A family of panda-themed trains built around Sichuan hospitality. The flagship Jinxiu Tianfu is a Song-dynasty-inspired mobile gallery: 18 cars, 46 en-suite rooms, and a welcome car that sets the tone the moment you step aboard.
The Panda Express boards from Chengdu, its home, with Lanzhou, Xining and Kashgar as joining points on the long Xinjiang circuit. It is the friendliest welcome in the fleet: folk song-and-dance at the station, porters on hand for the luggage, and on the Jinxiu Tianfu, a double-door welcome car where one side is a Song-dynasty tea room and the other a modern water bar. Your butler escorts you to your room and a porter sees your cases aboard.
The flagship Jinxiu Tianfu runs 46 en-suite rooms in two tiers, all in a Shujin-and-Song-aesthetic of indigo blue, warm apricot and crimson:
The Chengdu train runs 18 cars and 54 rooms with a mountain-and-river motif in glazed blue, while the Shifang train carries 466 guests across soft and hard sleeper tiers. Every room has smart climate control and quiet acoustic paneling.
The JinShi dining car seats 54 across nine four-person and nine two-person tables, with a Michelin-grade kitchen and a walk-in restroom at one end. The menu is a Sichuan-led banquet that shifts with the province outside, stir-fried local greens, noodle soups, and a proper Sichuan hotpot night on the long runs, with milder versions for children and older guests. On the Shifang train, the Panda dining car pairs two-person and four-person tables with regional favourites.
The JinJi entertainment car is where the journey unwinds: a mahjong and chess room, a tea room, an observation lounge for the scenery, and a hands-on craft corner where you can try Shu embroidery and bamboo weaving. The welcome car runs tea tastings on one side and cocktails on the other, and folk performances and a Silk Road concert fill the evenings. On the Shifang train, the entertainment car layers in a tea bar, KTV and a cigar bar.
Two guides, a train butler and a porter travel with the group, with medical staff on board throughout. The pace is deliberately gentle: travel by night, explore by day, with shorter transfers and more time on the ground, tuned for older travellers and families. Intangible-heritage sessions and a historian-narrated look at the Silk Road give the days a cultural thread.
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Editorial standards: room tiers, car layout, dining and service details verified against operator specifications and multiple published sources as of August 2026. Configurations can vary by departure and are confirmed at enquiry.
