Leshan and Emeishan in 2 Days from Chengdu: The Itinerary, the Trains and Where to Sleep
Leshan and Emeishan in 2 days from Chengdu: the day-by-day plan, 2026 train times and fares, every ticket in yuan, and whether to sleep at Baoguo, on the mountain or in Leshan.
My Leshan guide ends by telling you to give Emeishan its own night, and my Emeishan guide ends by sending you to Leshan to eat. This is the version in between: one plan, two days, both sights, no coach tour. I have not filmed either place yet, so it is built like both parents, from dated 2025 and 2026 traveler reports, the July 2026 intercity timetable and the scenic areas' own ticket rules, which changed this year. It covers the trains and fares, a day-by-day timeline, every ticket in yuan, three places to sleep, what to eat in Leshan between the Buddha and the train, and the honest case for not combining the two at all.
Leshan and Emeishan in 2 Days: the shape of the plan
The geography does most of the planning. Chengdu East, Leshan and Emeishan sit on one high-speed line, in that order: 50 to 65 minutes to Leshan, 11 to 24 more to Emeishan, 65 to 95 minutes home. The Buddha needs a morning, the Golden Summit six hours from the mountain gate, and between them sits a night. Where you spend it is the only real decision.
The order is not negotiable. Leshan first, because the Buddha's single-file staircase is quietest at the 7:30am opening and worst from 10am to 2pm when the Chengdu coaches arrive. Emeishan second, because the summit rewards whoever is on the first bus or cable car, and that means sleeping at the mountain foot or higher.
Two 2026 rule changes shape day two. Since 23 May the Golden Summit has been capped at 8,000 entries a day during cableway and bus-station rebuilding, and since March the sightseeing bus needs a timed reservation made with your entry ticket. Emeishan is now a booked mountain, not a walk-up one.
The trains: Chengdu East, Leshan, Emeishan
Everything is booked real-name on 12306 or Trip.com, with your passport as the ticket. Sales open about two weeks out and weekend trains sell out under the 240-hour visa-free surge, so book all three legs the day your dates are fixed. Chengdu East on metro lines 2 and 7 is the easier start from most central hotels; my Chengdu neighborhood guide covers which districts make a 6:40am train painless.
| Leg | Trains per day | Journey | 2nd class | 1st class | Useful departures |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chengdu East to Leshan | ~67 (06:15 to 22:38) | 41 min to 1 hr 6 min direct | ¥27–63 (most ~¥54) | ¥43–86 | G8737 06:40, D1807 10:05 |
| Chengdu East to Emeishan | ~54 (06:34 to 23:27) | 1 hr 5 min to 1 hr 35 min | ¥33–74 (most ¥57–65) | ¥52–104 | C6273 06:34, C6303 09:28 |
| Leshan to Emeishan | ~30 (07:34 to 23:33) | 11 to 24 min | ¥6–11 | ¥9–17 | C6307 11:53, C6349 16:47 |
| Emeishan to Chengdu East | departures into the late evening | 1 hr 5 min to 1 hr 35 min | ¥33–74 | ¥52–104 | book one between 19:00 and 20:30 |
Times and fares per the July 2026 timetable update; the price spread is fast G trains versus slower C and D services. The station you want is "Emeishan" in town, not "Emei", an older station forum posters have warned about for years. Book the return conservatively: the last bus down from Leidongping leaves at 18:00 (17:30 in winter) and takes two hours, so aim for 19:30 to 20:30 and eat at the station.
Day 1: Chengdu East to Leshan, the Buddha, then the hop to Emeishan
06:40. G8737 out of Chengdu East. From Leshan station, bus K1 (or 13) takes 30 to 40 minutes to the scenic area for ¥2; a Didi is 20 minutes and ¥20–30. Gates open at 7:30am from April to October 7 (8am in winter) and the coaches arrive around 10am. Those two hours are the whole plan.
08:15 to 12:00. The Buddha. The Leshan guide argues boat versus stairs at length; with a train to protect, pick one. In before 9am on a weekday, take the staircase (included in the ¥80 entry) down to the feet and back through Lingyun Temple, about three hours. Later, or facing a stacked queue, take the ¥70 river cruise, which needs no park ticket. Doing both eats the whole day.
12:00 to 15:30. Eat. The block coach tours skip; the menu is below. Leave the suitcase at your Chengdu hotel and travel with a daypack.
Mid-afternoon. The hop. Leshan to Emeishan, 11 to 24 minutes, ¥6–11. From Emeishan station a green tourist bus runs to the Baoguo visitor centre in 15 minutes for ¥10; city buses 5A and 12 cost ¥1–2, a Didi ¥25–35.
