Last updated: 1 October 2026
Direct answer. Base in Yuzhong for the old city, Hongyadong and Jiefangbei; in Nan'an for the Yangtze shoreline and Nanbin Road; in Shapingba for the red-tourism sites and the west; in Jiangbei for Guanyinqiao and its listed anchors; and in Yubei or Liangjiang for the airport side.
Which Chongqing district to base yourself in — the peninsula, the south bank, the west or the airport side — and what each one officially holds.
Every area name, district figure, scenic-area listing and hotel figure below comes from official Chinese-language sources: the Chongqing Municipal Commission of Culture and Tourism Development (its accommodation and sightseeing pages), the official portals of the Yuzhong, Nan'an and Shapingba district governments, and the municipal government's English portal. Those pages are in Chinese; the quotations and paraphrases here are this page's own translation, and the Chinese original governs. All sources were retrieved on 1 October 2026 and are listed at the end.
Chongqing is a municipality directly under the central government, not a city inside a province, and the municipal government's English portal describes it as the only such municipality in central and western China and one of the country's largest cities by area and by population. Its centre is a peninsula where the Yangtze and the Jialing meet, and the built-up area spreads far beyond it in every direction.
Two figures from the municipal culture and tourism commission set the scale for anyone choosing a base:
The consequence is the planning problem this page answers. The city is too big for one base to serve everything, and the district you pick decides what your days look like far more than the hotel does.
Two things Chongqing needs are already covered elsewhere on this site, so this page does not repeat them:
What is left is the part those pages do not answer: which district to sleep in, and what each district actually holds.
One method note up front. The descriptions of what each district holds, and every figure attached to them, are the districts' own or the municipal commission's own, quoted or closely paraphrased. The guidance on which base suits which trip is ours and is labelled as ours where it appears. No source retrieved for this page ranks the districts against each other.
This table is ours. It is built from what the official sources list inside each district, not from any ranking.
| Base | What official sources put there | Good base if |
|---|---|---|
| Yuzhong | The peninsula between the two rivers, the historic old city, and the district's own list of headline sights including Jiefangbei, Hongyadong, the Yangtze Cableway and Liziba station | You want the classic first-visit Chongqing on foot |
| Nan'an | The south bank of the Yangtze, Nanbin Road, the Nanshan area, and the city's eastern rail hub | You want river views and a calmer base across the water |
| Shapingba | The west of the central city, the war-of-resistance and red-tourism sites, and the logistics and science corridor | You are here for the historical sites or for business in the west |
| Jiangbei | Guanyinqiao and the science museum, both on the municipal A-level list, plus rated hotels | You want a second commercial centre rather than the peninsula |
| Yubei / Liangjiang | The airport side, plus several 4A attractions and the exhibition and theme-park cluster | You have an early flight or are working near the airport |
Yuzhong is the district the city grew from. Its own overview describes it as sitting where the Yangtze and the Jialing meet, "ringed by two rivers and shaped like a peninsula", with a water-and-land area of 23.24 square kilometres of which 20.08 square kilometres is land, 11 sub-district offices, 79 community committees and one community workstation, and a resident population of about 574,000. The same overview calls the eastern part of the peninsula the birthplace of a three-thousand-year-old city, and notes that the old walled city was enclosed by seventeen gates.
The district's own "must-visit" list is the most useful thing for a traveller picking a base, because it is the district's selection rather than a commercial one:
| Anchor | What the district's own page says |
|---|---|
| Jiefangbei | The city's landmark monument. Construction began on 12 March 1940 and it was completed at the end of 1941, named the "Spiritual Fortress", and renamed the Victory Memorial after the war |
| Hongyadong | Formerly one of the old city gates, on the riverside where the two rivers meet, now a sightseeing and leisure area |
| Yangtze Cableway | Opened 24 October 1987, described as the first aerial corridor across the Yangtze; the district gives annual visitor numbers above 4 million |
| Liziba station | On Metro Line 2, described as the first straddle-type monorail elevated station in China built together with a commercial and residential building, completed in March 2004, with a 3,100 square metre footprint and 6,000 square metres of floor area |
| Zhongshan 4th Road | About 1,000 metres long, running from the Shangqingsi roundabout to the Zhou Enlai bronze |
The district also lists traditional quarters with their own official areas, among them Shancheng Lane (5.2 hectares), the Daitong Street area (6.5 hectares), the Liziba area (15.1 hectares) and the Great Hall of the People and Ma'anshan area (8.2 hectares). If you want to be inside the old city rather than beside it, this is the district to search in.
