9 Days Yunnan Ancient Town Tour

Kunming, Dali, Nuodeng Ancient Village, Shaxi Ancient Town, Shibao Mountain, Lijiang

Traveler Reviews

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Tour Type: Private Tour

Tour Code: SKY-Yunnan-07

Tour Highlights:

Discover the amazing ethnic culture and customs in southwest China

Get close to nature and feel its magic charm

Escape from the hustling and bustling cities to enjoy the peace in ancient towns

Out of regular route and away from the crowd

Have a chance to learn the Taoist culture

Best Travel Time:
Suitable for the whole year, best from April to November.

From $ 910

Free Inquiry

Tour Itinerary

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Itinerary

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Day 1Arrival Kunming

Transfer service to the hotel

Meals: No Meals
Recommended Hotel: Jinjiang Hotel ★★★★ or similar

Upon arrival in Kunming, your Kunming tour guide will wait for you at the airport and transfer you to the hotel.

Kunming City View

Day 2Kunming

Stone Forest, Jiuxiang Scenic Area

Meals: Breakfast & Lunch
Recommended Hotel: Jinjiang Hotel ★★★★ or similar

[08:00-08:30] Our guide will meet you up at the hotel lobby.

[08:30-12:00] Drive for 1.5 hours to 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.

[12:30-13:30] Lunch at a local restaurant for Chinese food.

[13:30-16:30] Continue to drive for 40 minutes to Jiuxiang Scenic Area. With hundreds of large and small caves, Jiuxiang Scenic Area owns the largest scale, number and most unique caves. It is a unique international karst geological park. Enjoy the cave tour there.

[16:30-18:00] Drive back to Kunming city. For evening activity, we highly recommend the Yunnan Impression Show – Dynamic Yunnan as an option.

Stone Forest

Day 3Kunming – Dali

Take a bullet train to Dali, Three Pagodas, Dali Ancient Town

Meals: Breakfast & Lunch
Recommended Hotel: Gurong Hotel ★★★★ or similar

After breakfast, your guide will meet you at the hotel lobby and drive to the railway station for a bullet train to Dali (duration: 2.5 hours). You will see different landscapes of Yunnan on the train. Upon arrival, you will be picked up by the local tour guide from the EXIT of Dali railway station and transferred to your hotel for check-in.

[12:00-13:00] Lunch at a local restaurant for Chinese food.

[13:00-17:00] Enjoy the afternoon 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 a full view of Dali old town and the Erhai Lake. The reflection park is also a nice place to capture the classical photo with three Pagodas' reflection. Then explore at Dali Ancient Town. Unlike any other Chinese town, the traditional Bai ethnic folk houses give the town a distinctive feeling.

After the tour, enjoy your free leisure night.

Three Pagodas

Day 4Dali

Xizhou Bai's Houses, Erhai Lake (light cycling), Zhoucheng Village with tie-dyeing experience, Dali Ancient Town

Meals: Breakfast & Lunch
Recommended Hotel: Gurong Hotel ★★★★ or similar

[09:00-09:30] Our guide will meet you up at the hotel lobby and get ready for today's exploration of Dali city.

[09:30-12:30] 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. After that, we will take a relaxing bike riding along Erhai Lake , enjoying the beautiful lakeview. Erhai Lake was formed by the subsidence of geological fault. It is reputed as the pearl on plateau for its beautiful scenery

[12:30-14:00] Lunch at a local restaurant to savour the dilicious local food.

[14:30-16:30] After lunch, you will spend the afternoon in Zhou Cheng and learn how to make the traditional Tie-dyeing with local master. You could keep your work and bring home.

After that, drive back to Dali and enjoy your free leisure time.

Dali Ancient City

Day 5Dali – Yunlong

Drive to Yunlong, Nuodeng Ancient Village, Wen Temple, Wu Temple, Yu Huang Ge Temple, Big Banyan Tree

Meals: Breakfast & Lunch
Recommended Hotel: Huang Ye Ji Guesthouse or similar

[08:30-09:00] Our guide will meet you up at the hotel lobby

[09:00-12:30] Drive for 3 hours to Yunlong County where the Nuodeng Ancient Village is located. It's regarded as one of oldest traditional Bai villages in Yunnan province. As one of the most important stops of the Ancient Tea Horse Road, Nuodeng is not just famous for its history but also for the spectacular buildings of ancient Ming and Qing dynasty and flagstone streets.

