anita19

I will be leaving for china on friday. can anyone tell me about emei shan. I plan to go to le shan and take bus over to emei shan the same day and take a cable car to the top and than go back on the bus to chengdu but frommers said that to get to the cable car it well take 2 hrs each way on the bus .if this is true ,I cant go to both places. I realize I dont have time for hiking but I thought it would be worthwhile at least to spend a few hours there at Emei shan at the summit. thanks anita

rkkwan

According to my dad - who've been to the area twice - no.

Typical itinerary is two-day:

First day: Chengdu - Le Shan. To justify the trip, you need quite a bit of time at Le Shan, because it's a long hike to walk down one side of the buddha, and you want to take a ferry cruise to see it from the water. Then you transfer to the bottom of Emei Shan to overnight.

Day 2, you still need a bus ride to the bottom of the cable car station, which takes like half-an-hour; go up, look around a little (even if you do much hiking), come back down. Then return to Chengdu late afternoon.

Impossible to do both in one day.

chatter_ann

Agree too hard for both in one day but both really worth the visit we went this time last year and Emei Shan was incredible probably the most awesome unexpected couple of hours above the clouds - they should have finished all the renovations now too. Giant Buddah great but incredibly crowded with local tourists who walked very slowly

Cilla_Tey

We almost got to the top but cancelled at the cable car area because it was snowing and wet and we were not dressed properly. Also it was getting dark and the road conditions were not good. This was in December though. Subsequently we met some tourists in the Jiuzhaigou area and they told us that Emei shan was the highlight of the trip.

janev

We have also been to both twice. The first time we took a tour from Chengdu - this was easily arranged & with a group of people from all over China. I was unable to undertstand the commentary of course (my husband is a Chinese speaker & so could) & on this tour we walked around the exhibition behind the buddha & down & around it (lots of steps!!!). Being so close was great & you really felt how large it was. On the second time (also a tour with group of Chinese friends from UK) we just took the boat - nice, but for me the first trip was better.
You can spend ages at Emeishan - again I preferred the first tour (again hard going & lots of steps) but felt we saw more. You can easily spend a full day here.
Two days would be best. We took a tour the first time as it worked out cheaper & being on a tour bus made it a more direct journey (hotel was included)- no stops for buying to waste any time either!
I don't know if there are any tours from Chengdu to do both in 1 day - if so this would be quicker then moving between the two on your own & can also prove good value.

anita19

Thank you all for responding.This is really helpful and I really appreciate the information.I wish I had 2 days for this trip. Thanks again,Anita