Summary
The tour for Kunming,Dali,Lijiang and Shangri-La is very classical in Yunnan Province.You will visit Kunming Stone Forest, Dali Old Town, Lijiang Old Town, Lijiang Jade Dragon Snow Mountain, Tiger Leaping Gorge, and Shangri-La Songzanlin Monastery. That is what people is looking for Shangri-la.This is the typical Yunnan tour. You will explore the Yis,Naxis,Bais,Lisus,Mosuos and Tibetan minorities.The Tiger Leaping Gorge and the First Bend of the Yangtze River will be the most impressive part of your trip in Yunnan Province.
Day 1 Arrive in Kunming
Sightseeing and Activities:Arrive in Kunming
Accommodation:
Meals:
Arrive in Kunming, transfer to your hotel in Kunming on your own arrangement. Check in hotel via your name.
(Remark : the airport pick-up is excluded in the tour, no guide and driver service be offered today )
Meals Including: None
Overnight : Kunming
Warm tips: Please take the shutter bus No.919C from Kunming airport to Kunming Railway station, after taking off at the terminal station , just walking 5m to arrive at Kunming Enjoying International Hotel (address: Yongsheng Road (Nanyao Railway Station), Guandu District, Guandu, Kunming)
Day 2 Kunming-Dali( B )
Sightseeing and Activities:the Stone Forest, Green Lake and The Flowers and Birds Market
Accommodation:
Meals:
At 8:30am, Our English speaking guide pick you up at the hotel lobby, then departure from hotel , drive 1.5 hours to visit the Stone Forest which vividly expresses the deep love of the local people toward this world wonder. The quintessential karst landscape makes every tourist lost in wonder.
After the tour, transfer back to Kunming downtown 1.5hrs. Stroll in Green Lake and Flowers and Birds Market. Before the evening transfer to railway station to take the overnight train to Dali
Overnight :on the train ( soft berth -- 4 persons share one compartment )
Day 3 Dali
Sightseeing and Activities:Dali Old Town, Dali Ancient City Wall, the Foreigner Street, the Three Pagodas Temple, Xizhou Old Town, Zhoucheng Village
Accommodation:
Meals:
Early in the morning, arrive at Dali Railway station. After meeting with your local guide at railway station, transfer to hotel to drop off your luggage.(breakfast on your own account)
Remark: If the room available, you can make the free early check in.
Then you visit the Three Pagodas which is made of three ancient independent pagodas forming a symmetrical triangle.
Later, you will head for Xizhou Town to fully appreciate Bai-style traditional architectural courtyards, taste their fragrant Three-Course Tea and explore their distinctive culture. Visit Zhoucheng Village and the Bai people's Tie-dying cloth workshop where you can take some special souvenir with the Bai ethnic style.
At last, you will visit the Ancient Dali Town, walk around the Foreigner Street and enjoy the relax time with local people.
Day 4 Dali -Lijiang ( B )
Sightseeing and Activities:Lijiang Old Town, Black Dragon Pool, Dongba Culture Museum, Baisha Village
Accommodation:
Meals:
After breakfast, transfer 2-2.5 hours to Lijiang. (only Chinese speaking driver with this transfer ) with the beautiful farmlands and ethnic villages on the way.
Upon arrival, you’ll head for the scenic Black Dragon Pool and the Dongba Museum to explore the rich Naxi minority culture. Then explore Lijiang Old Town. Lijiang Old Town has a history more than 800 years; it was listed as the World Cultural Heritage by the UNESCO 1997. Here you will see the wonderful wooden architecture of Naxi ethnic people. You will explore the Mu’s Residence, Lion Hill and Wangu Tower in the old town.
