Liziba Monorail Station (李子坝轻轨穿楼)

Observation deck · Chongqing. A free riverside platform to watch Line 2 trains pass through a 19-storey apartment block.

Source: https://chinafootnotes.com/places/liziba-station · Data checked 2026-10-08 · Rendered for 2026-10-09 (Asia/Shanghai). Facts carry their status; "not found yet" means we searched and found no reliable source.

Notices in effect

2026-06-16 to 2026-11-30: Part of the Line 2 platform at Liziba is closed for renovation.
2026-09-01 to 2026-10-31: Concourse Hall A is fully closed for renovation; passengers use the stairs from the platforms toward Jiaochangkou and Yudong.
2026-06-16 to 2026-12-30: Renovation of the station concourses, platform and Entrances 1 and 2 is scheduled to finish.

Why go

Liziba (李子坝) is a working station on Chongqing Rail Transit Line 2 where the monorail runs through the middle floors of a residential tower. The free riverside viewing platform below gives the best look, and riding the train through the building is part of the show. There is no ticket and no gate, so the visit is really about train timing and crowds.

What to do

Watch the train enter the building. Stand on the riverside viewing platform and wait for two or three trains to pass. The platform is built so the track and the building fill the centre of the view, and the paving lights move with the trains.
Ride Line 2 through the tower. Board Line 2 at a neighbouring station and ride through Liziba. The track runs through floors 6 to 8 of the building, and a short ride costs about ¥2.
Try the across-the-river angle. Cross to the north bank of the Jialing River for a view with the whole building and track in frame. The 'eating the monorail' shot is usually taken from the viewing platform, but the river gives the wider version.
Take the lifts to Guihuayuan Road. New lifts and a transparent escalator link the platform, Liziba Zhengjie and the 8th-floor street in about five minutes, with views of the train entering the building.

Don't miss: The viewing platform is outside the fare gates, on the river side of the road. You do not need to enter the station to watch the train pass through.

Best time: Weekday mornings, before the midday crowd
Skip if: You mainly want the famous photo and hate queuing for it; two Reddit commenters call the platform overrated and prefer simply riding Line 2 through the building.

Practical details

Hours: Open-air platform; no posted hours

The platform is a public pavement deck with no gate. Line 2 trains run all day, but no operator or government page states platform hours.

Admission: Free viewing platform

Riding Line 2 costs a metro fare; one 2026 blog paid ¥2 for a short ride.

Booking: No booking; walk up
Last admission: No gate, so no last entry
Time to allow: 20–45 min
Getting there: Line 2 Liziba · Entrance 1 to the platform

Metro Line 2 to Liziba (李子坝), Exit 1, about 3 min walk
Show a taxi driver: 重庆市渝中区李子坝正街李子坝轻轨站观景平台
Guides disagree on the exit number: the district notice and the Chinese Wikipedia exit table for Liziba station put the platform side at Exit 1 (to Liziba Zhengjie and the viewing platform), with Exit 2 leading to Guihuayuan Road. Kiki Journey (2026-09) writes Exit 2, turn right about 100 m, and Meet Chongqing (2026-06) writes Exit 3.

Foreign visitors: No ID or booking; multilingual volunteer desk

Not found yet

hours: No operator or government page publishes platform hours; guides only quote Line 2 train times. (searched: web search (Exa), district government page, news (The Paper), Chongqing transport commission)

