The Shunan Bamboo Sea covers 120 square kilometres of southern Sichuan near Yibin, entirely carpeted in bamboo of a density and scale that has few equivalents anywhere. The same bamboo-canopy scenery was used as a filming location for Ang Lee's Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, and the association has not harmed visitor numbers. But the forest is the thing itself, not its cinematic reputation: walking through it on a windy day, when the canopy moves in waves and the light filters green through overlapping stems, is a specific and memorable experience.
The park has two cable car systems offering elevated views across the bamboo canopy, several walking routes through the forest interior, and waterfalls and lakes that are considerably more impressive in winter when water levels rise. The Emerald Gallery — the tunnel walk through the densest bamboo — is the single most-photographed path, and the Colorful Waterfall is most impressive in the cooler months when water levels are higher. The summer months bring lower water levels and higher visitor numbers; the park's own advice to arrive before 6am to beat the tour groups is sound and the early morning light in the bamboo is genuinely worth the effort.
Getting here from Chengdu involves a bus to Yibin, the nearest city, and then a local bus to the park's western gate. From Chongqing a direct bus takes four to five hours. The park entrance costs ¥121 and the cable cars add another ¥40 to ¥70. The area around the western gates has several small guesthouses; the Jin Xin Yuan, run by English-speaking staff, is the most useful for independent travellers.
Yibin, as the closest city, also offers access to the nearby Dazu rock carvings — a separate site in what was formerly Chongqing's administrative area — making the southern Sichuan corner more productive as a two or three day excursion from Chengdu than a single-day trip for the bamboo alone.