4 Days Classic Leshan Giant Buddha & Mount Emei Tour from Chengdu
Most Valuable & Best for First-timers
Most Valuable & Best for First-timers
Chengdu absolutely deserves a longer stay if you have a flexible schedule. Seeing the giant pandas (multiple panda bases available), hunting for real Sichuan cuisine, visiting the world’s largest rock Buddha, and seeking ease and comfort in beautiful Mount Emei are things you must do on your trip. Fortunately, it is not troublesome to accomplish all these exciting things to do because all the must-see places are located very far from each other, and all are tourists-friendly with great facilities. You can absolutely enjoy a worry-free vacation that is interesting and full of experience. Our 4 Days Classic Leshan & Mount Emei Tour is what you are looking for. It starts from Chengdu, with airport/train pick-up covered, then takes you to visit the Leshan Giant Buddha, Mount Emei, giant panda and other popular Chengdu attractions one by one at an enjoyable pace. After the tour, you will be dropped off at the airport or train station for departure.
Day 1 Chengdu Arrival
Airport / railway station pick up
Welcome to Chengdu, the hometown of the Giant Panda. Your local guide will meet you at the airport/train station and then escort you to your hotel in a private vehicle. The rest of today is yours to relax in the panda city on your own.
Arrival Ideas: Chengdu is only about 2~3 hours flying from the majority of big cities in China, such as Beijing, Xian, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shanghai, etc. You can also get to Chengdu by high speed trains from Xian (4hrs), Chongqing (1hrs), Guilin (6hrs), Kunming (6hrs), etc.
Our tour guide picked up guests at Chengdu East Railway Station
Day 2 Chengdu - Leshan Giant Buddha - Mount Emei (B, L)
Today's highlights: Leshan Giant Buddha, Baoguo Temple
In the morning, you will be picked up at your hotel, then be driven about 2 hours from Chengdu to visit the UNESCO World Heritage Site - Leshan Giant Buddha which is the largest and tallest stone-carved statue of Buddha in the world. It was carved during AD713~803 on a mountain rock cliff by the river, with its head reaching to the mountain top and its feet standing next to the river. The total height is 71m; while the head is 14.7m high and 10m wide, ear is 7meters high, 28 meters between knees and insteps. Its insteps can hold over a hundred people. You may be wondering why such a giant Buddha was built? It is said to have been built to calm the turbulent waters that plagued passing boats and killed many people each year in ancient time. On the right cliff of the Giant Buddha, there is a plank road built along with the Giant Buddha. From the top to foot, the plank road has nine turns, thus it’s called Nine Bends Plank Road. The widest part of the road is 1.45m and the narrowest part is only 0.6m, and there are 217 stone steps in total. You will walk down to the feet of the Giant Buddha for a closer view. Please note you may have to queue up to enter the stone stairway if you visit the Giant Buddha during the busy hours.
After the Giant Buddha visit, drive about 45mins to Baoguo Temple, the biggest temple of Mount Emei at the mountain foot. It has several serene gardens with rare plants, a library of sutras and a huge porcelain Buddha. Another famous historical relic in the temple is the 25-ton bronze Bell, reputedly as the second largest bell in China. While traveling deeper into the temple, you will enjoy different views of Mount Emei.
Lastly, drive to check in your hotel. Have a good rest for tomorrow's Mount Emei trip which has some walkings involved.
Recommended Optional Activity: take a 30 minutes’ sightseeing boat to enjoy a wonderful panoramic view of the Giant Buddha on the river.
Day 3 Mount Emei – Chengdu (B, L)
Highlights of today: Mount Emei (Leidongping, Golden Summit, Huazang Temple)
This morning after breakfast, meet your tour guide and set out for Mount Emei. As one of the few World Heritage Sites of both cultural and natural heritages, Mount Emei is an enchanted combination of lush forest and cultural relics. It is one of the Four Great Buddhist Mountains in China, also the home to 5000 kinds of plants (more than the total species in Europe) and over 2300 kinds of wild animals.
