Activities |
the Green Lake, Kunming City Tour |
You'll begin your journey to the diverse and captivating province of Yunnan from the capital city, Kunming. Upon arrival at the Kunming International Airport, meet your local guide and transfer to the hotel.
You will take a leisurely stroll along the Green Lake, a charming area of teahouses and small boutiques selling handicrafts and beautiful local paintings. If time permits, you will have a Kunming city tour. Enjoy welcoming dinner of Yunnan Flavouring food with crossing Bridge Rice Noodle and Steam Pot Chicken/Qiguoji.
-- Kunming is the capital of southwest China's Yunnan province, a primarily agricultural province of 45 million. Kunming has a population of five million and is located in one of the world's most geographically, ethnically, biologically and linguistically diverse regions. Situated at 1,900 meters (6,233ft) above sea level and 25° north of the Equator it has a rather unique and pleasant climate for a Chinese city.
-
Activities |
the Stone Forest, the Old Jianshui City, Chaoyang Gateway Tour, Family Zhu Family Garden |
You will drive 86 km to the Stone Forest. There is a local saying: 'It is a waste of time not to visit the Stone Forest while visiting Kunming', which vividly expresses the deep love of the local people toward this world wonder. The quintessential karst landscape makes every tourist lost in wonder. And then, you'll drive around 4 hours to Jiangshui.
After arriving Jianshui, you'll visit the Old Jianshui City and the Chaoyang Gateway Tour, which was built in Ming Dynasty (1389). It is also known as 'Miniature Tian'an men' because the out shape of it is similar to Tian'anmen Square in Beijing. Visit a typical southern private garden-the Garden of Family Zhu.
--Jianshui is a small town in Honghe prefecture, in the southern part of Yunnan. It is on the road Kunimg to the famous Yuanyang rice terraces, most of the travellers stay one night here to enjoy the atmophere of an ancient Chinese town. There are numerous buildings of historic value and places of interest in this area, including over 100 temples ,academies of classical learning and large residences .There are still kept in good condition, including the Chaoyang Gateway Arch, the Jianshui Confucius Temple, the Zhilin Temple, Shuanglong Bridge, the Private Garden of the Zhu Family and the Ancient Nalou office Building.
In addition ,within the territory of Jianshui ,there is beautiful natural scenery like Swallow Cave. which is famous for its grand scene "thousands of swallows gathering in a cave", in 1994 the state Council approved that Jianshui should be listed among the third group of state scenic regions, and the ancient Jianshui City is one of the state historic and cultural cities.
-
Activities |
Jianshui Confucius Temple, Tuanshan Village and Zhang Family Garden, Double Dragon Bridge, the sunset of Laohuzui Terrace Field |
In the morning, visit the Confucius Temple, which has a history of 700 years. It is the second largest Confucius Temple in China. Then you'll visit Tuanshan Village and the Garden of Family Zhang; Tuanshan Village is a rare surviving example of an intact-albeit neglected-traditional walled Yunnan village compound in southwestern China, and has been added to the 2005 list of internationally significant sites by the World Memorial Fund for Architecture (WMF), an international fund for the protection of world heritage sites.
In the afternoon, you will transfer to Yuanyang and enjoy the sight of terraced fields of Laohuzui (Tiger Mouth) at sunset.
--Yuanyang is about 300km south of Kunming, renowned for its rice terraces, which claim as the world's largest and most spectacular one, crafted out by bare hands by the Hani people one thousand years ago and is still in use today. The rice farmers have had to practice ecology and land preservation centuries before those concepts were widely accepted around the world. Without hard work maintaining the terrace walls and irrigation system, the precious top soil would wash down the hillsides into the rivers.
Yuanyang Rice Terrace is a self sustaining ecosystem. During winter to early spring, the entire field is irrigated with spring water from the forest above to rejuvenate and getting prepared for the next season. The Hani people have repeated this for more than a thousand years. There is only one harvest in a year for the Yuanyang Rice Terrace; planting is from March to Oct./Nov. every year.
