Answer:

There are no material differences whether you sail from Chongqing to Yichang/Wuhan (going downstream) or from Yichang/Wuhan to Chongqing (going upstream). In the cruises of both directions, the ship tries to pass the most splendid part of the gorges in the day time. However, the following differences are still worth considering when you decide which to take.

- Shore excursions. The places that a ship will stop for shore excursions are the Ghost City, the Wan county, the Shibaozhai, the White Emperor City, the Lesser Three Gorges, the Shennong Stream, the Three Gorges dam site, the Jingzhou and the Yueyang Tower. Every ship has its own itinerary and wont cover them all. Even as to a single ship, itineraries of upstream and downstream sailings are also probably different. Take the itinerary of Regal China in 2003 for an instance. The shore excursions are to the Ghost City, the Shennong Stream and the Three Gorges dam site when the ship sails downstream and to the Three Gorges dam site, the Lesser Three Gorges and Wan county when sailing upstream.

- Time. Sailings upstream take one or two more days than sailings downstream.
- Price. Price of upstream sailings is lower than that of downstream sailings for large part of the ships.