You will first take your private car to the tourist center, then shift on to an Eco-Bus which will take you up to the mountain top area in 1.5~2 hours. Once you reaching at Leidongping (2400m), keep on walking about 30mins along stone steps to the cable car station, along which you will have a chance to see the wild monkeys. Take a cable car (about 5mins) up to the Golden Summit (3077m) which is the biggest highlight and very essence of Mount Emei. Once you get to the Golden Summit, the first view appearing in front of you is a towering multi-faced golden statue (48m) of Samantabhadra Bodhisattva. Next to the golden statue sits the bronze Huazang Temple which is the first temple established on Mount Emei whose history can be traced back to the 1st century CE. You can stroll around the Golden Summit to explore Buddhist architecture and tradition, and enjoy a panoramic view of Mount Emei and surrounding. On clear days, you can even see the snow-clad of Mount Gongga (7556m), Asia’s largest table mountain - Wawu Mountain and winding rivers flowing through Emeishan city. If weather permits, you will have luck to enjoy its magnificent wonder of Cloud Sea. Sightsee around 1.5 hours on the Golden Summit area, then descend by cable car to Leidoping and take Eco-Bus again back to the tourist center. Your private car is ready to transfer you back to Chengdu (about 2.5~3hrs).
Above itinerary is a classic visit route which is suitable for different ages of tourists. If you want more hiking experience during your trip, please contact your travel consultant to tailor-make the hiking routes according to your time and physical condition. There are routes of 2 hours (Qingyin Pavilion to Wannian Temple), 4 hours (Qingyin Pavilion to Wannian Temple + Leidongping to Golden Summit), one day (Wannian Temple to Leidongping) and 2 days (Qingyin Pavilion to Golden Summit) available.
Day 4 Chengdu Sightseeing & Departure (B, L)
Highlights of today: Chengdu Panda Base, People's Park, Jinli Old Street
This morning you will make a memorable visit to the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding. This facility is not only the most important panda scientific research center in the world, but also the home for more than 100 Giant Pandas. You will walk at leisure through the bamboo-framed paths and closely observe giant pandas of different ages eating bamboos, playing with each other, tumbling, and climbing trees. Be sure to not miss the chance to visit the most adorable panda babies in the nursery rooms and panda kindergartens. There is also a very informative Panda Museum where you can learn more scientific facts about Giant Pandas.
Chengdu is famous throughout China for its relaxing and leisurely pace and lifestyle, which will be demonstrated by a visit to the City’s People's Park. Sit down, order a pot of Chinese tea, have a casual chat with your friends and watch locals indulging themselves in different kinds of folk entertainment - napping, playing mahjong, disco dancing, and giving neck massages! Next will be an impressive visit to the famous Jinli Old Street. Time will steal away as you quietly walk on the lively streets full of delicious local snacks, delicate artifacts, interesting folk shows, and other activities.
After the tour, you will be taken to the airport / train station for your flight or train to next destination or home.
1. This price is for one person, based on a group of 2 adults sharing one standard double-bed room in a 4-star hotel and traveling with our private tour in low seasons. It will drop greatly if your group has 4 or more members.
2. This price is subject to change according to your traveling season, month and date. There may be huge price increasing during public Chinese holidays, school summer vacations, tourism peak seasons or some special dates. (China Public Holiday 2025 Schedule Released)
3. Other factors that may change the final tour price include group size, hotel class, tour activities, fluctuation of currency exchange rate, etc.
4. This price is based on exchange rate USD 1=RMB 7.00. The final price will be based on the exchange rate in effect at the time of agreement with our quotation.
5. This price is only valid to March 31, 2026.
6. This price is not the final price until the Confirmation Letter is sent.
7. The items included and excluded in this price are for reference only. The final services included, please refer to the confirmation letter sent to you by the travel consultant.
Hi Rita,
My husband and I were on a tour to South-West China Oct 08-24, 2024
Overall, we had a wonderful time on our trip.
Organisation
Everything you organised went very smoothly, just like clockwork.
Guides
In each city, on our arrival we were met by our guide.
Our guides were:
Chengdu - Ellen
Jiuzhaoigou - Mary
Chonqing - Shemy
Yichang - Nancy
Generally the guides were knowledgeable about their city. They were also very friendly, and flexible in accommodating our requests and also showed their professionalism by always being on time in the morning and during our time with them.
3 of our guides (Ellen in Chengdu, Mary in Jiuzhaigou and Nancy in Yichang) were very good. It was obvious that they took great pride in their work.