Nan'an faces the peninsula across the Yangtze, and its district government publishes the fullest area description of the four central districts. Its overview, dated 28 February 2026, gives 262.41 square kilometres, eight sub-districts and seven towns, a registered population of 830,000 and a resident population of 1,213,700, and an urbanisation rate of 97.03 per cent.
What matters for a base:
Shapingba sits in the west of the central city. Its district government gives an area of 396 square kilometres, 26 towns and sub-districts (including four under the high-tech zone), an urbanisation rate of 97.24 per cent, a resident population of 1,494,300 and a registered population of 1,005,300, with 2025 gross domestic product of 132.26 billion yuan.
Its own description is the reason to consider it: the district calls itself a major district for science, education, culture and health, the main ground of the Western (Chongqing) Science City, the starting point of the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor, a core birthplace of Bayu culture, an important birthplace of the war-of-resistance culture and an important birthplace of the Hongyan spirit. It states it holds over 70 war-of-resistance sites, including the Lin Garden where the Chongqing negotiations took place, and that Baigongguan and Zhazidong are national red-tourism and patriotism-education sites.
For a visitor, that makes Shapingba a base for the historical side of the city rather than the riverside one.
Neither the Jiangbei nor the Yubei district government portal could be reached for this page, so the anchors below are the ones the municipal culture and tourism commission lists inside those districts, with the commission's own rating dates. They are listed as the commission lists them, not as a recommendation.
| District | Anchors on the municipal A-level list |
|---|---|
| Jiangbei | Chongqing Science and Technology Museum (4A, rated September 2010); the Guanyinqiao business-district tourism area (4A, September 2010); Tieshanping Forest Park (4A, April 2014) |
| Yubei | Liangjiang International Film City (4A, December 2017); Jihua Park (4A, September 2019); Longxing Ancient Town (3A, December 2007); Chongqing Crocodile Centre (3A, December 2006) |
| Liangjiang New Area | Chongqing Garden Expo Park (4A, May 2014); Chongqing Happy Valley (4A, November 2019); the bonded-zone experience tourism area (4A, December 2018); Baolin Museum (3A, July 2013) |
The municipal rated-hotel list also places star-rated hotels in Jiangbei, and places several in Yubei and Liangjiang New Area. If your trip is built around the airport, this is the side of the city to look at.
The same commission page that carries the hotel list also profiles the municipality's national-level tourist resorts. These sit well outside the central city and are a different kind of trip:
| Resort | County | What the commission states |
|---|---|---|
| Nantian Lake | Fengdu | Planned area 15.95 square kilometres, elevation 1,400–2,000 metres, average summer temperature 20 °C, winter minimum −10 °C, forest coverage 87.6 per cent; designated a national tourist resort in December 2020 and a national sports-tourism demonstration base in December 2022 |
| Huangshui | Shizhu | 9.23 square kilometres, average elevation 1,500 metres, forest coverage 85 per cent, average summer temperature 21 °C; the commission counts four high-quality hotels and over 500 restaurants |
| Fairy Mountain | Wulong | Elevation 1,100–1,700 metres, annual average temperature 17.4 °C, planned area 68 square kilometres with 15 square kilometres built up; the commission describes it as the first national-level tourist resort in Chongqing, with 630,000 square metres of commercial and hotel facilities, over 20,000 rooms and 30,000 beds, eight commercial streets and 15 parks |
Distances and travel times to these resorts are stated by the commission and are reproduced here only where the commission states them, such as Nantian Lake being 160 kilometres from the main urban area of Chongqing and Huangshui being 30 kilometres from Huangshui station.
The commission's accommodation page carries a current citywide list of star-rated tourist hotels, arranged by district and county, with a serial number, the district, the property and a telephone number. Three things about it are worth knowing before you use it:
The same page carries a separate graded-homestay list using three grades, with the district and the designation date for each entry. Its entries are concentrated outside the central districts.
Chongqing's geography does most of the work here. The peninsula is walkable in its central part; everything across a river is a bridge or a crossing away; and the district sources describe their own connections. Two rules of thumb that follow from the sources rather than from us:
For the airport run specifically, use the Chongqing airport guide rather than any figure here; it is sourced from the airport group and the metro operator.
