Yangtze River Cruise from Chongqing to Yichang

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Our 4-day sailing is run by Happy China Tours and is rated 4.5 from 13 reviews. It is non-refundable, so book once your dates are fixed.

The fare covers the cabin, the gorges and the main route. A cruise service charge per adult aged 12 and older is paid separately on board.

One named vessel on this route is the Yangtze Miracle, a luxury ship that sails Chongqing to Yichang in 4 days and 3 nights. A cruise-only option is the best choice when you already have hotels and trains booked in Chongqing and Yichang.

Check all departures on chongqing tours before you commit.

What you pay and what costs extra

The $1,200 fare buys the cabin and the 4-day, 3-night sailing from Chongqing to Yichang. The booking is non-refundable.

The mandatory extra is the cruise service charge per adult aged 12 and older, paid on board. The exact amount is set by the operator, not stated in the fare.

Shore excursions can add to the bill. Trips such as a boat tour on a Yangtze tributary or the Three Gorges Dam Museum are typical add-ons. Budget for at least one of them.

The gorges and the dam

The river cuts through Wushan in Chongqing's north-east and forms the three gorges: Qutang, Wu and Xiling. Qutang is the dramatic narrow entrance to the route.

The climax is the Three Gorges Dam, 687 feet high and almost one and a half miles wide, built to stop flooding and generate power. Passing through the locks takes about eight hours through roughly four locks. Most passengers watch the whole lift from the deck.

A typical shore excursion is a boat tour on a Yangtze tributary, where smaller boats take you up a side gorge. The Three Gorges Dam Museum is the other common stop.

Life on board

One traveller describes the Three Gorges scenery as spectacular and the ship buffet as ample, with varied meat, poultry and vegetable dishes. Mainstream ships on this route carry around 350 passengers, mostly Chinese with a small number of Westerners.

Days have no strict schedule beyond excursion times. Bring a book, spend the sailing hours on the top deck, and watch the cliffs. The gorges are the entertainment.

Why most people start in Chongqing

Chongqing sits on the upper Yangtze at the confluence with the Jialing River, so boarding here puts the whole gorge sequence ahead of you. You see the gorges in order, from Qutang through Wu to Xiling, then finish with the dam locks and Yichang.

Boarding in Chongqing on day one also leaves you the morning to see the city. Take Chongqing Rail Transit Line 1 to Ciqikou Station for the largest historic town in central Chongqing, or ride the Yangtze River Cableway, the first aerial passenger crossing of the river, which Tourist Bus T026 serves. Chongqing has 42 bridges over the Yangtze alone, so the view from any of them is a preview of your cruise.

Short options

The one-day Three Gorges cruise operates between Fengjie in Chongqing and Maoping in Yichang in about 7 hours and still passes Qutang, Wu and Xiling gorges. It starts mid-route, so you skip the slow upper river and the boarding night.

In the city itself, the two-river night cruise starts at Chaotianmen or Hongyadong wharf and returns to the same wharf, about 45 minutes on ordinary boats. It shows the peninsula at the Yangtze-Jialing confluence lit up after dark. Its price is not stated, so check at the wharf.

No 3-day cruise from Chongqing to Yichang is listed here, so a 3-day traveller should either take the one-day gorge cruise or add a day on either side of the short sailing.

Longer routes

Sailings between Chongqing and Yichang typically last 4 to 5 days, and longer itineraries take 11 to 12 days. A 6-day luxury one-way voyage also runs from Wuhan to Chongqing with classic Three Gorges scenery and cultural stops.

Travellers asking about Chongqing to Shanghai should know the full through route is one of these long sailings, not the standard 4-day run. If Yichang is your end point, continue by train from there.

Who should book and who should skip it

Book it if you want the Three Gorges scenery and the dam locks without planning a river trip yourself. It suits travellers with four free days and an interest in the river itself rather than city sightseeing.

Skip it if you have only one day. Take the one-day Fengjie to Maoping cruise instead and spend the rest of your time in Chongqing or on a day trip. The Wulong tourism area, about 129 km from central Chongqing on the lower Wujiang River, has Three Natural Bridges, Fairy Mountain and Furong Cave, and it fills a day well.

Also skip it if you need flexible tickets. Our 4-day cruise is non-refundable.

How to decide without a fixed season

What changes with the calendar is comfort on deck, not what you see. The cliffs of Qutang, Wu and Xiling gorges are there on every sailing, and the dam locks work every day of the year.

Practical advice: avoid booking the non-refundable $1,200 fare until your flights and trains into Chongqing are confirmed. If deck weather matters to you, ask the operator before booking which sailings they recommend for open-deck cruising.

Planning your trip around the sailing

Chongqing covers 82,400 square kilometres and the Yangtze runs 665 km through the municipality, so the city is the natural start point for the route. The central area is a peninsula at the Yangtze-Jialing confluence, which is where the river cruise life of the city is concentrated.

After the cruise ends in Yichang, many travellers loop back through Chongqing and continue west. The high-speed train from Chongqing to Chengdu reaches up to 350 km/h, which makes a gorges cruise plus a Chengdu stay an easy two-stop trip.

Book the 4-Day Yangtze River Cruise from Chongqing to Yichang once your arrival day in Chongqing is fixed, since boarding happens on day one and the fare is non-refundable.