Where are the Best Places to visit in Lijiang? As a world famous tourist destination, Lijiang is so reputed for its abundant natural and ethnic cultural recources. It has much to offer. Then, where to visit in Lijiang? We’d like to introduce some of the Famous Places for you of this city, to help you find your own way to explore its grand snow-mountain-view, peaceful ancient towns and time-honored architectures that built hundreds of years ago, etc.

Lijiang Ancient Town
With a history of over 800 years, Lijiang Old Town, along withPingyao, Shexian County and Langzhong, are the 4 best preserved ancient towns in China. It has deep narrow bluestone alleys, rich carved old wooden houses, gorgeous natural landscapes and industrious Naxi People. 

It is a peaceful town of recreations, the showcase of traditional Chinese architecture style, an ideal place to explore the disappearing Dongba, and the cultural heritage to memorize the brilliant glory of the past. 

Jade Dragon Snow Mountain 
Only 1 hour driving from Lijiang Old Town, Jade Dragon Snow Mountain is one of the most famous attractions in Lijiang. With 13 main peaks and stretches 35km from south to north, this mountain is like a silver dragon lying in the clouds.

It is a sanctuary to animals and a flower kingdom. It is also a botanist's paradise, a “kingdom of medicinal materials." Of the 1 3,000 kinds of plants in Yunnan, more than half of them can be found on Jade Dragon Snow Mountain as well as 400 types of trees in 20 primevial forest communities. 

On its slopes grow such trees as fir, dragon spruce, Chinese hemlock, Chinese larch, and fragrant camphor.

Storms frequently rage around the glaciers and silver-gray rocks and eternal snowfields of its five primary peaks. Awesome and unconquered, the snow mountain is yet to be conquered by a human.
It is an awesome mountain, a whimsical mountain. 

Tiget Leaping Gorge
Located 60km north of Lijiang, Yunnan, Tiger Leaping Gorge is a canyon on the Yangtze River (also known as Golden Sands River in this area). Around 15km in length, the canyon is located where the river passes between Jade Dragon Snow Mountain and Haba Snow Mountain in a series of rapids under steep 2000m cliffs. Legend says that in order to escape from a hunter, a tiger jumped across the river at the narrowest point, still 25m wide, hence the name.

The inhabitants of the gorge are primarily the indigenous Naxi people, who live in a handful of small hamlets. Their primary subsistence comes from grain production and foreign hikers. The gorge is not considered navigable. In the early 1980s, four rafters attempted to go down the gorge and were never seen again. In 1986, the first known successful attempt to sail through the gorge was made by the first expedition to float down the entire length of the Yangtze, starting at the river's high source at the Gelandandong glacier lake.

Lugu Lake
Lugu Lake is located about 300km away from Lijiang. The middle of the lake forms the border between Yunnan and Sichuan Provinces. It is a plateau lake with a total area of 52 square kilometers, 2,685 meters above the sea level. Embraced by mountains, this lake is called the "mother lake" by Mosuo People that lives along the lake shore. Actually, there are many minority ethnic groups that inhabited along the lake's shores, such as the Mosuo, Norzu, Yi, Pumi and Tibetan. Mosuo People, who said to be a sub clan of the Naxi People, still well kept the ancient social family structure which called as the "matriarchal society".

There are five islands situated in the lake, the most beloved one is the Holy Gemu Mountain (the Lion Mountain). The local people worship it as their Goddess Gemu. 

Yufeng Temple
Located at the southern foot of Jade Dragon Snow Mountain, Yufeng Temple is only 9 km away from Lijiang. With ancient forests clustering around, the whole temple shows a distinctive and conjunct architecture style of Han Buddhism, Tibetan Buddhism, Taoism and the local Naxi Dongba Religion. It is also the witness of the peaceful coexistence and syncretism of multinational cultures and religions, and still plays a very important role in acculturation of Naxi Ethnic Group.

The temple has three courtyards and the famous great Camellia is in the northern one. The great Camelli tree here is a combination of two different breeds of camellia. They were engrafted in one tree and now have grown into a huge tree with the crown shading the whole courtyard. Each blossom is about 17cm in diameter. The scene is magnificent.

In the eyes of the Naxi, Camellia is the symbol of true love. Naxi young lovers that want to die for their love in Yunshanpin of Jade Dragons snow Mountain will come to Yufeng Temple to take a look at the great Camellia. This tree is believed to have a magical power to persuade the young lovers to cherish their lives and enjoy happy life in real world.