Ellen, Our guide in Chengdu, was excellent. She knew the city, its culture and history well. She was an obvious' foodie' who took us to some of the most interesting places to eat. She introduced us to the cuisine of Chengdu and the dished she chose were excellent. One of the restaurants we went to was out in the countryside and the ambience was amazing.
We were very impressed that she went out of the way to help us find a cobbler to mend my husband's shoes which gave way late on the last day of our Chengdu trip with Ellen. It would have been hard to find a replacement because of his shoe size. She managed to find and to persuade (after much hard and LOUD negotiation) a cobbler to repair the shoes even though it was late and he was about to close his shop for the day. She even managed to get him to send the repaired shoes to our hotel for a small charge. The cobbler did an amazing job. The shoes are still fine even after our trip to Jiuzhaigou and Chongqing and they still look as good as new even now. The cobbler in his small little shop did really quality work. If you need any shoes to be repaired, ask Ellen.
Shemy our guide in Chongqing was very enthusiastic and friendly but she needs to improve her English. Aside from basic instructions, we had a difficult time trying to understand her and we think she also had a hard time understanding us and our questions. We could also have done with more help regarding dishes we had for one of our meals.
We were told by Shemy that the Yichang guide would meet us at the Century Oasis when it docked in Yichang. However, we were informed by the ship's personnel that when the boat docked, we had to transfer our luggage to the Yichang Tourist Centre where our guide would meet us to take us to the railway station for our trip back to Chongqing. We were in a quandry and a bit stressed because of the conflicting instructions. The ship's personnel, kindly agreed to contact our Yichang guide to confirm that the guide, Nancy, would be meeting us and our bags, not at the dock, but at the Tourist Centre.
Mary, our guide in Jiuzhaigou, was proficient in English and was very helpful. Owing to a traffic jam because of a vehicular accident along the way, we lost some time and so had to modify our programme. Mary knew the area well and guided us in choosing the best sites to visit in the time we had. She was very patient and caring and was always checking to see how we were managing with the climb and generally guided us along areas where the crowds were not so overwhelming. We visited some spectacular sites. We also had a chance to try Tibetan tea of barley and yak milk and Tibetan barley bread. All in all, a unique experience for us.
Nancy was our guide in Yichang. Although we spent only a brief time with her, we were very impressed with her. Nancy was very fluent in English. She was both the driver and our guide. Her instructions were precise and clear. When she took us to the train station for our trip back to Chongqing, she took us to a cafe in the station where we could have our lunch and helped us to order our food. The she cleared our tickets so that we did not have to queue to get onto the train platform. All her actions demonstrated a high level of service. Although she lives in Yichang we think she would be an excellent guide in any of the bigger cities once she got to know the place and its surrounds well.
Transportation
The cars we travelled in were all very very nice, clean and comfortable. We were highly impressed with all the drivers. They were very friendly. Besides being very helpful, especially with loading and unloading our luggage, they were also very patient and skilful drivers who conveyed us safely through, often, very heavy traffic and on long journeys.
The high speed trains were clean and comfortable.
Hotels
The beds on all the hotels were very clean and comfortable. The hotels in Chengdu and Chongqing were excellent - clean comfortable with all the amenities we needed. In fact the hotel in Chongqing were way above our expectations as we literally got an apartment with a great river view, not just a room. The breakfasts provided by these 2 hotels were also excellent.
The hotel in Jiuzhaigou was a bit of a disappointment. Although the bed was clean and very comfortable, the room was small and rather run-down. The bathroom had a nice big shower stall but there was mold on the wall and in various areas in the bathroom. We tried the breakfast but did not find it appetising so we skipped it.
Sights
We think China is a very beautiful country with so much history, culture and nature to enjoy. Being on a guided tour, we had less contact with the ordinary people than we would normally have when we do a free-and-easy trip. But, all in all, we had a great trip and we would like to visit China again.
For your information
Thank you for your gifts of the pandas and the fans which Ellen handed to us with your compliments.
I recommended China Discovery to my friends and family. Consequently, my brother and his family have booked, with China Discovery, a trip at the end of this year. I do not know who in your company is organising his trip.
Thank you.
Wishing you
A VERY HAPPY AND PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR!