Yuzhong. It is the peninsula where the Yangtze and the Jialing meet, and the district's own overview places the historic old city, the Jiefangbei monument, Hongyadong and the Yangtze Cableway inside it. The same overview describes it as the eastern part of the peninsula being where the three-thousand-year-old city began.
The peninsula puts the classic sights within walking distance of each other. The south bank, in Nan'an, is where the district government reports 51 kilometres of Yangtze riverfront, Nanbin Road — described by the district as "Chongqing's Bund" — and the Nanshan area with a 60 per cent forest coverage rate. The trade is convenience against river views and a quieter base, and which one wins depends on whether you are sightseeing or staying put.
The airport side of the city is Yubei and Liangjiang New Area, north of the rivers. The municipal A-level list places several attractions there, including Liangjiang International Film City and Chongqing Happy Valley, and the municipal rated-hotel list places star-rated properties in Yubei and Liangjiang New Area as well as in Jiangbei. For the airport run itself, use the site's Chongqing airport guide.
122 as of January 2026, according to the municipal culture and tourism commission: 25 five-star, 39 four-star, 51 three-star and 7 two-star. The commission publishes them as a district-by-district list. It is a rating list rather than a ranking, and graded homestays are kept on a separate list.
Yes. The commission profiles three national-level tourist resorts — Nantian Lake in Fengdu, Huangshui in Shizhu and Fairy Mountain in Wulong — all well outside the central city. Fairy Mountain is described there as the first national-level tourist resort in Chongqing, with over 20,000 rooms and 30,000 beds in the resort.
All sources retrieved 1 October 2026. This page is an independent reading of the sources listed; the official pages themselves are the specification.
| Fact used on this page | Source |
|---|---|
| S1 — Chongqing as the only municipality directly under the central government in central and western China and one of the country's largest cities by area and population; the municipal English portal's service navigation including a "Stay in Chongqing" page | Chongqing Municipal People's Government, English portal (retrieved 2026-10-01) https://english.cq.gov.cn/ |
| S2 — 329 A-level scenic areas citywide as of December 2025 — 12 at 5A, 165 at 4A, 111 at 3A, 40 at 2A, 1 at 1A; the commission's A-level list giving each area's district or county, grade, rating date and address — from which this page takes: Hongyadong as an A-level area in Yuzhong at the meeting of the two rivers; the Great Hall of the People and People's Square (Yuzhong, 4A, November 2002); the Hongyan Revolution Memorial Hall (Yuzhong, 4A, December 2005); the Huguang Guild Hall (Yuzhong, 4A, November 2006); the Chongqing Science and Technology Museum (Jiangbei, 4A, September 2010); the Guanyinqiao business-district tourism area (Jiangbei, 4A, September 2010); Tieshanping Forest Park (Jiangbei, 4A, April 2014); Nanshan Botanical Garden (Nan'an, 4A, December 2003); the Caribbean Water Park (Nan'an, 4A, November 2011); the Changjiahui Danzishi Old Street (Nan'an, 4A, September 2017); Geleshan Forest Park (Shapingba, 4A, November 2002); the Geleshan Martyrs' Cemetery (Shapingba, 4A, March 2003); Ciqikou Ancient Town (Shapingba, 4A, November 2006); Liangjiang International Film City (Yubei, 4A, December 2017); Jihua Park (Yubei, 4A, September 2019); Longxing Ancient Town (Yubei, 3A, December 2007); Chongqing Crocodile Centre (Yubei, 3A, December 2006); Chongqing Garden Expo Park (Liangjiang New Area, 4A, May 2014); Chongqing Happy Valley (Liangjiang New Area, 4A, November 2019); the bonded-zone experience tourism area (Liangjiang New Area, 4A, December 2018); Baolin Museum (Liangjiang New Area, 3A, July 2013) | Chongqing Municipal Commission of Culture and Tourism Development — sightseeing page, Chinese (retrieved 2026-10-01) https://whlyw.cq.gov.cn/zjwl/yzq/ |
