Dujiangyan + Qingcheng: Front or Back, One Day or Two?
Decide whether Dujiangyan pairs with Qingcheng’s front mountain, the back mountain, or a second day. The front is the first-timer choice with easier access; the back is a separate gorge hike, and a weekend makes the one-day combination punishing.
The short answer
Dujiangyan and the front mountain, both on the same portal that names passports and the staffed lane, both with an on-site window; book on Trip.com in English or simply buy at the window on a weekday. Leave the back mountain, where the passport rule is unconfirmed, for another trip.
Only on a weekday, only with the cable car: first train S5101 06:24 from Xipu, inside Dujiangyan at 8:00, done by 11:30, taxi or bus to the front-mountain gate by 13:00, boat and cable car up, and keep the cable car's closing (about 17:00 Mon-Thu) in front of you. On a weekend the mountain's cable-car queue alone is an hour — it becomes a forced march.
Dujiangyan alone, in the morning: it is the one you must not skip, about 3 hours, and the train puts you at the gate. Do not spend the half day on the mountain — the station is 5 km from the gate before you have climbed a step.
Dujiangyan with the paid sightseeing cart and the Yulei Hill escalator, then the old town at the gate for dinner; free entry for 65+ and children 6 or under / 1.3 m. If the mountain must happen, the front mountain by boat and cable car on its own day — the back mountain is stairs, plank walks and wet rock and 'not for pushchairs'.
On an ordinary day both Dujiangyan and the front mountain sell at the on-site window with a passport, and the back mountain is window-only anyway. On 1-7 October or in the Spring Festival week, Dujiangyan may be capped or closed — the portal says book 3-7 days ahead — so go to the mountain first and try the works another day.
Dujiangyan at 8:00 off the first train, before the coach groups take the Fish Mouth at 10:30; the front mountain on a weekday morning, walking up and riding down; the back mountain from a night in Taian, on the trail at 8:30 on a weekday or in October. Never any of the three on a summer weekend.
Dujiangyan still works — our entry records nothing there that closes for weather. The front mountain's stone stairs are slick and its cable car closes for weather; the back mountain shuts sections of the plank walk — ask at the gate which loop is open before paying.
Front for the temples, the World Heritage listing, the cable car and the official passport rule; back only if you want a five-to-six-hour gorge walk and already know you can manage window tickets in Chinese. They are 15 km apart with no trail between — one mountain per day, decided before you leave Chengdu.
Side by sideEach cell ends with the date of the notice it was checked against
Swipe sideways; the first column stays put
Dujiangyan Irrigation System
都江堰水利工程- Getting there
- Suburban train from Xipu (west end of Metro Line 2, also Line 6) to Lidui Park station, 23-32 minutes, second class ¥10; first train S5101 06:24 → 06:47; some trains start from Chengdu East (C6346, 53 min) — Ctrip timetable. Lidui Park station is a 5-minute walk from the gate; do not get off at 'Dujiangyan' station, which is out of town · 2026-09-11
- Ticket (current season)
- ¥80; ¥40 for 6-18s and full-time students up to undergraduate with student ID (foreign students included); free for children 6 or under / 1.3 m and for 65+. The ticket excludes the sightseeing cart, the Yulei Hill escalator and guides. Hours now 8:00-18:00, same-day sales end 17:30 (1 Mar-31 Dec) — seasons differ · 2026-09-11
- Booking & passport
- Real-name but not compulsory in advance: the 'Qingchengshan Dujiangyan' (青城山都江堰) or 'Yueyou Dujiangyan' (悦游都江堰) WeChat official accounts, Meituan / Ctrip, or Trip.com in English (the portal prints the link); same-day tickets at the on-site window or by scanning the QR at the gate. The portal's own words: foreign visitors book with a passport or residence-permit number and enter through the staffed lane — the turnstiles read Chinese ID cards only — or show the passport at the window. Hotline 028-96526 · 2026-09-11
- Effort / time (cable car?)
