Yunnan Photography Tour: Kunming Dali Lijiang Shangri-La Photo Tour

Itinerary Details Day by Day

Day 1 Kunming Arrival

Welcome to Kunming, the Spring City! Free until being escorted to the airport for your flight to Kunming. Upon arrival, be met and transferred to your hotel in Kunming. Your guide will help you check in. (Please note: you'll arrive in Kunming before 12:00 on this day.)

After a rest, you’ll start a tour to Western Hills which is called “Sleeping Beauty Hills”, looking like a beautiful young lady lying beside Dian Lake (the largest freshwater in Yunnan and famed as the “Pearl on the Plateau”). It will be a perfectly lovely trip to walk in this long wedge of parkland and explore the famous temples (Huating Temple and Taihua Temple included) and other cultural relics. There is a saying: If you do not visit Western Hill, you haven't visited Kunming; if you do not come to Dragon Gate, you haven't been to Western Hills. Make some effort to climb up to magic Dragon Gate where you’ll appreciate the panoramic view of Dian Lake as well as see a group of grottoes and sculptures.

Later, transfer to Yunnan Minority Village, an epitome of ethnic of Yunnan. In the minority village, you can not only get to know ethnic architecture styles, costumes, customs, funny marriage, etiquette, but also interact with the ethnic people, sing folk songs, dance with them and even taste some ethnic snacks.

After the tour, drive back to your hotel.

Day 2 Kunming (B)

After breakfast, drive 85 km to the typical Karst landform - Stone Forest. Walk into the Greater Stone Forest, marvel at groups of gray-black stone peaks and climb up a pavilion to have a panoramic view of the intricate stone forest. Visit the Lesser Stone Forest and listen to the legendary story of “Ashima”. It will be a real treat to visit the extraordinary natural stone forest. You feel like come into a "stone world".

Later, drive back to Kunming downtown area and pay a visit to the 1200-year-old Yuantong Buddhist Temple, the largest temple in Kunming City. Learn Buddhism’s three traditions and seek for some calmness and peacefulness by exploring this impressive temple. Later, walk a few minutes to the most picturesque park in Kunming urban area - the Green Lake Park. Here you can share the happiness of local people’s doing tai chi, performing local opera, and other vibrant activities. If you visit the park in November or December, you will see the grandeur of huge flocks of black-headed gulls that migrate there from Siberia.

Day 3 Kunming - Dali (B)

Take the morning bullet train to Dali. Dali is a historically and culturally famous city of China, is renowned for her historical interest and Bai ethnic culture. On this day, you’ll visit and shoot Three Pagodas, Erhai Lake and Dali Old Town.

Three Pagodas: It 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.

Erhai Lake: Take 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.

Dali Old Town: In Dali Old Town, walk around the Foreigner Street and enjoy the relax time with local people. After climbing up to the City Wall of Dali, you could shoot panoramic view of the Erhai Lake.

Day 4 Dali - Lijiang (B)

In the morning, you’ll be driven about 18 km to visit the Morning Market in Xizhou. It is a place for local people trading daily supplies, including fresh vegetable, fruits, meats, and many kinds of food and daily necessities. It is a great opportunity for getting close to local living conditions. Then, explore in Xizhou Ancient Town, a historical town showing you the Bai minority cultural, the local people’s daily life and natural beauty. Shoot the traditional Bai people’s architecture in Xizhou.

Then, drive to Lijiang with the beautiful farmlands and ethnic villages on the way. After arrival, you’ll start your memorable Lijiang tour from Lijiang Ancient Town. Enjoy a panoramic view of this fascinating old city from Wangu Tower, the landmark building of Lijiang. This pure wood building was built at 33 meters tall on the top of Lion Hill where you could also overlook Jade Dragon Snow Mountain in the distance.

Day 5 Lijiang (B)

Today, your guide and driver will escort you Yuhu Village which is located in the south of Jade Dragon Snow Mountain. When walk around this authentic Naxi Village, you’ll capture unique stone house, naxi ladies dressing in traditional clothes, a wooden fish is hunging in the middle of the roof, the kids playing…Then you get to the Former Residence of Joseph Rock, who is an Austrian-American Botanist came in Lijiang and stayed in Yuhu Village for 27 years.

