Itinerary day by day
Day 1Arrive in Kunming
Welcome to Kunming! Our private English-speaking tour guide & driver will pick you up in time at Kunming airport and transfer you to your hotel in downtown Kunming. A paper board with the sign of YangtzeTour.com and your name will be held high by the guide at exit of the airport. The rest of day is free at your own leisure.
Day 2Kunming ( B, L )
After breakfast at hotel, you will be transferred to visit the Stone Forest, which is a typical model of China’s Karst landforms. Walking through the Stone Forest, you will be astonished by the extraordinary workmanship of nature. Stones in the figure of plants, animals and even humans can be found here, some elegant, some rugged. Viewed from a distance, it resembles a forest.
After lunch, you will be driven back to visit the Golden Horse and Phoenix Archway, which is the landmark of Kunming. Then you head to take a leisurely stroll along the Green Lake, a charming area of teahouses and small boutiques selling handicrafts and beautiful local paintings.
Stone Forest
Green Lake
Day 3Kunming – Dali ( B, L )
In the morning, our tour guide will escort you to the airport and take a flight to Dali. In Dali, our tour guide will meet you and transfer to visit the Erhai Lake Park, which is the best place to enjoy the beautiful Erhai Lake scenery. The shape of the lake looks like an ear, so named it. Then you head to visit the Three Pagoda Temple in Chongshen Monastery, which is a typical historical symbol of Yunnan with a history of over 1,800 years. Three Pagodas are made of three ancient independent pagodas forming a symmetrical triangle. Afterwards, you will visit the Dali Old Town, where you will see limpid streams passing through the town and local people wearing their ethnic costumes.
Erhai Lake Park
Three Pagoda Temple
Day 4Dali – Lijiang ( B, L )
After breakfast, you will be driven to Lijiang. On the way, you will visit the Bai Minority Traditional Houses in Xizhou, where the best and most of the Houses are preserved. You will enjoy Bai-style architecture, taste their fragrant three-course tea, Bai people's Died Cloth Work Shop and explore their distinctive culture. Then head to nearby Zhoucheng to visit the traditional hand-made Tie Dyeing in the local people’s home.
Upon arrival at Lijiang, you will first check in at the hotel in the old town. After a short rest, you will visit the Square Street of Lijiang Old Town, where there are a number of the local bluestones, souvenir shops, unique bars and delicate restaurants. At night, when red lanterns along the street are all lit up, the street is in the most charming time.
Bai-style architecture
Square Street
Day 5Lijiang ( B, L )
After breakfast, you will be transferred to explore the Baisha Naxi Village, which is famous for the Murals and the old town built about 600 years age. Then you head to visit Baisha Murals, which combing the Han, Tibet and Naxi culture together, are a wonderful art form of minorities in west Yunnan, and vividly unfold the life of the minority people to us.
In the afternoon, you will visit the Yuhu Village, where the Former Residence of Joseph Rock who was an Austria-American Botanist and explorer lived from 1922 to 1949. Joseph Rock became the first foreign scholar to introduce Lijiang ethnic culture to the western world.
Baisha Naxi Village
Yuhu Village
Day 6Lijiang – Shangri-La ( B, L )
After breakfast, you will drive to Shangri-La. On the way, you will visit the Tiger Leaping Gorge, which is the deepest gorge in the world. The gorge boasts of dangerous mountain with high peaks, steep cliffs, jagged rocks and winded gigantic old creepers, and the dangerous water with a high drop, fast water current, numerous rocks, dangerous shoals and cascading waterfalls.
In the afternoon, you will arrive at Shangri-La, the former Zhongdian. You will have entered the Tibetan cultural area and a landscape of barley fields and yaks scattered in the valleys. Afterwards, you will be transferred to the hotel in Shangri-La.
Tiger Leaping Gorge
Day 7Shangri-La ( B, L )
After breakfast, you will be transferred to visit Ganden Sumtseling Monastery (Songzanlin Monaster), which is the largest Tibetan monastery in Yunnan. The monastery has another alias – “the little Potala Palace”, so named because the whole monastery is in the traditional style with mysterious atmosphere. Then you head to visit the Bitahai Lake, which looks like a trumpet shell. In the color of azure with snowy mountains and trees reflecting in it, the gorgeous lake is a wonderland to appreciate the beauty of nature. Afterwards, you move on to Shudu Lake, around there lush and the wild animals are various.
Sumtseling Monastery
Shudu Lake
Day 8Shangri-La – Kunming ( B, L )
After breakfast, you will be escorted to the airport to take a flight to Kunming. Our tour guide & driver meet you and transfer to visit the Golden Temple, which is a well-known Taoist temple of Yunnan. Then you head to visit Daguan Park, where stands the Longest Couplets in the world which consists of 180 Chinese characters. Afterwards, you will visit the Flowers and Birds Market, which is a comprehensive public spot for leisure.
Flowers and Birds Market
Daguan Park
Day 9Depart from Kunming ( B )
After breakfast, our tour guide & driver will pick you up from your hotel and transferred to the airport for your flight to depart from Kunming. Your pleasant Yunnan trip ends.