-
Activities |
the sunrise of Duoyishu Rice Terrace Field, Doyishu Village,Qingkou Hani Ethnic Village , Bada Rice Terrace, Shengcun Market, the sunset of Longshuba Rice Terraces |
Get up every early in the morning,you'll drive 30KM to visit Doyishu Village and enjoy the sunrise of Duoyishu Rice Terrace Fields when the sun appears above the eastern horizon. The terraced fields are ring upon ring and cascade one by one. They go along the hillside up to the sky. You will see the scenery of the terraced fields from the top of the mountains to the bottom. They are all farms under the sunshine and cloud and mist. The landscape is spectacular.
And then, you will visit Qingkou Village and rice terraces where Hani people for generations inhabit. Visit Bada Hani Rice Terrace, Shengcun Market as well. You will enjoy the sunset of Longshuba Rice Terraces in the late afternoon about 5KM away from Xinjie Town.
-
Activities |
Xiushan Mountain Park, the Six Gezi Wooden Caving Doors in Sansheng Palace and Xingmeng Mongolian Village |
Enjoy the morning sunrise rice terrace in Yuanyang, you'll drive back to Kunming. On the way, you'll visit Xiushan Mountain Park, the Six Gezi Wooden Caving Doors in Sansheng Palace and Xingmeng Mongolian Village.
Arrive in Kunming in the late afternoon.
-
Activities |
the Three-pagodas in Chongshen Temple, Erhai Lake Cruise,Dali Ancient Town, City Wall, the Foreigner Street |
Take the morning flight to Dali which is a historically and culturally famous city of China, is renowned for her historical interest and Bai ethnic culture. After landing, you visit the Three Pagodas in Chongshen Monastery which has a history of over 1,800 years located at the foot of Cangshan Mountain facing to the Erhai Lake. Three Pagodas are made of three ancient independent pagodas forming a symmetrical triangle.
After lunch, you’ll cruise in Erhai Lake by the small boat to the Jinsuo Islet in the east Erhai Lake. There are 200 Bai ethnic families around 1000 people in Jinsuo Island.In Erhai Lake cruise, you will enjoy the green Cangshan Mountain and the Three Pagodas from a far as well as lots of birds and seagulls flying over the lake.
At last, you will visit the Ancient Dali Town, walk around the Foreigner Street and enjoy the relax time with local people. After climbing up to the City Wall of Dali, you will have panoramic view of the Erhai Lake.
-
Activities |
Xizhou Town, Zhoucheng Village, Shaping Monday Bazaar, Black Dragon Pool, Dongba Museum, Lijiang Ancient Town |
After landing, 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.
Visit the Shaping Bazaar happened every Monday in Shangguan Town.Shaping market is ratified by the government of Yunnan province to trade cultural relics inferior to the third class. Multitudinous curios, jade article, embroider are sold there, alluring many tourists around the country and abroad. Therefore, it got the reputation of “the foreigners’ street”.Drive about 180KM to Lijiang with the beautiful farmlands and ethnic villages on the way. Lunch at NO.8 Restaurant at the bank of Black Dragon Pool, after lunch you’ll head for the scenic Black Dragon Pool and the Dongba Museum to explore the rich Naxi minority culture.
In the late afternoon, 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.
--Lijiang Ancient Town is a largely Naxi settlement first built 800years agao, located at the foot of the Lion Hill and completely surrounded by the new city of Lijiang.In December 1986, the State Council designated it a famous ancient historical and cultural city of national caliber. In 1997, UNESCO made Lijiang a World Cultural Heritage Site. Most of the dwellings, scattered at the foot of a mountain or by the river, are brick-and-tile structures with carved doors and painted windows. Traffic across the river is facilitated by a large number of tiny stone bridges. The town is similar to the Zhouzhuang Water Town in the south of the Yangtze River.
