8-day Kunming Dali Lijiang & Lugu Lake Tour

On arrival in Kunming airport or railway station, you will be met by our tour guide and transferred to your hotel a private car and driver. Free for the remaining of the day. You could have a rest or take a walk near the hotel.

After breakfast, drive 1.5 hours (90 KM) to visit the Stone Forest. The Stone Forest covers 26,000-hectare and from a distance, it does indeed look like a forest of stones with its peaks and odd-shaped rocks standing straight up from the ground.You can walk around the forest on paths that have been built and there is some stair climbing involved if you want to walk around it. Drive back to Kunming in the afternoon and take flight to Dali city.

Take a morning cruise in the Erhai Lake.  Then you will visit the Three Pagodas in Chongsheng Monastery which 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. In the afternoon, you will visit the Ancient Dali Town, walk around the Foreigner Street and enjoy the relax time with local people. After climbing up to the city wall of Dali, you will have panoramic view of the Erhai Lake.

Drive about 180 km (3 hours) to Lijiang. On the way, you will head for Xizhou Town to fully appreciate Bai-style traditional architectural courtyards, taste their fragrant Three-Course Tea and explore their distinctive culture. Visit Zhoucheng Village and the Bai people's Tie-dying cloth workshop where you can take some special souvenir with the Bai ethnic style. After lunch you'll head for the scenic Black Dragon Pool and the Dongba Museum to explore the rich Naxi minority culture.
     
In the evening, explore Lijiang Old Town. It has a history more than 800 years; it was listed as the World Cultural Heritage by the UNESCO 1997. Here you will see the wonderful wooden architecture of Naxi ethnic people.

Enjoy a morning sight (sunrise depends on the weather) of Jade Dragon Snow Mountain, a holy mountain for the Naxi people that is located 15km north of Lijiang city. Then  with an altitude of 5600 meters (18,400 feet) above sea level. Visit villages (Yuhu Village and Shuhe Village for options) of Naxi people.

Stroll through Baisha Old Town, which is an enchanting traditional Naxi style old town, where houses Baisha Murals made in succession from the early Ming dynasty to the reign of Emperor Qianlong in the Qing dynasty. These mural paintings, with their fine and smooth lines, bright colors, vivid pattern and balanced and harmonious composition are a wonderful sight.

Drive 6.5 hours to the Lugu Lake. Visiting the Mosuo families, taste Mosuo food. Have a bonfire party tonight, dancing with the pretty and graceful Mosuo girls. Lugu Lake is a shimmering pearl which is the native place of "The Females' Kingdom" composed of the Mosuo people, a unique matriarchate well-preserved by the indigenous Mosuo people, who are a branch of the Naxi ethnic minority group.

A cruise in the Lugu lake by "pig-trough" boats". The water of the lake is generally clean and green, with different shades of colour: now turquoise blue, now sapphire blue, now white-gray, simply beyond one's imagination. Teeming in the lake are fine-scaled fish, carps and other species. Visit the Liwubi Island and the Headman's Island.

Take flight back to Kunming. Tour to the Qiongzhu Temple or Golden Temple, another option is visiting the Dragon gate in Western Hills by the Dianchi Lake. Transfer to the airport for your flight to your next destination.