6-Day Yunnan Tour: Scenic Landscapes, Ethnic Flavors, and Jade & Silver Shopping
Before visiting Yunnan, you may wonder whether to take a tour or travel independently. If you've never been, joining a group is much more convenient. No matter how you arrive in Yunnan, once you find a travel agency, you can relax—everything is arranged for you from start to finish, right up to drop-off at the airport or train station. Just leave it to the agency and save yourself the hassle. After coming back, you can be sure that next time you’ll choose independent travel. Group tours are too rushed, with too much time set aside for shopping. Although forced consumption is no longer the rule, every guide will use all their tricks to get you to open your wallet. And you might not have the same guide throughout—guides never tell you in advance that they’ll swap out midway. Once you’ve done your shopping under the first guide, they may suddenly change, and a second, then a third guide hops on the bus and you have to go through it all again. On my 6-day tour, I had three guides: one from Kunming to Lijiang, one in charge of Lijiang, and one for the return trip. So next time, independent travel is definitely better: do your homework, book flights, train tickets, hotels, guesthouses, and attraction tickets in advance. If you're heading to Jade Dragon Snow Mountain, keep an eye on the weather forecast—strong winds can shut down the cable car.
Day 1: I set off on March 1, 2021. COVID restrictions had just eased, and flight prices were climbing day by day—clearly plenty of people were heading to Yunnan. With the outbreak barely over, the plane wasn't too full. For some reason, the flight was delayed, and we touched down in Kunming at 2 a.m. on March 2. Checked into the hotel and grabbed some quick rest.
Day 2: Kunming is in the southwest, and at 7 a.m. it was still dark when I found the guide and got on the bus. We hit the highway east to the Stone Forest scenic area (all I remember is a jingle Guo Moruo left after visiting: ‘From afar, big rocks; up close, big rocks. Sure enough, rocks are big; big indeed are the rocks.’). The entire afternoon was spent on the road to Chuxiong. Midway, we stopped for two hours at Dinosaur Valley Tea House to sample tea, drink tea, buy tea. In the evening, we enjoyed a wild mushroom hotpot in Chuxiong.
Day 3: Opposite Dali Ancient Town, we toured Erhai Lake by special boat, doing an island circuit and soaking up the gentle breeze under blue skies and white clouds. We landed on Jinsuo Island for Insta-worthy photos, watched fishing village performances. In the afternoon, we strolled through endless flower fields, took a jeep to the Instagram spots—the glass ball, white table and chairs, and ‘Mirror of the Sky’—then rode an electric cart to explore Dali Ancient Town.
Day 4: The guide spent the whole morning taking you to Shuhe Ancient Town to buy jadeite, with one-on-one sales assistants. It’s hard not to feel pressured to buy. Be fully prepared—prices range from a few thousand to hundreds of thousands, and they’re not afraid to empty your pockets. By the time we left it was nearly noon. The guide handed out a few small snacks, partly to refuel us for the next stop at Baisuifang to buy silverware, and partly to promote specialty snacks as their guiding stint wrapped up. In the afternoon, a new guide of Mosuo ethnicity took over and led us to Lashihai Wetland Park for a horse ride along the Tea Horse Road (220 yuan per person). At night, we wandered Lijiang Ancient Town and watched the Lishui Jinsha show.
Day 5: The morning was spent shopping for yellow dragon jade in Shahe Ancient Town. At midday, armed with bread and bottled water, we arrived at the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain cable car station. At 1 p.m. we took the big cable car up to the snowy summit. Near the top, strong winds kicked up and the gondola swayed—honestly a bit scary. The wind howled on the mountain, whipping icy pellets against our faces so you couldn’t open your eyes. After queuing for two hours, we got on the cable car and headed back down. We heard that due to the gale, the cable car had briefly stopped running, and the scenic area canceled the rest of our summit trip. So when it comes to the snow mountain, weather is everything—if you’re unlucky, you might have to wait for days. (It’s best to prepare oxygen in advance: a can that costs 15 yuan elsewhere is sold for 60 yuan on the tour bus. Usually one can per person is enough, but bring two if you’ll be up there a while.) Short on time, we rushed through Blue Moon Valley and then set off back to Kunming. The drive from Lijiang to Kunming can take about eight hours. As soon as we came down the mountain, a Kunming guide took over.
Day 6: The original plan was the Flower City complex in downtown Kunming, but instead we went straight to the Kunming International Convention and Exhibition Center tourist hub for shopping. It was more relaxed there—after listening to the briefing, you could roam freely. Since it was still early, I hailed a Didi Express to Dianchi Haigeng Park (about 30 yuan). I strolled along the east shore viewing path, bought some bread to feed the black-headed gulls, snapped a few photos of the birds, then headed near Yunnan University for a wild mushroom hotpot—the mushrooms smelled incredibly fragrant. Then I wandered the old streets of Kunming. When time was about right, I hurried back to the exhibition center for the airport drop-off!
