Tours/Chengdu/Giant Panda and Leshan Buddha Day Trip from Chengdu
Viator · Private tour

Giant Panda and Leshan Buddha Day Trip from Chengdu

5.0(6)Chengdu1 hour
VIATOR5.0(2)TRIPADVISOR5.0(4)

Description

Take this one day Giant Panda and Leshan Buddha day trip to see the cute pandas and the hill-big Buddha. As Chinese national treasures, giant pandas live only in China, most of whom live in the Sichuan province. It is well known that Chengdu is the home of the giant panda and the Giant Panda Breeding Research Base in Chengdu is the best place to visit these lovely creatures. More than 90 pandas are available for you to watch them have fun and enjoy them play in the half open yard. You will also visit the Leshan Giant Buddha, the largest Buddha statue in the world, which is said "The Buddha is a hill, and the hill is a Buddha."

Tour Options

Panda and Buddha Tour
  • Pickup included

Itinerary

Admission included120 min

Your private Chengdu tour starts in the early morning around 7am when your guide and driver pick you up from your hotel or the airport.  You will then head to the Giant Panda Breeding Research Base in the suburb, just 10 kms north of Chengdu, where you can see the lovely pandas making various funny movements as they eat and play. There is a great possibility to visit pandas and also walk in the wide and fresh garden of bamboo, which is a pleasant experience.

Admission included120 min

After visiting the panda garden, drive to Leshan which is about 2 hours on the express way. The wide spreading landscape of the Chengdu plain will not be boring. For lunch, you will enjoy delicious local Chinese Cuisine. After lunch, your tour guide will show you the wonder of the Leshan Giant Buddha located on the side of the Minjiang river, also known as " Buddha is the hill and the hill is a Buddha." First, you will visit Linyun Temple, which is to commemorate the monk Hai Tong, who collected donations 1000 years ago under difficult conditions and started the construction of this huge work. You will then walk down the zigzagging trail along the left side of Buddha. The Buddha is a small mountain, from its head to its shoulder, and from its leg to its foot is about 30 minutes hiking. You will then hike up the right side which is a good place to view Leshan city across the intersection of Minjiang River, Dadu River and Qingyi River. At last, if time permitted, you could go on to pay a visit of Wuyou temple, where you will enjoy the statue of 500 Arhats. After Hiking, you can take a cruise along the rivers to see the Buddha from the water (optional program - need to pay extra money about $12 USD).  In the late afternoon your driver will take 2 hours driving on the express way again. Just enough time for you to have a short nap in your vehicle. While arriving in Chengdu in the late afternoon, your guide and driver will escort you back to your hotel or the airport. End this excursion tour with plenty of great memories.

Highlights

Hotel in city pickup and drop-off
Insurance for per person
Service charges and government taxes
Lunch will be traditional Chinese dishes local restaurant
Private transfer by air-conditioned vehicle with driver during the tour
Entrance tickets of Chengdu Giant Panda Base and Leshan Giant Buddha
Private English-speaking guide

What's included

Included
Hotel in city pickup and drop-off
Insurance for per person
Service charges and government taxes
Lunch will be traditional Chinese dishes local restaurant
Private transfer by air-conditioned vehicle with driver during the tour
Entrance tickets of Chengdu Giant Panda Base and Leshan Giant Buddha
Private English-speaking guide
Not included
The cruise of Leshan Buddha; if you want to take a cruise, you need to pay extra $12 per person
Tianfu airport pick-up or drop-off, need to pay extra accordingly.

Pickup Locations & Times

Your hotel in Chengdu

Traveller Ratings

5.0
6 reviews
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Important Information

  • Not recommended for pregnant travelers
  • Suitable for all physical fitness levels

Reviews(6)

J
Jamie_S
September 18, 2025
Our tour guide, Cora, was...

Our tour guide, Cora, was very helpful and knowledgeable. The whole trip was not too rush, got to see lots of Pandas. Boat ride at Leshan Buddha was fun. It was a pleasant trip overall. Highly recommended !

Operator response

Dear Jamie, thank you very much for the trust and apppreciation of China Exploration, which is the highest honor to us. All the best to you!

Z
Zoltan N
September 5, 2025
Great time in Chengdu

Our tour guide Veronica and our driver Mr Li were excellent. The Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding was amazing! This is a must-see for any tourists visiting Chengdu, providing the weather allows! We had a nice lunch at Nanniwan Environmental Hotpot and then continued our tour to the Leshan Giant Buddha, and would recommend upgrading to the boat tour for better views and less walking! The entire day was entertaining, informative, and enjoyable. Veronica was extremely knowledgeable and pleasant to be around! This tour package was a great way to spend the day!

Operator response

Dear Zoltan, thank you very much for appreciation of our guide, driver and service. Your pleasure is always the forever goal we chased. Welcome to China again, and welcome to take service of China Exploration again!

A
Alice B
March 26, 2025
Private Panda and Buddha Tour

It was a fantastic day and Michael, our guide, is super helpful and very prepared, ready to answer any doubt, hand in hand and charismatic!

Operator response

Dear Alice, thank you very much for the trust and appreciation of China Exploration. With your encouragement, we will stride on the right road far! All the best regards to you!

U
U6861GGgeorgeh
January 22, 2025
Walking Encyclopedia

Our group would like to thank China Exploration for making our visit to Chengdu a memorable one. We would also like to thank our guide, Sara Zhou. Ms. Zhou is a "walking encyclopedia" of Pandas. She says there are about 1900 pandas in the wild. In the place we visited, the Chendu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding, there are 757 Giant Pandas. She could easily identify 500 of them by just showing her their pictures. Amazing! Anyway, she is also very kind, helpful and patient. She happily guided us to the crowded Jinli street. Jinli Street was ranked 1st among the "world's most beautiful streets" published by CNN Travel in 2019. Last, but not the least- Sara speaks fluent English. English is rarely spoken in China and it is very difficult to communicate with the locals. Sara made it easy for us to communicate with the Chinese locals. I would highly recommend her to every English speaking tourist who would want to visit Chengdu someday. Xiexie ni Sara! Xiexie ni China Exploration! - George, Jenny, Joanne and Arcadio. Xo ai ni China from the Philippines!

1 people found this helpful
Operator response

Dear George, Jenny, Joanne and Arcadio, it is our great pleasure to receive your extremely high comment of Sara, undoubtedly your kindness is a great encouragement to our works. To bring happiness to our clients is alway the target of China Exploration. Hope to meet you again.

V
Victor_E
December 24, 2024
Our tour guide, Sarah,...

Our tour guide, Sarah, was magnificent. She explained everything very well, gave us incredible facts and answered every single question we had with a smile. She was extremely enthusiastic and passionate. We loved having her as our tour guide and having her take us everywhere, making sure we were comfortable and trying to accommodate any request we may have had. It was an amazing experience. We truly cannot recommend this tour with her enough.

1 people found this helpful
Operator response

Many thanks for booking of China Exploration, and it is really our great pleasure to offer you our service. Hope to see you next time soon!

M
mmu4444
October 17, 2019
Great day in Chengdu and Leshan

Sophia was a delight. She was an excellent guide in trying to make the day not only Informative but also fun. She and the driver, Mr. Wu, took very good care of me through a very long (because of traffic) day. I would highly recommend this tour to get the very best of Chengdu if you only have a day to spend in the city.

1 people found this helpful

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