The Three Gorges Dam Cruise Experience
The world’s largest hydroelectric dam, and how cruise passengers really experience it.
Get Free Yangtze Cruise QuotesWhere the Cruise Meets the Dam
A Three Gorges Dam cruise is not quite what most people imagine. Instead of steaming through the locks, most cruise ships today start or finish at Maoping, a port on the reservoir just upstream of the dam. Guests leave the ship there, tour the dam site and continue by coach to Yichang, or arrive the same way on an upstream trip.
The dam site tour
Viewing areas and exhibits overlooking the dam wall, the spillway and the locks.
The five-step locks
Two parallel flights of five chambers, one for each direction, carrying mostly cargo vessels; a transit takes several hours.
The ship lift
In service since 2016, it raises or lowers a vessel of up to about 3,000 tonnes through about 113 meters in one movement.
Optional lift excursion
Many itineraries offer a ride through the ship lift on a smaller boat, sold on board.
Why It Is Worth the Visit
The Three Gorges Dam is the world’s largest hydroelectric power station by installed capacity. It also created the long reservoir on which the cruise now sails, raising the river through the gorges and making navigation safer. Seeing it from above gives you a sense of scale nothing on board can match.
The dam is also controversial: building it displaced well over a million people and submerged towns, temples and farmland. Good guides explain both sides, and some itineraries visit relocated towns along the river.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does a Three Gorges Dam cruise go through the ship lift?
The cruise ship itself usually does not. The ship lift, opened in 2016, raises and lowers vessels of up to about 3,000 tonnes through some 113 meters. On many itineraries, guests can take an optional excursion through the lift on a smaller boat.
How long do the five-step locks take?
Several hours. The locks have separate flights of five chambers for upstream and downstream traffic, used mostly by cargo vessels.
What does the dam tour include?
Typically a visit to the dam site’s viewing areas and exhibits, with views over the dam wall, the locks and the reservoir.
Tips for Dam Day
- Dam day starts early on a downstream cruise; pack the night before.
- Security checks are thorough; follow the guide’s advice on what to carry.
- Decide on the optional ship-lift trip when you board; places can be limited.
- If flying or taking a train onward from Yichang, leave a comfortable buffer; see Yichang hotels if you prefer to stay the night.
The Gezhouba Dam and Yichang
Downstream of the Three Gorges Dam, closer to Yichang, stands the older Gezhouba Dam, completed in the 1980s, with its own locks. Long sailings that continue toward Wuhan and Shanghai pass through it; the classic three-night cruise ends before reaching it. Yichang itself is a working city with an airport and fast trains, and most cruisers simply connect onward on the day they disembark.
Plan a Cruise With the Dam and Ship Lift
Our cruise advisors at Mister Cruise will check which sailings offer the ship-lift excursion.
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