Day 5 Lijiang ( B )
Sightseeing and Activities: Yuhu Village, the Former Residence of Joseph Rock, Shuhe Old Town
Accommodation:
Meals:
Today you will continue to have a relax tour in Lijang. Firstly stop at Joseph Rock’s former Residence in Yuhu Village, Joseph is an Austria-American botanist and explorer, lived in Yuhu village and other places of the region from 1922 to 1949. He was both a naturalist and a photographer, and the first foreign scholar to introduce Lijiang ethnic culture to the western world. Then enjoy your relax time in Shuhe Old Town UNESCO has listed it as an important component of Lijiang as it is a well-preserved example of a town along the ancient tea route and one of the earliest settlements of the ancestors of Naxi people. It is called 'the hometown of springs'.
Finally move to check in your hotel which located in Baisha Village. After checking , you can make a nice stroll around this village.
Day 6 Lijiang - Zhongidan(Shangrila)( B )
Sightseeing and Activities: the First Bend of Yangtze River from a far, Tiger Leaping Gorge Hiking, Dukezong Old Town, Giant Prayer Wheel, Guishan Hill Park
Accommodation:
Meals:
At 07:30am, pick up from your hotel, then you'll drive about 60KM to the First Bend on the Yangtze River with imposing gorge scenery, visit the Iron Chain Bridge, the Red Army's Long March Memorial Monument in the Shigu town. The town of Stone Drum got its name from a large, cylindrical, marble tablet shaped like a drum. The scenery is magnificent as the road running through the Lijiang valley which is filled with wheat fields and drying haystacks.
Continue to Visit the Tiger Leaping Gorge, upon arrival, star your trekking from Tina’s G.H ---- Half way G.H. ( 1.5hrs ) ---14km point ( 2hrs )
After the trekking, continue drive to Shangri-La (2hrs ) Check in hotel. Then stroll around Dukezong Ancient Town, an important town of the Ancient Tea-horse Trade Caravan from Yunnan to Tibet and India. Walk up to the top of Guishan Hill or tortoise Hill, you will see the largest Prayer Wheel of the world and have a panoramic view of shangrila county and Dukezong Ancient Town.
Day 7 Zhongdian (Shangrila)-Lijiang( B )
Sightseeing and Activities:Songzanlin Monastery, Tibetan Family Visiting, Napahai Lake
Accommodation:
Meals:
Morning star your tour from Napahai Lake, eight kilometers northwest of the county town of Shangri-La. Many rare birds inhabit here among which is the well-known black-necked cranes, the first-class animal protected by the state and a lot of birds circle over the water from September to March of next year. It is also the largest grassland of Shangri-La covered with green grass. Continue to visit the Ganden Songzanlin Monastery, the largest Tibetan monastery in Yunnan. Songzanlin Monastery has another alias - 'the little Potala Palace ', so named because the whole monastery is in the traditional style with mysterious atmosphere. Then have a stop at a local Tibetan Family to know about their local life.
After the tour, about 15:00 you will transfer 4 hrs with your Chinese speaking driver to Lijiang.
In the evening, you will check in Baisha Holiday Resort.
Day 8 Kunming Departure ( B )
Sightseeing and Activities:Kunming Departure
Accommodation:
Meals:
After breakfast , you will choose:
Check out the hotel before 12:00 at noon , then transfer to Lijiang airport or railway station to departure Lijiang on your own arrangement.
Continue to prolong you stay in Lijiang (the extra cost of accommodation is on request
Meals Including: Breakfast
( Remark : no any guide or driver service be offered by travel agent today )
What's Include
Admission fees for all of the sightseeing spots listed in the itinerary.
Meals as listed in the itinerary.
Hotels as listed in the itinerary.
Private English-speaking tour guide and vehicle for transfers & sightseeing.
Service charge & government taxes.
Luggage transfers between airports and hotels.
Domestic train tickets of soft sleeper.
What's Exclude
Any arrival and departure international airfares or train tickets.
Chinese visa fees.
Excess baggage charged by Airlines.
Single room supplement.
Tips to guides and drivers.
Personal expenses and gratuities to service staff.
Personal travel accident insurance.
All optional programs.
