Dali Travel Guide 2025: Itinerary, Attractions & Best Times

We did not know what to expect as this was as our first trip to China - we are into the outdoors so we picked Yunnan as a destination, as it was knownfor its scenic beauty. We had heard about China’s progress in the past 30 years, but that did not prepare us for the amazing infrastructure, the excellence of telecommunications what is essentially a remote part of China- Imagine perfectly paved mountain roads with not a single pothole and 5G signal even in the most unlikely of places - mountain tops, deep gorges etc . The tour destinations and highlights were amazing. Just when we thought we had reached the height of our tour the next day gave us more jaw dropping sights. We have traveled a lot all over the globe, but we must say this trip gave us the biggest bang for the buck in our experience Our tour organizer, China Highlights was great. - ours was a private tour, just the two of us - the car was comfortable and everything ran like clockwork. Every tour guide we had on each part of our tour deserve special mention: May from Kunming, Scarlett from Dali, Eleanor from Lijiang and Anna from Shangri-La displayed passion, knowledge and dedication to their role. They were motivated good natured, humorous, and anticipated our every need. They were always concerned about our comfort and satisfaction. Our Driver Mr. Wang who drove us from Dali to Shangri-La, was safe and steady. Given the wonderful service that we received from these individuals and from China Highlights, we are already planning our next trip to China within the next few months. China, we love you and wish we had discovered you sooner!

We booked a 9-day tour of Kunming-Dali-Lijiang-Shangri-la with China Highlights in late March with Leeky. We are very well taken care of by our guides: Lulu in Kunming, Scarlett in Dali, Martin in Lijiang, and Betsy in Shangri-la. All our guides are local people, which is a great advantage for their local knowledge. Be it local history, customs, food and shopping tips. This trip started in Kunming which is a mile high city and ascended higher and higher. Those who are not familiar with high altitude will be better off listening carefully to their advices. Special shout out to Scarlett, our guide in Dali who went out of her way to take care of us even after we moved on to another city.. She had very good burgers delivered to our hotel when we did not want to venture out for dinner. Hotels selected by China Highlights are all fine. Breakfasts at the hotels are all good, especially if you like Chinese breakfast. We think veggies and chicken meat are much tastier than back home. Late March could be colder than forecast at times. While we were there, most flower blooms were pinkish. Cherry blossoms are at their peak together with crabapples. At Kunming Botanical Garden, there are more flower varieties to see. It’s off the beaten track however, accessible using the Didi app. It’s not crowded and it is very pleasant to walk there. Allow 2 hours for walking around.

Dali is a beautiful ancient town. We visited Er Hai 洱海, a huge lake. It was really scenic. Our guide, Frank, got us to walk along the lake. It was beautifully breathtaking. Frank filled us with a lot of interesting information about the place. We also learnt much about the culture of the land - the minority tribes, of which he belonged to one of them - Bai. Like us, Frank was a foodie and his recommendations were excellent, too. We also enjoyed our stay at Shaxi, a quaint ancient town in Dali, despite the fact that it was a little too commercialised. Nonetheless, it has many scenic places. Our trip would not have been that meaningful had not for Frank. Thank you, Frank! I think this private tour by China Highlights is a really enjoyable one.