JY-KDLS-S:

Shangri-La Join Tour - Summer Program

Duration: 8 Days / 7 Nights
$831From USD p.p
Evaluation：
Destinations: Kunming - Dali - Lijiang - Shangri-La

　　Highlights:

Take a relaxing voyage through the least developed tranquil villages in Southwest China; and the Shangri-La lies in a landscape of rolling hills, snow-capped peaks, and virgin forests of spruce. Highlights include visiting a Tibetan family and learn the local way of making black pottery by hand.

Schedule Details Price Details Comment

Day 1(Fri) KUNMING (1894 meters) arrival: Arrival in Kunming. Meet your guide at airport and transfer to hotel.
The capital of Yunnan Province, Kunming is one of China’s noted historical and cultural cities.
The city is located in central Yunnan at the elevation of 1894 meters above sea level and is praised as the city of eternal spring.
Rest of day at leisure.
Lunch and dinner at leisure
Overnight at Kunming Golden Dragon Hotel or similar

Day 2(Sat) KUNMING (B L): Buffet breakfast at hotel.
Drive along the new express way to Stone Forest. Stone Forest is 75 kilometers from Kunming and is accessible by a bus ride of 70 minutes. The Stone forest belongs to the typical Karst geomorphology, it consists of innumerable bizarre-shaped ancient limestone cliffs and peaks created by wind and water erosion some 200 million years ago, and this area is praised as the “ First Wonder Under Heaven”.It’s inscribed as Nature Heritage by the World Conservation Union (IUCN) of UNESCO in Christ City in New Zealand on June 27, 2007.
Drive back to Kunming by the old road, visit a village on route. Then visit the Green Lake Park in the afternoon, .
Lunch at local restaurant, dinner at leisure.
Overnight at Kunming Golden Dragon Hotel or similar

Day 3(Sun) KUNMING/DALI (2100 meters) (B L): Buffet breakfast at hotel.
Overland drive with seat in public coach bus from Kunming to Dali, 360 KM, 4.5 hours.
Standing against the Cangshan Mountains in the west and adjoining the Erhai Lake in the east, embraced by undulating hills around, Dali was the capital of Nanzhao and Dali Kingdom as early as 1,300 years ago. It is home to Bai minority.
Upon arrival in Dali, proceed to visit the Three Pagodas, stroll in Dali old town.
Standing in a way of a tripod on the outskirts of old town, the Three Pagodas were constructed in about 850 and 1050 following the model of the Small Wild Goose Pagoda in Xi’an. For centuries, they are considered landmark of the region.
The old town of weathered gray granite stands at 2,100 meters on a long, narrow rice plain between the Cangshan Mountains and the Erhai Lake, a natural configuration that seems specially designed for a good, bountiful life. Format of the old town is like a chessboard with four gates guarding in the directions of east, south, west and north, a design that was adopted by most towns in ancient China.
Lunch at local Chinese restaurant, dinner on your own.
Overnight at Landscape Hotel or similar

Day 4(Mon) DALI/LIJIANG (2500 meters) (B L): Buffet breakfast at hotel.
In the morning, overland drive of 180 kilometers, or 3.5 hours, along the new highway to Lijiang.
Visit the Bai minority village Xizhou.
23 kilometers north of Dali, Xizhou village has a more mixed population and cosmopolitan background. It grew and flourished in the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) along with the fortunes of Dali’s renowned tea merchants that traded to Tibet. Family Yan’s courtyard is a good example of traditional Bai houses. And each morning, villagers in Bai dresses gather in a small market to buy and sell their produce and daily wares.
Then continue driving to Shaping. Shaping Market is a local market on every Monday. The local people come to the market from surrounding villages to exchange their daily wares, farming products, traditional clothes, or simply foods and vegetables.
Upon arrival in Lijiang, check in the hotel. Afternoon free for your first visit of the old town.
A gathering place of rugged mountain people with the Naxi forming the majority, Lijiang is a small mountain town of stone and tile, laced with swift canals, which was enlisted as an UNESCO World Cultural Heritage in 1999.
Old town of Lijiang is a big area with its center, or Si Fang Jie (Square Street) in the form of an official ink stone, hence its name Dayan (ink stone) Town. It enjoys a long history of over 800 years and unlike most of the old towns in China, there is no city walls due to a superstitious belief of the local ruler whose family name is Mu (tree), when encircled by walls, would be Kun (besieged). Wooden structures, mountains, small rivers and lanes integrate harmoniously in this mountain town.
Lunch at local Chinese restaurant, dinner on your own.
Overnight at Hexi Hotel Lijiang or similar