[12:30-14:00] Lunch time at a local restaurant to enjoy the authentic Yunnan dishes.

[14:30-17:30] Afternoon exploration in the village, where you will also visit the local famous sites – Wen Temple, Wu Temple, Yu Huang Ge Temple, Big Banyan Tree. You will have a chance to experience the Taoism in the ancient temples.

Stay overnight at the guesthouse in the village.

Nuodeng Ancient Village

Day 6Yunlong – Jianchuan

Drive to Shaxi Jianchuan, Wind-rain Bridge, Shaxi Ancient Town, Dengsi Street, Yulu Bridge,

Meals: Breakfast & Lunch
Recommended Hotel: Old Theater Inn or similar

[08:30-09:00] Our guide will meet you up at the hotel lobby

[09:00-12:30] Drive for 3.5 hours to Shaxi which is a famous ancient town in Jianchuan County. On the way, you will visit the old Wind-rain Bridge and stop at the Wooden-caving Workshop.

[12:30-13:30] Lunch time at a local restaurant.

[14:00-17:30] Afternoon exploration in Shaxi Ancient Town. Have a leisure walk on Dengsi Street where you will see the famous Ancient Theater Stage, where the local people will dance and sing to celebrate the important festivals. Continue the visit to Yulu Bridge that is a good place to enjoy the sunset.

Stay overnight at the guesthouse in the village.

Shaxi Ancient Town

Day 7Jianchuan – Lijiang

White Dragon Pool, Shibao Mountain, Drive to Lijiang

Meals: Breakfast & Lunch
Recommended Hotel: Golden Hotel ★★★★

[08:30-09:00] Our guide will meet you up at the hotel lobby

[09:00-12:00] Have a morning tour to White Dragon Pool which is waterhead of Shaxi. It is quite and secluded, away from the crowds. Enjoy your free exploration in the town.

[12:00-13:00] Lunch time at a local restaurant.

[13:00-16:00] After lunch, say goodbye to this amazing ancient town and continue driving to Lijiang. On the way, you will visit Shibao Mountain. The globular weathered granites formed picturesque peaks and rocks looks like bell, arrow, lions, elephants, which are very distinctive. There are scenic attractions one after another, such as Shizhongshan Grotto, Baoxiang Temple, Jinding Temple, Haiyunju Temple, Shizhong Reservoir and so on. Its scenic spots include Haiyunju Scenic area, Baoxiang Temple and Shizhongshan Grottoes, the three parts.

Drive for 1.5 hours to Lijiang and check in your hotel. Enjoy your free night in the ancient town.

Shibao Mountain

Day 8Lijiang

Lijiang Ancient Town, Lion Hill, Sifang Street, Mufu Mansion, Black Dragon Pond Park

Meals: Breakfast & Lunch
Recommended Hotel: Golden Hotel ★★★★

[08:30-09:00] Our guide will meet you up at the hotel lobby

[09:00-12:00] Enjoy your full-day exploration to Lijiang Ancient Town. Firstly, easily climb up to Lion Hill where you will have the panoramic view of the town from Wangu Pavillion. The visit to Mufu Mansion – the symbol of Lijiang.

[12:00-13:30] Lunch at a local restaurant.

[13:30-17:30] After lunch, continue the visit to Black Dragon Pond Park where is the perfect place to take photos of the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain with its reflection in the Pond. Then have free walk on Sifang Street which is the central part of the town and the most bustling place.

At night, enjoy your free leisure night.

Lijiang Ancient Town

Day 9Departure Lijiang

Transfer to airport

Meals: Breakfast

Enjoy free time before being transferred directly to the airport to your next destination.

Service ends

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Tour Price (US$ per person)

Hotel Class	Group Size	Dec. ~ Feb.	Mar. ~ Nov.
Economy Hotel ★★★	2 ~ 5 pax	From on request	From on request
Economy Hotel ★★★	6 ~ 9 pax	From on request	From on request
Comfortable Hotel ★★★★	2 ~ 5 pax	From on request	From on request
Comfortable Hotel ★★★★	6 ~ 9 pax	From on request	From on request
Deluxe Hotel ★★★★★	2 ~ 5 pax	From on request	From on request
Deluxe Hotel ★★★★★	6 ~ 9 pax	From on request	From on request

Notice:

Due to the uncertainties of this tour, such as special local conditions , the changes of accommodation rate, etc, the tour has to be tailor-made and its price is on request. Please tell us in advance your group information inclusive of departure date, number of pax, and other individual needs, which will be helpful to work out a fit program and the right price.

