2-Day Chengdu Excursion: Mount Emei and the Golden Summit Sunrise

How this two-day programme is arranged
Mount Emei is one of the four sacred Buddhist mountains of China and the seat of Samantabhadra, the bodhisattva of practice. It is also large, steep and crowded in the middle of the day, which is why we do not try to see it in one. This first day stays low and takes the monastery and the valley; the second day goes to the summit for sunrise. Splitting it that way is the difference between seeing the mountain and queuing on it.

The mountain
The main summit, Wanfo Peak, stands at 3099 metres, and the golden summit itself at about 3077. The mountain is about 150 kilometres from Chengdu. In 1996 it was inscribed on the World Heritage List together with the Leshan Buddha, and it is listed for both its natural and its cultural values - the forests and the geology on one side, the temples and the pilgrimage tradition on the other.

Morning - the drive and the gate
We leave Chengdu in the morning and arrive before noon. The first monastery inside the gate is Baoguo, the mountain's principal foundation, whose name means 'repaying the four kindnesses'; it functions as the administrative and ceremonial centre of the whole mountain. From there we drive up to the middle slopes, which is where the mountain's religious life is most concentrated.

Wannian Monastery
Wannian was founded in the Eastern Jin and is the oldest of the great foundations here. Its most important building is a brick hall built in the Ming dynasty without a single beam - a domed structure assembled entirely of brick, which is why it has survived earthquakes that flattened the timber halls around it. Inside stands a bronze image of Samantabhadra seated on an elephant, cast in the Northern Song, 7.35 metres tall and 62 tonnes in weight. It is the mountain's greatest treasure, and the reason the monastery is a pilgrimage destination in its own right. We spend an hour here with your guide, then walk down through the forest.

Lunch
Lunch at a mountain restaurant on the middle slopes: local tofu, bamboo shoots, and the cold noodles that hikers eat here.

Afternoon - the confluence and the monkeys
Qingyin Pavilion sits where two streams meet, and the pavilion built over the junction - twin bridges, one over each stream - has been the single most painted view on the mountain for centuries. The water is loud, the air is ten degrees cooler than Chengdu, and the walk there is a gentle hour on stone steps through forest.

Beyond it is the ecological monkey zone, home to a large troop of wild Tibetan macaques. They are the most photographed animals in Sichuan and the most badly behaved: they have been fed by visitors for decades and they now associate bags, bottles and rustling plastic with food, and they will take things out of your hands. Your guide will brief you properly before you go in and stay with you throughout. The rules are simple and non-negotiable - no food or drink visible, bags zipped, nothing dangling, do not make eye contact, do not run, and if an animal climbs on you, stand still and let the keepers deal with it. Handled that way it is one of the great wildlife encounters in China. Handled the other way it ruins the afternoon.

Evening
Dinner and a night on the mountain at leisure altitude, with the option of the hot springs at the foot of the mountain for guests who want them. We sleep low on purpose: the summit is a short, early drive away, and sleeping at altitude before a sunrise is a bad trade.

Meals
Lunch, Dinner

Accommodation
One night at Mount Emei (mountain hotel, four-star equivalent). The hotel name is confirmed with your final itinerary.

Why the early start is not optional
Emei's summit is famous for four things - the golden image, the cloud sea, the sunrise and the halo - and the first two are usually worth the trouble whatever the weather does. Getting there before dawn is not a matter of enthusiasm. The road up ends at Leidongping at 2430 metres, and from there it is either a long, steep climb on stone steps or a short cable-car ride; the queue for the cable car builds within twenty minutes of the first buses, and the light arrives on its own schedule. So we leave in the dark, and we are on the summit before it.

The summit
The Golden Summit is a small plateau at about 3077 metres with three things on it. The first is the temple of Huazang, rebuilt in the modern period, whose bronze and silver halls stand against the skyline. The second is the image: the Ten-Direction Samantabhadra, cast in 2006, forty-eight metres high, seated on four elephants facing the four cardinal directions. It is the largest gilded bronze image of its kind in China and it is what most people picture when they think of Emei. The third is the view - or rather the absence of one, because on a good morning what you look at is a sea of cloud filling the valleys below while the summits of a few other ranges break through it. On a clear day, to the west, the Gongga massif at 7556 metres is visible.

The halo
The fourth phenomenon is optical rather than architectural: when the sun is behind you and there is mist in front, your shadow is projected onto the cloud and surrounded by a ring of coloured light. Chinese tradition has called it the Buddha's halo for a thousand years, and it is the source of a great deal of the mountain's mystique. It appears only under the right combination of angle, mist and sun, so nobody can promise it. Your guide will tell you exactly when to look and where to stand, which at least improves your chances.

Breakfast
Breakfast at the summit, taken after the light, in a dining room that is warmer than you will be.

Down, and the long walk if you want it
We come down by cable car to Leidongping and drive back through the middle slopes, stopping where the group wants to stop - the forest on the upper mountain is genuinely fine, and there is a hall of arhats that most day-trippers never see. Guests who want a real walk instead of a mountain road can take the upper section on foot with the guide and meet the vehicle lower down; it is about two hours down on stone steps and it needs knees, so we ask in advance. Emei's lower slopes are also where the famous plant collections are, and in spring the rhododendrons on the upper mountain are the reason a lot of Chinese visitors come at all.

Notes on the mountain
Temperatures at the summit run fifteen to twenty degrees cooler than Chengdu, and the wind makes it feel colder still. Bring a warm layer and something windproof; we can arrange coats on the mountain if you would rather not pack them. Altitude at 3077 metres is not dangerous for healthy guests but it is felt, and we keep the pace slow at the top. Guests with heart or respiratory conditions should tell us in advance: this is a mountain we can adapt, but not a mountain we should surprise you with.

Late afternoon
Drive back to Chengdu, arriving in the evening.

Meals
Breakfast, Lunch

Accommodation
Tour ends on return to Chengdu.