4 Days Lijiang-Lugu Lake Tour

Take a morning flight to Lijiang, where you’ll be picked up by the local guide at the airport and chauffeured to the hotel in the city. After having delicious local delicacies for lunch, you’ll be delivered to visit the exquisite Baisha Mural at Baisha Village.

Baisha Village is named after the signature white sands abound in the area and is located 16 km to the northwest of Lijiang Ancient Town. It’s the earliest settlement of the Naxi people and houses myriad cultural relics and ancient buildings. One of the biggest tourist draws in the village is the exquisite Baisha Mural, which consists of a series of paintings created 600 years ago, representing the first-class craftsmanship at that time and reflecting the spiritual pursuit and mundane life of Naxi people in ancient times. Not only does it stand out as a rare treasure of art, but it also serves as an important source of information for research on national religions, arts and history.

After that, you’ll be escorted to visit Lijiang Ancient Town. This well-preserved UNESCO World Cultural Heritage site covers an immense area of 1255 square kilometers. Once the habitation of local Naxi people, the place is now crammed with a profusion of fancy restaurants and boutique hotels, yet its enduring allure never fails to fascinate visitors. You can have an exploration of what the stores have to offer at daytime and stroll through its meandering streets when the whole place is lit up by lanterns and neon at night. The city was found on the streets radiating out from the landmark Square Street, which can help you better navigate the maze-like place just in case you get lost in your ambling.

The highlight of today’s trip is a journey to the magnificent Jade Dragon Snow Mountian, which lies to the northwest of Lijiang and is only an-hour road trip away. The 13 summits are always topped with snow. They look like a row of columns touching the sky. The mountain earns its name as it looks like a giant dragon lying across the peaks and preparing to leap into Jinsha River.

You’ll board the world’s highest passenger cable at the foot of the mountain and ascend to an elevation of 3240 meters to visit the Spruce Meadow. Stretching an area of 1000 square meters, the meadow is both peaceful and sensationally beautiful. The sweeping grassland extends to the distant horizon and is carpeted with wild flowers and lush vegetations. The surrounding dense forest forms a natural fence for the pristine pasture with the rolling mountains looming on the horizon. Yet this heaven for a placid grazing shifts its appearance in different seasons. The meadow takes on a silver color in winter when the whole area is blanketed with snow.

After breakfast, you’ll embark on a road trip for around 3.5 hours to head to the Lugu Lake scenic area. Upon arrival, you’ll take a boat cruise to explore its sensational beauty—its hypnotically blue water shimmering in the sunlight. The middle of the lake forms the border between the Ninglang County of Yunnan Province and the Yanyuan County of Sichuan Province. It is an alpine lake at an elevation of 2,685 meters and is the highest lake in Yunnan Province. The lake is shaped like a horseshoe and is adorned with a range of islands, peninsulas, bays and beaches.

One of its most gorgeous islands is Liwubi Island, which is in the middle of the lake and is only half-an-hour boat trip away from the lakeshore. The whole island is lavished adorned with blooming azaleas and sprawling cherry trees. Climbing uphill along the meandering trails to the summit of the island, you’ll see the splendid Liwubi Lamasery painted in white and decorated with overhanging eaves, it holds the remains of the late Mosuo Chieftain Ayunshan, whose excellent administrative and diplomatic capability had earned him admiration and high recognition among Mosuo people.

The lakeshores are inhabited by many minority ethnic groups, among which the Mosuo people (a sub clan of the Naxi people) makes up the largest proportion of population. They have an ancient family structure considered as ‘a live fossil for researching the marital development of human beings’. You’ll learn more about their life and unique culture by visiting the traditional dwelling of a Mosuo family, who’ll greet visitors with warm hospitality. You’ll also join the Musuo people at night to light up the campfire and dance around the roaring flames—a heritage that has been transformed from a traditional courtship ritual to a welcome ceremony to the visitors.

You’ll get up early to catch the magnificent sunrise from the horizon of the lakeshore. Afterwards, you’ll pay a visit to the north part of Lugu Lake to explore the charming Lige Peninsula. It’s a small patch of land being almost entirely embraced by water and is solely connected to the terra firma on its north edge. The best time to visit it is before the sun makes its full presence in the morning, the peninsula appears as an otherworldly fairyland when seen through the swirling mist.

Next up, you’ll be chauffeured to visit Zhamei Monastery, which is situated at the foot of Guer Mountain. As the largest Tibetan Buddhism temple in the habitation area of Musuo people, the whole scope of the complex covers an immense 24000 square kilometers. It originally was a Gelug Sect (white sect) temple, and was later transformed into a Gelug Sect (yellow sect) temple during the Qing Dynasty. Different from the lama temples reformed by the Mosuo ethnic group near the ancient city of Lijiang, this monastery is a traditional Tibetan Buddhism temple. However, it also enshrines and worships the Gemu goddess, which symbolizes features of the Mosuo.

After that, you’ll be transferred back to Lijiang and chauffeured to the airport for your departure flight.