Here is the fork, the most important paragraph in this post. Sleeping at Baoguo village: take the 16:47 train, soak in a hot spring, catch the 6am bus. Wanting the sunrise: you must reach Leidongping tonight, and the last uphill bus leaves Baoguo at 17:00 (16:00 from November), so you leave Leshan by about 14:00 and lose most of the food afternoon. You cannot have both. Choose the one you will remember.
What to eat in Leshan between the Buddha and the train
This is the three-hour working version of the Leshan food argument, built from what domestic eaters and the few English-language writers who cover the town keep naming.
Qiaojiao beef first, before 11am. The clear, herbal beef-and-offal broth from Suji Ancient Town is the one Leshan dish that eats like lunch, and recent reports agree on beating the queues. The in-town names cluster on Jiaxiang Road: Feng Sanniang at No. 7, around ¥47 a head, and Fangfang's main shop at No. 14, closer to ¥25. Niuhonghong has a branch opposite the Buddha.
Bobo chicken at three. Ye Popo, the cold-skewer shop everyone names, has no queue at 3pm, a tip repeated across guides. Skewers are priced by the stick, so confirm the price first; Weixiao on Jiaxiang Road is the other old name.
Tianshui noodles, with a footnote. Sweet-water noodles turn up on Leshan menus: thick, chewy wheat noodles in sweetened soy with chili oil, sesame paste, garlic and crushed peanuts. Every English writer compares them to udon, and having grown up on udon I agree. The footnote is that tianshui mian is a Chengdu dish. Leshan's own noodles are pork-rib, shaozi, and the 1980s "MSG vegetarian noodles", thin noodles in vegetable broth with pickles and chili oil; a food-tour team in 2024 called the bowl at Zhengzong Weijing Su Mian, No. 39 Zhanggongqiao Street, open 7am to 3am, the best of their Min River trip.
For the train. Half a sweet-skin duck from a counter glazing in real time. Zhanggongqiao food street after dark is the one thing this plan cannot give you unless you sleep in Leshan.
Day 2: the Golden Summit by bus and cable car, then back to Chengdu
From Baoguo village. The first bus leaves at 6am (7am in winter): two hours of switchbacks to Leidongping at 2,430 metres, ¥90 round trip. A 1.5 km stone path climbs to Jieyin Hall in 20 to 30 minutes through macaque territory; the rules from Guiyang's Qianling Park apply, food zipped away and no rustling plastic. The cable car then takes five minutes, ¥65 up and ¥55 down (¥30 and ¥20 in the mid-December to mid-January low season). You are on top by about 9:30am, ahead of the Chengdu day-trippers.
From Leidongping or the summit. The sunrise version. The first cable car runs 20 to 30 minutes before sunrise, so from Leidongping set an alarm for sunrise minus 75 minutes and walk the unlit path by head torch; from a summit hotel, step out an hour early for Sheshen Cliff. Sunrise runs late this far west: roughly 6am at midsummer, 6:45 in late September, 7:50 in midwinter.
On top. Two hours covers the ten-faced golden Puxian, Huazang Temple and a ¥40 lunch, in air 15 to 20 degrees colder than Chengdu. Then queue to descend by 15:00: 2026 travelers report one of the two Jinding lines often down for maintenance on weekday afternoons, the last descent is around 17:30, and both bus and cable car stop at about 16:30 in bad weather. Be at Leidongping by 16:00.
Booking the summit in 2026. Entry, bus slot and cable car are real-name and timed, released 15 days ahead at 8am, and weekend early slots go within minutes. The official WeChat channel takes only Chinese ID cards, so foreign travelers use Trip.com or Klook bundles, which bill the full ¥160. Foreign passports get half-price entry (¥80 peak, ¥55 low), but only at a staffed window at Baoguo, Huangwan or Emeishan station. On a quiet weekday, buy in person the evening before; on weekends, pay full price online. If the webcam shows fog, run the Wannian-Qingyin loop from the Emeishan guide instead.
The way home. Bus down, Emeishan station, a 19:30-ish train, and the metro to whichever Chengdu district holds your suitcase.
What the two days cost: every ticket in yuan
| Ticket | Peak season | Low season / notes |
|---|---|---|
| Trains, three legs, 2nd class | ~¥54 + ¥11 + ¥65 = ~¥130 | faster G trains cost a little more |
| Leshan Giant Buddha entry | ¥80 | half price ages 7–18 and 60–64; covers staircase, Lingyun and Wuyou temples, Mahao tombs |
| Leshan river cruise | ¥70 | no park ticket needed; night cruise ~¥120 in summer |
| Leshan station to Buddha | ¥2 bus K1 / ¥20–30 Didi | |
| Emeishan station to Baoguo | ¥10 tourist bus / ¥1–2 city bus / ¥25–35 Didi | |
| Mount Emei entry | ¥160 (valid 48 hours) | ¥110 from 15 Dec to 15 Jan; ¥80 / ¥55 with a foreign passport at a staffed window |
| Sightseeing bus, Baoguo to Leidongping | ¥90 return / ¥50 one way | timed slot required since March 2026 |
| Golden Summit cable car | ¥65 up / ¥55 down | ¥30 / ¥20 low season |
| Wannian cable car (fog-day plan B only) | ¥65 up / ¥45 down | ¥50 return low season |
| Realistic total, tickets only | ~¥650–700 per person | ~¥570 with the passport discount; beds and food extra |
Add a bed (¥180–400 at Baoguo or Leidongping, ¥600–1,200 on the summit) and ¥100–150 a day of food, and two travelers spend roughly ¥2,000 to ¥2,800 for the pair. A guided two-day tour costs several times that per person.
