# Gantong Temple (感通禅寺)

Dali, Yunnan Province · Southwest, China · Guidebook rating: 4/5
Canonical: https://cnatrip.com/en/places/gantong-temple
Language: en

## Key facts

- **Admission:** Free
- **Opening hours:** 8：30—16：00
- **Time needed:** 3+ hours
- **Getting there:** Take a city bus and get off at the Gantong Temple junction (Gantong Si Lukou, 感通寺路口), then continue by small horse-drawn cart. Alternatively, take the cable car from the Cangshan entrance up to Gantong Temple.
- **Good for:** Temples, Hiking & Outdoors, Photography

## About Gantong Temple

Backed by the Cangshan Mountains, whose peaks hold snow year-round, and facing the misty expanse of Erhai Lake with its scattered white sails, Gantong Temple gathers the spirit of heaven and earth. The late-Ming monk Dandang (担当) once inscribed a couplet here: “An ancient temple among dense pines, the finest vista in the southwest; horses neigh and flowers bloom, Cang and Er famed as the foremost mountain.”

## Tips from the guidebook

- The Gantong cable car does not reach Gantong Temple or Jizhao Hermitage. It only goes to the upper station, where sights include the Zhenlong Chess Board (珍珑棋局), Qingbi Stream (清碧溪), the Cangshan Grand Canyon, and the Yudai Cloud Walk (玉带云游路).

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Source: China Self-Guided Travel 2025 (《中国自助游》, Tianjin Science & Technology Press, Aug 2024), p. 221. Prices, hours and transport details are as printed in the August 2024 edition and may have changed. Always confirm with the venue before you travel.
Site: China Trip (https://cnatrip.com) — independent China travel guide in 13 languages.