Religious site · YUNNAN
Three Pagodas of Chongsheng Temple
崇圣寺三塔 · Chóngshèng Sì Sāntǎ
About
Three Tang-era pagodas (824–840 CE) in the Dali plain, with the Cangshan Mountains behind and Erhai Lake in front. The classic Dali photograph.
The Three Pagodas were built between 824 and 840 by the Nanzhao Kingdom, the autonomous Tibeto-Burman state that controlled Yunnan from the 8th to 9th centuries. The central pagoda, Qianxun, is 69m tall and is one of the tallest Tang-era pagodas in China. Two smaller pagodas (42m each) flank it. The pagoda complex sits at the foot of the Cangshan Mountains with Erhai Lake just to the east — the framing makes for the canonical Dali photograph.
How to get there
Bus or taxi 5 km north of Dali Old Town.
When to visit
Late afternoon for the light on the Cangshan range.
Other attractions in Dali
Itineraries featuring this site
- Yunnan loop — Kunming, Dali, Lijiang, Shangri-La
10d · The northwest Yunnan circuit through Bai, Naxi and Tibetan culture.
- First-timer China — 14 days with Yunnan loop
14d · Two weeks covering the Beijing–Xi'an–Shanghai circuit plus a Yunnan extension through Kunming, Dali and Lijiang — the combination that most first-time visitors leave wishing they had done.
- Yunnan deep loop — Kunming to Tengchong, 14 days
14d · Fourteen days through the full breadth of Yunnan: Kunming, Dali, Lijiang, Shangri-La, the Yuanyang terraces, Jianshui and the geothermal fields of Tengchong — the province's different climates, altitudes and minorities in one loop.
- First-timer China — 21 days with northwest Silk Road extension
21d · Three weeks across China: the classic eastern cities, a Yunnan highland loop, and a Silk Road extension through Gansu into the northwest — covering the range of what China actually contains.
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