When visiting Chongqing for the primary time final November, Joshua Guvi was apprehensive that town he’d seen on social media couldn’t presumably be as cool in actual life.
Located in a mountainous space of southwestern China, this sprawling metropolis is understood for its advanced, multilayered format, prompting some to consult with it as China’s “8D city.” Including its rural outer areas, the entire space is the dimensions of Austria. Due to the city’s distinctive landlocked geography and speedy development, Chongqing has had nowhere to go however up, to the purpose the place one constructing even has a practice working via the center of it.
For vacationers — and even some locals — getting misplaced in serpentine, eye-popping Chongqing is a part of the enjoyable.
“It actually shot a lot over my expectations,” says Guvi, a journey content material creator from Canada.
These moments had been stitched collectively right into a video on Guvi’s YouTube channel. He wrote, “Chongqing feels like peering into the future. The neon — soaked and alive with motion. This city has its own pulse.”
Word is clearly getting out. Guvi started his journey in Shanghai, however says he shortly needed to expertise a extra authentically Chinese metropolis.
“I had heard some people talk about it (Chongqing) in Shanghai… Shanghai is an amazing city, but I was curious to see more of the actual China, versus kind of the Shanghai where you can still get by on English.”
He isn’t the one one who has been bypassing Beijing, Xi’an and different cities alongside the established Chinese vacationer route in favor of Chongqing. Tourism in Chongqing has been skyrocketing for the reason that nation reopened post-pandemic.
Social media has turn out to be the primary approach youthful vacationers study concerning the metropolis. One viral put up on Instagram exhibiting a constructing the place “you think you’re on the ground floor, but you’re actually on the 12th” has racked up greater than 17 million views.
According to data released by the Chongqing government, town welcomed about 1.3 million inbound vacationers in 2024, representing a year-on-year improve of 184%.
In the primary two months of 2025, the variety of international nationals getting into via the city’s ports elevated by 60% year-on-year, in accordance with the Chongqing Immigration Administration Bureau.
Li Tian, a supervisor at an area journey company, says that the city’s viral reputation has resulted in “a 20 to 30% increase in foreign visitors.” She added: “We host over 20,000 travelers annually, and international tourists now make up about 10%. The outlook for inbound tourism is very promising.”
In response to rising worldwide demand, the company has added English, Spanish, Thai, Japanese and Korean-language excursions.
Li says that most international vacationers usually keep in Chongqing for about 5 days.
Due to geographic proximity and reasonably priced airfare, nearly all of vacationers come from Southeast Asia, Japan and South Korea — although guests from Europe and Australia are additionally rising.
In reality, American vacationers have seen essentially the most notable improve. That’s particularly spectacular contemplating there that the only real direct flight from the US to Chongqing is a once-a-week affair on Hainan Airlines.
“At the moment, the US is the number one country in terms of our client base, making up around 20% — that’s several hundred people already,” mentioned Chen Ming, founding father of a personal journey firm established in the second half of final 12 months.
Chen launched his boutique journey company after noticing Chongqing’s surging reputation abroad. His firm specializes in custom-made full and half-day experiences for small teams of 1 to 4 individuals.
“In our first month, we only had a few orders. In the second, maybe a dozen,” Chen recollects. “Now we receive several hundred bookings every month.” He defined that the vacationer numbers fluctuate by season, amongst which, June tends to be reasonable, however December and April — round Christmas and spring break — are a lot busier.
On Chen’s web site, a few of the hottest choices embody strolling excursions of the city’s previous cities and scenic mountain climbing trails, in addition to a themed itinerary retracing the steps of in style American YouTuber IShowSpeed’s viral trip through Chongqing this April.
Other featured locations embody a decommissioned nuclear army plant, the Dazu Rock Carvings and the Wulong Three Natural Bridges — famously featured in the film “Transformers 4”.
Defining the structure of Chongqing could be a problem, many dubbing it Cyberpunk, a style of science fiction set in a lawless subculture of an oppressive society dominated by laptop know-how.
“Chongqing’s architecture style is unique,” says Matthew Blair, 34, an American who moved to town in 2009. “The concrete and mountain terrain, with lots of industrial design, make it seem like a futuristic movie set — but at night, it lights up and elevates the city into a true cyberpunk dream.”
Wan Linxin, a 27-year-old Chongqing native who beforehand studied in the United States, has turn out to be a contract tour information. He lately led a group of 20 American college college students via town.
“When I found out they were college students, I pulled out my long-forgotten Luffy straw hat,” Wan says, referencing a popular anime character who wears a safari-style hat. “Because it was a big group, I needed something for them to follow. When I held up the hat, they would call me ‘Luffy’ and trail behind.”
Wan took them on a tour that mirrored IShowSpeed’s livestream journey, together with a hillside outside escalator, a towering 20-story overpass, and the internet-famous “Kui Xing Building,” whose rooftop is a public plaza.
