Horse trekking into the woods and mountains is the main draw of the laid-back, historic town of Sōngpān (松潘), a holdover from its role as a major trading centre on the Tea Horse Road (茶马路, Chá Mǎ Lù). The hiking is also good, so there's a healthy backpacker population to swap travel tales with.

A cool, misty retreat from Sìchuān basin’s heat, stunning Éméi Shān (峨眉山; 3099m) is one of China’s four sacred Buddhist Mountains (the others being Pǔtuó Shān, Wǔtái Shān and Jiǔhuá Shān). A farmer built the first Buddhist temple near Jīndǐng summit in the 1st century, marking Buddhism's arrival in the Eastern world.

An endless sea of black-tile roofs with waves of swooping eaves, flagstone streets lined with tiny shops, and temples atop hills of mist overlooking the river. It's all here in the town of Lángzhōng (阆中), Sìchuān’s capital city for 20 years during the Qing dynasty and now home to the province’s largest grouping of extant traditional architecture.

Jiǔzhàigōu National Park (九寨沟风景名胜区), an enchanting Unesco World Heritage Site, is one of Sìchuān’s and even China's star attractions. More than two million people visit annually to gawk at its famous bluer-than-blue lakes, rushing waterfalls and deep woodlands backlit by snowy mountain ranges.