Kuanzhai Alley (宽窄巷子, Kuānzhǎi Xiàngzi)

Kuanzhai Alley is three parallel lanes — Wide Alley (宽巷子, Kuān Xiàngzi), Narrow Alley (窄巷子, Zhǎi Xiàngzi) and Well Alley (井巷子, Jǐng Xiàngzi) — that survive from a Qing-dynasty Manchu garrison quarter. What you walk through today is a 2008 restoration: grey brick walls, carved wooden doors, courtyard teahouses, and a very high density of gift shops selling panda merchandise.

Purists complain that it's a stage set, and they're not wrong. But the architecture is real, the proportions are lovely, and at the right hour it works beautifully. Come at 8:00 with a coffee and you'll have the lanes almost to yourself, with residents sweeping the flagstones and steam rising off breakfast woks. Come at 21:30 and the red lanterns are lit, the day-tripper buses have gone, and the courtyard bars are pleasantly loud.

The three lanes have distinct personalities. Wide Alley is the grandest and most restaurant-heavy, including several upmarket Sichuan restaurants set in old courtyards. Narrow Alley is boutique-leaning with the better independent cafés and a few small galleries. Well Alley is the modern one, built around an excavated brick wall displaying fragments from different Chengdu eras — genuinely interesting and usually empty.

Worth eating here: san da pao (三大炮, sān dà pào), glutinous rice balls slammed onto a drum before serving, around ¥15 ($2.10), and cold-dressed rabbit head if you're feeling brave. Otherwise, wander, photograph the doorways, and save your appetite for the backstreets.