Discover Chongqing
Yangtze River Cableway
长江索道
A 1970s commuter cable car that still swings across the Yangtze between the Yuzhong peninsula and the south bank, 1,166 metres in about five minutes. It gives the best mid-air view of the two-river confluence and the skyline.
The story
What makes this place special
The cableway across the Yangtze opened on 24 October 1987 after construction began in March 1986. It was built as transport, not as a ride — a way of getting people between Yuzhong peninsula and the south bank before the bridges existed. The span is 1,166 metres with a 47-metre vertical drop, and the crossing takes under four minutes. Since 15 December 2009 it has been listed as a protected cultural relic.
What you’ll discover
Two stations: Xinhua Road on the north (Jiefangbei) side and Shangxinjie/Longmenhao on the south. You queue, board a cabin with a few dozen other people standing, and cross high above the brown Yangtze with the towers of the peninsula behind you and the south bank ahead. The ride is short. The queue is genuinely the longer part of the experience, and on a busy day it is most of it.
A little local insight
Good to know before you go
- Board on the SOUTH side at Shangxinjie, not the north side at Xinhua Road. Nearly everyone starts at Xinhua Road because it is next to Jiefangbei, and that is where the long queue is. Metro Line 6 serves both ends.
- Buy a one-way ticket and walk or take the metro back. The return trip shows you nothing new and doubles the queueing.
- If you have a ticket, take a numbered boarding slip as well — without the number the gate will not read you in and you go back to the end of the line.
- Stand on the downstream side of the cabin for the view back towards the peninsula and the river junction.
- If the queue is more than about forty minutes, consider skipping it. The same view of the river and skyline is free from the Nanbin Road promenade on the south bank or from a cross-river bus.
When to come
Weekday mornings for the shortest queue; dusk for the view, at the cost of the longest queue of the day. Clear days after rain are far better than the usual haze.
Getting around
Both stations have lifts, and cabins are entered across a small gap at platform level, so a wheelchair can board — but the cabin has no seats and is packed standing-room, which is hard going for anyone unsteady. The real obstacle is the queue, which is long, slow and has nowhere to sit. The approach to Xinhua Road station from Jiefangbei involves a steep descent. Someone with a bad knee will manage the ride but should expect to stand for a long wait.
Worth knowing before you go
Ride between about 17:30 and 18:30 to catch the sunset on the way over and the lights on the way back. Boarding from the south bank station is usually much quicker than from Yuzhong.
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