Three things worth booking
The bundles earn their place in 2026, when one purchase covers the summit slot, bus reservation and real-name admin the official channel will not take your passport for. The trade is that a tour's clock replaces yours.
Three things worth booking
Skip the ticket machinesLeshan Giant Buddha entry ticket
Pre-booked park entry for the staircase and temples, with the river cruise as an add-on. Saves the Chinese-language machines at the gate and matters most on weekends, when same-day slots are not guaranteed.
Book this
Beats the 8,000 capMount Emei entry, bus and Golden Summit cable car
The bundle that locks your summit entry and bus reservation under the 2026 cap. Bills full-price entry, so weekday travelers who want the passport discount should buy in person at Baoguo instead.
Book this
Zero adminLeshan and Mount Emei 2-day tour from Chengdu
The same shape as this post with a driver, a guide and the tickets handled. Check where the overnight is before booking: a Baoguo hotel means a midday summit, not a sunrise.
Book thisWhere to sleep: Baoguo village, on the mountain, or Leshan city
Three zones, three different trips. The choice is less about budget than about which hour of day two you care about most.
Three places to book in Emeishan
Hot springs, 6am busHongzhushan Hotel Mount Emei
The classic mountain-foot base: lakeside grounds, hot springs, a short walk to the bus station. Thousands of recent reviews rate the location first and the pools second, which is the right order for this plan.
Check availability
Sunrise at the doorJinding Jinlonglv Hotel
A few steps from the cable car exit, with floor heating that recent guests single out. Summit inventory on Western booking sites is thin, so if the search comes up empty, Trip.com lists it directly.
Check availability
Buddha at opening timePeace Inn, Leshan Giant Buddha Branch
Clean, cheap and a five-minute walk from the ticket booth, which is the whole pitch: in the park at 7:30am and a night on the food streets before it. Little English spoken; tell them your arrival time.
Check availabilityStay in Baoguo village if you want the easiest version and can live without the sunrise. It sits at the mountain gate, 15 minutes from the station, with the 6am bus, the ticket windows and the hot-spring hotels; the Hongzhushan dominates, and the Teddy Bear Hotel on Baoguosi Road is the long-running budget pick with English-speaking staff. The trade: from here the summit is a 9:30am sight. A mountain plus an onsen-style soak the night before is a pattern I grew up with in Japan, and it is an easy trade.
Stay on the mountain only if sunrise is the mission. Leidongping is the usual compromise at about half the summit price, ¥180–350, floor-heated and often partly underground; a March visitor paid roughly ¥100 a head at the Mingshan Hotel and called the options "fairly similar". It costs you the dawn walk and the Leshan afternoon. Summit rooms put sunrise two minutes away for ¥600–1,200 in peak season and need booking one to two weeks ahead.
Stay in Leshan city if the food is the headline: Zhanggongqiao after dark, the night cruise, and a 7:30am walk into the park. Beds are cheap, from the Peace Inn by the gate to the HUALUXE Leshan and Hilton Garden Inn Leshan Shizhong across town. The cost is day two: the first train to Emeishan is 7:34am, so you summit at midday with the day-trippers. As the Xijiang Miao village overnight taught me, pick the place whose evening you want.
Do it as two separate day trips instead if...
The two-day chain is the version I would book, and it still beats two separate day trips in only two ways: dawn on the mountain, and two weather windows instead of one. Go back to two day trips if:
- The sunrise does not matter to you. Then the chain saves one return train and costs you Leshan's evening and your better Chengdu bed.
- You want Leshan after dark. That needs a late train home or a Leshan night, not Baoguo by 6pm.
- The forecast is fog. A day trip lets you pick the clearest day; the chain commits you to day two, and recent visitors describe summits "completely shrouded".
- You cannot get a Golden Summit slot. Under the cap the mountain sells out before the trains do; shift Emeishan to a weekday.
- You are travelling with young children or anyone who will not enjoy two 13-hour days with a 5am alarm between them.
- It is Golden Week, Labour Day or Spring Festival. Do neither; May 2025 holiday reports describe cable car waits that consumed the day.
