The Three Gorges: What the Dam Changed and What It Didn’t

The Three Gorges Dam flooded 13 cities, 140 towns, and 1,352 villages. Between 1994 and 2009, as the reservoir filled, somewhere between 1.1 and 1.4 million people were relocated. Over 1,300 archaeological sites disappeared underwater. The gorges that Li Bai and Du Fu wrote poems about in the Tang dynasty, the limestone cliffs and river towns that had accumulated culture for 2,000 years, were permanently altered in scale. The water level rose 175 metres above the original riverbed.

This is the context you carry when you take the cruise. The scenery along the Yangtze through Qutang, Wu, and Xiling gorges is still extraordinary: sheer limestone walls, mist-filled tributary valleys, waterfalls feeding into the reservoir. But the river you’re sailing was once different, and knowing what was submerged changes how you read the landscape. The cliffs are higher than they were before the dam, because the base of the gorge floor is now under water.

The Three Gorges on a Cruise

The standard route runs 4 to 5 days between Chongqing (upstream) and Yichang (downstream), or in reverse. Most travellers start in Chongqing because that city rewards a day or two of attention on its own, and you sail eastward through each gorge in sequence.

Qutang Gorge is the shortest of the three but the most dramatic. The walls on both sides press in close and the current runs fast through the narrow channel. At around 8 km, it’s over quickly.

Wu Gorge (Wu Xia, the Witches Gorge) runs for 44 km and is the one most associated with the mythological landscape the Tang poets described. Twelve peaks line the gorge, named after a goddess from local legend. The clouds here have a habit of settling around the upper peaks in the morning and burning off by afternoon.

Xiling Gorge is the longest at 76 km. The scenery is less concentrated than Wu but the approach to the Three Gorges Dam is through this stretch.

Most cruise ships stop at smaller gorges along the way for smaller boat excursions. The Shennv Stream (Goddess Stream), a narrow tributary accessible only by shallow wooden boats, gives you the kind of close-in limestone scenery the main cruise misses. Worth doing if your ship offers it.

Ticket Prices and What to Expect (2026)

Cruise prices for the standard 4-day Chongqing to Yichang (or reverse) route start around $412 per person for budget ships and run to $1,900 and above for new luxury vessels. The mid-range options, typically $600 to $800, include meals and guided shore excursions. The shore excursion fees (the Three Gorges Dam visitor centre, Fengdu, White Emperor City) are often charged separately.

Check which excursions are included before booking. Some cruises advertise a low base price and charge extra for every stop.

White Emperor City and Fengdu: Two Sites Worth Your Time

White Emperor City (Baidicheng) sits on a small island near the mouth of Qutang Gorge. It was a military stronghold and later a memorial to a Han dynasty general who declared himself emperor here. Before the reservoir rose, it was a hilltop connected to the mainland. Now it’s an island. The isolation suits it. The buildings hold inscribed stone tablets including poetry by Li Bai and Du Fu. Li Bai’s poem “Departing from White Emperor City at Dawn” describes leaving this exact place at sunrise and is one of the most-taught poems in Chinese school curricula.

Fengdu Ghost City, on a hillside north of the Yangtze, has been associated with the Chinese afterlife for close to 2,000 years. The original town was flooded and residents relocated. The temple complex on the hill above, dedicated to the king of hell and the underworld bureaucracy, survived. The figures here are not subtle: judges, demons, the weighing of souls, the various courts of the afterlife. The religious architecture and mythology make it genuinely different from other stops on the route.

The Three Gorges Dam

The dam itself spans 2,300 metres across the Yangtze and stands over 180 metres tall. Its generating capacity is 22,500 megawatts, making it the world’s largest hydroelectric power station by installed capacity. The five-step ship lock system, which moves vessels through the 113-metre height difference between reservoir and river, takes cruise ships around 4 hours to transit. There is a separate tourist viewing area.

Whether you feel awe at the scale of the engineering or something more complicated about the scale of what was sacrificed to build it is a personal matter. Both reactions are legitimate.

Chongqing: The Starting Point That Deserves More Time

Most travellers arrive in Chongqing and board their cruise the next day. Give it two days instead. Chongqing is one of China’s most singular cities, a municipality the size of Austria built across steep ridges where two rivers meet, with no flat ground to speak of. The geography makes the city three-dimensional in a way that’s unusual even by Chinese megacity standards.

The Hongyadong complex on the river cliffs at night, with its stilted buildings lit up and the city behind it, is the obvious photo stop. The Liziba station of the rail line, where the train literally passes through an apartment building, has become famous for the right reasons.

But the main reason to spend time in Chongqing is the food.

Where to Eat in Chongqing

Chongqing hotpot is a distinct style from Sichuan hotpot, though they’re related. The base is intensely spicy, made with doubanjiang (fermented broad bean and chilli paste), dried chilies, Sichuan peppercorns, and tallow (beef fat). The numbing-spicy combination (ma la) is the defining sensation.

If you haven’t eaten much Sichuan-style food before, order a “yuan yang” pot, half spicy and half clear broth. Chongqing’s mild option is many people’s limit; the full spice level is not a mild experience. Locals dip cooked food in a bowl of sesame oil mixed with minced garlic, which genuinely balances the heat between bites.

Lao Wang Ji on Jiefangbei, one of Chongqing’s oldest hotpot restaurants, is the kind of place where the waitstaff move fast, the broth is properly made, and you’re surrounded by locals eating at full intensity. Budget around 100 to 200 yuan per person including drinks.

For something lighter, xiao mian (Chongqing noodles with a spiced oil dressing, topped with scallion and pickled vegetables) is the breakfast food the city is as proud of as the hotpot. Street stalls and small shops serve it in the morning for under 15 yuan.

Where to Stay

Chongqing: The Raffles Chongqing or W Chongqing put you in the Jiefangbei CBD for good city access. Mid-range, the hotel belt along Nanbin Road on the south bank has river views and is quieter than the centre.

Yichang: Most travellers exit the cruise at Yichang and fly or train out. The city doesn’t need more than a night. Hotels near the train station (the Three Gorges Tourist Area high-speed rail station) make the most sense. Crowne Plaza Yichang is the reliable international-brand option.

Practical Tips

• The cruise direction matters less than you’d think for the scenery; you pass the same gorges either way. Downstream (Chongqing to Yichang) is very slightly faster, which means a bit less time per gorge but no significant difference in what you see.
• The April to May and September to October shoulder seasons give milder weather and some river mist in the mornings, which suits the landscape better than the flat summer light of July and August.
• Mobile internet in China requires a Chinese SIM or a VPN on your home plan. Most Western apps (Google Maps, WhatsApp) are blocked in China. Download offline maps via MAPS.ME or similar before you arrive.
• WeChat Pay and Alipay are the standard payment methods in China. Foreign visitors can now link international bank cards to WeChat Pay with some setup steps. Cash is increasingly difficult to use in shops and restaurants; have a payment solution ready before you board.
• Layers are necessary. The gorge climate runs cool in the morning and warm by afternoon, and the ship air conditioning is often aggressive.

The Three Gorges is one of those places where knowing its history makes the experience significantly richer rather than just sadder. The submerged towns, the relocated communities, the engineering scale, and the ancient landscape that remains above the waterline all sit together in an uncomfortable and interesting combination. It’s worth spending time with that complexity rather than filtering it out for a cleaner narrative.