2 Days Mount Jiuhua Buddhism Tour

Full Itinerary Day by day

Day 1 Mount Jiuhua Arrival & Tour (L)

Welcome to holy Buddhist mountain - Mount Jiuhua. Upon arrival, your tour guide and driver will meet you at the Chizhou Jiuhuashan Airport or Jiuhuashan Railway Station, and then escort you to Mount Jiuhua directly.

First, you will drive to Great Vow Culture Park at the north foot of Mount Jiuhua to start your Buddhism exploration. You can take tourist bus to witness the 99-meter Golden Statue of Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva, a new pilgrimage landmark of Mount Jiuhua and the tallest outdoor bronze Buddhist statue in the world. Beyond the spacious square, archways, bridges, clear ponds, the most impressive sight is the giant Buddhist statue standing before layered majestic green mountains.

Then transfer to Jiuhua Street, the core scenic area where most Buddhist temples locate. Take a cable car up to Longevity Palace, a Ming Dynasty five-storey ancient Buddhist temple on a hilltop (elevation: 871m). The temple, built in Southern Anhui folk residence style, is a major must-visit Buddhist temple of Mount Jiuhua, most famed for consecrating the intact saint corporeal body of monk Haiyu (style name: Wuxia) in the Incarnation Hall. He once spent over 20 years copying the Avatamsaka Sutra with his blood of tongue and gold powder here. You can get a grand view of Jiuhua Street and see 500 life-like statues of Arhats in different gestures and looks in the Hall of Five Hundred Arhats, a unique sight that can only be seen in Mount Jiuhua. Walk to the observation deck to view the undulating mountains in Flower Terrace Scenic Area perfectly forming a splendid view of a natural sleeping Buddha.

Later, take cable car down to Jiuhua Street and continue to visit Huacheng Temple, the first and leading temple of Mount Jiuhua. The temple was built in Eastern Jin Dynasty more than 1,600 years ago and most existing buildings are from Qing Dynasty. Now the temple has been changed to the Jiuhuashan Museum of Historical Relics, exhibiting thousands of cultural treasures, like Buddhist sutras, ritual instruments, imperial decree, jade seal, ancient paintings and calligraphy.

Next, visit Incarnation Grand Hall, a national key Chinese Buddhist temple where enshrines the flesh body of monk Jin Qiaojue - the manifestation of Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva. He was a Korean prince and developed strong interest in Buddhism when studying in China during Tang Dynasty. Then he became a monk and returned to China to cultivate himself on Mount Jiuhua and vowed to edify all human beings before his Buddhahood. After 75-year assiduous practice with devout conviction, he died at the age of 99 in Mount Jihua in 794 AD. His remain keeps intact and unrotten after three years of his death and he was very similar in appearance to Dizang Buddhisattva. Thus, he was sanctified as sacred reincarnation of Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva by followers.

Afterwards, get to Zhiyuan Temple, the largest Buddhist temple and the only palatial temple on Mount Jiuhua. Beyond the most complete architectures, the temple preserves the precious Tripitaka, the only official Tripitaka of Qing Dynasty, over 100 Buddha sculptures and huge cooper pots.

Stay overnight in Jiuhua Street on Mount Jiuhua.

Day 2 Mount Jiuhua Tour & Departure (B, L)

After breakfast, take cable car to Heavenly Terrace Peak (Tiantai Peak, elevation: 1,306 meters), the main peak of Mount Jiuhua. An old saying goes “you never reach Mount Jiuhua without a visit to Heavenly Terrace Peak”. First, take a short hike to visit Ancient Lecture Temple, a small Tang Dynasty temple sitting steep hillside, where Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva is said to once chant Avatamsaka Sutra.

Next, hike upward to visit Tiantai Temple on the summit, the highest temple of Mount Jiuhua that has been visited by Kim Qiaojue and many famous monks. Take your time to visit Wanfo Hall (Ten-Thousand Buddha Hall), Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva Hall and Avalokitesvara Hall, trace footprints of master monks and absorb the strong Buddhist culture. The maintain top is still a wonderful location to catch a panoramic view of breathtaking natural scenery of Mount Jiuhua, including thin mist floating among gently rolling hills, grotesque pine trees growing on monstrous rocks and nearby Shiwang Peak - the highest peak of Mount Jiuhua (elevation: 1344.4 meters).

