Travel Diary: 5-Day Trip to Lijiang and Lugu Lake

In 2015, I visited Lijiang and Jade Dragon Snow Mountain, but skipped Lugu Lake because of transportation and time constraints. After coming back, I read about Lugu Lake and felt I must visit it one day.

I had planned this Lijiang–Lugu Lake trip for a long time. I even booked flights the year before last but couldn't go due to the pandemic.

Now the road from Lijiang to Lugu Lake is much better, but driving still takes over four hours. My family happened to be traveling to Yunnan, and with a larger group we could charter a vehicle to Lugu Lake.

11/3 D1: Shanghai → Lijiang (staying at: LiJing Simple Sunshine · Ancient City Panoramic Snow Mountain View Inn (Sifang Street Branch))

Our originally scheduled afternoon flight was cancelled and changed to a morning flight. I was really worried the pandemic would cancel all Lijiang-bound flights and I'd miss Lugu Lake again.

The plane took off on time at 8:40.

We landed at Lijiang Airport at 12:20.

We queued for the on-arrival PCR test; there were quite a few people—I guess we waited about half an hour.

Once out of the airport, our driver was already waiting in the parking lot.

On the way to Dayan Old Town, we could see Jade Dragon Snow Mountain. We reached the old town in half an hour.

Lijiang Ancient City actually refers to three towns: Dayan Old Town, Baisha Old Town, and Shuhe Old Town.

When people say Lijiang Ancient City, they usually mean Dayan Old Town—the most bustling of the three.

Shuhe Old Town is less commercial and has a more rustic feel.

Baisha Old Town is the most original, without much renovation, and is mainly known for its ancient Baisha Murals.

It was already 2 p.m. when we reached the old town. Our inn was right in the center of Dayan. The streets there are bumpy cobblestones, so we had to carry our suitcases.

The inn has a courtyard in the middle, surrounded by a two-storey building with 11 rooms, and a small rooftop viewing deck. They keep a cute dog—nice to play with.

You can see the inn has been thoughtfully designed and decorated, but perhaps because of fewer guests during the pandemic, it felt like it hadn't been well-maintained for a while.

The room hygiene and linens were fine, and the bed was very comfortable.

We dropped our things and headed into the old town to find food.

For our first meal in Lijiang, we had Lijiang-style cured pork ribs and a small hotpot with local chicken. The restaurant had a lovely setting, surrounded by flowers.

After lunch we went to Lion Hill and Wangu Tower.

Lijiang sits at about 2,400 meters above sea level. Climbing Lion Hill left us a bit breathless, and the elderly couldn't handle it.

Lion Hill is a spot for panoramic views of the old town, but the Dayan Old Town panorama was just average, nothing special.

We went up Wangu Tower, but honestly, this attraction wasn't good value.

Walking down from Lion Hill, we strolled around the old town and had some fresh pomegranate juice.

We visited the iconic Big Waterwheel at the north gate.

Walked along Lijiang's most ancient street.

Returned to the inn to rest before dinner.

For dinner we ate at Yun Xueli Restaurant, the same place I dined at in Lijiang back in 2015. It's the most popular and highest-rated restaurant in Lijiang.

The food did not disappoint; I recommend the Secret Recipe Snow Mountain Fish.

After dinner we wandered the old town again. By then, the bar street was starting to liven up.

I hadn't rested well the day before, so we went back to the inn to sleep.

11/4 D2: Lijiang (staying at: LiJing Simple Sunshine · Ancient City Panoramic Snow Mountain View Inn (Sifang Street Branch))

In the morning, we first took a taxi to Baisha Old Town.

We had Naxi rice noodles for breakfast there.

Then we went to see the Baisha Murals.

Many of the murals were under restoration and closed to visitors; only a small section was open.

The murals mainly feature Tibetan Buddhist themes and are said to have a history of over 600 years.

However, they are not well-preserved and can't compare to famous mural sites like Dazu Rock Carvings or Mogao Caves.

After the murals, we continued exploring Baisha Old Town.

Baisha felt more unspoiled and isn't very large.

There are some distinctive shops and inns inside the old town.

We then took a taxi to Shuhe Old Town, where we had lunch at a Naxi Fire Pit restaurant.

A Naxi Fire Pit is a hotpot in the middle, surrounded by a stone countertop where you can grill food.

After lunch we visited Jiuding Dragon Pool; the water there had a bit of a Jiuzhaigou feel.

The Ancient Tea Horse Road Museum was under renovation and couldn't be visited.

We got a PCR test near the entrance of Shuhe Old Town, then took a taxi back to Dayan.

We found a quiet bar in Dayan, had a coffee, and listened to some music.

Back at the inn, we played with the dog.

Lijiang's internet-famous restaurant—we had eaten so much at the Fire Pit that lunch was heavy, so for dinner we just had rice noodles.

In the old town, many people were doing art-photo shoots; the evening old town was full of atmosphere.

Finally, we climbed Lion Hill again to see the old town's night view.

