How much is the Cangshan cable car in Dali?
The Gantong (感通) line costs ¥100 per person round trip or ¥65 one way. Those are the prices in an approval from the Dali City Development and Reform Bureau, number 市发改发〔2025〕6号, dated 25 July 2025. The bureau addressed it to Dali Tourism Group (大理旅游集团有限责任公司) and says it set the prices after a price hearing. It replaces an older Dali planning bureau price document, 市计价〔2004〕129号.
Dali has three Cangshan cable cars: Gantong, Zhonghe (中和) and Ximatan (洗马潭). Of the three, only Gantong has a current official price on the government and operator pages linked here. For the other two, see the section on Zhonghe and Ximatan prices below.
A notice dated 4 June 2025 on the Dali government website announced a public hearing on the Gantong fare change for 20 June 2025 at 2:30 pm in Dali.
Cangshan cable car discounts for children, seniors and other groups
The same approval lists these discounts for Gantong:
- Children 1.2 m and under: free. The approval writes it as 1.2 m inclusive.
- Children 1.2 m to 1.4 m: ¥50 round trip or ¥35 one way.
- 20% off (八折): for active-duty military, disabled people, people aged 70 or over, and people holding a Senior Preferential Card (《老年优待证》). The approval says "with valid ID" (持有效证件) and does not name which documents count.
The approval does not say whether the 20% off also applies to the child fares. It gives no separate price for anyone taller than 1.4 m.
Do foreigners pay the same for the Cangshan cable car?
The approval sets prices and discounts by height, military or disability status and age. It does not mention nationality or passports. So it does not say foreigners pay more, less or the same, and we won't guess. It also does not say what ID the ticket office accepts for the 70+ discount beyond "valid ID".
Since when does the new Gantong price apply?
The approval says it can only be carried out after one month of public notice (向社会公示一个月后方可执行). It is dated 25 July 2025. The approval page does not show the day the notice began or ended, so the approval page gives no start date. If a ticket price you see differs from ¥100 and ¥65, ask at the ticket office or call the operator's hotline, 400-900-1558, which is printed on the Dali Tourism Group website.
Gantong, Zhonghe or Ximatan: which Cangshan cable car should you take?
All three pages sit on the website of Dali Tourism Group (大理旅游集团), and the group leases and runs Zhonghe according to the Zhonghe page. The operator's pages do not rank the lines, so the table below only sets out what they say.
| Line | Where it starts | What the operator's page says |
|---|---|---|
| Gantong (感通) | 3 km west of Guanyintang (观音塘) at Qiliqiao (七里桥), Dali Ancient City area | A 6-seat detachable gondola. It sits next to Gantong Temple (感通寺). The page lists Qingbi Creek, Qilongnu Pool, Cangshan Grand Canyon and the Jade Belt cloud path as views from the ride. |
| Zhonghe (中和) | 3 km west of the Sanyuejie (March Fair) ground, Dali Ancient City | A fixed-grip line, 1,668 m long, climbing 478 m. Opened 1 May 1996, leased and run by Dali Tourism Group since 1 April 2006. It ends at Zhonghe Temple (中和寺) and the Jade Belt Road (玉带路), which the page says is 18 km long around the mountainside. |
| Ximatan (洗马潭, also called the Cangshan Grand Cableway 苍山大索道) | West side of the Tianlong Babu Film City (天龙八部影视城), Dali Ancient City area | Opened 31 October 2011, with three stations: lower at the film city (2,200 m), middle at Qilongnu Pool (2,800 m), upper at Xima Pool on Yuju Peak (3,900 m). Slope length about 5,555 m and height difference about 1,648 m. From the top station you climb stairs to the pool. |
How to choose, using only those pages:
- If you want a fare you can plan around, take Gantong. It is the only line with a current official price on the pages linked here.
- If you want to end on the Jade Belt Road, the page for Zhonghe says the line ends there.
- If you want to go highest, Ximatan is the line whose page says it reaches the top of Cangshan, with its upper station at 3,900 m per the operator's station list. The pool itself is given as 3,966 m on the same page.
The three line pages do not say how long each ride takes or how the lines compare for views, crowds or weather. Both Gantong and Zhonghe are described as 3 km west, but from different reference points (Guanyintang at Qiliqiao and the March Fair ground), so the line pages do not show which is closer.
How much do the Zhonghe and Ximatan cable cars cost now?
The Dali Tourism Group pages for the two lines list no current price. The Zhonghe page shows no price at all. For Ximatan, the two price notices we link to here are both from 2016: one dated 22 October 2016 and one dated 28 December 2016 that covered 2017 only. They are nearly ten years old, so we do not repeat their figures as prices. For a current Zhonghe or Ximatan fare, ask at the ticket office or call 400-900-1558.
Does the cable car ticket include Cangshan park entry?
The 2025 Gantong approval does not say. It talks only about the cable car fare. It gives no figure for Cangshan park (geopark) entry, and neither do the three line pages.
Old rule for one line only
The 28 December 2016 Ximatan notice said its fares did not include the Cangshan scenic area ticket (also called the geopark ticket), and that riders needed both the cable car ticket and the scenic area ticket. That was a rule for 2017 on one line. The pages linked here do not say whether it still applies on Ximatan or any other line, and it is not a reason to assume the same applies to Gantong.
Cangshan cable car opening hours
The operator's pages for all three lines list the same hours: up 08:30-14:00, down 08:30-17:00 (上行 08:30-14:00, 下行 08:30-17:00). The Gantong and Zhonghe pages were last edited on 2 March 2020, and the Ximatan page on 11 June 2024. None of them covers seasonal changes.
The pages give the two time windows but do not say whether 14:00 is the last boarding or the last departure up.
Buying Cangshan cable car tickets and planning the day
The operator's pages for these lines do not say whether tickets can be bought online or only at the ticket office, and they have no foreign-passport rules. The approval does not cover either point. If you plan to pay at a window, our page on paying with cash in China covers the general rules.
The operator's pages give all three addresses under Dali Ancient City; Gantong and Zhonghe start 3 km west of the landmarks named there. For the rest of the trip, see our Dali travel guide. If you are arriving or leaving by rail, we have pages on the Kunming to Dali train and the Dali to Lijiang train. We can book trains, hotels, a local guide or a private car for your Dali trip. We do not sell cable car tickets.
