1 Day Giant Panda Visit & Leshan Giant Buddha Tour
Giants of Chengdu
Giants of Chengdu
A GIANT Chengdu tour – seeing Giant Panda and visiting Giant Buddha in just one go!
Visit the International Face Giant Panda is a MUST thing to do for all travelers in Chengdu, and easily can be done in a half day. You only have to spend a morning there? Then what comes next after visiting panda? Definitely the world-famous Leshan Giant Buddha, a famous World Heritage Site as well as a sacred Buddhist site in Leshan City.
One day is enough to visit both two sites, usually see the pandas in the morning, and then drive about two hours to Leshan city in the afternoon. Generally two hours are needed to see the Buddha and other historical sites on the mountain where the Giant Buddha locates. After visit, drive back to Chengdu. (Alert: Giant Panda Base and Leshan Giant Buddha are 150km from each other, approximately 2 hours' driving. You need to leave from your hotel at around 07:00 AM so that you can visit both of them in a single day as the same time avoiding crowds as much as possible. )
Day 1 Chengdu - Leshan ( L )
Today's highlights: Giant Panda, Leshan Giant Buddha
This morning you will make a stirring visit to Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding which is not only the most important panda scientific research center, but also home to more than 100 Giant Pandas. Walk at leisure through the bamboo framed paths, and closely observe giant pandas of different ages eating bamboos, playing with each other, tumbling, climbing trees, etc. Don't miss the chance to visit the most adorable panda cubs in the panda kindergartens. If you are lucky, you may be able to see the precious panda babies in the nursery rooms. There is also a very informative Panda Museum where you can learn more scientific facts about Giant Pandas.
Following the pandas, you will drive 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 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, the ear is 7 meters 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 times. 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 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. If you want to save time, you can take a 30-minute sightseeing boat to enjoy a wonderful panoramic view of the Giant Buddha on the river.
Lastly, drive back to your hotel in Chengdu. (Note: Please be aware that the sightseeing boats may be canceled due to factors such as water levels, extreme weather conditions, or other unforeseen circumstances.)
Recommended Optional Activities: 1) enjoy a delicious dinner of Sichuan cuisine (or hotpot) at a local restaurant; 2) watch a wonderful performance of Sichuan Opera which includes folk opera, face changing, fire spitting, rolling lights, and other delightful entertainment (usually performs during 20:00~21:30).
Look up at Leshan Giant Buddha from its foot stage
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 to 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 until 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.
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
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
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
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
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
excellent assistance, helpfulness and courtesy. My contact 'was Shirley, prepared friendly and punctual. Highly recommended...
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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.
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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!
Look up at Leshan Giant Buddha from its foot stage
Cute Pandas Living in Their Natural Environment
Based in Chengdu (only 2-hour drive from Leshan) with more than 1360 good reviews on Tripadvisor, we always master the first-hand travel information of Leshan Giant Buddha, Mount Emei and other beautiful places in Chengdu region. We know what is the best way to enjoy your own Giant Buddha vacation; Our private tour packages assure you the highest standards with great flexibility, comfort and personalized arrangement. You will have your personal travel consultant, professional tour guide and a private vehicle which only serve your party - nobody else. All-inclusive tour package to let you enjoy the best of Leshan as well as Mount Emei, Chengdu, Jiuzhaigou, etc.
There are two ways to visit the Giant Buddha, one is walking from the entrance to the top area near the head and keeping walking down to the feet area of the Buddha along a zigzag plank road on the cliff, generally 1.5hrs~3hrs. This may require some waiting in line and large crowds but the view of looking up from the bottom is worthwhile. Another option is to take a boat to approach it and get a panoramic view, generally 30~45 minutes. This is a good option for those who want to avoid walking or waiting in crowds. Our tour guide will help you adjust accordingly based on your preference.
Leshan Giant Buddha is located in Leshan city which has no airport. Travelers usually get there from Chengdu (about 150km/2hrs’ driving). The road condition is very good but traffic jams may happen during holidays and some weekends. If you arrive at Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport early, we can also book a high speed train ticket for you to get to the Buddha.
The Giant Buddha trip usually takes half a day. After that, you can transfer back to Chengdu, or travel from Leshan to Mount Emei, which is a classic itinerary, and needs an extra day. You can stay a night at the foot of the mountain, then explore the mountain the next day. If you come during March, August and September, you are suggested to experience Jiayang Steam Train and enjoy canola flowers/sunflowers. Leshan trip is usually a part of a longer Sichuan trip which covers other popular destinations in Sichuan, such as Chengdu, Jiuzhaigou, Mount Qingcheng, etc. We can also design a tailor-made tour for you if you need.
Leshan city has abundant rainfall with four clear-cut seasons. Weather in Leshan is mild with an annual average temperature between 16.5℃ and 18℃. It is suitable for travel all year round. Generally speaking, the best times: March to June and September to November when it is comfortable and less -crowded. It's always a good idea to avoid public holidays. Opening hours of Leshan Giant Buddha are 7:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. in April to Oct and 8 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. in November to March. Try to arrive in the morning for the best views and smaller crowds.
What to wear in summer? - light, quick-dry and easy-to-wear clothes, hat, sunscreen, rain jacket and comfortable shoes. What to wear in winter? - double layer jacket, long underwear pants and tops, sweaters, long sleeve shirts, wool blend socks, boots, winter jacket, winter hat, winter gloves, winter scarf. What to wear in spring and autumn? - long underwear, fleece outer layer, light hat, scarf.
Dujiangyan
Chengdu / Leshan / Mt. Emei / Chengdu
Chengdu / Guanghan (Sanxingdui)
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