Yunnan Spring City To Snow Mountain – 7 Days

Drive out of Kunming to the Stone Forest, a karst landscape of tall grey limestone pinnacles that stand like trees across the hills. It forms part of the South China Karst UNESCO World Heritage Site. Follow paths through narrow passages and around small pools, and listen as your guide shares the legends the local Yi people tell about the rocks.

Stop for lunch at a local restaurant, perhaps trying Yunnan specialities such as wild mushrooms or local ham.

Back in Kunming, wander through the Birds and Flowers Market, a lively old quarter of small shops and stalls. Browse fresh flowers, tea, Pu’er cakes, crafts and curios, and watch the everyday trading of the city around you.

Take the high-speed train west from Kunming to Dali, a journey of roughly two hours through hills and farmland. Your Dali guide meets you at the station.

Set off by bike from Dali Old Town on quiet roads towards Sha Village, passing fields and villages of the Bai people with their white-walled houses. Stop at the Chongsheng Three Pagodas, the symbol of Dali, where the tallest of the three slender towers dates back more than a thousand years to the Nanzhao kingdom. Ride on to Xizhou, a well-preserved Bai town of carved gateways and courtyard homes, where you can try a crisp Xizhou baba flatbread.

Finish with a walk along the shore of Erhai Lake as the light softens over the water and the Cangshan mountains behind you.

Stroll a stretch of the Erhai Ecological Corridor, a path that follows the lake edge past fishing villages and fields.

Your private car then takes you north to Lijiang, a drive of about three hours through the hills of northwestern Yunnan. Stop for lunch along the way.

Explore Lijiang Old Town, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the historic home of the Naxi people. Cobbled lanes run beside clear streams and stone bridges, lined with wooden houses, tea shops and craft stalls. Climb Lion Hill to the Wangu Tower for a view over the sea of grey-tiled roofs, with Jade Dragon Snow Mountain on the horizon on a clear day.

Drive to Jade Dragon Snow Mountain, the sacred peak of the Naxi people and the southernmost glaciated mountain range in the Northern Hemisphere. Ride the cable car up towards the glacier and walk to the observation deck, where the jagged summit rises above you. The air is thin here, so take it slowly.

Head to the village of Baisha to see the Baisha Murals, painted in the Ming and Qing dynasties and blending Buddhist, Taoist and Naxi traditions on the same walls. Continue to the Dongba Culture Museum to learn about the Dongba script, a pictographic writing system still read by Naxi priests.

Return to Lijiang and walk around Black Dragon Lake Park, where on clear days the snow mountain is reflected in the still water behind a marble bridge and pavilion.

Drive about two hours to Tiger Leaping Gorge, where the Jinsha River, the upper Yangtze, squeezes between the Jade Dragon and Haba mountains. Begin your hike from a mountain guesthouse on the high trail, with the river roaring far below. Legend says a tiger once escaped hunters by leaping across the river at its narrowest point, which gives the gorge its name.

Walk along the path above the gorge, through small villages and terraced fields, with sheer rock walls rising on the far side. Goats pick their way along the slopes, farmers tend walnut and corn on tiny terraces, and the snow peaks appear and disappear between the clouds. Pause for lunch with a view.

After your hike, your driver collects you and you return to Lijiang for a relaxed evening. Rest your legs over a Naxi supper, or take a slow walk through the lantern-lit lanes of the old town.

Enjoy the morning at leisure. Wander the old town lanes once more, or sit by a stream with a cup of Yunnan tea.

Your driver takes you to Lijiang airport for your onward flight.