- No cable car needed: the core loop — Lidui Park, Bottleneck, Flying Sand Weir, Fish Mouth, Anlan suspension bridge, Two Kings Temple — is about 3 hours, with a climb up to the temple; a sightseeing cart and the 'Buyun Corridor' escalator up Yulei Hill are paid extras. The suspension bridge sways · 2026-09-11
- Crowds
- Take the first trains and be inside at 8:00 — by 10:30 the coach groups own the Fish Mouth. The portal itself says book 3-7 days ahead for holidays 'to avoid finding no tickets on site', and warns of flow caps or closures on peak days (1-7 October, Spring Festival week) with refunds for those turned away; on ordinary days the window works · 2026-09-11
- Weather that stops it
- Our entry records nothing here that closes for weather; June-August are the roaring-water months and the wettest, October and April the comfortable ones. The 'blue tears' night lights are at the old town's South Bridge, outside the ticketed grounds · 2026-09-11
- Best for
- Everyone on a first visit — it is the reason the plain is rich; read the mechanism before you stand on the Fish Mouth
Qingcheng front mountain (Taoist, cable car)
青城前山（道观 + 索道）- Getting there
- The same suburban train from Xipu runs on past Lidui Park to Qingcheng Mountain station — but the station is 5 km from the front-mountain gate at Jianfu Palace: bus 101 or a taxi, not walkable. From Dujiangyan, a taxi or bus to the mountain by 13:00 is the one-day timing. There is no Qingcheng ticket at Lidui Park · 2026-09-11
- Ticket (current season)
- ¥80 — the portal's ticket page prints one adult line and lists both Dujiangyan and Qingcheng front in its 'scope of use', so whether it is one ticket for both or two ¥80 tickets is not stated; the local listing (Aug 2026) also gives ¥80 front. Cable car ¥35 one way / ¥60 return, the lake boat and sedan chairs separate (platform, 2024). Hours: summer 8:00-17:30, other seasons 8:30-17:00 — the portal prints no dates for 'summer'; seasons differ · 2026-09-11
- Booking & passport
- Same channels and the same passport rule as Dujiangyan, stated for both sites on the portal: passport number in the WeChat / OTA form or on Trip.com and the staffed lane, or the on-site window; not compulsory in advance. Cable car and boat tickets are sold on the mountain, cash / QR · 2026-09-11
- Effort / time (cable car?)
- Stone stairs throughout; roughly four hours up and down on foot, two with the boat across Yuecheng Lake and the cable car. The cable car removes most of the climb but not the last section to Shangqing Palace and the summit pavilion; the full stair route goes via Tianshi Cave. Cable car about 9:00-17:00 Mon-Thu, to 17:30 Fri-Sun, queue-dependent (local listing, 2024) · 2026-09-11
- Crowds
- Weekend and holiday mornings queue an hour for the cable car: walk up early (gate 8:00 in summer) and ride down, or come on a weekday. Bolted onto a Dujiangyan afternoon it is 'feasible on a weekday, a forced march on a weekend' · 2026-09-11
- Weather that stops it
- Rain is common and the stairs are stone and slick; the cable car closes for weather. No official closure rule beyond that in our entry · 2026-09-11
- Best for
- First-timers who want the temples and the World Heritage mountain with a lift; the afternoon half of a weekday one-day plan
Qingcheng back mountain (Taian gorge hike)
青城后山（泰安峡谷徒步）- Getting there
- Qingcheng Mountain railway station, then a taxi or the local bus about 15 km to Taian old town at the trailhead; no direct train. From the front mountain the same 15 km by road — there is no trail between the two mountains. Bus route number and timetable: not checked · 2026-09-11
- Ticket (current season)
- ¥20 entry, Jinli cable car ¥30 one way / ¥55 return (children ¥18), Baiyun cable car ¥35 / ¥60 — all platform figures (Aug 2026); the official portal carries no back-mountain tariff. Gate about 8:30-17:00, platform figure, official hours not seen; seasons: not checked · 2026-09-11
- Booking & passport
- Not on the portal's ticket system at all (it covers only Dujiangyan and the front mountain): a window ticket at the Taian gate, with documents shown at the gate rather than swiped, according to the platforms — so a passport should work, though that is unconfirmed; no separate passport rule published. Cable-car enquiries 028-87239462 · 2026-09-11
- Effort / time (cable car?)
