Leshan Transportation
Leshan is also known as the Happy Mountain not only because it’s surrounded by the land form but also because it’s filled with wondrous beauty and well-preserved customs and culture. It doesn’t come as a surprise therefore that although this isn’t as gorgeous and as modern as its nearby cities, it is frequently visited by throngs of tourists, both locals and foreigners.
The prefecture city of Leshan is part of Sichuan Province. The area is also a passageway of two rivers, Min and Dadu. In fact, one of the world’s best attractions found in Leshan, the Giant Buddha, is found at the foot of the rivers. It is southwest of the Red Basin and barely 75 miles from Chengdu.
Airport
So far, there’s no airport or air strip in any part of Leshan, even in the city. Nevertheless, travelers still have a lot of options for air transport, depending on where they want to arrive or their chosen travel package.
One of the closest airports is Chengdu Shuangliu Airport, which is about 115 kilometers away from the city center of Leshan. If you hired a car, you can reach the destination in less than 3 hours. However, if you’re commuting, you need to ride a bus from the terminal to Chengdu. That takes around 15 minutes. A bus departs the terminal every 30 minutes.
From Chengdu, you board a train that travels to Emei for around 2 hours and 22 minutes. Trains, meanwhile, leave every 4 hours. From Emei, one can board a taxi for 41 minutes to Leshan.
If you’re coming from Chongqing Airport, you can ride a taxi toward Chongqing North. It takes about 30 minutes since the distance is around 21 kilometers. From Chongqing North, you ride a train with a travel time around 2 hours and 24 minutes. This leaves 3 times a day. The train then arrives at Chengdu, and from Chengdu, you can move on to Emei for 2 hours and 22 minutes. From the Emei Railway Station, you can ride a taxi toward Leshan for more than 40 minutes.
If you think the abovementioned options are tiring, you can choose to ride a taxi directly from Luzhou Airport straight to Leshan. The journey takes around 4 hours and 16 minutes and can cost more than $150.
Coming from Yibin? You can take a taxi for around 14 minutes from the airport to Yibin city center. Then you ride a bus toward Chengdu for 6 hours and 18 minutes then to Chengdu to Emei for another 2 hours and 22 minutes. From the bus station in Emei, you can take a taxi for 41 minutes toward Leshan.
Train
If you can go back to the airport directions toward Leshan, you’ll discover that aside from the lack of any airport, there’s also no railway station. You have to stop at Emei Railway Station and usually hire a taxi to take you to Leshan. Most of these buses in Emei came from Chengdu.
Fortunately, there are a lot of trains to select. These include train lines 5619, K117, K9470, K9471, K9483, K165, K145, K9463, K9466, and K673. It usually leaves Chengdu as early as 6 in the morning, while the last one departs at 8:05 p.m. It then arrives at Emei from 10 in the morning to 10:34 p.m.
The duration varies, depending on your choice of bus. Most of them have a travel time of a little more than 2 hours. The 5619, on the other hand, lasts for about 4 hours.
Passengers can also choose their preferred seat type. The regular ones cost about 13 RMB to 25 RMB. Hard sleeper fares, on the other hand, range from 50 RMB to 53 RMB, while the soft sleepers are around 73 RMB to 76 RMB.
Take note that though these are the usual schedules and fares for the trains, they may change without prior notice. Moreover, considering the number of tourists that visit Leshan, it’s best to book your tickets beforehand. You can do so up to 11 days before your actual journey.
Jiayang Steam Train
If you have a lot of time in your hands and thus don’t mind the long journey, you can try the Jiayang steam train. It is also preferred by a good number of tourists who want to experience the countryside on board a real steam train.
The Jiayang Steam Train has a very long history. It was built during the 18th century to transport not people but coals. It’s a very helpful transport for the mines around the area then. Although it’s been overshadowed by more modern and faster trains, it still continues to attract crowds and remains to be in good condition.
The distance it covers is more than 19 kilometers with 8 stops in between. To signal the arrival, departure, and stop, the driver blows the horn or sounds the whistle. It also passes a narrow train line.
Passengers can choose different kinds of carriages. The simplest is the common passenger trains that travel at 7 in the morning and 5 in the afternoon. Price per station and single way is only CNY 10 while a round-trip ticket costs CNY 20. This is not the most comfortable, though, as the carriage is very small and dull.
The other option is a passenger train with a Chinese tour guide. One station is CNY 10 and single way is 30 CNY. If you want a round-trip ticket, you pay CNY 50. The best choice is the special sightseeing with a tour guide. It costs way more—for example, the round-trip pass is already CNY 100—but you’ll have wider and more contemporary seats.
It travels around the mountain areas of Leshan. The designated stopovers for passenger and sightseeing trains are Shixi, Yuejin, Bee Rock, Rape Flower Dam, Fairy’s Foot, Jiao Dam, Plantain Ravine Town, and Huangcun Mine.
Buses
There are three bus stations that are found in Leshan. These are Leshan Port Sightseeing Bus Station, Lianyun Bus Sation, and Central Bus Station. The Central Bus Station leaves from 6:30 a.m. and travels every 10 to 160 minutes depending on the destination. The arriving stations are Yibin, Chongqing, Zigong, and Mianyang. The station, meanwhile, is found in Shizhong District.
The Lianyun Bus Station, also known as Chengbei Bus Station, is a little farther from the city cnter, and you need to ride Bus No. 1 to get there. It serves the nearby counties of Leshan such as Luocheng Town and Ebian County.
You can also find special buses that take you to the top tourist spots in the area. These are designated as Leshan Port Sightseeing Bus Station. It takes you to Shawan and Mount Emei. You can also ride this to go to the bus station of Chengdu called New South Gate.
Ferries
Leshan has a port for tourist-centric ferries. To get there, you can ride a city bus with nos. 9 and 12. From the ferry, you can then take a trip down the river and arrive at the foot of Leshan Giant Buddha. Across it is already part of the scenic area of Mount Emei. It will cost you around CNY 30 to ride the ferry and see the Buddha. Near the Leshan port are different restaurants serving Sichuan dishes.
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