Review of 8 Days Essence Tour to Kunming-Dali-Lijiang-Shangrila by Lina

This tour can be customized to following intinerary - 8 Days Kunming Dali Lijiang Shangrila Classic Tour: D1: Kunming Airport pickup to Kunming Hotel. Stay in Kunming. If time permits, visit Green Lake,this area of tea houses, small handicrafts shops, etc. and Golden Horse & Jade Rooster Archway. Day 2 Kunming-78KM-Stone Forest-Kunming (B/L) Sightseeing: the Stone Forest , Guandu Ancient Town,Jingang Pagoda. Day 3 Kunming-360KM-Dali by air (B/L) Sightseeing: the Three-pagoda in Chongshen Temple,Erhai Lake Cruise,Xizhou Town, Zhoucheng Village. Take the morning flight to Dali. 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. 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. 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. Day 4 Dali-183KM- Lijiang by private car (B/L) Sightseeing: Shaping Monday Bazaar, Black DragonPool, Dongba Museum, Lijiang Ancient Town Explore Dali Ancient Town in the early morning,visit the Shaping Balaar happened every Monday in Shangguan Town. Drive about 180KM to Lijiang with the beautiful farmlands and ethnic villages on the way. 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. Day 5 Lijiang-30KM-Jade Dragon Snow Mountain-Lijiang (B/L) Sightseeing: 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 sightseeing 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 around 1 hours in the original forest in Spruce Meadow (3200M). After lunch, you you\'ll visit Yuhu Village and the Former Residence of Joseph Rock who was an Austria-American botanist and explorer, lived in Yuhu village and other places in that region from 1922 to1949. He was also a naturalist and Photographer, and the first foreign scholar to introduce Lijiang ethnic culture to the western world. Visit Yufeng Monastery, located at the southern foot of Jade Dragon Snow Mountain, stands about 13 kilometers to the north of Lijiang City. Yufeng Temple is one of the Scarlet Sect lamaseries in Lijiang. Stroll through Baisha Old Town, which is an enchanting traditional Naxi style old town. Visit the Baisha Mural about 600 years old, which is one part of the World Cultural Heritage by the UNESCO 1997. Day 6 Lijiang-100KM-Tiger Leaping Gorge-100KM-ShangriLa (B+L) Sightseeing: Shigu Ancient Town, the Iron Chain Bridge, Stone Drum,Tiger Leaping Gorge, Dukezong Old Town,the largest Prayer Wheel. 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 Old Town. Thetown 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. Walk 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. 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 is1,800 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. Day 7 Shangri La (B/L) Sightseeing: Sogzanlin Monastery, the Bita Lake& Shudu Lake, Dabao Monastery, Napahai Lake and Tibetan Villages In 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 birds pecies and almost 100 endangered species. Visit Dabao Monastery on the way back from Pudacuo National Park. Drive around Napahai Lake and visit some Tibetan villages and families. Day 8 Shangri La-600KM-Kunming-Departure City (B) Take the flight to Kunming and change the flight for your next destination. 5 star: Kunming Grand Park Hotel. Dali Regent Hotel, Lijiang Boutique Hotel, Paradise Hotel Shangri-La 4 star: Kunming JinJiang Hotel, Dali Asia Star Hotel, Lijiang Liwang Hotel, Holy Palace Hotel Shangri-La 3 star: Kunming Jinhua Hotel, Dali landscape Hotel, Lijiang Grand Hotel, Lefu Hotel Shangri-La