8-Day Kunming, Dali, Lijiang, and Shangri-La Tour

After your flight lands at the airport, your tour guide will wait for you with a welcoming smile at the arrival hall. Transfer to your hotel by a private car and driver. The rest of the day is for you to acclimatize and explore the city, or relax and recoup ready for the tour tomorrow.

Hotel options:
Kunming New Era Hotel (4-star)
Green Lake Hotel (5-star)

After a 1½-hour drive, visit a fantastic natural phenomenon located 90 kilometers southeast of Kunming — the Stone Forest. The various shapes of limestone were formed due to millions of years' movement of the Earth. The Stone Forest area is the home of the Yi people, and their folk customs have become a spectacular scene. The colorful embroidery and minority dances combined with the natural scenery will surely leave you with a lasting impression. Enjoy a local lunch in a quaint courtyard with the Stone Forest Park in the background.

Stone Forest

Take a 2-hour bullet train ride to Dali in the morning. Upon arrival, your Dali guide will be waiting to start a colorful day with you. First, visit the houses of the Bai minority people in Xizhou Village. You will see typical Bai traditions and dresses. Some buildings are old and have typical ancient architectures, and are the 'real local' houses.

Have a bike ride along Erhai Lake in the afternoon. Enjoy the wind, the flowers, the blue lake, and the gorgeous Cangshan Mountain view. Have lunch at a popular local restaurant.

Good to know:

The Three Pagodas between the Cangshan Mountain and Er'hai Lake are considered the landmark of Dali. Towering aloft in a triangle shape, the Three Pagodas were built more than 1,000 years ago. It's recommended if you have extra time or interested in landmark photography.

Hotel options:
Gurong Hotel (4-star)
The One Hotels & Resorts (5-star)

Cangshan Mountain

Traditional house of Bai people

Your personal guide and driver will transfer you directly from Dali to Lijiang. Enjoy lunch and start the tour in Lijiang. Lijiang Ancient Town is the best-preserved minority ancient city. Most of the people living there belong to the Naxi minority, some of whom still make a living by making handicrafts of silver, leather, textiles, and some local snacks. Enjoy the quaint city scenery and see plenty of handicrafts in a distinctive style only found in this area of China. You can climb up to Lion Hill to have a bird's-eye view of the whole town.

Then pay a visit to the Black Dragon Pool Park, where the view of the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain is one of the most famous postcard-perfect sceneries in southwest China. Stay overnight in Lijiang Ancient Town.

Hotel options:
Ivy Garden Resort Hotel (4-star)
InterContinental Lijiang Ancient Town Resort (5-star)

Lijiang Ancient Town

Black Dragon Pool Park

Welcome to the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain, the holy mountain of the Naxi people. Use the cable car and find yourself in a real paradise as you overlook stunning and variant natural beauty, including spruces, meadows, pines, and clouds.

On your way back to Lijiang, enjoy lunch in a restaurant run by a local Naxi family. You will make your own Naxi pancake (Naxi baba) as the main dish for your lunch. A Naxi lady from this restaurant, who is a master of making baba, will give you a demonstration. The waitress will fry the pancake for you and then you can try it with some other Naxi dishes for lunch.

And then see the mysterious Baisha Murals at Baisha Village. Painted over 1,000 years ago, the murals display the life stories of China's main religions, including Confucianism, Taoism, and Tibetan Buddhism.

Visit a shaman (called Dongba in Naxi language) of the Naxi nationality in Baisha village. You will have a chance to understand more about the mysterious Naxi culture, its words and music, and the Naxi people's understanding about the relationship between nature and humans. Learn some Dongba characters and enjoy a piece of Naxi music. You will be impressed by the Naxi people's passion for their lifestyle, homeland, and love.

Blue Moon Valley at Jade Dragon Snow Mountain

Visit a shaman's family in Baisha village

Your guide and driver will escort you from Lijiang to Shangri-La. Along the way, visit one of the world's deepest and most marvelous gorges — Tiger Leaping Gorge. The dashing water from the magnificent Jinsha River flows into the narrow valley with a stone in the center. There is an ancient saying that the gorge is so narrow that a tiger was able to leap over to the other side of the river, hence the name.

After lunch, continue the 2-hour drive to Shangri-La. Have a good rest in hotel to adapt the high altitude of 3200 meters.

Hotel options:
The 5th Meteorite · Light-year Hotel (4-star)
Songtsam Shangri-La Hotel (5-star)

Tiger Leaping Gorge

Shanri-La Old Town

Immerse yourself in the breathtaking natural beauty and holy religious atmosphere of the unspoiled Shangri-La. Visit the largest Tibetan Buddhist Lamasery in Yunnan Province — Songzanlin Lamasery — which was built in the style of Potala Palace in Lhasa and represents the Tibetan culture, housing Buddhist statues and many precious cultural treasures.

After visiting the lamasery, your guide will take you to a dormitory. The lamas who live there will show their hospitality and will be happy to talk with you in their study room. If you are curious about their lifestyle, religious beliefs, and discipline, this is a great chance to get close to and interact with them. If you are lucky, you might meet a living Buddha.

Pudacuo National Park retains a well-preserved ecosystem within the virgin forests. The must-see scenery in this park includes Lake Bita and Lake Shudu. 'Bita' means 'a place with a dense oak forest' in the Tibetan language and 'Bitahai' means 'a quiet lake'. The Bitahai Lake is surrounded by mountains covered with ancient pines, oaks, and rhododendrons, and appears like an emerald in the heart of the mountains. Shudu Lake is surrounded by a forest of fir, spruce, and silver birch, and is home to lots of wild animals, such as squirrels, golden cats, and pheasants. Stay overnight in Shangri-La.

Songzanlin Lamasery

Talk with a lama in his dormitory