Chongqing sells you four different ways to look at itself from above, and almost every guide ranks them by height, which is the least useful way to choose.
The paid decks are not versions of the same product. One is a cheap rooftop with a 360-degree view. One is the tallest building and comes with a bar. One is basically a theme park bolted to a skybridge. One is a hill across the river.
I went up two of them on my last trip: Cloud Eye in the early evening, then WFC after dinner for drinks. I skipped Raffles City on purpose because I am bad with heights, and I have not done Nanshan One Tree at all. So this page is written from two decks I have stood on and two I have not, and I will flag which is which as I go.
The four decks at a glance
Checked against Ctrip listings on 2 October 2026.
| Deck | Price | What it actually is | Choose it if |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cloud Eye, 67F | from ¥68 | open-air roof deck with a 360-degree view over both rivers, plus an indoor glass level below | you want the widest view for the least money |
| WFC Huixianlou, 73–75F | ¥118 | the city’s highest enclosed viewpoint, indoor glass on 73 and 74, an open-air platform on 75, and a bar on 74 | you want a skyline-bar evening or genuinely need the highest angle |
| Raffles City Exploration Deck | ¥128, ¥198 with the skywalk | a 250-metre glass skybridge linking four towers, with a themed exhibition and an optional harnessed walk on the bridge roof | you want the thrill, not just the view |
| Nanshan One Tree | ¥28 | a hilltop platform across the river, the classic postcard frame of the whole peninsula | you are hunting one specific photo and have time for a taxi |
Cloud Eye — the one I would send most people to
I went up after 17:30, watched the daylight drain out of the city, and was back down on the street in time for a late dinner. That timing is the whole recommendation.
Cloud Eye sits on the 67th floor of the United International building on Xinhua Road. The view runs a full 360 degrees, so you get the two-river confluence and the Raffles towers on one side and the Jiefangbei skyline on the other, and you do not have to choose between them.
It is lower than WFC, which sounds like a downgrade until you realise you are looking across at the skyline rather than down on it.
It is also the cheapest of the paid decks, at about ¥68, and it is open late — until 23:00, with last entry at 22:30. That combination is why it is my default answer. You spend less here than on any other deck and you still get the night view people come to Chongqing for.
Two practical bonuses. It pairs with the Yangtze River Cableway as a combined ticket for about ¥98, and the routing works in your favour: Hongyadong sits just down the hill from the building, so the famous lit-up view is a short walk from the lift ride, not a separate expedition.
WFC Huixianlou — the highest, and the one with a bar
I like rooftop bars in Shanghai, so WFC was my own choice rather than a box to tick. It is the tallest vantage point in the city: floors 73 to 75 of a 339-metre building, 590 metres above sea level, directly over Jiefangbei.
Here is what nobody tells you about it. The deck is spread over several levels — indoor glass on 73 and 74, and an open-air platform on 75.
I spent my evening on 74, where the Suzie’s Sky Bar pours cocktails at roughly ¥60 to 120, and the whole thing works as a night out rather than a photo stop. You buy a drink, the city does its light show around you, and it feels like a proper evening.
That is also exactly why I would tell most people to think twice. If you do not care about skyline bars, do not drink, and are not moved by that particular atmosphere, the extra money over Cloud Eye buys you a higher floor and not much else. The cocktails themselves are serviceable, nothing more — nobody has ever gone to a rooftop bar for the mixology.
If you do want it, aim for the 17:00 to 18:30 window so you catch sunset rolling into the lights, or go late and lean into the bar. Last entry is 21:30 and it closes at 22:00, which is earlier than Cloud Eye.
Raffles City — the one I skipped, and why
I have not been up this one, and the reason is simple: I am scared of heights, and Raffles City is the deck built for people who are not.
It is a 250-metre glass skybridge laid across the tops of four towers at Chaotianmen, with a glass floor over the river confluence and a themed exhibition route on the ground level. On top of the bridge there is a harnessed skywalk led by staff, and alongside it a two-person swing over the river and other rides.
That is not an observation deck with some extras bolted on. It is an amusement park with a view, and it is priced like one — ¥128 for the deck, ¥198 if you want the skywalk.
None of that is a criticism. If you are the kind of person who books skydives, this is the deck in Chongqing built for you, and you will get better stories here than anywhere else in the city.
Just know what you are paying for: if you skip the skywalk and the rides, you are paying more than Cloud Eye for a lower vantage point, and the unique part — the horizontal skyscraper itself — is best appreciated from outside anyway.
One language note from the listings: the exhibition captions are mostly in Chinese, so do not come expecting a museum experience in English.
Nanshan One Tree — the one I have not done
This is the only deck on this page I cannot write about from experience, so I will keep it to what it is and let you decide.
It is a hilltop platform across the river in Nan’an district, and it delivers the shot you have already seen a hundred times without knowing it: the whole Yuzhong peninsula lit up and reflected in the river. It is also the cheapest at ¥28. What it costs you instead is time — there is no direct metro, so it is a taxi up the hill or a long climb on foot, and the last entry is 22:30.
I did not know about it when I planned my own evenings, which is the honest reason I missed it. If I were going back specifically for photography rather than for a night out, I would pick this one over everything above.
Free viewpoints worth doing anyway
Before you spend anything, remember what Chongqing gives away. Hongyadong at night with the Qiansimen bridge beside it is free, and the lights run from around 19:00 until 23:00 in summer, a half hour earlier in winter.
Chaotianmen Square at the tip of the peninsula is free too, and it puts you underneath the Raffles towers rather than on top of them.
My honest advice is to do these first. is to do these first. If the free version of the night view satisfies you, the paid decks become a choice rather than an obligation — and if it does not, you now know exactly which one to pay for.
Tickets, timing and getting there
- Tickets are walk-up friendly. Every deck sells e-tickets with a QR code, and the booking pages are mostly in Chinese, but you do not need a Chinese card — this is what your Alipay setup is for.
- Aim for the dusk window. Roughly 17:30 to 19:00 gets you daylight, sunset and the lights in one visit. Chongqing’s haze is real, so a clear evening beats a tall deck on a grey one.
- Watch the closing times. Cloud Eye runs latest at 23:00. WFC stops entry at 21:30, and Raffles City stops selling tickets at 21:00.
- Give yourself more time between stops than the map suggests. This is a vertical city, and the distance between two places on the same peninsula can include a lift, a bridge and a hill.
My take
The mistake people make with Chongqing is treating the decks as competing for one prize. They are four different evenings. Cloud Eye is the cheap, wide, open-air one. WFC is the tallest, and it earns its price only if you will actually sit at the bar and enjoy it. Raffles City is for people who want their view with adrenaline attached. Nanshan is for the photograph.
I paid for the first two and would do exactly the same again. Start with Hongyadong on the ground, go up Cloud Eye for the wide view, and save WFC for the night you want to drink with the city underneath you.