14 Days in Leshan

Settle by the rivers, then an evening loop of the Jiading Fang blocks for first tastes of bobo chicken and sweet-skin duck.

1. leshan jiading fang

Morning plank road beside the 71-metre Maitreya carved from 713 to 803 — 1,021 coiled-hair buns on the head — Eastern Han tombs at Mahao, and a river boat for the whole-figure view.

1. leshan giant buddha
2. leshan mahao cliff tombs

About 15 minutes by HSR into Leshan's own Emeishan city, cable car to the 3,079-metre Golden Summit and the 48-metre gilt statue of 2006; the dedicated Emeishan pages carry the full route.

1. leshan emeishan
2. leshan emei golden summit

An hour south for the roofed main street built like a boat, about 200 metres of Ming-era layout with teahouses at the stern end; market lanes and a slow lunch fill the afternoon.

1. leshan luocheng boat street

The 762-millimetre line of the 1950s, around 20 kilometres through terraced fields to the coal-mine heritage area at Bagou; April rides through rapeseed, autumn through rice terraces.

1. leshan jiayang steam train

Tang niches above the Qingyi River, the Dongfeng weir listed among world heritage irrigation structures in 2014, and bamboo-paper workshops in the county town.

1. leshan jiajiang thousand buddha cliff
2. leshan dongfeng weir

About two hours southwest for a gorge up to roughly 2,600 metres deep along some 26 kilometres of river, with the Railway Corps museum by the old Chengdu-Kunming line.

1. leshan jinkou gorge
2. leshan railway corps museum

A full green day in Muchuan County, about two hours out — bamboo ridgelines, gorges and stone village lanes, with boardwalks that keep the walking easy.

1. leshan muchuan bamboo sea

Morning on Wuyou hill where the three rivers read as a reclining Buddha, then Suji's tiaojiao beef and the buried-wood carvings of the wumu museum.

1. leshan wuyou temple
2. leshan suji ancient town
3. leshan wumu museum

Honestly labelled neighbouring-city day, about two hours northeast — the 1987 dinosaur museum over a Middle Jurassic bone bed and the Shenhai well, drilled in 1835 to 1,001.42 metres, the first beyond a thousand.

1. zigong dinosaur museum
2. zigong shenhai well

A morning in the salt-history museum's Qing-dynasty guild hall, an optional look at the lantern museum, then the road back to Leshan for a riverside evening.

1. zigong salt history museum

Honestly labelled neighbouring-city day — the Shunan bamboo sea covers roughly 120 square kilometres of hills with waterfalls and cliff-carved caves; stay overnight in the groves if the light runs late.

1. yibin shunan bamboo sea

A second neighbour morning in Lizhuang on the Yangtze, the river town that hosted Tongji University during the war years; return along the expressway for a late Jiading Fang dinner.

1. yibin lizhuang ancient town

A closing morning around Zhanggongqiao — bobo chicken, tofu pudding, sweet-skin duck — then the HSR from Leshan or Chengdu for the flight out.

1. leshan zhanggongqiao food street
2. leshan jiading fang