After that, visit the ancient Baisha Mural Paintings at Baisha Village. Painted over 1000 years ago, the murals combine the cultures of Han, Tibetan and Naxi people displaying the life stories of the Tibet Buddhism, Confucian and Taoism. Then, followed a trip to Shuhe Ancient Town - a component of Lijiang Old Town listed as UNESCO World Heritage in 1997.

Later, head for Black Dragon Pool Park to shoot the pavilion, lakes and mountains. Visit Naxi Dongba Culture Museum where you can learn Naxi pictograph character and explore the rich Naxi minority culture in the museum.

Day 6 Lijiang - Shangri-La (B)

After breakfast, you’ll be driven to shoot the First Bend of the Yangtze River with imposing gorge scenery and the Iron Chain Bridge in the Shigu (Stone Drum) Town (about 60 km from Lijiang with 2 to 3 hours’ drive). Later you will take photograph in Tiger Leaping Gorge. Last, you'll drive to Shangri La, about 100km. You'll enjoy the enchanting natural scenes on the way.

First Bend of the Yangtze River: Surrounded by rivers and mountains, the First Bend of the Yangtze River has picturesque scenery. Three rivers join together here and take a sudden turn.

Tiger Leaping Gorge: the deepest gorge in the world. It is divided into the Upper Tiger Leaping, the Middle Tiger Leaping and the Lower Tiger Leaping three parts. In the upper part of Tiger Leaping Gorge, you will walk about 2.6 Km from the entrance to Tiger Leaping Rock. It is a nice walking along the Jinsha River and Marble trail. You will walk through three marble tunnel s in the gorge.

Sightseeing at First Bend of Yangtze River

Day 7 Shangri-La (B)

Today is a full day to explore and shoot the on-earth paradise described in the famous novel Lost Horizon by James Hilton.

You'll visit the Garden Sumtseling Monastery to be touched about how the simple Tibetan keeps their pure and religious belief in this temporal world. Get on Gulongcun viewing deck to capture the panoramic view of Garden Sumtseling Monastery. Later take a leisurely walk beside the beautiful Bitahai Lake and Shudu Lake, feel marvel for the nature's masterpiece. Then, pay a visit to a local Tibetan family and experience the highly-praised hospitality of Tibetan people.

Visit Dukezong Old Town in the late afternoon, climb 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 Shangri-La County and Dukezong Ancient Town.

Important Notice: Militang Pasture (弥里塘草场) in Pudacuo National Park is closed for tourists due to maintainance from 3th September, 2017. The administrative office of Pudacuo National Park hasn't confirmed when they will be open exactly. Shudu Lake Scenic Area (属都湖) and Bita Lake Scenic Area (碧塔海) are open for tourists. Please contact your travel consultant to adjust your itinerary.

Day 8 Shangri-La Departure (B): On this day you will be free until your tour guide escorts you to the airport for your flight to your next destination.

In this Yunnan color dreamland photography tour, you’ll photograph in three great destinations from Kunming, including the Dali, Lijiang and Shangri-La. Please take some time and check the photography guide one by one and you are sure on the way to get the most gorgeous pictures in those places.

Dali Photography Guide

In Dali, there are Four Greatest Scenes are the most attractive and enchanting. If have enough time in exploring in Dali, you should not miss the winds of Xiaguan, flowers of Shangguan, snow of Cangshan Mountain and moon of Erhai Lake. As a photographer, you should have in-depth exploration in the ancient towns, Cangshan mountain and Erhai Lake, if interested, attend the local market and feel the authentic Bai people’s life.

Best Sites for Photography

Ancient Towns & Pagodas

In Dali, there are two famous ancient towns where photographers could shoot typical Bai people’s architecture and daily life. The two ancient towns include Dali Ancient City and Xizhou Ancient Town.

