I have an award ticket I'm looking at booking and I'll have the option to have 36 hours either in Chengdu or Chongqing. My main interests are photography and food with history following behind those two, so I'm looking at which has the best options.

Chengdu looks more modern (layout wise) and from what I read, has better food. They also have the pandas for what it's worth.
Chongqing looks hilly and, on paper, looks like an interesting city. I've read it's a bit more raw than Chengdu but have also read that the food quality isn't quite as good.

Both offer TWOV and hotel prices are pretty similar, so that's good at least. The flight back to the states from Chengdu is a bit less desirable as it gets me into JFK at midnight, where as Chongqing allows me to connect to a redeye in First, which isn't horrible.

Which would you choose? Any short day trips for some nice landscapes from either city that I could do instead? Wulong Mountain Forest Park looks interesting and appears to be doable from Chongqing.