If you like a spring climate, clean air and exotic greenery, then Yunnan is the place for you! Another true highlight of the area is experiencing its various ethnic minority cultures.
Day 1 Kunming
After your arrival in Kunming, you will be greeted by the CST Kunming local guide, who will then take you to your hotel. Your local guide will suggest a restaurant option and shopping destination for the rest of the day.
Day 2 Kunming
After breakfast, the CST local guide will pick you up at the hotel and accompany you to the Stone Forest. The Stone Forest belongs to the typical Karst geomorphology, which consists of innumerable bizarre-shaped ancient limestone cliffs and peaks created by wind and water erosion some 200 million years ago. The Chinese praise this area as the First Wonder Under Heaven. Drive back to Kunming.
Next visit the Bird and Flower Market. The market, along with the old houses that are well-kept in the neighborhood nearby, are now under Kunming's protection plan. The Old Town Quarter is as well. Besides flowers and birds, the market also offers traditional Chinese arts, wood sculptures, bronze ware, Chinese knots, and more. (B/L)
Day 3 Kunming-Dali
Morning fly from Kunming to Dali, lasting approximately 45 minutes.
After your arrival in Dali, the CST Dali local tour guide will pick you up and accompany you to Xizhou Bai Village, located 23 kilometers north of Dali. The village has a mixed population and cosmopolitan background. It grew and flourished in the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) along with the fortunes of Dali's renowned tea merchants that traded with Tibet. The Yan Family Courtyard House is a good example of traditional Bai houses. And each morning, villagers in traditional Bai clothing gather in a small market to buy and sell their produce and daily wares.
Zhoucheng Village, located just below Yulong Peak, has achieved considerable wealth through its dynamic agriculture and diversified industries. The most famous of these is the art of tie-dying.
Standing on the outskirts of the Old Town, the Three Pagodas were constructed around 850 and 1050 A.D. in the style of the Small Wild Goose Pagoda in Xi'an. For centuries they have been considered a landmark of the region.
The rest of the day will be free time for you to discover the Ancient City of Dali.
The Old Town is made of weathered gray granite and stands at 2,100 meters above sea level. It is situated on a long, narrow rice plain that lies between Cangshan Mountain and Erhai Lake, an auspicious location that seems specially designed for a good, beautiful life. The layout of the Old Town resembles a chessboard, with four gates guarding the east, south, west and north. This design is typical of most towns in ancient China. (B/L)
Day 4 Dali-Lijiang
After breakfast, your CST local guide will pick you up at the hotel and accompany you to Lijiang. Visit Shaping Market, a local market open every Monday. The local people come to the market from surrounding villages to exchange their daily wares, farming products, traditional clothes, and fresh produce.
Then proceed to Lijiang's Old Town. This area is quite large and has a center, Si Fang Jie (Square Street), which is shaped like an official ink stone, hence its name Dayan Town (Ink Stone Town). The Old Town has a history of over 800 years, and unlike most old towns in China, there are no city walls, due to the superstitious belief of the local ruler whose family name is Mu, meaning "tree", when encircled by walls, would be Kun, meaning "besieged". Wood structures, mountains, and small rivers and lanes integrate harmoniously in this mountain town. (B/L)
Day 5 Lijiang
After breakfast, your CST local guide will pick you up at the hotel and accompany you to the Black Dragon Pond. The pond provides the opportunity to take great pictures of the crystal clear pond with a backdrop of snow mountains in the distance.
Then drive out to the Jade Dragon Snow Mountains. Visit Yuhu Village, a simple village of the Naxi minority where the Former Residence of Dr. Joseph Rock is located. Dr. Rock, an Austro-American botanist and explorer who lived here off and on from 1922-1949, is best remembered for the introduction of innumerable plant species to the West and his rigorous works on Naxi ethnology.
Next proceed to Baisha Village and see the frescos that date back to the Ming and Qing Dynasties. (B/L)
Day 6 Lijiang- Shangri-la
After breakfast, your CST local guide will pick you up at the hotel and accompany you to Stone Drum Village, which stands at the First Bend of the Yangtze River, some 70 kilometers west of Lijiang. The way to Stone Drum Village offers a dramatic view of the Yangtze's near-180-degree turn, where the wide, swift waters perform a miraculous about-face. Then, for nearly 20 kilometers, the river runs parallel to itself. Locals say if it were not for their village standing guard at the bend, China would lose the water of the Yangtze to Southeast Asia, like that of the adjacent Mekong and Salween Rivers.
Next proceed to Tiger Leaping Gorge, or Hutiaoxia in Chinese, is the Yangtze's best-known gorge, right after the Three Gorges in Sichuan and Hubei. Wedged tightly between titanic cliffs, the river is so narrow here, as legend tells us, that a hunted tiger made his escape to the other side in a single bound. Here, the Jade Dragon Snow Mountains and the Haba Snow Mountains lean close to each other while large volumes of torrents moving between them cuts deeper and deeper into the bottom of the gorge. In some places there is a drop of as much as 3,000 meters to the water below.
Arrivel Shangri-la in the late afternoon. Check in the hotel. Your local guide will suggest a restaurant option and shopping destination for the rest of the day. (B/L)
Day 7 Shangri-la
After breakfast, your CST local guide will pick you up at the hotel and accompany you to visit Ganden Songzanlin Monastery in the morning. Songzanlin Monastery, the biggest monastery in Shangri-la, is built on a hill immitating the Potala Palace in Lhasa. More than 500 lamas live and study here. Then make an excursion to the alpine lake Shudu. In May and June you will see the colorful blossoms of azalea and primrose. Visit Ringa Monastery near a Tibetan village. Visit a Tibetan family. The Tibetan builds their houses by wood with big sitting room and Buddhism hall. You can taste Tibetan specialties of yak butter tea, local yogurt and Tibetan barley. Afternoon you are free to visit the old town and local market in Shangri-la.
Return to the hotel. Your CST local guide will suggest a restaurant option and shopping destination for the rest of the day. (B/L)
Day 8 Shangri-la- Kunming
Your local guide will take you to Kunming airport for your departure flight to Shanghai. (B)
(B – Breakfast, L – Lunch, D – Dinner)
Hotels
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CITY
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Hotel
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Kunming
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New Nan Jiang Hotel Kunming
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Dali
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Xianghe Hotel
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Lijiang
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Adange Hotel
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Shangri-la
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Holy Palace Hotel
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Quoted Price: from US $850