6 Days Tour to Kunming -Lijiang -Lugu Lake

You will be picked up at Kunming airport and transferred to the hotel in the city. You can spend the rest of the day exploring the city on your own pace.

You’re recommended to visit both Green Lake and Golden Horse and Jade Phoenix Archway.

 Breakfast & lunch

After breakfast, you’ll be chauffeured to the Stone Forest scenic area located 90 kilometers to the south of Kunming. Due to a process of weathering and erosion, nature has created an art gallery of limestone sculpture there. You’ll be amazed to discover the striking resemblance between the stones there and trees, animals and even fungi. The quintessential karst landscape will make every visitor lost in wonder. Altogether, you’ll explore a variety of bewitching landscapes including the Greater Stone Forest, the Lesser Stone Forest, the Naigu Stone Forest, the Zhiyun Cave, the Long Lake, the Da Dieshui Waterfall and the Qifeng Cave.

After that, you’ll be chauffeured to the train station in Kunming and take a fast train to go to Lijiang. You’ll spend the night in a nice hotel in the city.

 Breakfast & lunch & Dinner

After breakfast, you’ll be delivered to visit the charming 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.

Afterwards, you’ll head to the picturesque Black Dragon Pool with the towering Jade Dragon Mountain as its backdrop.

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.

  Lunch & Dinner

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 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.

 Breakfast & lunch

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 to spend the night.

 Breakfast & lunch

You’ll return to Kunming today. Upon your return, you’ll visit the charming Golden Temple first. Located only 11 kilometers away from Kunming, the gorgeous Golden Temple sits on top of Mingfeng Hill in a surrounding of sweeping greenery. It’s the most renowned Taoist shrine in Yunnan province and is largely decorated in gleaming copper. You can spot copper-made Buddha statues, wall decorations and banners almost everywhere. When approaching the temple by climbing uphill on winding stone steps and passing through a series of ‘Heavenly Gates’, the outline of the temple will gradually appear on sight and will enchant you almost immediately with its elaborate architectural style and sedative tranquility.

Afterwards, you’ll spend some time exploring the bustling Jingxing Flower and Bird Market. The equable climate in Kunming is conducive to the blooming of flowers and the living of birds. The market is a window into the city’s biodiversity. It showcases a wide range of flowers and fauna thanks to its proximity to nature and temperate climate. You can explore the more worldly side of the city there, which makes an ideal place for market stall browsing or aimless wandering.

After lunch, you’ll be transferred to Kunming’s airport for your departure.