- A gorge hike, not a sight: Taian → Jinli cable car (or the stairs beside it) → Five Dragons Gorge waterfalls → Baiyun cable car → the summit temple ruins → down the other gorge — five to six hours on foot, three with both cable cars; stairs, plank walks and wet rock, not for pushchairs. Start by 9:00 to finish before the cable cars stop · 2026-09-11
- Crowds
- Summer weekends fill the gorge with families and the cable cars queue; weekday mornings and October are the good days. Sleep in Taian and the trail is empty at 8:30 · 2026-09-11
- Weather that stops it
- Rain closes sections of the plank walk and trail; after a storm ask at the gate which loop is open before paying · 2026-09-11
- Best for
- People who want a day's walk with waterfalls, instead of the front mountain, never in addition to it; not a first-timer's mountain
| Compare | Dujiangyan Irrigation System | Qingcheng front mountain (Taoist, cable car) | Qingcheng back mountain (Taian gorge hike) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Getting there | Suburban train from Xipu (west end of Metro Line 2, also Line 6) to Lidui Park station, 23-32 minutes, second class ¥10; first train S5101 06:24 → 06:47; some trains start from Chengdu East (C6346, 53 min) — Ctrip timetable. Lidui Park station is a 5-minute walk from the gate; do not get off at 'Dujiangyan' station, which is out of town · 2026-09-11 | The same suburban train from Xipu runs on past Lidui Park to Qingcheng Mountain station — but the station is 5 km from the front-mountain gate at Jianfu Palace: bus 101 or a taxi, not walkable. From Dujiangyan, a taxi or bus to the mountain by 13:00 is the one-day timing. There is no Qingcheng ticket at Lidui Park · 2026-09-11 | Qingcheng Mountain railway station, then a taxi or the local bus about 15 km to Taian old town at the trailhead; no direct train. From the front mountain the same 15 km by road — there is no trail between the two mountains. Bus route number and timetable: not checked · 2026-09-11 |
| Ticket (current season) | ¥80; ¥40 for 6-18s and full-time students up to undergraduate with student ID (foreign students included); free for children 6 or under / 1.3 m and for 65+. The ticket excludes the sightseeing cart, the Yulei Hill escalator and guides. Hours now 8:00-18:00, same-day sales end 17:30 (1 Mar-31 Dec) — seasons differ · 2026-09-11 | ¥80 — the portal's ticket page prints one adult line and lists both Dujiangyan and Qingcheng front in its 'scope of use', so whether it is one ticket for both or two ¥80 tickets is not stated; the local listing (Aug 2026) also gives ¥80 front. Cable car ¥35 one way / ¥60 return, the lake boat and sedan chairs separate (platform, 2024). Hours: summer 8:00-17:30, other seasons 8:30-17:00 — the portal prints no dates for 'summer'; seasons differ · 2026-09-11 | ¥20 entry, Jinli cable car ¥30 one way / ¥55 return (children ¥18), Baiyun cable car ¥35 / ¥60 — all platform figures (Aug 2026); the official portal carries no back-mountain tariff. Gate about 8:30-17:00, platform figure, official hours not seen; seasons: not checked · 2026-09-11 |
| Booking & passport | Real-name but not compulsory in advance: the 'Qingchengshan Dujiangyan' (青城山都江堰) or 'Yueyou Dujiangyan' (悦游都江堰) WeChat official accounts, Meituan / Ctrip, or Trip.com in English (the portal prints the link); same-day tickets at the on-site window or by scanning the QR at the gate. The portal's own words: foreign visitors book with a passport or residence-permit number and enter through the staffed lane — the turnstiles read Chinese ID cards only — or show the passport at the window. Hotline 028-96526 · 2026-09-11 | Same channels and the same passport rule as Dujiangyan, stated for both sites on the portal: passport number in the WeChat / OTA form or on Trip.com and the staffed lane, or the on-site window; not compulsory in advance. Cable car and boat tickets are sold on the mountain, cash / QR · 2026-09-11 | Not on the portal's ticket system at all (it covers only Dujiangyan and the front mountain): a window ticket at the Taian gate, with documents shown at the gate rather than swiped, according to the platforms — so a passport should work, though that is unconfirmed; no separate passport rule published. Cable-car enquiries 028-87239462 · 2026-09-11 |
| Effort / time (cable car?) | No cable car needed: the core loop — Lidui Park, Bottleneck, Flying Sand Weir, Fish Mouth, Anlan suspension bridge, Two Kings Temple — is about 3 hours, with a climb up to the temple; a sightseeing cart and the 'Buyun Corridor' escalator up Yulei Hill are paid extras. The suspension bridge sways · 2026-09-11 | Stone stairs throughout; roughly four hours up and down on foot, two with the boat across Yuecheng Lake and the cable car. The cable car removes most of the climb but not the last section to Shangqing Palace and the summit pavilion; the full stair route goes via Tianshi Cave. Cable car about 9:00-17:00 Mon-Thu, to 17:30 Fri-Sun, queue-dependent (local listing, 2024) · 2026-09-11 | A gorge hike, not a sight: Taian → Jinli cable car (or the stairs beside it) → Five Dragons Gorge waterfalls → Baiyun cable car → the summit temple ruins → down the other gorge — five to six hours on foot, three with both cable cars; stairs, plank walks and wet rock, not for pushchairs. Start by 9:00 to finish before the cable cars stop · 2026-09-11 |