| S3 — 122 star-rated tourist hotels citywide as of January 2026 — 25 five-star, 39 four-star, 51 three-star, 7 two-star; the list's structure (serial number, district or county, property, star rating, telephone) and the presence of rated hotels in the five central districts including Yuzhong, Jiangbei, Nan'an, Shapingba and Yubei and in Liangjiang New Area; the separate graded-homestay list with three grades and district-and-date entries concentrated outside the central districts; the three national-level tourist resorts with the figures quoted on this page — Nantian Lake in Fengdu (planned area 15.95 square kilometres, elevation 1,400–2,000 metres, average summer temperature 20 °C, winter minimum −10 °C, forest coverage 87.6 per cent, national tourist resort December 2020, national sports-tourism demonstration base December 2022, 160 kilometres from the main urban area); Huangshui in Shizhu (9.23 square kilometres, average elevation 1,500 metres, forest coverage 85 per cent, average summer temperature 21 °C, four high-quality hotels, over 500 restaurants, 30 kilometres from Huangshui station); Fairy Mountain in Wulong (elevation 1,100–1,700 metres, annual average temperature 17.4 °C, planned area 68 square kilometres, built-up area 15 square kilometres, first national-level tourist resort in Chongqing, 630,000 square metres of commercial and hotel facilities, over 20,000 rooms and 30,000 beds, eight commercial streets, 15 parks totalling over 2,500 mu) | Chongqing Municipal Commission of Culture and Tourism Development — accommodation page, Chinese (retrieved 2026-10-01) https://whlyw.cq.gov.cn/zjwl/zzq/ |
| S4 — Yuzhong District: position where the Yangtze and the Jialing meet, "ringed by two rivers and shaped like a peninsula"; water-and-land area 23.24 square kilometres of which 20.08 square kilometres is land; 11 sub-district offices, 79 community committees and one community workstation; resident population about 574,000; the eastern peninsula as the birthplace of the three-thousand-year-old city and the old walled city's seventeen gates; Jiefangbei (construction begun 12 March 1940, completed end of 1941, named the "Spiritual Fortress", renamed the Victory Memorial after the war); Hongyadong; the Yangtze Cableway (opened 24 October 1987, first aerial corridor across the Yangtze, over 4 million visitors a year); Liziba station on Metro Line 2 (first straddle-type monorail elevated station in China built together with a commercial and residential building, completed March 2004, 3,100 square metre footprint, 6,000 square metres of floor area); Zhongshan 4th Road (about 1,000 metres, from the Shangqingsi roundabout to the Zhou Enlai bronze); traditional quarters with their official areas — Shancheng Lane 5.2 hectares, Daitong Street area 6.5 hectares, Liziba area 15.1 hectares, Great Hall of the People and Ma'anshan area 8.2 hectares | Yuzhong District People's Government, district overview page, Chinese (retrieved 2026-10-01) http://www.cqyz.gov.cn/zjyz/ |
| S5 — Nan'an District: overview dated 28 February 2026 — area 262.41 square kilometres, eight sub-districts and seven towns, registered population 830,000, resident population 1,213,700, urbanisation rate 97.03 per cent; located in the core of the "two rivers, four banks" area; western China's largest high-speed railway hub, Chongqing East Station, located in the district; 13 Yangtze bridges including Caiyuanba, Chaotianmen and Dongshuimen; 12 metro lines and 150 kilometres planned against four lines and 47 kilometres built; 15 minutes to Jiangbei International Airport; 2025 gross domestic product 120.06 billion yuan, up 5 per cent, with foreign trade up 35.5 per cent; over 70 natural and over 90 cultural sights, four of the old "Twelve Views of Bayu"; Nanshan area forest coverage 60 per cent and the descriptions "flower crown of the mountain city" and "green lung of the central city"; 51 kilometres of Yangtze riverfront with Nanbin Road known as "Chongqing's Bund" | Nan'an District People's Government, district overview page, Chinese (retrieved 2026-10-01) https://www.cqna.gov.cn/zjna/nagk/ |
| S6 — Shapingba District: area 396 square kilometres, 26 towns and sub-districts including four under the high-tech zone, urbanisation rate 97.24 per cent, resident population 1,494,300, registered population 1,005,300, 2025 gross domestic product 132.26 billion yuan; described as the main ground of the Western (Chongqing) Science City and the starting point of the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor; a core birthplace of Bayu culture and an important birthplace of the war-of-resistance culture and of the Hongyan spirit; over 70 war-of-resistance sites including the Lin Garden; Baigongguan and Zhazidong as national red-tourism and patriotism-education sites | Shapingba District People's Government, district profile page, Chinese (retrieved 2026-10-01) http://www.cqspb.gov.cn/zjsq/ |
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