14 Days Southwest China Tour

Meals: No meal
Accommodation: In Guangzhou

Arrive in Guangzhou, you will be met at the airport & transferred to your hotel. Free at leisure for the rest of the day.

Guangzhou City View

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch
Accommodation:In Guilin

Today, you will take a half day city tour of Dr. Sun Yat-sen's Memorial Hall – one of the most important historic buildings in Canton and is built to honor Dr. Sun Yat-sen, the great architect of Chinese revolution, Temple of Chen Family – one of the most culturally unique complexes in Southern China, Temple of the Six Banyan Trees, which enshrines three Buddhist statuses in its Grand Hall, which were cast in the Qing Dynasty in 1663.  then in the late afternoon, be transferred to railway station to take high speed train for Guilin.

Temple of Chen Family

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch
Accommodation:In Guilin

Depart from hotel in the morning, you will be transferred to the Pier for the Li River Cruise (about 4 hours and the lunch will be served on board). Savor the fairy-tale scenery when sail down the meandering river to Yangshuo. Be transferred back to Guilin in the late afternoon. Optional Four Lakes Night Cruise is available tonight.(your own expense).

Li River

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch
Accommodation: In Guilin

Depart from hotel in the morning, you will take about 2.5hours driving to Longsheng and visit the marvelous Longji Rice Terraces and Ping'an Zhuang Village. After the tour, drive back to Guilin City.

Longji Rice Terraces

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch
Accommodation:In Guilin

In the morning, visit Reed Flute Cave and Elephant Trunk Hill which is regarded as the symbol of Guilin. Free at leisure for the rest of the day. 

Elephant Trunk Hill

Meals: Breakfast
Accommodation: In Kunming

Enjoy a leisure morning, check out and you will be transferred to train station to catch the high speed train for Kunming, the capital city of Yunnan province, regarded as ” City of Spring”

Our local guide will meet you at the exit and transfer you to check in hotel. 

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch
Accommodation:In Dali

In the morning, our guide will meet you up at the hotel lobby and visit the Spring City. Enjoy morning leisure tour to Green Lake which is peaceful and a public park for local people. You will see musicians singing and playing and you can also take a paddle boat out and relax on the lake. After that, go directly to The Stone Forest which is known as the First Wonder of the World and typical karst landform. The magnificent, strange and steep landscape of the Stone Forest creates countless labyrinthine vistas, all of which feature stones in various formations. Animals, plants, and even human figures can be found here. Then transfer to Kunming South Train Station to take a D-train to Dali (duration: 2.5 hours). You will see different landscape of Yunnan on the train.

Stone Forest

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch
Accommodation:In Dali

Dali enjoys a very high fame for its four grand scenes, namely, Xiaguan's wind, Shangguan's flowers, Mt. Cangshan's snow and Erhai's moon. In the morning, enjoy leisure tour to Three Pagodas. The elegant, balanced and stately style is unique in China's ancient Buddhist architectures, which makes it a must-see in the tour of Dali. Hiking to the top is highly recommended where you can get full view of Dali old town and Erhai Lake. The reflection park is also a nice place to capture the classical photo with three Pagodas' reflection. People nowadays regard Xizhou as a town that is famous for the Bai minority culture. After that, we will drive to the ecological corridor of Erhai Lake, enjoy the beautiful lake view. Biking along the lake is available, depending on your physical condition and personal request. . Erhai Lake was formed by the subsidence of geological fault. It is reputed as the pearl on plateau for its beautiful scenery. Then we will have a visit to Zhoucheng, where you can enjoy the typical Bai architectures and you have chance to learn tie-dyeing. Back to hotel and enjoy your free time at Dali Ancient Town. Unlike any other Chinese town, the traditional Bai ethnic folk houses give the town distinctive feeling

Congsheng Three Pagodas

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch
Accommodation: In Lijiang

After hotel breakfast, you will spend the morning on Cangshan Mountain. The cable car service will be arranged up to Jade Belt gallery road and you can hike on Cangshan Mountain and have chance to visit Taoist temple and find the precious vegetation on the mountain. In a sunny day, the crystal water of Erhai Lake and the snow mantled Mt. Cangshan radiate with each other forming a beautiful picture. In the afternoon, take a short visit to Xizhou Bai's Houses. People nowadays regard Xizhou as a town that is famous for the Bai minority culture. The old houses and streets are well preserved, through which visitors may still find some traces of past glory. Then be transferred to Lijiang for overnight.