Traveler tips

The viewing platform is outside the fare gates. The classic photo is taken from the open-air Liziba viewing platform (李子坝观景平台) on the river side of Liziba Zhengjie street, not from inside the station. Leave the station at street level, cross the road and follow the signs to the platform. The platform has no ticket or gate, so you can watch without paying a metro fare. Caveat: The district government described the platform as free for the public when it was built in 2018, and the 2026 holiday notice sends visitors from Line 2 Entrance 1 to the riverside platform on foot. source
Station renovation closes some areas. Liziba station is being rebuilt in phases. Concourse Hall A is closed from 1 September to 31 October 2026, parts of the train platform are closed until 30 November, and the whole project is due to finish on 30 December. Trains still stop. Follow the staff and floor signs to the stairs between the platform and the concourse. Caveat: The closure notice covers the station concourses, exits and platform; it does not mention the open-air viewing platform outside. source
Metro is easier than a taxi at the door. Ride Line 2 to Liziba rather than taking a car to the platform. On the eastbound stretch of Liziba Zhengjie (Huanglongqiao toward Shangqingsi) every vehicle must leave within 6 minutes, with fines and penalty points for staying longer, and signs on both sides of the platform road show 6- or 8-minute limits and no pick-up or drop-off. Caveat: Davy (June 2026) says a taxi gets you to the classic photo spot faster but recommends riding the monorail in first; Junpei (2025) arrived by cab and found a crowd already there. source
Ride through the building for about ¥2. To see the building from inside, board Line 2 at a neighbouring station and ride through Liziba. The track runs through floors 6 to 8 of the 19-floor block, with shops on floors 1 to 5 and apartments from floor 9 up. A 2026 blog paid only RMB 2 for a short ride. Caveat: Fares depend on the distance travelled; ¥2 is what Alice paid for a short ride in June 2026. Journey Rambler carries affiliate booking links. Reddit: two repeat visitors (jonmoulton, Feb 2026; givekoreanbbq101, Sep 2026) call the Liziba viewing platform overrated, and jonmoulton prefers riding Line 2 from its start out to Daping and back for views over the Jialing River. 雪顶不是奶油 (17 Nov 2025) rides from Jiefangbei: board at Linjiangmen heading toward Yudong, stand at the leftmost door of the first car, and press the phone against the window, bottom-left corner, for the best shot. (4 travelers) source
Come before midday and wait for a few trains. Weekday mornings are usually calmer, and from about 9:00 to 11:00 the sun falls on the face of the building. Late afternoon has better colour but more people. Trains come every 3 to 8 minutes, so waiting for two or three passes takes only a few minutes. Caveat: Both sources are sites with affiliate booking links, so this does not count as independent community confirmation. Sorin gives the 9:00–11:00 and 16:00–18:00 windows from a single Tuesday-morning visit at 9:20; Junpei found a crowd already there on a 2025 visit. source
The train-eating shot: platform, then north bank. The train-eating shot is usually taken on the Liziba viewing platform. For a version with the whole building and track in frame, go to the north bank of the Jialing River in Liangjiang New Area. Taxi to the map pin 重庆市教育工作委员会 (Chongqing Municipal Education Working Committee); the viewing spot is across the road from the drop-off. Caveat: China Daily (June 2026) puts the queue of foreign tourists on the Liziba Observation Deck itself and adds that tourists also film the pose across the river; The Paper says the 'eating the train' photos are almost all taken on the platform. Davy used a taxi from the platform side to reach the north-bank spot. source
A quieter wide view at Lansheng Pavilion. Walk up to Lansheng Pavilion (揽胜亭) to see Line 2 curving along the hillside beside the river without the platform crowd. It is about 700 m, a 12-minute walk, from the narrow lane beside the police station above the station. Caveat: Davy combined it with the platform and the across-river spot in a two-hour route; IntroductionSweet150 (Reddit, Dec 2025) also lists Lansheng Pavilion as a better view of Liziba Station. 树懒妹妹 (Aug 2025) calls Lansheng Pavilion almost empty and says to reach it from Exit 2 by following signs to Datianwan Primary School; 是小半 (Jan 2026) also lists it as a viewpoint. (4 travelers) source
Leave the drone at the hotel. Signs on the platform and across the road mark the area as a drone no-fly zone and warn of falling objects from the buildings. A drone hit a train between Liziba and Fotuguan in 2021 and stopped it. Caveat: The Paper cites an earlier national radio report for the 2021 collision. source
Plan about ten minutes at the rail. Most visitors wait for two or three trains to enter or leave the station, about 6 to 10 minutes at one train every three minutes. Then walk about 150 m toward Niujiaotuo and cross back to the station side. The station-side pavement narrows to three people abreast at its tightest. Caveat: Sorin (Kiki Journey, a site with affiliate booking links) allows 20 to 40 minutes for the platform plus a ride through the station. source
Lifts cut the climb to about five minutes. Fourteen new and ten refitted lifts and escalators connect the viewing platform, Liziba Zhengjie and Guihuayuan Road (the 8th-floor street) in about five minutes, and a transparent panoramic escalator lets you watch the train enter the building as you ride. They replace the old detour of more than ten minutes through the shopping floors. Caveat: Davy found the lift in the lane near Exit 2 under maintenance, with escalators still being built, in June 2026. source
Photographers on the platform will shoot you for a fee. A few photographers work the platform with tablets or printed samples and offer to film train-eating videos. Agree a price before they start, and feel free to decline. Caveat: Neither report gives a price; both are news accounts of the platform (The Paper, May 2026; China Daily, June 2026). source
The ground lights follow the trains. The paving lights on the platform change as trains leave and arrive, so the deck itself becomes part of the show. Caveat: Described by The Paper's reporter from a May 2026 afternoon visit, based on the designers' account; no source says when the lights are on. source
Help in English, French and Burmese on the platform. Yuzhong District has set up an international volunteer service point on the viewing platform, offering on-site help in English, French, Burmese and other languages. Caveat: Reported in May 2026; staffing hours are not published. 阿宇的成长日记 (24 Apr 2026), a volunteer at the station, writes that they spoke English and then Spanish with visitors from Asturias, but could not help them with the ticket machine, so the visitors bought tickets themselves. source
Exit numbers differ between guides. The district's holiday notice and the Chinese Wikipedia exit table put the platform-side exit at Exit 1 (on the Liziba Zhengjie side); Exit 2 leads up to Guihuayuan Road. Kiki Journey writes Exit 2, turn right, about 100 meters, and Meet Chongqing writes Exit 3, so use the signs for 观景台 (viewing platform) and the street-level crossing rather than the number alone. Caveat: Kiki Journey carries affiliate booking links. The Chinese Wikipedia exit table (revised 2026-09-29) lists the Liziba Zhengjie and viewing-platform side as Exit 1, on the 6th floor, and Exit 2 on the 8th floor toward Guihuayuan Road. Four more authors put the platform at Exit 1: 啊扣 (Jun 2026), 一只小懒 (Oct 2025; reply of Feb 2026), 树懒妹妹 (Aug 2025) and 衣橱调色盘 (Apr 2025). 树懒妹妹 sends Exit 2 visitors to Lansheng Pavilion and the community office instead. 百工传艺-穿楼文创, a souvenir seller (Apr 2025), lists the stairs to the right of Exit 2 as a photo spot. (5 travelers) source
From Exit 1, ride the escalators down to street level. Leave the station by Exit 1 and follow the escalators down floor by floor, turning left at the bottom of each. Ignore the shop signs on the right: they lead into a shopping mall. After four floors you reach street level, and the viewing platform is across the road. Caveat: 啊扣 (27 Jun 2026) tested the Exit 1 route after reading guides that said Exit 2, and found it all escalators; 一只小懒 (reply of 19 Feb 2026) shows a route from Exit 2 through the station to Exit 1 and says to stay in the station until you find it. An anonymous reply (Aug 2026) says one lift on the route is closed and that it passes shops; the district's renovation notice covers parts of the station until the end of 2026. (2 travelers) source
Go in the evening for a quieter shot. After dark the platform is much emptier than by day and the building is lit, so the shot is easier. Do not ride the train just for the view at night: the car windows reflect the lights and you cannot see out. If you only want the photo, stay on the platform. Caveat: Lisa在布村 (29 Jun 2025) estimates about a tenth of the daytime crowd on a hot summer evening and notes the reflections; 丫丫吖 (26 Nov 2025) walked past after dinner and found few people and the building still lit. Both are single visits. (2 travelers) source
On public holidays the platform can be packed. On public holidays the viewing platform can be packed, with visitors from many countries waiting through several trains for the photo. Arrive early or use the quieter angles instead of waiting at the rail. Caveat: 嗨重庆 (7 Oct 2026, the last day of the National Day holiday) is a promotional account and describes foreign visitors waiting through several trains. An anonymous reply (Nov 2025) says the platform was too crowded to move. source
Two quieter train angles away from the platform. From Liziba Exit 2, find the Guihuayuan community committee (桂花园社区委员会), where the train slides over the housing rooftops. For a person-and-train shot, go to Fotuguan (佛图关) station Exit 2 and walk about 200 m up the road. Caveat: 树懒妹妹 (1 Aug 2025), who says they are a Chongqing local and has visited ten times, is the only source, and the report is more than twelve months old. Both spots are on public streets with traffic. source

