Overview
A single day on one of China's four sacred Buddhist mountains, using the cable cars so that the altitude and the effort are both manageable.
Mount Emei has been a centre of Buddhist practice for more than a thousand years and holds around thirty monasteries on its slopes. This tour takes the efficient route: shuttle bus from the park entrance to the Leidongping terminus at 2,430 metres, a short walk, then the cable car to the summit area at 3,077 metres. Most of the day is spent on the summit ridge itself — the Golden Summit temple complex, the 48-metre Samantabhadra statue, the Wanfo Summit at 3,099 metres — with time at Baoguo Temple at the foot of the mountain on the way in or out.
You also pass through the monkey zone on the lower slopes, where Tibetan macaques come down to the path. It is one of the great single-day mountain trips in China, and it works in almost any weather: the cloud that defeats the sunrise usually delivers a better sea-of-clouds view an hour later.
- Golden Summit complex at 3,077 m and the 48-metre Samantabhadra statue
- Wanfo Summit, the highest point on the mountain at 3,099 m
- The cloud sea below the summit ridge
- Baoguo Temple, the largest monastery at the mountain's foot
- Tibetan macaques on the lower paths
- Round-trip cable car and shuttle — no long climb required
Itinerary
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1 Baoguo Temple, Cable Car & the Golden Summit
Lunch Not included07:00 - Departure: Pick-up in Chengdu, or in Emeishan if you are already there. The drive from Chengdu takes around two and a half hours.
09:30 - Baoguo Temple: The largest monastery on Mount Emei, founded in the 16th century at the foot of the mountain and set among mature trees. Its four halls climb the slope in sequence, with a bronze bell cast in the Ming and a seated Buddha in the last hall. It is the natural place to begin a pilgrimage on this mountain and it is still a working monastery.
10:30 - Ascent: We take the park shuttle from the entrance up to the Leidongping terminus at 2,430 metres — around two hours on a winding mountain road, through forest that changes from subtropical broadleaf to conifer as you climb.
12:30 - Lunch: At a restaurant in the Leidongping area.
13:30 - The walk up: A 1.5-kilometre stone path from the terminus to the Jieyin Palace cable car station, through fir forest and past the tea stalls. The Tibetan macaques that live in this stretch are used to people; keep your bag closed and nothing in your hands.
14:30 - Cable car: The Jieyin Palace cable car climbs the last 600-odd metres to the summit area in around five minutes, in a large cabin that carries a hundred people.
15:00 - Golden Summit: The temple complex sits on the ridge at 3,077 metres, dominated by the 48-metre, ten-faced statue of Samantabhadra — the bodhisattva of practice, and the mountain's patron. The four faces look out in the cardinal directions and the whole figure is gilded. On a clear day you can see the snow peaks of the Minya Konka range to the west; on most days you get the cloud sea filling the valleys below the ridge.
16:30 - Wanfo Summit: A level 30-minute walk south along the ridge to the Ten Thousand Buddha Peak at 3,099 metres, the true summit, with a small temple at the top.
18:00 - Descent: Cable car and shuttle back down, then the drive to Chengdu or Emeishan, arriving around 20:30.
Important: The summit is cold at any time of year — often below 5°C even in July — and the weather changes fast. Bring a warm layer and a waterproof, whatever it is doing at the bottom.
Gallery
What's included
- Hotel pick-up and drop-off in Chengdu or Emeishan
- English-speaking guide
- Private air-conditioned vehicle with driver
- Mount Emei entrance fee and internal shuttle bus
- Round-trip cable car to the summit
- Lunch at a restaurant on the mountain
- Trekking pole and rain poncho
- Bottled water
Not included
- Hotel accommodation
- Dinner and alcoholic drinks
- Tips for guide and driver
- Travel insurance and personal expenses
- Offerings and incense at the temples
- Optional Baoguo Temple evening prayer session