| Crowds | Take the first trains and be inside at 8:00 — by 10:30 the coach groups own the Fish Mouth. The portal itself says book 3-7 days ahead for holidays 'to avoid finding no tickets on site', and warns of flow caps or closures on peak days (1-7 October, Spring Festival week) with refunds for those turned away; on ordinary days the window works · 2026-09-11 | Weekend and holiday mornings queue an hour for the cable car: walk up early (gate 8:00 in summer) and ride down, or come on a weekday. Bolted onto a Dujiangyan afternoon it is 'feasible on a weekday, a forced march on a weekend' · 2026-09-11 | Summer weekends fill the gorge with families and the cable cars queue; weekday mornings and October are the good days. Sleep in Taian and the trail is empty at 8:30 · 2026-09-11 |
| Weather that stops it | Our entry records nothing here that closes for weather; June-August are the roaring-water months and the wettest, October and April the comfortable ones. The 'blue tears' night lights are at the old town's South Bridge, outside the ticketed grounds · 2026-09-11 | Rain is common and the stairs are stone and slick; the cable car closes for weather. No official closure rule beyond that in our entry · 2026-09-11 | Rain closes sections of the plank walk and trail; after a storm ask at the gate which loop is open before paying · 2026-09-11 |
| Best for | Everyone on a first visit — it is the reason the plain is rich; read the mechanism before you stand on the Fish Mouth | First-timers who want the temples and the World Heritage mountain with a lift; the afternoon half of a weekday one-day plan | People who want a day's walk with waterfalls, instead of the front mountain, never in addition to it; not a first-timer's mountain |
Guanxian old town (South Bridge, West Street)：The rebuilt old town between Lidui Park station and the scenic-area gate — free, open at all hours, and where the 'blue tears' shot actually is: South Bridge, outside the ticketed grounds by the scenic area's own note. the Dujiangyan evening if you are not going on to the mountain: out of the works around 16:00, walk Nan Street and the bridge, eat, see the lights come on at dusk, and take an evening train back from Lidui Park — worth a dinner, not a day.
Taian old town (back-mountain trailhead)：The one-street town at the mouth of the back-mountain gorge, 15 km from the railway station: guesthouses, tea terraces, the Jinli cable-car station and the Qingcheng 'four specialties' (ginkgo-nut chicken, cured pork, mountain tea, kiwi wine). only people walking the back mountain, who sleep here to be at the trailhead at 8:30; a wasted hour for anyone else.
Panda Valley (on the way)：The Chengdu Panda Base's rewilding centre 10 km south of Dujiangyan town, a 20-minute taxi from Lidui Park or Qingcheng Mountain station: a separate ¥55 ticket, WeChat-only booking 7 days ahead, and a fraction of the city base's crowds. a second panda day paired with Dujiangyan in the morning — not a first panda sighting and not the same day as a mountain; which panda site to choose is on the 'Where to See Pandas' page. → See “Where to See Pandas”
One by one
Dujiangyan Irrigation System
都江堰水利工程The morning half of the day, and the half that needs the story told: unexplained, it is a pleasant riverside park with a swaying bridge, so read how the Fish Mouth, the Flying Sand Weir and the Bottleneck split the river before you go. Do not arrive after 10:30, when the coach groups have the Fish Mouth; do not go on 1-7 October or in the Spring Festival week without a ticket booked 3-7 days ahead. The traps: 'Dujiangyan' station is out of town, the gate is Lidui Park; the 'blue tears' shot is at the old town's South Bridge, not inside; the cart, the escalator and the guides are all extra. Compared with the mountain: this is the one you must not skip, and the one that works on a passport at the window. For first-timers with a passport and an early train; anyone doing the one-day version, who must be done here by 11:30.
Qingcheng front mountain (Taoist, cable car)
青城前山（道观 + 索道）The Taoist mountain and the 'green' half of the listing: Jianfu Palace at the gate, Tianshi Cave where the founder is said to have preached, Shangqing Palace near the top, and a boat and cable car that turn four hours of stairs into two. Do not arrive on a weekend morning expecting to ride up — the cable car queue is an hour — and do not add it to a Dujiangyan day on a weekend at all. The traps: the station named Qingcheng Mountain is 5 km from the gate; the temples have no English; the portal's ticket page leaves it unclear whether ¥80 covers both sites or each. Compared with the back mountain: this is the one with temples, a lift, bilingual signs and an official passport rule; the back has none of those. For first-timers with a passport who want the temples and a cable car; weekday one-day visitors coming from Dujiangyan by 13:00.
Qingcheng back mountain (Taian gorge hike)
青城后山（泰安峡谷徒步）The other Qingcheng: 15 km west of the temple mountain, a gorge of waterfalls, plank walks and stairs above Taian, a fifth of the ticket price and where Chengdu people go on a hot Sunday. Do not go on a summer weekend, do not go after heavy rain without asking at the gate, and do not try it after Dujiangyan or the front mountain the same day — five to six hours on foot, three with both cable cars. The traps: every number here is a platform's, the official portal does not sell it, there is no English on the trail, and the passport rule is 'should work, unconfirmed'. Go instead of the front mountain, not as well as it, and only if you want to walk; stay the night in Taian to have the gorge empty at 8:30. For hikers who have already seen a temple mountain, or who prefer waterfalls to temples; anyone with a spare night for Taian.