Sources

重庆市渝中区人民政府 (published 2018-07-11)
澎湃新闻 (published 2026-05-01)
渝中区文化和旅游发展委员会 (published 2026-09-24)
重庆市公安局渝中区分局交通管理支队 (published 2026-09-28)
重庆市公安局渝中区分局 (published 2025-08-19)
重庆市人民政府网（轨道运营公司施工计划） (published 2026-06-13)
重庆市人民政府网 (published 2026-05-28)
重庆轨道交通 (published 2026-09-30)
China Daily (published 2026-06-15)
Davy (Meet Chongqing) (published 2026-06-15)
Sorin (Kiki Journey) (published 2026-09-17)
alicesg (Alice Travelogue) (published 2026-06-29)
Junpei (Journey Rambler)
jonmoulton (published 2026-02-24)
givekoreanbbq101 (published 2026-09-30)
IntroductionSweet150 (published 2025-12-18)
维基百科（中文）
啊扣.（见过J-hope版） (published 2026-06-27)
一只小懒 (published 2025-10-29)
树懒妹妹 (published 2025-08-01)
衣橱调色盘🎨👠 (published 2025-04-19)
阿宇的成长日记 (published 2026-04-24)
Lisa在布村 (published 2025-06-29)
丫丫吖 (published 2025-11-26)
嗨重庆 (published 2026-10-07)
是小半～ (published 2026-01-26)
雪顶不是奶油 (published 2025-11-17)

More places

Pair with: Eling No. 2 Factory
More in Liziba to Ciqikou: Three Gorges Museum, Eling No. 2 Factory