Hongyadong

Hongyadong is one of Chongqing’s most recognizable landmarks: an eleven-story, 79-meter complex of traditional stilted buildings built directly into a cliff face overlooking the confluence of the Yangtze and Jialing rivers. The site takes its name from Hongya Gate, one of the city’s historic Ming-dynasty gates that once stood here, and from a natural cliffside cave once associated with a legendary Taoist hermit.

What visitors see today is a modern recreation rather than an original historic structure — the current building was constructed between 2002 and 2006 at a cost of around 385 million yuan, replacing the older riverside settlement of stilted houses that had stood on the site since the early 20th century. The design deliberately revives the traditional stilted-building style using the steep terrain to stack multiple levels of shops, restaurants, and bars on top of one another, with entrances on different floors depending on which street you approach from.

The complex is best known for its evening appearance, when the tiered wooden facade lights up and takes on a glow that visitors often compare to the bathhouse in Spirited Away. Inside, several themed streets cover everything from bars and hotpot restaurants to snack stalls and souvenir shops, along with panoramic viewpoints looking out over both rivers.

Entry is free, though it gets extremely busy in the evenings and around holidays — arriving well before the lights switch on around 7–7:30pm is the best way to beat the crowds. It also sits close to the starting point for river cruises along the Liangjiang (Two Rivers) route.