Bibiana
Hi Tracy, evaluation form as follows
1. Tracy is ever patient in clarifying our queries. Even when on vacation herself, she answered our email. When we made several adjustments to our itinerary, Tracy dutifully made changes and updated us. As my elderly mother is only able to read in Chinese, I requested for a Chinese itinerary. Although it was not available, Tracy typed out the summarised daily itinerary just for us. We really appreciate Tracy's dedication in providing excellent service to us.
2. The local guides at all the districts are professional, knowledgeable and very friendly. All of them took extra care of my elderly mother who is 75 years old. On my birthday, Xiao Rong (Eileen) of Kunming even prepared a bouquet of flowers and a gift for me. Her recommendations for eating out were all very good. We enjoyed the Guo Qiao Mi Xian at Yun Xian Lou and the lunch we had before visiting the Stone Forest was fantastic! When we left for Dali, she prepared fruits for us. She is very generous and thoughtful indeed. Amy Du of Lijiang was very apologetic about us missing out on Mu Mansion tour, even though it was because we moved from point to point at a pace too leisurely in Dali. We eventually arrived late in Lijiang and could not enter Mu Mansion before its closing time at 5pm. She was especially considerate to us trying to acclimatise to high altitude and observed us carefully and gave us tips to avoid altitude sickness.
Travelling from point to point throughout the whole itinerary was at a leisurely and comfortable pace. Our main transport were minivans. The drivers drove in a safe manner that puts us at ease. From Dali to Shangrila, the minivan was new and very comfortable. The service staff at ArroKhampa in Shangrila were especially affable and friendly. It was very interesting to chat with them during our cosy breakfasts.
3. Yes, I'm willing to recommend your service to people who also have an interest in visiting China. In fact, we have already done so.
4. We are impressed with the service provided by your company and the tour guides. We greatly appreciate your seamless service and never felt lost throughout the trip. It was truly an enjoyable experience.
5. It will be helpful if the presence of your company is publicised in Singapore and the region.
Chua
Hi Wonder, here are feedbacks.
1. My travel consultant always answers all my queries patiently and promptly and provides advice when appropriate.
2. We are happy with the tour arrangement. We wanted a more relaxing tour and we are happy that the tour was well arranged. It was not rushed but we were able to visit all the places we wanted without feeling tired. We were happy with the tour guide and driver. The guide was very friendly and helpful and made us feel like her friends. The driver was a careful driver and was helpful.
3. I am happy to recommend your company.
Hoon
Dear Reya and Judy,
Sorry for the delay in replying. After our return, we had a lot of accumulated work and we also struggled a bit with the time difference....
We hereby thank you for the beautiful and unforgettable experiences. Your city is beautiful, modern and clean. Ancient monuments breathtaking. Judy did a great job. She was kind and patient with our poor knowledge of English, she actually spent the whole Sunday with us and was very helpful in everything. We really have a lot to remember.
Thank you very much.
Best regards
Jana with family and friends.
Thanks, Jack.
Happy New Year.
It was a great two days comprehensive tour of Putuoshan organised by you. The timing, transportation and meal breaks and selection of restaurants, hotels are great. You have been very helpful and with your good connections at Putuoshan, the trip was very enjoyable. Your good knowledge of the temples we visited was a great help. I will not hesitate to recommend you anytime.
Regards,
Choon
excellent assistance, helpfulness and courtesy. My contact 'was Shirley, prepared friendly and punctual. Highly recommended...
"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.
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.
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!
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!
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.
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!
Our tour guide picked up guests at Chengdu East Railway Station
Leshan Giant Buddha in summer
Baoguo Temple at the foot of Mount Emei
Golden Summit
Stunning scenery of Cloud Sea on Golden Summit
Try Chengdu local snacks at Jinli Old Street
Our dear clients was experiencing Chengdu local living style in the People's Park
Lovely Pandas in Chengdu Panda Base - Photographed by Our Guest Chona
Chengdu / Leshan / Emei / Chengdu / Dujiangyan / Chengdu
Chengdu / Leshan / Emei / Chengdu / Jiuzhaigou
“Very good experience”
“WONDERFUL 25 DAYS IN CHINA - PRIVATE TOUR”
“Awesome China tour from northeast to southwest”
2,090+ Reviews
