Seven Days Six Nights: Yunnan Free Travel - Dali, Lijiang, Shangri-La

This summer, there were Cangshan Mountain, Erhai Lake, grasslands, stars, and someone to accompany me in the evening breeze.

6.20-6.23 Chengdu → Dali

6.23-6.24 Dali → Lijiang

6.25-6.26 Lijiang → Shangri-La

6.27 Shangri-La → Lijiang → Chengdu

1. Sunscreen, be sure to pay attention to sunscreen. Especially at Erhai Lake, even my scalp got sunburned and peeled off, and my hands turned pitch black. Because of the wind from Erhai, you don't feel hot or sunburned, but rather comfortable, so you ignore the UV rays, which are really strong. Even now, my feet still have marks from my sandals.

2. We bought solid alcohol, which could only be checked in luggage, and even wet wipes were the same. Disinfection must be done properly.

3. A rough map of Erhai: The west lakeside road is under construction, but you can still go there; the scenery is more beautiful and closer to the water. The east lakeside road is well-developed; Shuanglang, Moon Lake, etc., are all there, but basically it's cliffs, with the water below the cliffs, and some local spots allow you to go down.

DAY1 Chengdu → Dali

During the pandemic, accommodation prices were quite cheap. We booked a guesthouse on the outskirts of Dali Old Town.

We left early and took the flight to Dali, having been cooped up too long due to the pandemic. As soon as we got off the plane, we saw the blue sky and felt the UV rays that Chengdu doesn't have. After dropping off our luggage, we found a noodle shop nearby and had a simple meal.

The local cross-bridge rice noodles (there are two types: one is like this small noodle shop's, mixed together in one bowl; the other is a bit pricier, with a full array of side dishes—both are considered cross-bridge rice noodles).

We rented an electric scooter online in advance, planning to cycle around Erhai Lake (exhausting). We rented a Niu scooter. The full loop around Erhai is 130 km. If you want to cycle around the lake, be sure to choose one that allows battery swaps midway. There are many places renting electric scooters in the old town, but they are only for short trips nearby—be careful about this. While buying things, we heard a guy, around 8 PM, it was already dark, he rode to Butterfly Spring, 27 km from the old town, and his battery died; he couldn't come back and had to charge there. Not sure what happened in the end. I don't recommend cycling—strong wind and sun, you'll get sunburned like crazy!

Riding my beloved little scooter, it never gets stuck in traffic.

Caicun Pier: Nothing special, and you need a ticket, so we didn't go. There are many flower fields around where you can take photos, about 10 yuan per person. Not really interested. Then we rode counterclockwise along the lake, on the west lakeside road. Whenever we saw a nice spot, we just parked and played. I actually think the scenic spots marked on the map are not that interesting.

Chongsheng Temple Three Pagodas:

A shallow beach we encountered during the ride.

A forest we encountered during the ride; locals were collecting shells similar to clams, saying they were edible, and we helped them collect.

The sky here is really blue, super beautiful. Another suggestion: bring a picnic blanket, buy some snacks, and just lie down along the way, with the sky as our blanket and the earth as our bed, amidst the heaven, earth, sea, and forest—truly refreshing for body and mind.

On the first day, we went back to the hotel, since we only had half a day. The next day was our main event—the lake cycling.

DAY2,3 Dali Erhai Lake

Tiring? Really tiring. Enjoyable? Really enjoyable. Headache? The wind was really strong, and the sun was really scorching. Again, I advise everyone not to ride a scooter, don't ride a scooter!!

We followed the lakeside road around Erhai, first heading north, passing the forest and shallow beach from yesterday, then arrived at Xizhou Ancient Town.

Along the way, we saw white-walled, black-roofed houses nestled among layers of green waves, and couldn't help thinking that when we get old, we'd like to find such a scenic place, working at sunrise and resting at sunset.

Xizhou Ancient Town: Not many tourists, not overly commercialized, but really not much fun or good food. There's a famous phone booth where a crowd waits to take photos, not interesting. Local snacks are average. If they were truly delicious, they would have become famous outside the province, like cross-bridge rice noodles or Chongqing hotpot. Not famous means they're just average.

After swapping the battery, we continued riding the scooter.

Shuanglang: Honestly, I read many travel guides online saying the east lakeside road is more beautiful than the west, but I didn't think so; instead, I was disappointed. Maybe it was the light or the weather, but it really wasn't great.

Riding the scooter went from initial excitement to numbness.

Shuanglang requires a health code, and electric scooters are not allowed inside; there's a parking lot outside. After paying, we walked in and found a home-style restaurant for lunch. Again, not great, but we found that flower cakes (xianhua bing) were super delicious. Pan Xiangji brand was good.

Next to Shuanglang is Yang Liping's Moon Palace. We still didn't go; I prefer beautiful natural scenery.

It was already 2-3 PM. We were quite exhausted, our bottoms sore from sitting. We kept getting on and off to take photos, but later we were too lazy to get off. Along the way we passed Wase, Putuo, etc. If you think it's beautiful, you can get off and take photos.

