Chaotianmen Square and the Two-Rivers Confluence

What you’ll do

Open public square at Chaotianmen where the muddy Yangtze and the clearer Jialing meet and the colour line shifts by season.

Best for

Travellers who want to stand at the meeting point of the two rivers and understand the city layout.

Travel party

Solo, Couple, Family, Friends

Skip this if

Anyone who has already booked a night cruise that passes here

How long

60–120 min

Cost per person

CNY 0

When it opens

open access

Best time to go

after 19:00 when the light show runs

Do I need to book?

Not required

How early?

not needed

Can foreign visitors join?

easy

Language help

medium

How to book

not required

Where to book

We have not found a booking option we are confident recommending yet.

How we checked it

Verified · 2026-09-26

Chaotianmen Square is free and open around the clock, which Ctrip's attraction page, Tongcheng and traveller guides all agree on, and no booking is needed. It sits at the tip of the Yuzhong peninsula where the green Jialing and the silt-heavy Yangtze meet, with Raffles City directly behind it, and one to two hours is a realistic stop. The best window is roughly 16:30-21:00, when the two-tone confluence reads clearly and the riverfront lighting comes on about 19:30. Metro Line 1 to Chaotianmen exit 4, or about ten minutes on foot from Xiaoshizi. Two things are worth telling readers: the square faces the back of Raffles City, so anyone who wants the full frontal skyline should cross to the Danzishi riverbank or Nanbin Road instead, and the drone light shows over the two rivers are usually staged on Saturdays around 20:30, when the square gets very crowded. It is also the departure point for the two-rivers night cruises, which are a separate record.

Trip.com source ↗ · checked 2026-09-26