Erhai Lake

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch
Accommodation: In Lijiang

After breakfast, the guide will show you the Lijiang Old Town , As one of the best preserved ancient towns, Lijiang (Dayan) Old Town, along with Shuhe Old Town and Baisha Old Town was listed as UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1997,which is perfectly adapted to the uneven topography of this key commercial and strategic site. Afterwards,head to Black Dragon Pool, the landmark of Lijiang. The pool is listed in the Collections of Famous Pools of China because of its exquisite beauty. Its surroundings are all green with grass and shaded by swaying willow trees. Then explore the rich Naxi minority culture in Dongba Culture Museum.

After that, pay a visit Baisha Old Town and Baisha Murals. 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. You will have a chance to learn Dongba writing in Baisha Old Town, deeply experience the Dongba culture by learning Dongba character writing, which a kind of pictograph of Naxi people. 

Lijiang Ancient Town

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch
Accommodation: In Lijiang

Our guide will meet you up at the hotel lobby and start today's tour. Drive to Jade Dragon Snow Mountain and take cable car up to the Mountain. We will arrange the visit to Glacier Park at 4506 meters above sea level and get real close to the Snow Mountain. You can choose to hike on the mountain and get to the top at 4680 meters or just stroll around at Glacier Park and appreciate the holy Mountain peacefully. After lunch, enjoy the Impression Lijiang Show directed by Zhang Yimou. It is held in Ganhaizi Meadow about 3100M above the sea level. Then pay a visit to Yufeng Temple. The whole temple shows a distinctive and conjunct architecture style of Han Buddhism, Tibetan Buddhism, Taoism and the local Naxi Dongba Religion. 

Jade Dragon Snow Mountain

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch
Accommodation: In Shangri-la

Our guide will meet you up at the hotel lobby and leave for Shangri-La, the lost horizon. Visit Tiger Leaping Gorge en route. Tiger Leaping Gorge is a canyon on the Yangtze River which can be divided in to upper, middle and lower sections, winding 25 km and it is one of the deepest valleys in the world. The narrowest part of the gorge was just 30 m, which is so narrow that a tiger can jump over the gorge, hence the name. We will drop you at upper Tiger Leaping Gorge and you hike down to the viewing deck about half an hour. After lunch, continue driving to Shangri-La. Upon arrival, check-in at your hotel and explore the Dukezong Ancien Town, which is the largest and best-preserved Tibetan city among China 147 Tibetan counties. 

Dukezong Ancient Town

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch
Accommodation: In Shangri-la

Our guide will meet you up at the hotel lobby and start to find out the lost horizon, Shangri-La. You will reach the Sumtsaling Monastery, which is the largest Tibetan Buddhism monastery in Yunnan Province. Take a family visit to local resident home and with help from our guide, you will learn about a local family's history and way of life. After lunch, visit Potatso National Park which is the first national park in mainland China. Bitahai Lake and Shuduhu Lake are two major parts of the park. Besides these two lakes, forest, marsh, valley, alpine meadow and so on can be seen in the park. All major spots are connected by footpath which offers a closer distance for travelers to experience the natural environment.

Back to the old town, we will follow a local artist to learn how to make Tang-ga parinting, which is  a unique form of painting and art in Tibetan culture, touching every aspect of its history, politics, social life, etc.

Shangri-la Grassland

Meals: Breakfast

Free at leisure until be transferred to take flight to Kunming for departure
 

Service Ends