How much does Leshan Giant Buddha cost to visit?

Adult entry to Leshan Giant Buddha is ¥80, ¥40 for children. Boat ticket ¥70.

When is Leshan Giant Buddha open?

Leshan Giant Buddha opening hours: 7:30am–6pm Apr–Oct; 8am–5:30pm Nov–Mar.

How long do you need at Leshan Giant Buddha?

Allow 4–6 hours for Leshan Giant Buddha. Add buffer time if you plan to visit at peak season or include nearby sights in the same trip.

Religious site · SICHUAN · UNESCO

Leshan Giant Buddha

乐山大佛 · Lèshān Dàfó

About

The 71m Tang-dynasty Maitreya Buddha carved into a sandstone cliff at the confluence of three rivers. UNESCO-listed.

The Leshan Giant Buddha was carved between 713 and 803 CE into the Lingyun Mountain cliff at the confluence of the Min, Dadu and Qingyi rivers. At 71m tall, it is the largest stone Buddha in the world, and one of the largest carved monumental sculptures of any kind. The shoulders are 28m wide and a single foot is 8.5m long. The original drainage system inside the carving still functions and is responsible for the Buddha's preservation. UNESCO-listed jointly with Mt Emei in 1996.

Access by trail down the cliff face beside the Buddha (steep, slow during peak hours) or by boat on the river below. The boat view is the better photograph; the trail gives the scale.

How to get there

HSR Chengdu East to Leshan (1h), then bus 13 to scenic area.

When to visit

Weekday early morning. Avoid summer humidity.

Official channels

Verified official contacts and booking flow — no affiliate links.

Website: www.leshandafo.com
Booking flow: Ticket window on-site OR online booking accepted.
Notes: Ticket at Lingyun Hill gate. Boat viewing separate.

History and context

The project was begun in 713 CE by a Chan monk called Haitong, who hoped a Maitreya carved at the river junction would calm the turbulent waters that regularly wrecked boats below. Local accounts record that Haitong gouged out his own eyes when officials tried to divert the funds. Work stalled after his death and was completed around 803 CE under Tang provincial patronage. The debris shed into the river during ninety years of carving did in fact slow the currents — an engineered side-effect as much as a devotional one.

What the visit is like

From the north entrance you climb to the Buddha's head first — the crowd bunches at the railing there for the face-level photograph. The descent is the Nine-Turn Staircase cut into the cliff beside the right shoulder; it is narrow, single-file and slow, and on public holidays the queue to start down can run past an hour. The scale registers on the way down: the ear alone is around 7m, and passing the knee you realise the toe platform below is a viewing terrace holding fifty people. Bring water; there is little shade on the stair.

Photography

The head-on full-body shot only works from the river — either the scheduled sightseeing boat or the cross-river ferry. Boats pause roughly five minutes in front of the Buddha; morning light lands on the face, afternoons throw the cliff into shadow. From the clifftop you get the head in profile and downward angles onto the shoulders. Drones are prohibited across the scenic area and enforcement is active. Tripods are tolerated on the upper terraces but impractical on the descent stair.

Overlooked details

The drainage system is the detail most visitors walk past. Concealed channels run behind the ears, through the hair coils and down the chest and back, moving rainwater off the sandstone before it can saturate the rock. The 1,051 tight curls on the head are individually carved blocks set into the skull. On the cliff walls flanking the Buddha are the Lingbao Pagoda side and hundreds of smaller Tang and Song niche carvings — most people photograph the big Buddha and miss them entirely. There is also a tomb complex, the Mahao cliff tombs, inside the same ticket.

UNESCO inscription

Inscription year not yet confirmed against UNESCO source. · Criteria (iv, vi, x).

“The first Buddhist temple in China was built here in Sichuan Province in the 1st century A.D. in the beautiful surroundings of the summit Mount Emei. The addition of other temples turned the site into one of Buddhism's holiest sites. Over the centuries, the cultural treasures grew in number. The most remarkable is the Giant Buddha of Leshan, carved out of a hillside in the 8th century and looking down on the confluence of three rivers. At 71 m high, it is the largest Buddha in the world. Mount Emei is also notable for its exceptionally diverse vegetation, ranging from subtropical to subalpine pine forests. Some of the trees there are more than 1,000 years old.”

Source: UNESCO World Heritage Centre — official listing.

Where to eat nearby

Leshan old town, a short taxi or bus ride from the scenic-area exit, is the reason to eat here rather than back in Chengdu. Zhang Gongqiao street is the recognised food lane — bowls of bobo chicken (缽缽雞, cold skewers in chilli-numbing broth), sweet-water noodles (甜水面), and Xigu doufu (西壩豆腐) done a dozen ways. Quality is generally honest and cheap; the tourist-facing stalls immediately outside the scenic-area gate are worse value.

Common misconceptions

Visitors often assume the Buddha is Ming or Qing — it predates both by roughly a thousand years. The blackened streaks down the face are not pollution damage but weathering of the sandstone and lichen, and are periodically cleaned. The site is not wheelchair accessible below the clifftop; the descent is stairs only and there is no lift. And the Buddha is not on Mt Emei despite the joint UNESCO listing — Emei is a separate mountain around 30km west and needs its own day.

Gallery

Itineraries featuring this site

Other religious sites in China

Other UNESCO World Heritage sites in China