After that, take cable car down to visit the Phoenix Ancient Pine with an old age of over 1,400 years. This 7.68-meter-tall pine tree is named after its vivid shape of a flying phoenix spreading its wings and has been inspiration for lots of poems, photography and paintings.

Last, visit Zhantanlin Temple, one of the four most important Buddhist temples of Mount Jiuhua. Continue your holy Buddhist pilgrimage to the 19-meter-high statue of Thousand Armed and Eyed Avalokitesvara and 84 Buddha statues enshrined in the elegant Dabei Hall (Great Compassion Hall), giant statues of the Three Saints of Hua-yan in Huayan Hall and 9.9-meter-tall tetrahedral statue of Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva in Dayuan Grand Hall. Exquisitly carved ridgepoles, beams, doors, windows and brackets are outstanding features you should see.

After the tour, you will be escorted to the airport or train station to catch your flight or train to next destination.

Tips of Main Buddhist Festivals & Temple Fairs of Mount Jiuhua: Many Buddhist ceremonies are held in main Buddhist temples of Mount Jiuhua in different months each year. Buddhist pilgrims can check the date and select a best time to go. 1.) Land-water Dharma Assembly: held from July 30 of the lunar calendar every year and lasts 7 days; the biggest one takes place in Tiantai Temple. 2. Bon Festival: held on the 15th day of the 7th lunar month; famous rite is in Shangchantang Temple from July 8th to 15th of lunar calendar. 3.) Ksitigarbha Temple Fair (Dizang Temple Fair): from July 30th to August 6th of lunar calendar for the birth and enlightenment of Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva. 4.) Buddha Bathing Ceremony: celebrated on the 8th day of the 4th Lunar Month annually for the birth of Buddha.

Departure Ideas: 1. Chizhou Jiuhuashan Airport has flights connecting with Beijing, Shanghai, Xian, Guangzhou, Chengdu, Xiamen, Hangzhou, Shenzhen, Kunming, Jinan, and Nanjing, etc. 2. Chizhou Railway Station has high speed trains to Shanghai, Suzhou, Hangzhou, Wuxi, Nanjing, etc.

The quotation for this trip is from Request Per Person

1. This price is for one person, based on a group of 2 adults sharing one standard double-bed room in 4-star hotel and traveling with our private tour in low seasons.
2. This price is subject to change according your traveling season, group size, hotel class, change of activities in your itinerary and possible fluctuation of currency exchange rate. If you want a lower price, you can get more people to join you, or use economy class hotels.
3. This price is only valid to March 31, 2025.
4. Reference exchange rate of USD 1=RMB 7.00. The final quote is based on current exchange rate. It may change according to the currency fluctuation, while the RMB quotation will be remained the same.

How Our Teams Serve you at China Discovery

"Highest Standards of Quality and Honesty" is the core value of each specialized team at China Discovery.

Eveyone in our company is working hard for only one goal, which is to ensure the highest level of service, luxury, and attention to detail from the minute you begin planning your trip, to the day you return home.

1-on-1 Travel Consultant

Our travel consultants are professional, experienced and responsible, helping you from the very beginning to the end of your China trip!

After sending us an inquiry, one of our travel consultants will get back to you within 0.5~23.5 hrs. In the next few days, he/she will be working closely with you to formulate a customized tour plan, as well as providing professional suggestions based on your travel interests, time, and budget.

Beside, he/she will keep in contact with you during your entire tour in China, continually checking if everything is going well as planned.

We're working at Chengdu Bamboo International Tours, local based in Chengdu.

Local Tour Guides

Our local guide in every destination is not only very friendly, enthusiastic but also very informative and knowledgeable.

