Visiting Mt. Emei

[nico]

Hey, I’m sure this question has been asked before, but I can’t find it on the forum, I’m looking to do a Mt. Eimei trip, but don’t want to use a travel agent, would like to do it by myself, off the beaten track, does anyone know if there is busses\trains running to Mt. Emei? Hotels? Hostels? Will 3 days be enough for a trip?

Appreciate any tips..

Tnx

[Justin]

Rachel and I went to Emei Shan two weeks ago. If you want to hike to the top, 3 days is perfect. You can reach the top at the end of the 2nd day, but if you want to hike back down you’ll need another full day. Another option is to hike to the top and take a bus down to the bottom.

Busses leave every half a hour starting at 7:30am from Xi Nan Men Bus station and it takes about 2.5 hours to reach the mountain. No need for an advanced ticket purchase, but it doesn’t hurt. When the bus is full it will leave. It cost about 50 RMB one way.

Along the way you can stop off at different Monasteries and pay to stay the night. The rooms are very basic, but it’s somewhere to lay your head. Monks will begin to play music around 5:30am and a simple vegetarian breakfast is served from 6-6:30am. Dinner is at 6pm and lunch is served at 11am at all the Monasteries. Every 30-40 min you’ll also run into other food, drink and rest options along the path.

Any other questions?

[Federico]

You can do this in two days (depend what do you want do) and sleep on the top of the mountain… take the bus and after you can take cableway or by walk for arrive under giant buddah…

[Ian]

I wouldn’t go until this rain stops

[Eve]

it rained a lot these days, i dont think its a good idea

[nico]

Yeah wont go now,maybe in two weeks time,tnx Justin

[Charlie]

Emei Shan is a great place to visit, bring your walking shoes and leave early. When I go I normally start in the morning, sleep near the top, and be at the peak at sunrise on the second day. There are multiple cable cars which can expedite the process of getting up the mountain, and you can also take a bus about halfway up if I’m not mistaken.

There are multiple peaks but the one I like best is called Wanfo Peak, which is also the highest. There’s a temple at the top which is pretty incredible, it has a gigantic bell in it and it’s the site of the circular rainbow imagery that you can see at sunrise if the conditions are right. In ancient times monks would leap from the mountain top to the death when seeing this visual artifact, thinking they had reached nirvana. Highly recommended.

[China Bohs]

Justin is right two days is enough to walk to the top spending a night at a monastery on the way up. If you want to start first thing in the morning then you can stay at Teddy Bear Hostel at the bottom of the mountain, they have all types of beds and the owner is very helpful. He can even call and reserve a monastery bed for you. although you don’t need to.

After you get to the top you have four options:

1- walk down, pointless really and is hard on the legs.

2- bus straight down, costs around 50 RMB and will take you to ba guo si bus station where you can take a bus to Chengdu.

3- stay at a hotel on the top and wake for the 5am sunrise, this is very expensive approx. 500 per night.

4- stick around and wait until the sunrise, a tiring option but the most popular amongst young Chinese. After take the bus down.

On a clear day the sunrise is breathtaking, if it is not clear you have stayed up all night for nothing.

The buses to Emei leave from xin nan men station and are every 6 minutes during peak time. Don’t bother waiting for the ba guo si bus, some of them don’t even go there anyway. Just get the bus to the city then jump in a van when they come on the bus looking for you, shouldn’t pay more than 10 kuai a head.

When coming back to Chengdu, buses from the main bus station leave every 20 minutes, buses from ba guo si leave every hour.

Be prepared for the following prices

Return bus to Emei 85
taxi to the mountain 10-20
entrance ticket 150
night at monastery 30-100
bus down mountain 50

Also food is a obviously not cheap on the mountain, you will eat a regular Chinese meal for around 20-30 kuai.

Unfortunately it is not a cheap trip anymore, the mountain has become big business. Luckily for me my wife’s family live on the mountain so everything is free (:

I know this is a long post but hopefully somebody finds it useful. It’s rare something comes up that I actually know about.

____________________________________________________________________________________

http://www.tailoredcd.com/

[Author]

Posts