“They kept asking me questions,” Wan recalled. “Why is the 8th floor of one building connected to the ground floor of another? Does the monorail passing through the building disturb the residents? Why are some windows covered in cages?”
In reality, Chongqing’s distinctive multidimensional format isn’t an aesthetic design, however a necessity.
Located on the confluence of the Jialing and Yangtze rivers in China, Chongqing is sometimes called the “Mountain City.” Home to greater than 32 million residents, town stretches throughout gorges, hillsides, river valleys and a layered skyline, which experiences dramatic elevation modifications — typically spanning a number of hundred meters. The remarkably difficult geography makes conventional flatland city planning practically unattainable in Chongqing.
Instead, city capabilities are organized by top and stacked collectively — transportation techniques, residential buildings, business areas, sky gardens and pedestrian plazas all layered into the terrain.
Buildings typically function entrances on a number of flooring relying on the encompassing road degree based mostly on the terrain. As a outcome, a single high-rise may need entry-level entry on the first, twelfth, and even twentieth ground — creating what individuals name the astonishing “8D Space.”
Wan led the group of 20 American college college students to Liziba Monorail Station, one of many city’s most iconic examples of Chongqing’s distinctive architectural panorama the place the monorail passes via a residential constructing constructed into the hillside, extending alongside the Yangtze River deep into the city.
“That’s when I realized the most valuable reward of being a guide,” he added. “It’s getting to fall in love with your hometown all over again through the eyes of a traveler.”
Besides the dramatic geography and concrete visuals, Blair, who’s enthusiastic about the whole lot spicy, says the meals has stored him in Chongqing for 15 years.
“Massive amounts of street food, late night BBQ, and 2 a.m. hotpot restaurants also make CQ stand out and [are] frankly delicious,” Blair mentioned. “The locals are resilient and as spicy as their food. They are generous, loud and alive — and they make you wanna be a part of the culture.”
Like Beijing and Shanghai, Chongqing is considered one of 4 provincial-level municipalities instantly administered by China’s central authorities.
And this lesser-known financial hub in the higher reaches of the Yangtze River has quietly held its place as China’s fifth-largest economic system for the previous 5 years. Last 12 months, it even surpassed Guangzhou to rank fourth nationwide, behind solely Shanghai, Beijing and Shenzhen.
Due to its distinctive historical past and geography, town has lengthy been seen by the central authorities as a strategic stronghold for China’s “Go West” development campaign — a key inland hub linking east and west. During World War II, Chongqing served because the wartime capital because of its mountainous terrain and pure defenses. Today, remnants of wartime army websites and international embassies coexist with the city’s every day life — now you can take pleasure in hotpot in underground bomb shelters eating places.
As Chongqing has gone viral on-line, native authorities have invested closely in each financial development and cultural promotion.
In June this 12 months, Chongqing unveiled its newest high-speed railway station, spanning a complete space of 1.22 million sq. meters — roughly the dimensions of 170 commonplace soccer fields. Built to accommodate a considerably bigger quantity of passengers, it could be the most important high-speed rail station in the world ever accomplished in a single part.
As for Chongqing’s dazzling nightscape, Chongqing native Zhao Wenjing, 41, says it’s been many years in the making.
“The development of the night view in Chongqing started from when I was born – about 30 years ago,” she mentioned, “The nightscape development probably really picked up in recent years around 2019 when Chongqing started promoting tourism seriously, mainly about installing lighting factories, LED lights on buildings, and so on.”
A comprehensive lighting plan for Chongqing’s central city districts was carried out final 12 months. The metropolis is constant to develop night-view remark factors from a number of views — each from above and under — and is including illuminated outlines to landmark buildings throughout the skyline.
Independent tour information Wan additionally famous that the Chongqing authorities has been extremely proactive in selling city tourism, organizing common drone exhibits, vacation mild shows and fireworks exhibits.
During peak journey seasons, native residents even obtain textual content messages from the federal government, kindly asking them to remain house to depart extra room for vacationers visiting.
“I truly believe more and more international travelers will come,” says Zhao. “After all, Chongqing’s vibe is something that can’t be replaced anywhere else in the world.”
Meanwhile, China’s current wave of visa-free initiatives is a part of a broader push to advertise inbound journey.
Beginning in December 2023, China granted visa-free entry to residents of France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, and Malaysia. As of June 2025, China has unilaterally carried out visa-free entry for residents of 47 countries and provides visa on arrival or simplified entry insurance policies for a total of 54 nations.
Data from the Chongqing immigration bureau exhibits that in the primary two months of 2025, the variety of international nationals getting into via visa-free entry elevated by 245% year-on-year.
Guvi tells NCS that he would completely suggest town his buddies and followers.
“I wish we stayed longer,” he mentioned.