-
Activities |
Yulong Snow Mountain,Spruce Meadow, Baisha Village and Murals,Baishui River and Terraces |
Enjoy the sunrise of the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain and Lijiang Ancient Town in the morning, drive about 30KM to Ganhaizi Meadow(3100M), you will take the sightseeig bus for a short visiting through the Baishuihe River, take the chairlift up to visit Jade Dragon Snow Mountain. The cableway will be arranged according to the condition of the mountain. You will hike around1 hours in the original forest in Spruce Meadow (3200M).
After lunch, you will enjoy the Impression Lijang Ethnic Show directed in Ganhaizi Meadow(3100M). A cultural show demonstrating the traditions and lifestyles of the Naxi, Yi and Bai peoples of the area. The show takes place inside Jade Dragon Snow Mountain Park at 3500m in an outdoor theater specifically designed to showcase the mountain which is used as a backdrop. The production itself was designed by Zhang Yimou, Fan Yue and Wang Chaoge, a cast of over 500 people, and a number of horses.In the afternoon, you'll stroll through Baisha Village, which is an enchanting traditional Yunnan village. Visit the Baisha Mural about 600 years old, which is one part of the World Cultural Heritage by the UNESCO 1997.
--Jade Dragon Snow Mountain stretches a length of 35 kilometers (22 miles) and a width of 20 kilometers (13 miles). Looking from Lijiang Old Town in the south which is 15 kilometers (nine miles) away, the snow-covered and fog-enlaced mountain resembles a jade dragon lying in the clouds, hence, the name Jade Dragon Snow Mountain. The highest peak named Fan Peak (Shanzidou in Chinese) which is about 5596 meters above sea level. There are three cablecars in the mountain, the fist to the Glacier Park(4500M),the second to Spruce Meadow(3200M),the third to Yak Meadow(3700M).
-
Activities |
Shigu Ancient Town, the Iron Chain Bridge, Stone Drum,Tiger Leaping Gorge |
From Lijiang, 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.
Visit the Tiger Leaping Gorge, the deepest gorge in the world. With 34 rapids of the Yangtze River, it is called the Jinsha in this area because you can find gold in the river. Afternoon, you'll head for Shangri La, the former Zhongdian which is welknown as the paradise destination for every tourist. Upon arrival in Shangri La, you will have entered the Tibetan cultural area and a landscape of barley fields and yaks scattered in the valleys. Walk around Dukezong Ancient Town, an important town of the Ancient Tea-horse Trade Caravan from Yunnan to Tibet and India.
-- Tiger Leaping Gorge is on the Jinsha River of the upper reaches of the Yangtze, located 105 kilometers south of Shangrila County. The gorge is 17 kilometers long with a drop of 213 meters. Tiger Leaping Gorge is divided into three sections: Upper, Middle and Lower Hutiao. At the narrowest spot the river is only 30 meters wide. The mouth of the gorge is 1,800 meters above sea level. The river is flanked by Yulong and Haba snow mountains, with a height difference of 3,900 meters. It is one of the deepest gorges in the world.
-
Activities |
Sogzanlin Monastery, the Bita Lake & Shudu Lake, Dukezong Ancient Town, the largest Prayer Wheel |
Content TextIn the morning, visit the Ganden Sumtseling 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.And afterwards you'll visit the tranquil Bita Lake & Shudu Lake in Pudacuo National Park Pudacuo National Park is located in one of the most biologically-diverse regions of the world. While the region comprises only 0.7 percent of China's land area, it contains more than 20 percent of the country's plant species, about one-third of its mammal and bird species and almost 100 endangered species.
Visit Dukezong Tibetan Ancient Town in the late afternoon, climb 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.
--Shangri-La is the "Eden in dream". Since it first appeared in British novelistJames Hilton's Lost Horizon in the 1939, it has been associated withthe mystique of a place which could not possibly exist here on Earth. In Tibetan,Shangri-La means the "sun and moon in heart", an ideal home only found in heaven.There the lofty and continuous snowy mountains, endless grasslands, steep andgrand gorges, azure lakes and the bucolic villages always leave a deep impressionon visitors.
-
Activities |
Departure from Shangrila |
Take the flight to Kunming and change the flight for your next destination.
Service ends.
-