1-dagars Chengdu Panda Base och Leshan Giant Buddha GROUP Tour

We really enjoyed our trip. Mark is a great guide, he provided us with interesting information about the Leshan Buddha and the Panda Centre. We also had a delicious lunch with Sichuan dishes. Recommended.

This was my first small group tour with only nine people, and it proved to be a far better way to travel. The hike to the Buddha and seeing the pandas were highlights.

The itinerary was solid. Our guide, Emily, was competent but there were some occasional instances of language barrier.

Awesome trip, highly recommend! Mark was great, very knowledgeable, great English and made sure we got to the important sites early before the crowds. Pandas were amazing, we saw at least 15 giant pandas and 8 red pandas up close. Mark also gave us information about the pandas and there was time to stop for a drink or snack. The lunch was fantastic, a huge banquet of food all for less than 10 Australian dollars. Would have been at least 10 dishes to share, and all really delicious and good quality. The final stop was the Buddha at Lushan. This was extremely busy and very strenuous walking up and down many flights of steep stairs, so pack your walking shoes, but it was fantastic to see. Mark was great, he actually took us on a loop walk so that we looped back to the head of the big Buddha after all the crowds had left and we had a second chance to snap photos and see the Buddha without the crowds. This was a huge bonus, thanks Mark. Great tour, well organised and thoughtful, would definitely recommend to all!!

Well organized, the guide helped us to the best areas to see pandas, which was great. Nice stop for lunch. The giant Buddha was great. I was afraid of the long time in the car combining the two, but with the level of confort provided it went by fast and was really worth it!

The tour guide Andy was the best; really friendly and very knowledgable with a high level of English language. The tour was nice and enjoyable and the transportation was comfortable.

These attractions are must see while visiting Chengdu. Mark, our tour guide, picked up our party of 6 at our hotel and drove northeast to the Panda Base. The entrance to the Base felt a little like Disney, but inside the habitats impressed, giving the impression of a research base rather than a zoo. Not all habitats had pandas in them, but we were able to get some good photos of the ones that did. There is a lot of walking and it can get crowded, as the paths wind around different areas. Mark shared some great information about pandas, but overall, this visit felt a bit short as there is a panda museum and some other attractions (panda musical?) that may be interesting. The drive to Leshan was a bit long, understandably since we booked during the national holiday. Lunch in Leshan was delicious and reasonably priced. We elected to see the Giant Buddha by river boat, which was fortuitous as it seems the hiking option was closed for repairs. That being the case, plus it being Golden Week, the wait to get on a boat was very long. It was worth it, as the Giant Buddha is impressive and well preserved. Thank you to Mark for being such a great tour guide. He was friendly and very knowledgeable about these attractions and the surrounding area. Mark also arranged Sichuan Opera tickets for us the following night, which is a blast and a must see while in Chengdu. We feel that the Panda Base and Leshan/Giant Buddha may be better enjoyed separately, but given our travel constraints, we are grateful for this experience.