Dali Ancient City has four gate towers, five streets from south to north, eight streets from east to west, small and exquisite courtyards, colorful flowers blooming in every household, shops and bars standing along the old streets, people chatting leisurely in tea houses, Bai ethnic girls in traditional Bai clothes smiling...When wandering leisurely in the old town, photographers should not miss Xiyun Academy, Foreigner Street and get on South Gate Tower to capture the snow scenery of Cangshang Mountain also have a panoramic view of Dali Old Town.

Xizhou Ancient Town with a history of 1000 years, is “the Museum of Bai Architecture”. There are many residences from Ming and Qing Dynasties. The typical Bai houses are San Fang Yi Zhao Bi (three houses from a U and one screen wall stand in the front and form a enclose space, with courtyard in the middle), Si He Wu Tianjin (four houses form enclosed space with five wells). It is recommended to visit the Seven Inch Book Mansion, Yang Family Courtyard, Yan Family Courtyard. Photographers could shoot the screen wall, well-decorated doors and windows, gables and more in the old houses.

Besides the ancient towns, photographers should never miss Three Pagodas of Chongsheng Temple. The main pagoda is called Qianxun Pagoda built during 824-840 AD by the King of Nanzhao State. The other two sibling pagodas stand to the northwest and southwest of Qianxun Pagoda. The best site to shoot the Three Pagodas is “Small Erhai Lake”. It is good to capture full-face photo, pagoda, blue sky and white cloud reflection in the water, in this way, “the six pagodas” would get into your pictures.

Cangshan Mountain & Erhai Lake

Cangshang Mountain and Erhai Lake are another two famous sites of Dali. Cangshan Mountain consists of 19 peaks and 18 brooks. All the 19 peaks are at altitude of 3500 meters, snow-capped all the year round. The photography road in Cangshang Mountain is the Jade Belt Road at an altitude of 2600m and with a length of 18 km. Photographers could use down shot to capture Dali Ancient Town, Xiaguan Town and Erhai Lake.

Erhai Lake, the mother lake of Bai minority, is located in the east of Dali Ancient City. The scenery of Erhai Lake is gorgeous and pleasing. It is great to capture the picturesque scenery with islets, caves, marshes, forest, shoals and cottage, etc. There are several ways to shoot Erhai lakes, you could choose to go Erhai Lake Park for Cangshang Mountain and Erhai Lake scenery, Wanghai Tower in Chongsheng Temple for distant view, or cruise in Erhai Lake for sunset scenery.

Best Season for Photography

Spring is the best season to photograph in Dali. There is a saying “Dali has the best scenery in March”. During this season, flowers are blossom everywhere, especially when you wander and shoot in Dali Ancient City, you’ll be amazed by the flowers in Bai people’s household. Besides, many festivals like March Fair with features activities hold in March and April.

Tips from Our Experts

1. Erhai Photography

There are three tips for photography in Erhai Lake. (1) Use Grad ND filter to darken the sky; (2) Use CPL to get rid of stray light, strengthen the contrast of colorful cloud and blue sky and make all the scenery saturated; (3) Use HDR (High-Dynamic Range)

2. Cultural Experience

It is good to cover some cultural experience in your photography tour. You could enjoy Three-course Tea of Bai Ethnic Minority and appreciate Batik of Zhoucheng old city.

3. Transportation Tips

You could take flight, train or long-distance coach to Dali. It is very convenient to transfer from Kunming to Dali by air. Meanwhile, there are four trains from Kunming to Dali, taking 6-8 hours.

4. Advice for Accommodation

You may want to spend some time to take photograph of Dali Ancient City for the beautiful night view. Hence, it is good to stay overnight in Dali Ancient City. Hotels range from 5 star, 4 star and boutique ones.

For more photography advice in Dali, you could feel free to contact us and we are here ready to help!

Lijiang Photography Guide

In Lijiang, photographers could have very romantic journey and encounter. Of course, you’ll first wander and shoot leisurely in Lijiang Old Town. You’ll be impressed by the old streets, old Naxi buildings, clear water, enthusiastic Naxi people and thousands of travelers...Actually, Lijiang Old Town is the place to meet others, meet nature and even the true self. Out of Lijiang Old Town, you could explore more natural scenery like snow-capped mountains, thrilling gorges, bend of Yangtze River, beautiful villages with Naxi culture and more.