If two or more apply, use the Leshan and Emeishan guides as separate days within the wider Chengdu week.
Recommendations
- Book all three train legs plus the return the day sales open, and make the return a 19:30 to 20:30 departure from Emeishan, not 18:30.
- Book the Golden Summit entry and bus slot when your date enters the 15-day window; weekends need two to three days, holidays three to five.
- Be through the Buddha's gate by 8:15am and pick boat or stairs once, based on the queue you can see.
- Eat qiaojiao beef before 11am and bobo chicken at 3pm; the timing tip recurs across sources because it works.
- Decide the sunrise question before you leave Leshan: Leidongping requires the 17:00 uphill bus (16:00 in winter), Baoguo does not.
- Buy entry in person at Baoguo with your passport on a quiet weekday to halve the ¥160; pay full price online on any weekend or holiday.
- Start queueing to descend by 15:00; the tram is often down on weekday afternoons and the last bus leaves Leidongping at 18:00.
- Zip food deep in your bag before Leidongping; the macaques read plastic bags from a distance.
This is the version recent travelers keep converging on: the Buddha before the coaches, a long Leshan lunch, the short hop, and a mountain reached ahead of everyone who left Chengdu that morning. I have not ridden it yet and the 2026 rules are new; if you have done it since the May cap, especially the passport discount and weekday tram closures, tell me and I will update this. Start from a good Chengdu base, and remember the lesson of every long day on China's high-speed network, from Huangguoshu to here: the only way to lose is to book late.
Frequently asked
Can you do Leshan and Emeishan in 2 days from Chengdu?
Yes, and two days is the shortest version that gets you both the Giant Buddha and the Golden Summit without a coach tour. Take an early train from Chengdu East to Leshan, do the Buddha before the tour buses arrive around 10am, eat in town, then ride the 11 to 24 minute train on to Emeishan and sleep at the mountain foot or up at Leidongping. Day two is the sightseeing bus, the Golden Summit cable car, two hours on top and an evening train back to Chengdu.
How do you get from Leshan to Emeishan?
The same intercity high-speed line that brings you from Chengdu continues from Leshan station to Emeishan station: about 30 trains a day, 11 to 24 minutes, 6 to 11 yuan in second class. From Emeishan station a green tourist bus runs to the Baoguo Temple visitor centre in about 15 minutes for 10 yuan, city buses 5A and 12 do it for 1 to 2 yuan, and a Didi costs 25 to 35 yuan. Make sure your ticket says Emeishan, not Emei, which is a different station on the old line.
How much does a 2-day Leshan and Emeishan trip cost in 2026?
Budget roughly 650 to 700 yuan per person in tickets before beds and food. Trains run about 130 yuan for the three legs, the Buddha is 80 yuan entry plus 70 for the boat, and the mountain stack is 160 yuan entry, 90 for the round-trip sightseeing bus and 120 for the Golden Summit cable car return. A bed at Baoguo village adds 200 to 400 yuan, Leidongping about the same, and a summit hotel 600 to 1,200 yuan in peak season.
Where should you stay between Leshan and Emeishan?
Baoguo village at the foot of Mount Emei is the default: hot-spring hotels, the 6am sightseeing bus at your door, and the cheapest decent beds. Sleep at Leidongping or on the Golden Summit itself only if the sunrise is the point, because the first bus from Baoguo cannot reach the top before dawn. Sleep in Leshan city if the food is your headline and you are happy to reach the summit at midday rather than first light.
Do you need to book Emeishan tickets in advance in 2026?
Yes. Since 23 May 2026 the Golden Summit area has been capped at 8,000 entries a day, and since March 2026 the sightseeing bus to Leidongping needs a timed reservation booked with your entry ticket. Slots are real-name and released about 15 days ahead; weekends need two to three days' notice and public holidays three to five. The official channel only takes Chinese ID cards, so foreign travelers book through Trip.com or Klook packages.
Should you do Leshan and Emeishan as two separate day trips instead?
Do them separately if the sunrise does not matter to you, if you want Leshan's food streets after dark, if you are traveling with young children or anyone who will not enjoy two 13-hour days back to back, or if the Golden Summit slot you need is sold out. Each sight is a comfortable day trip from Chengdu on its own, and the only thing the two-day chain buys that the day trips cannot is dawn on the mountain and two weather windows instead of one.
Is it better to visit Leshan or Emeishan first?
Leshan first. The Buddha's single-file staircase is at its emptiest when the gates open at 7:30am and is worst between 10am and 2pm, so it belongs at the start of day one. Emeishan second lets you sleep at the mountain foot or higher and take the first bus or first cable car in the morning, which is the only way to put the summit ahead of the tour coaches. Reversing the order gives you a crowded Buddha and a midday summit.
