Yunnan is my favorite region of China! It’s easy to know why

Between the culture, the fabuous food and the sights, it’s the perfect entry point to China It’s easy to navigate and well connected The weather is good all year round long Note: This is an excerpt from a longer article

Note: This article detailing logistic can be a nice read as well

Tips on how to travel China

Important: This trip is for 7/8 days, ending in Diqing/Shangri-La I recommend spending upward of 10 days in Yunnan, don’t rush it like I did

• If you have 7 days: Remove the tiger leaping gorge
• If you go back from Kunming - You can skip Shangri-la to ease the logistic
• If you have 10 days: Add a day to the Tiger leaping Gorge and one in Kunming
• 14 days? Add 2 days in Kunming, 1 in Shaxi, 1 or 2 for Tiger Leaping Gorge and one in Diqing/Shangri-La – You’ll thank me later.

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Itinerary done quick

Yunnan

Day 1: Kunming

^Yuan Tong

I Departed from Paris (CDG) to arrive in Kunming (the next day, lol).

Flights through Asia are often cheaper via Istanbul, Doha, or Bangkok.
I went through Bangkok. Hence the long time.

Once I arrived, I took a walk to the green Park and the Yuan Tong temple, both near each other.

Kunming is big, very big. I stayed two days, but I recommend three or four to better acclimatize to the country

Since I was there only two days, I couldn’t see the Dongchuan Red Land

Dongchuan Red Land on another blog

It’s a long day trip, doable before and after summer. It’s great for photographers, but is an expensive trip

If I had one more day, I could also have visited Longmen, Lake Dian and Yunnan Ethnic village (They are all close together)

Day 2: Stone Forest (Shilin)

Morning bus to Shilin, the Stone Forest, about 90 km southeast of Kunming.

Getting from Kunming to the Stone Forest (Shilin)

• The Stone Forest (Shílín / 石林) lies about 90 km southeast of Kunming, and the easiest way to reach it is by long-distance bus from Kunming East Bus Station (昆明东部客运站).
• Take Line 3 to East Bus Station, buy a ticket and travel for almost two hours
• The ride costs about 35–45 RMB

Entrance fee fro Shilin: around 130–175 RMB, depending on season.

It’s a bit pricey, and very touristy in the main areas, but as soon as you stray from the main path you can see many rock formations AND be alone. But the main part is the prettiest one.

I met some people on the way, we braced the rain, took cool pictures and walked the whole geopark (or it felt like that, 30k steps) Technically, it can be visited in one long morning, I decided to spend as much time as possible.

If you have time in the evening, I recommend visiting one of Kunming old city, those are good places to get food and see some sights! I went around Wuhua, but Guandu is an option.

Day 3: Dali

Salvador??? Not this dalí, actually, but it’s even better.

Alright, take a morning train to Dali (8:30 departure, arrival around noon), followed by a bus. I just asked around and got dropped near my hotel in Old Town. Because, yes, the train station is n the new Deli, to the south of Lake Erhai. The old town is south west.

They are well connected, so it’s easy to visit.

I spent the whole afternoon exploring Dali Ancient Town and the Three Pagodas.
The place is charming and walkable, surrounded by mountains and Lake Erhai to the east.
It was pretty easy to navigate, the old town is quite small actually.

Many hikes are available around, but beware of the weather

A long afternoon of nonstop walking was enough to see 75% of Old Dali. And I had to rush a bit.

Day 4: Lake Erhai & Xizhou

Near the lake (around Caicun Wharf) there are many bikes to rent. I borrowed one for a small amount of money (A shitty one ^^’) and did a loop around Lake Erhai, heading toward Xizhou Village.
Flat, scenic, and easy to navigate, though the ride is long, very long. My bike wasn’t the best either, but its just pathetic excuses.

The ride is a mere 20 km one way, Or two hours and a halfish when running. But there are many nice spots and stops along the way, I spent quite a lot of this riding time to gaze at the architecture.

Be careful of the sun, the altitude is high and despite the cloudiness and the rain, I got sunburnt.