11/5 D3: Lijiang → Lugu Lake (staying at: Lugu Lake Cidi Huakai Inn)

Today started the highlight of this trip: the two-day Lugu Lake tour.

My family was also heading to Dali and Tengchong, so we had booked an 8-day chartered vehicle: Lijiang → Lugu Lake → Lijiang → Dali → Tengchong → Baoshan Railway Station.

We had agreed on an 8 a.m. departure for Lugu Lake. Our chartered vehicle came with two drivers—actually, one was a driver and the other more like a guide.

Meeting a good driver on a chartered tour is crucial. Our driver this time was good, but the guide-like person wasn't that friendly—more on that later.

We arrived at the Jinsha River viewing platform, took in the scenery, and used the restroom.

Then we stopped at the Haba Snow Mountain viewing platform; the mountain was shrouded in clouds and mist, so we couldn't see anything.

This viewing platform had a shopping stop with a shady setup. There was a person with a camera pretending to be a tourist who hung around the shop, clearly a possible scammer.

We almost fell for it. We were looking at a type of Chinese herbal medicine, and that guy said it was good, told us he was buying some too, and that it was 9 yuan per jin (500g). My family member said we'd take a jin. The seller started grinding the herb, and then announced it was actually 9 yuan per gram. What was 9 yuan suddenly became 4,500 yuan. We flatly refused. After all the tourists had left, that person was still near the shop, waiting for the next group.

We got to Ninglang county around noon. The driver took us to a roadside restaurant for lunch. The place was full of guests brought by chartered cars or tour guides; prices were slightly high but acceptable.

After lunch we drove on toward Lugu Lake, finally reaching the first Lugu Lake attraction nearly two hours later.

Lugu Lake Viewing Platform.

The lake view from the platform was beautiful, but not breathtakingly stunning.

The guide-like person arranged for us to take a boat from Sanjiacun Pier—we hadn't decided whether to take a boat there yet.

We originally planned to take a boat from Daluoshui Pier after checking into our Daluoshui inn. That's when the guide started nagging: “You haven't really been to Lugu Lake if you don't take a boat.” Well, we did want a boat ride anyway; any pier would be fine. But everyone knows why the guide kept pushing the boat ride.

For environmental reasons, only manually rowed boats are allowed on Lugu Lake. From the pier to Linubi Island costs 70 yuan per person; a boat tour around the island adds 30 yuan. We later checked at Daluoshui Pier—same prices.

The water in Lugu Lake is very clean, with visibility up to 13 meters. Migratory red-billed gulls were on the lake; you could feed them small dried fish or bread.

Eighty percent of Lugu Lake's water comes from underground springs. On the island circuit, you can see the lake's spring outlet, where the water meets national Grade I drinking water standards.

We went ashore on Linubi Island. There's a small hill on the island with the Tibetan Buddhist Linubi Temple on top; from the highest point you can overlook Lugu Lake.

On the return boat trip we saw the water-grown flowers called ‘water nature's beauty’ (Ottelia acuminata). Their peak bloom is in July and August; in November there aren't many left on the lake.

The whole boat ride lasted about 1 hour 40 minutes and cost 100 yuan—good value for money.

Back in the van, the guide recommended a bonfire party. We weren't interested, and he started nagging again, but we firmly turned it down.

The guide then said there was still time and we could visit two more sights. It was already 4 p.m., and we just wanted to go to the inn and rest.

We had booked a lake-view room and wanted to check in early. The guide kept insisting it was still early and that our next day's schedule would be tight.

Fine, we went to Lover's Beach first—a small sandy spot by the lake.

After that, we headed to the Lige Viewing Platform. When we arrived, it started raining with some snow.

The Lige Viewing Platform is the most classic spot on Lugu Lake; I think more time should be spent there.

We rushed to take a few photos, then got back in the van to head to our inn at Daluoshui Village.

At a glance, Lige Village seemed lifeless. Due to time, we didn't wander around Lige Village.

We reached our Daluoshui inn. We had booked a lake-view room, hoping to enjoy a front-row lake vista, but it was already past 6 p.m. by the time we arrived.

At that point, the guide still wouldn't leave—he kept following us, I'm not sure why. Probably hoping we'd invite him to dinner. We ignored him, and he finally left. He didn't give us a good vibe.

We took a walk at Daluoshui Pier.

For dinner we had steam stone-pot fish at Chuan Xiang Yuan near the inn; the flavor was quite good.

At night in Daluoshui, only a few quiet bars were open. Foot traffic was very low, a heavy impact from the pandemic.

Late at night, we also went to the lakeside to look at the stars. Though far better than the light pollution in cities, we still couldn't see a sky full of stars.

11/6 D4: Lugu Lake → Lijiang (staying at: LiJing Simple Sunshine · Ancient City Panoramic Snow Mountain View Inn (Sifang Street Branch))

The inn breakfast was rice noodles and congee, not really to our taste.

We walked along the lakeshore to Daluoshui Pier; the scenery was lovely.