Once you arrive in the destination, the patient and punctual guides will pick you up and take you to get under skin of the city at your own pace. By in-depth discovery and explanation, they’ll show you more about the history, culture, customs and authentic local life. Throughout the journey, they're not only expert guides who take care of all the details but also fellow travelers who are dedicated to help you explore in comfort and style.

Our guides are passionate about what they do, and it shows all the way!

Local Drivers & Vehicle

Using our private transfer service makes you comfortable, relaxed and worry free all the way!

Our private service includes licensed drivers with many years’ driving experience and air-conditioned, non-smoking, clean and well-maintained cars/vans. Drivers are local, polite, friendly and helpful, taking you to your tourist sites, hotels, airport/train stations in safety. All kinds of vehicle are offered, and yours depends on the size of your group. Usually, we offer sedan cars, SUVs, business vans (MPV) and different types of buses, all with extra space for your luggage.

Our private transfer service guarantees you the highest comfort!

Comfortable & Homelike Hotels

In each destination, you’ll enjoy a comfortable stay in a great location!

The hotels we choose are based on star rating, great locations, well-equipped facilities, cozy bed, high quality service and guests’ feedbacks. Choices are a lot ranging from luxury 5 star, comfortable 4 star to budget 3 star. You could decide where to stay to best suit for your budget and likes. Generally, the hotels have both Western and Chinese breakfast with a wide choices.

If you have already got an ideal hotel, please feel free to tell our travel consultants and they'll book the hotel for you.

Have good sleep in our well-selected hotels in all the destinations of China.

Meals & Dining

We can satisfy all the dietary requirements no matter you want Chinese local food, western food, vegetarian food or muslin food.

The restaurants we will take you for lunch or dinner are all designated tourist restaurants approved by local tourist administration bureau. They have very good sanitary conditions and the food is prepared fresh and clean.

There will be some meals excluded in your itinerary as you like, and your private guide will be delighted to give you some suggestions and take you to the local restaurants to taste like Beijing Roast Duck, Xian Dumpling Dinner, Sichuan Hotpot, etc., if you are interested in local food tasting.

All the dining options will satisfy your stomach!

Check What our delighted customers are saying about our services

Hi Rita,

The best experience ever!!!! I fell in love.

I received your lovely card and cute gifts, thank you so much.

Done it! As always it’s my pleasure to hire your company services, see you in the next adventure.

Emmy

Emmy‚ Mexico, December 15, 2024

Hi Rita,

Please kindly see the feedback below.

We are a family of 7. This private tour package definitely met our expectations! Both tour guides (Chengdu- MAY & Chongqing-DAVID) provided us a very good service, both friendly and very flexible despite the change in our tour schedules. They were also very responsible and ensured our safety, meals and transports were well taken care of, especially since we have elderly and kids in our group. Both tour guides are very fluent in English too so it is very convenient for some of the non-chinese speakers in our group.

We will look for the same tour agent again in our next trip to China!

Best Regards,

Victoria

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Victoria‚ Singapore, December 14, 2024

Hi Shirley,

Thanks for the tour, and the itinerary that you planned for us was very comprehensive and detailed. We enjoyed it very much. The tour guide was also very friendly and experienced. He followed your itinerary closely and brought us to all the sites and explained in detail. He also recommended and brought us to enjoy some of the local cuisines during lunch.

Overall, we are impressed by the excellent service, reliability and quality that yourself, the tour guide and the driver has provided us. We would like to visit China again and we will not hesitate to engage your services again. Thank you!

Regards

Chun How

Chun How‚ Singapore, December 14, 2024

Hi Shirley,

I'm writing to provide some feedback on our recent Xian and Beijing trip that you put together for us.

We travel a lot, in the past year to Japan, New Zealand, China, Turkey, Africa, China, and finally this Xian/Beijing trip. I bring this up to highlight that we deal with a lot of travel professionals. You are easily the best travel professional we have dealt with through all of those trips. My wife, who happens to be Chinese asked me to make sure to keep your contact information for future China trips, with the intention of replacing the China based agent her brother usually uses for our trips.