Then we continued riding along the lakeside road. Around 6 PM, the sun had set but it wasn't dark yet. The wind was super strong, blowing from all directions, and we had to bend down to control the scooter to avoid being blown over, our heads aching. We rode for an entire day, from dawn to dusk.

Finally, in the evening, we found a mushroom hotpot restaurant in Dali Old Town online. I have to say, when you come to Yunnan, you must eat mushrooms. We ordered from an online place; the taste was decent. Back at the hotel at night, the old town's night scenery was beautiful; we could also see stars. We had some skewers and drinks, chatting about life.

The next day was truly leisurely. We were still thinking about the shallow beach from the first day, so we bought a bunch of snacks and brought raincoats (to use as picnic blankets), lying around sunbathing. In the afternoon, we went back to the old town, which we hadn't explored thoroughly before.

It wasn't overly commercialized; many locals live there. We also went to their market, full of lively daily life atmosphere.

DAY4 Dali → Lijiang

We booked train tickets from Dali to Lijiang online. It was my first time on this kind of double-decker train—a magical existence.

We stayed inside Lijiang Old Town. There were very few people; many shops were closed. The pandemic's impact was huge, but the fewer people made the old town more beautiful. Walking on the stone slabs, seeing the mottled moss and ancient buildings, I felt as if I had become a local girl.

Every shop in the old town was designed with charm, with flowers and plants at the entrance.

In the afternoon, we went to Shuhe Ancient Town, a very quiet town with a slow pace of life, perfect for leisure, relaxation, and healing.

We ate at a popular internet-famous restaurant in Shuhe; it was very satisfying and nice. We looked at several bars on bar street and finally chose Small Pot Rice. After tasting the dishes, we gave ourselves a thumbs up—good choice! The most satisfying was Dongba grilled fish. Actually, we had grilled fish every day for several days, but only today's was the most authentic! And the small pot rice was fragrant—a must-try! The most surprising was the price of beer on bar street: Dali Wind, Flower, Snow, and Moon beer was usually 40 yuan per bottle, at least 38 yuan, but this Small Pot Rice sold it for 12 yuan per bottle. We thought we misread it—such a fair price!

Back in Lijiang Old Town, it was really lively, a world of difference from Shuhe.

DAY5,6 Lijiang → Shangri-La

❤ Because we had already visited many ancient towns, and I had come once before with my mother, I was really numb to them. So Lijiang was just a transit point for us; our destination was Shangri-La. Considering the lesson from Dali about not planning well and transportation issues, we decided to join a small pure-play group tour in a commercial van. Prices ranged from 200 to 700 yuan; the too-cheap ones we didn't dare to choose. 590 yuan per person was a good deal, no shopping.

In Shangri-La, we stayed in Dukezong Old Town, also known as Moonlight City.

The world's largest prayer wheel requires at least 10 people to turn it. You can go and turn it to increase your blessings.

Correspondingly, there is Ganden Sumtseling Monastery (Songzanlin Monastery), the largest Tibetan Buddhist monastery in Yunnan Province, and one of the famous large monasteries in the Kham region. It is also the Gelug (Yellow Hat) center in the Sichuan-Yunnan area, holding a significant position in the entire Tibetan region, known as the "Little Potala Palace."

At Songzanlin Monastery, Tibetan compatriots serve as volunteers to explain. If you just wander around, you only see the spectacle; I suggest listening to their explanations. You'll get a comprehensive understanding of the monastery. It's really magnificent, making me want to visit the Potala Palace even more.

After visiting the monastery, there is a lake opposite, their sacred lake. A boardwalk surrounds it. You can take panoramic photos here. Since it was June, the grass was already lush, so you couldn't capture reflections, which would be more beautiful otherwise.

Again, we brought a bunch of snacks, found a shady tree, and relaxed.

In the afternoon, we went to Napa Lake. Originally, we wanted to go to Potatso National Park, but I had been there before, and my husband preferred to see the grassland at Napa Lake and the famous internet-famous highway.

Late June to early July is the most beautiful time for the grassland. Unknown little flowers were blooming everywhere (I feel like I'm writing an essay). You can enter the grassland (some parts are off-limits). Many local people were leading horses nearby for riding. In books, it says "the wind blows, revealing cattle and sheep," but actually, you look up and see cattle and sheep, look down and see cow dung, sheep dung, horse dung.

So it's better to find a place with few people and few animals to take beautiful photos.

Dukezong also had few tourists. At our hotel, there was a lovely dog. It wasn't shy at all. If you're afraid of dogs, don't worry; this dog is very intuitive and knows if you're afraid, so it won't approach you.

DAY7 Lijiang → Chengdu

Time to return. Finally, we took the car back to Lijiang.

This trip was truly a leisurely vacation. Usually, work pressure is too high; we just wanted to find a scenic place to lie down quietly and enjoy the breeze.