Religious site · SICHUAN · UNESCO
Mount Emei
峨眉山 · Éméishān
About
Sacred Buddhist mountain (3,099m) west of Leshan. UNESCO-listed jointly with the Leshan Giant Buddha. Cable car or two-day hike.
Mt Emei is one of the four sacred Buddhist mountains of China. The Bodhisattva Samantabhadra is associated with the mountain. The full ascent (3,099m at the Golden Summit, with its 48m gilded ten-sided Bodhisattva statue) takes 2–3 days on foot; most visitors take the bus to mid-mountain Wannian Temple, then hike to Jinding (Golden Summit) via cable car. Sunrise from the Golden Summit, above the cloud-line, is the canonical Emei experience. Resident macaques on the upper slopes can be aggressive — keep food in bags.
How to get there
HSR Chengdu East to Emeishan (1h 30m), then shuttle.
When to visit
Spring and autumn. Overnight at Golden Summit hotels for sunrise.
Gallery
Other attractions in Chengdu
Itineraries featuring this site
- Four Buddhist Mountains Circuit, 10 days
10d · China's four sacred Buddhist mountains in sequence: Wutai (Shanxi), Jiuhua (Anhui), Emei (Sichuan), and Putuo (Zhejiang) — each dedicated to a different bodhisattva.
- Buddhist pilgrimage — Putuoshan, Wutaishan, Emei and Jiuhua, 10 days
10d · Ten days visiting the Four Sacred Buddhist Mountains of China — Putuo (Guanyin), Wutai (Manjushri), Emei (Samantabhadra) and Jiuhua (Ksitigarbha) — each with its own character and monastic tradition.
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