Please let your manager know that we would probably not have used your company if not for you. Bamboo Travel is new to us and in a foreign country, so we had doubts as to what to expect. Your service was excellent from start to finish which really gave us confidence in your company. We had a little bit of an unusual itinerary and some constraints related to our other China travel prior to this tour. You were able to work through all of our issues with fast responses to our questions.

You also went what I would say was above and beyond expectations. The final example of that is a friend in the US was shipping some things to our hotel in Beijing for me to bring home to her. I contacted you to confirm the hotel name before they shipped the items, expecting I would then have to figure out the shipping details. Your reply not only confirmed the hotel, but you provided the shipping info in both English and Chinese, which saved me the hassle of trying to figure which address to use. Not a huge thing, but it's those small things that add up to a big difference in customer experience.

Thanks again for everything!

Xian:

Our guide was Waldner and we liked him from the start. We were just coming off another tour with another company which had maybe the best tour leader we've ever had. Even though we were always comparing Waldner measured up well. He was great at explaining the history of places we visited as well as answering our cultural questions. The restaurants/food were very good. He and the driver also modified the itinerary somewhat to optimize the driving based on our arrival and departure times and locations. We liked the hotel in Xian. The car (van) was very comfortable. Waldner also helped arrange tickets for a night show for us.

Beijing:

Pickup was great; even though we got in late the guide that picked us up was there and actually met us at the track. Cindy was our guide and we really liked her also. She is very knowledgeable and willing to answer (a lot of) questions. This was my 3rd time in Beijing and it was amazing what a difference having a good guide made. Cindy and the driver also modified the itinerary to optimize the driving. She also helped us book tickets to two shows, one of which was not on your list of optional items (Lao She tea house). Cindy was concerned about us ordering a cab so she stayed at the show to make sure we got back to our hotel ok. The restaurants/food were very good. The hotel was good but not great; for example we had hot water issues every day, and when I went to pick up a package that was shipped to me they just left me to dig through a pretty large pile of packages all addressed in Chinese.

To wrap up, I would rate the overall experience of looking for a trip, picking a company, and traveling 9.5 out of 10. Shirley, your service was 10 out of 10.

See you next trip!

Terry

Terry ‚ USA, December 11, 2024

Dear Rita,

Feedback.

The trip organised by Rita Jiang to Beijing and Xian was very well planned and enjoyable, showing the best of Chinese history, culture, heritage, and enormous progress.

Your 2 guides, Linda Chua and Beryl are very good. Linda went out of her way to take us to Peking Opera at night. The kids were tired, so we did not go to Summer palace and Heavenly temple, and did not go to Xian Pagoda. It was our choice, so its ok. (I have been to all)

The 2 bus drivers were excellent, very careful, disciplined and good temperament and helpful. I could not give a tip to Beryl at Xian station, as I had to rush into toilet inside, and did not know she could not enter the train Station.

The pace was good, but the last day of train from Xian, to hotel (plus late dinner scrabbling in Beijing), then early next morning to airport was too Hectic. However, it was because we had to return on 8.12.24. we wish we could stay longer in Xian, and elsewhere. We could probably have gone to Xian by train, then fly back to Beijing by plane, but one way tickets could cost much more.

Anyway, thank you very much for all your fine arrangements. We all enjoyed the short trip.

For the kids, the major highlights were the Great Wall, Terracotta warriors, Acrobatic show. They will treasure. I will plan more trips for them to China.

Best wishes and warm regards,

Richard

Richard‚ Singapore, December 11, 2024

Check What our customers are saying about us on Tripadvisor.com

excellent assistance, helpfulness and courtesy. My contact 'was Shirley, prepared friendly and punctual. Highly recommended...

Luciano P

"Travel consultant Mr Wonder Wang was so helpful and he planned our trip to Xi’an and Beijing so well. Mr Waldner is an amazing guide. His knowledge and enthusiasm made our tour very memorable..." read more »

Reviewed on December 13, 2024

Luciano P

"excellent assistance, helpfulness and courtesy. My contact 'was Shirley, prepared friendly and punctual. Highly recommended..." read more »

Reviewed on December 13, 2024