Kunming Stone Forest - UNESCO Heritage of Karst Miracle

Major Stone Forest

The whole area is made of dense stone peaks. The stone peaks here have smooth lines and stand upright and abrupt, and the color of them is a kind of steel-gray. The highest rock pillar can reach over 40 meters. Walking among the stone forest, you will encounter rock peaks every few steps and turn to another direction – welcome to the new scenery. So if without tour guide, you must have a tour map when you visit Major Stone Forest to avoid missing in it.

Minor Stone Forest

Comparing with the dense Major Stone Forest, Minor Forest is sparser and more delicate. Wide and thick stone walls divide Minor Stone Forest into several small parks. The most famous attraction here is Ashima Stone. According to the Legend of Ashima (an oral narrative long poem which tells the story of Ashima), Ashima is a beautiful and brave Yi girl who relentless fights against the power forces to pursue freedom and at last turns into a stone, and this stone is called the Ashima Stone.

Bushao Hill

Bushao Hill is located at the east of Major Stone Forest and the south of Minor Stone Forest, it’s the highest part of the whole scenic area, and the altitude of the hill top is 1796.7 meters. There are marine fossils among the attractions of Bushao Hill, like giant gastropods fossils and coral fossils, which records the prosperous sea world 270 million years ago.

Lizi Yuanqing

Lizi Yuanqing is located outside of the Ring Road (the road built for sightseeing cable car in the scenic area). Odd pillars and rocks cover this area, sparse or dense, they all reserve their natural appearances. About 300m southeast of Ring Road, there is an ancient rock painting on the stone wall, which draws the images of human, beasts, moon and stars. According to the archaeologist, the wall painting here is related to the primitive religion. Perhaps this is the words left to us by the ancient Yi people.

Eternal Mushroom

Eternal Mushroom scenic area is next to Lizi Yuanqing. On the top of the rock hill, there is a 15 meters high rock peak, which is large on the top and small on the foot, just like a giant mushroom, thus, the place is named as Eternal Mushroom.

Naigu Stone Forest

Naigu Stone Forest Scenic Area is located 8km north of Stone Forest Scenic Area (the above five attractions are all in the Stone Forest Scenic Area). Naigu in Yi language means ancient and black. The whole scenic area covers an area of 10 square kilometers, and is made of East District, West District, Baiyun Lake, Baiyun Cave, Ancient Battle Field, etc. Standing on the highest peak and you will see a black rock sea, very magnificent. Tourists can also wander among the stone forests to feel the wild world. Another highlight is the karst caves under the ground. At present, there are 9 karst caves ascertained in total. The ticket for Nagu Stone Forest is included in the ticket of the whole Stone Forest ticket.

Recommended Stone Forest Tour Packages:

3 Days Kunming Spring City Tour

3 Days Kunming Tour to Stone Forest & Jiuxiang Cave

Travel with China Discovery

If you want to get rid of hustle of public transportation and troublesome navigation, you can travel with us China Discovery. Our local tour guide and driver will escort you to Stone Forest from your hotel or any other places in Kunming with speed, convenience and safety by the comfortable licensed private vehicle, and take care of all the details. You just need to focus on sightseeing. Please tell us directly if you need any help!

For Independent Travel

From Kunming Airport (By Airport Shuttle Bus)

Kunming Changshui International Airport offers some shuttle buses directly to Stone Forest Scenic Area from morning to late afternoon every day, which usually takes about 1.5 hours. If you go by private car, it usually needs about 1 hour and 10 minutes.

From Kunming Downtown (By Coach)

Kunming East Bus Terminal has many coaches to Stone Forest directly every day, which usually depart every 30-50 minutes. And you can take Kunming Metro Line 3 to get to the bus terminal from other places in downtown Kunming.

From Kunming Train Stations (By Train + Bus/Taxi)

Kunming also has some trains to Shilin County. From Kunming Railway Station in the downtown, there are a few D trains to Shilin West Railway Station, which take about 40-60 minutes. Besides, there are very few normal K trains (1.5 hours’ riding) to Shilin Railway Station. The station is closer to the scenic area and takes only about 10 minute by car. To get to Stone Forest directly from Kunming Railway Station, it usually needs about 1.5 hour.

Moreover, Kunming South Railway Station offers a few D trains to Shilin West every day also, and the whole riding needs only within 20 minutes. From Shilin West Railway Station, you can take local bus to the scenic area for another 40-50 minutes. If you want to transfer to Stone Forest from Kunming South Railway Station by car, it would need about 1 hour and 20 minutes.

▶ Learn more about How to Get to Stone Forest from Kunming

Travelers will purchase the ticket at Visitor Center which is 2km from the entrance of the scenic area. Travelers can take cable car to from the Visitor Center to the entrance and the price is CNY 25/person. The cable car will also drive in the scenic area (since the scenic area is quite large) and it will pass by all five attractions of Stone Forest Scenic Area, including Major Stone Forest, Minor Stone Forest, Bushao Hill, Lizi Yuanqing and Eternal Mushroom. Once purchase the cable car ticket, travelers can take any cable car in the scenic spot by showing the ticket in the same day.

Naigu Stone Forest is 8km from Stone Forest Scenic Area, and traveler can take the travel bus commuting between the two areas to there. The running time for the travel bus is 9:00 ~ 19:00 and it will departure every half hour. Please check with the working staff for the detailed position of the bus.

Kunming Stone Forest usually needs about half day to explore. For most people, they prefer spend one full day combining Stone Forest with Jiuxiang Karst Cave or one of the highlights in downtown such as Green Lake and go back to the city area for night stay. You can also plan another day discovering more classic city bests before your departure, including Yuantong Temple, birds and flower markets, and Yunnan Nationalities Museum. Besides, if you are interested in extending to Yuanyang Rice Terraces and Jianshui Old Town, you can stay in Shilin County before transferring there, which needs about 5 days in total.

Recommended Kunming Yuanyang Tour Packages:

5 Days Kunming, Jianshui & Yuanyang Rice Terraces Tour

Apart from that, most travelers prefer to arrange Kunming as the first part of their Yunnan travel, so you can also extend to more beautiful destinations in the province, such as Dali, Lijiang, Shangri-La, etc. in 6-11 days based on your exploration depth! Moreover, if you have any idea of more interested destinations in China to travel with Kunming together, please feel free to contact us and our experienced travel expert will help you to plan you coming tour with sincerity!

▶ Learn more about How to Plan a Trip to Kunming

Recommended Kunming Yunnan Tour Packages:

8 Days Classic Yunnan Tour (Kunming / Dali / Lijiang / Shangri-La)

6 Days Best of Yunnan Tour (Lijiang / Shangri-La / Kunming)

11 Days Amazing Yunnan Tour (Kunming / Yuanyang / Jianshui / Kunming / Dali / Lijiang / Shangri-La)