^Pretty little house

I arrived in Xizhou around noon, just in time to eat some street food in the old town. My bike was parked outside the city, the best I could, no way around it.

It’s one of the nicest day trips in Yunnan, with good weather, it’s a joy. And, my, the architecture, once again, it’s so pretty. The flowers, the house, the rice fields, the weddings… Such a beautiful little trip.

Yes, I loved it.

I spent my evening in Dali old town again. It’s lovely and the restaurants are many.

Day 5: Lijiang

Bus from Dali Old Town to Lijiang (8:30 departure, arrival around 11:30).
There are many buses you can catch from old town, as many do this trip. Train are also running, but that means going back to new town, so depending on your accomodation or your love of Didi (Nice try), it’s not ideal.

If you have one more day, you can stop in Shaxizhen, but it requires a change of bus in Jianchuan. It’s doable as a long day trip, but with your luggage and everything, it’s not the best. I heard no feedback about Shaxi.

Anyway, spend the afternoon in Lijiang Old Town: crowded but beautiful. The must is a walk to Black Dragon Pool and to the less crowded Shuhe Village. I did walk to Shuhe, the bus system is a bit hard for foreigners, but locals are helpful. So I came back by bus.

Note: Lijiang is actually really big. Even though it doesn’t look like it. Once again, if buses are too hard, Didi is your friend.

I stayed above the old town so I could have a bird eye view of Lijiang.

^Lijiang at night

Day 6: Lijiang Jade Dragon Snow Mountain

Day trip to Blue Moon Valley and the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain area.
Altitude hits 4500m near the top, so bring warm clothes even in summer.

There are organized shuttles that make it easy to visit without hiking too hard.
The turquoise water and mountain views are stunning when the weather clears and you can go yak spotting. Or Jacks, as they call it with their wrong french translation.

For me the highlight was definitely the Blue moon valley and the lakes. They have stunning colors and a nice shimmer, the signs around are hilarious if you can read french (Yes they are translated in French for some reason), like one said forbidden to assholes instead of Smoking is prohibited. And one, in english, said something like ecleptic car paint instead of electrical car. Yup.

If you have time and can understand chinese, you can checkout the Theatre: Impression Lijiang. I’ve seen it from afar, I couldn’t understand anything.

^Looks like Pamukkale

Day 7: Lijiang Tiger Leaping Gorge

I couldn’t do it due to time constraints (Visa was only 15 days when I went - I was heading to tibet afterward) So I missed the Leaping Tiger Gorge, only seeing it from afar (Very far~).

But it’s definitely a good spot to visit.

Transportation runs regularly between Lijiang, the gorge and Shangri-La. But be careful, the logistic to do it this way might be hard

Day 8: Shangri-La

Bus north to Shangri-La (Also known Zhongdian), around 4 to 5 hours.
Altitude here is 3200m, if you’re weak to altitude you may feel it.

Visit the Old Town and the huge Ganden Sumtseling Monastery, but if you look closely with the last one, you’ll see there’s no gold, it’s yellow paint.

There’s not much to do, but it fills a full day. There are hikes around, I met friends that went for two days, from the pictures I’ve been sent, it’s visually very close to Tibet proper. So if you want to extend your trip, do take one more day to see around, the best way to get info on hikes is to ask the hostel directly, they had many documents on nearby hikes, but most need transportation to and from. (Didi is your friend)

Shangri-La marks the end of the road for most Yunnan routes; from here, people often head back to Lijiang or continue toward Sichuan. I went to Lhasa by flight, it was direct and relatively cheap. It’s not doable

Practical Notes

• Transport: trains between Kunming–Dali and buses for the rest.
• Booking: Trip.com works fine; hostels can help too.
• Budget: around 30–40 € per day once you’re there.
• SIM & Apps: Amap (now in English) + Alipay are essential.
• Best season: March to October apparently, though summer rains can hit.

One week was way too short, man, now that the visa free policy is for 30 days (Check if it applies to you), it’s much better I would have rather done 12 days or something, I loved it so much On the plus side, I can return there and enjoy it again!

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