Private tour: Daily departure from Kunming with English speaking local guides (English, German and French speaking provincial guides available on request at surcharge).

ITINERARY:

DAY 1 Meet your guide and transfer to your hotel. If time permits, visit the Flower and Bird Market in the old part of town before dinner at a local restaurant. Overnight at hotel.

Kunming - Stone Forest - Kunming     (B/L/D)

DAY 2 Breakfast at hotel. Day excursion to the Stone Forest consisting of eighty hectares of ancient limestone cliffs and peaks eroded by wind and water over two hundred million years. Its area is the home of the Sani minority. Lunch and dinner at local restaurants. Overnight at hotel.

Kunming - Dali     (B/L/D)

DAY 3 Breakfast at hotel. Transfer to airport for morning flight to Dali. Upon arrival, discover the Bai minority villages of Xizhou and Zhoucheng, where you will visit its local temple and a family tie-dye processing workshop. Drive back to Dali with a stop on the way at the Three Pagodas. Afternoon at leisure. Lunch and dinner at local restaurants. Overnight at hotel.

Dali - Lijiang     (B/L/D)

DAY 4 Breakfast at hotel. Drive to Lijiang and visit the Black Dragon Pond, the Moon Embracing Pavilion and Dongba Museum. Lijiang is a small old town laced with canals and bridges, and provides many opportunities to observe the Naxi traditional way of life. Lunch and dinner at local restaurants. After dinner, attend a Naxi music concert. Overnight at hotel.

Lijiang     (B/L/D)

DAY 5 Breakfast at hotel. Excursion to the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain with a chair lift ride to discover the much famed thirteen peaks. On the way, visit the Jade Peak Monastery, Baisha village and the village of Longquan. Lunch on the way and dinner at local restaurant. Overnight at hotel.

Lijiang - Zhongdian     (B/L/D)

DAY 6 Breakfast at hotel. Set off on the Tibet Highway to Zhongdian. Stop and visit of Shigu (Stone Drum) village overlooking the First Bend of the Yangzi River. Continue to the Tiger Leaping Gorge, which you will enter by bus before taking a path down to the Golden Sands River. Picnic lunch at gorge and dinner at local restaurant. Overnight at hotel.

Zhongdian     (B/L/D)

DAY 7 Breakfast at hotel. At 3,300 meters above sea level lies Gyalthang, Tibetan name of Zhongdian, which means "land of limitless bounty". It is a treasure house of bio-diversity, pristine lakes and snow-capped peaks. Visit Ganden Songzanglin Monastery, a Tibetan village and a Tibetan family, the local market and old town of Zhongdian. Lunch on the way and dinner at local restaurant. Overnight at hotel.

DAY 8 Breakfast at hotel. Flight to Kunming and visit the Western Hills. Go through the Dragon Gate and visit Huating Temple. In the afternoon, discover the quietest temple of Kunming, Bamboo Temple, famous for its hall of the five hundred arrhats, disciples of Buddha. Lunch at local restaurant. In the evening, dinner of Yunnan specialties followed by a cultural show. Overnight at hotel.

DAY 9 Breakfast at hotel. Visit Yuantong Temple and stroll around Green Lake Park, where amateur opera singers gather and the old part of Kunming. Lunch at local restaurant before transfer to the airport for departure.

Our tour prices are inclusive of accommodation in twin shared room, meals as specified in the program (B=Breakfast, L=Lunch, D=Dinner), transfers and tours with English speaking local guides, all entrance fees, domestic flight tickets including domestic airport taxes and construction fees, room taxes and baggage handling. 

Note: Small deviations in the tour program are sometimes necessary, depending on weather, road conditions, flight schedules and room availability.