Useful Information

Why Choose Us

Traveler Reviews Feedbacks & Photos
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5.0

PunkNelson

5.0

Great Hotel stay Very Nice Tour guides Convenient planned daily trips Average selection of restaurant for food though

Kiwimac53

5.0

We were looking for a tour in SW China while in the area for work and found this one. While we wouldn't normally get a private tour but surprisingly it was actually cheaper than most of the group tours in the area and was great value. While I would usually rather keep one guide for the whole tour, as you get to know each other and they get to know what you are interested in, we changed guides 5 times during this trip (fortunately we had the same guide in Kunming at the start and end of the tour which was a real bonus as Murphy, our Kunming based guide, was excellent.) In this case changing guides had the advantage of local knowledge at each site so compensated for the change. Of the 4 guides we had 3 excellent and 1 very good with each of them working hard to look after us and make sure we enjoyed our trip. Vicky, our Dali based guide was also extremely good making our time there a highlight. The tour gives you 2 days at each base ie travel in the morning, have the afternoon and the next day touring the area then drive to the next base. We chose the driving tour as we feel it gives you a better experience of the area and you get to see the locals in action. All the drivers we had were great – they went out of their way to look after us and were very safe, which is saying something for driving in China. While all of the guides were very fluent in English none of the drivers could speak English which was a slight disadvantage as you didn't have the guides with you when traveling between bases but the friendliness and helpfulness of the drivers more than made up for this.
The tour was very well organised and we knew what we were doing from the time we met our guide on arrival at the Kunming railway station to when we walked through security at the airport on our way out. The tour comes with 4,5 and 6 star accommodation choices and we went for the cheapest 4 star option. While the English at the hotels was limited the guides made sure we were checked in and out and took care of any issues (which were minimal). The 4 star option is largely “Chinese style” hotels ie designed for Chinese visitors with breakfast consisting of what many westeners would consider dinner style food but there was always eggs and toast for the less adventurous. The hotels were all clean and comfortable and generally very well located. The Hotel in Kunming (Jin Jang Inn) was a bonus as it seemed higher than 4 star and we stayed there both on our way in and out. As well as breakfast, lunch came with the tour which was enjoyable as the guides choose the restaurants so we got a variety. I got the feeling that most of the restaurants were owned by friends or family or there was some arrangement with the guide, but as you get to formally review each guide and the meals at the end of each stop they work hard to make sure you enjoy the meal and there was always an abundance of food. We tried a range of local cuisine and there was only one meal we didn't think was up to par. You get your own dinner which also suited us as there is invariably a range of restaurants or for the more adventurous there is the street vendors and you can choose what you want. The vehicles we were driven in were all very good- plenty of space and very comfortable.
Being a private tour, while there was a set itinerary, which was diverse and very interesting with something for most people, the guides could tweak it to suit individual interests eg more time at one site and less at another. It is easy to get a bit templed out but overall the itinerary was a good mic of nature and culture. I would thoroughly recommend the tour and the company and we will be looking to the company if/when we go back – Guilin is next on the list as the guides were very happy to discus what they thought we would and wouldn't enjoy based on working with us on this tour,

N2265ZIinfo

5.0

Excellent guides, flexible and knowledgeable travel agent. They speak good English. Our trip was very well organized. We are 100% happy and I can recommend Top China Travel to everybody.

Wesley O

5.0

I contacted Top China travel for a 13 day China vacation (Beijing/Xian/Yangtze River cruise/Shanghai) and right from the start Bonnie provided me with great choices and package options. Throughout the entire planning and even during the trip Bonnie was there for us following up and making sure everything was perfect. Thank you Bonnie for making our China vacation unforgettable.

Johnf8958

5.0

From the minute I contacted Vicky at Top China Travel to book our holiday, to the time we were taken to Pudong airport for our flight home, the experience was perfect.
My wife and I visited Beijing, Xian and Shanghai and all of our tour guides were fluent in English, very knowledgeable and very friendly.
Thank you Vicky and all at YUNSKY and I will definitely be in contact when I return to China.

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