care for pandas, as well as hold and feed one.