Day 5(Tue) LIJIANG (B L): Buffet breakfast at hotel.
In the morning visit the Black Dragon Pond with Dongba Museum. The Pond provides you the opportunity of taking great pictures of the crystal clear pond with backdrop of snow mountains in a distance.
Then, drive out to the Naxi villages on the foot of Jade Dragon Snow Mountains.
Visit the Yuhu Village, a simple village of Naxi minority with the former residence of Dr. Joseph Rock. Dr. Rock, an Austro-American botanist and explorer who lived here off and on from 1922-1949, is best remembered for the introduction of innumerable plant species to the West and his rigorous works on Naxi ethnology.
Lunch at local Chinese restaurant, dinner on your own.
Overnight at Hexi Hotel Lijiang or similar

Day 6(Wed) LIJIANG/SHANGRI-LA (3100 meters) (B L): Buffet breakfast at hotel.
We drive to Zhongdian, also named Shangri-La with stops and visits to the First Bend of the Yangzi River and the Tiger Leaping Gorge on the way.
The village of Stone Drum stands at the First Bend of the Yangzi River, some 70 kilometers west of Lijiang. Approaching to Stone Drum offers a dramatic view of the Yangzi's near-180-degree turn, where the wide, swift waters perform a miraculous about-face. For nearly 20 kilometers the river, first flowing south, then north, runs parallel to itself. Locals say if it were not for their village standing guard at the bend, China would lose the water of the Yangzi to Southeast Asia, like that of the adjacent Mekong and Salween Rivers.
The Tiger Leaping Gorge, or Hutiaoxia in Chinese, is the Yangzi's best-known gorge after the Three Gorges in Sichuan and Hubei. Wedged tightly between titanic cliffs, the river is so narrow here, as legend tells us, that a hunted tiger made his escape to the other side in a single bound. Here, the Jade Dragon Snow Mountains and the Haba Snow Mountains lean close to each other and a large volume of torrent moving between them cutting deeper and deeper into the bottom of the gorge. In some places there is a drop of 3,000 meters to the water.
Arrive Zhongdian in the late afternoon, check in the hotel.
Shangri-La lies in a landscape of rolling hills, snow-capped peaks, virgin forests of spruce, pine and meadow dotted with wild flowers and tranquil lakes. The old town, still entirely in local Tibetan style, is to the south of Zhongdian.
Lunch at local Chinese restaurant, dinner on your own.
Overnight at Shangri-La Moonlight City Hotel or similar

Day 7(Thu) SHANGRI-LA (B L): Buffet breakfast at hotel.
Visit Ganden Songzanlin Monastery in the morning.
The Ganden Songzanlin Monastery was founded in the 17th century during the reign of the Great Fifth Dalai Lama only 2 kilometers to the north of county proper. Being one of the thirteen Tibetan monasteries in the Kangba Region, where Tibet, Yunnan and Sichuan join, Ganden Songzanglin Monastery is nicknamed by local the Lesser Potala Palace. Holding about 700 monks and one living Buddha, the monastery is a must-go in the region.
Then take an excursion to Tukawa Village to visit a Tibetan family. The Tibetan builds their houses by wood with big sitting room and Buddhism hall. With a population of 112 thousand people, the Tibetan minority takes up one third of the total in Diqing Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture. They believe in Lamaism, a major branch of Buddhism.
Late afternoon at leisure for your own visit of the old town and local market in Zhongdian.
Lunch at local Chinese restaurant, dinner on your own.
Overnight at Shangri-La Moonlight City Hotel or similar

Day 8(Fri) SHANGRI-LA check out (B): Buffet breakfast at hotel.
Check out the hotel before 12:00 noon time.
Service ends.

Thank you for choosing China Travel Designer.
We wish you a fantastic trip and wonderful memories.

Select a month to view a calendar of availability and departure details.

View price and availability

Min. 2 adults Guaranteed departure!

Departure on every Friday in Kunming from April to October 2013

Extra Service:

Transfer with private car and English-speaking guide in Shangri-la (one-way): USD 25 per person

Price Includes:

- Accommodation in sharing twin room at specified hotels with daily breakfast;
- All lunch as mentioned in the program;
- Sightseeing tour with local English-speaking guide;
- All entrance fees + sightseeing as indicated;
- Transport Kunming-Dali with public bus "Yunnan Express"
- All transfers in the city and land transportation Dali - Lijiang - Shangri-la by private air-conditioned private coach;

Price Excludes:

- Arrival flight to Kunming and airport tax on Day 1;
- Departure flight from Shangri-la and airport tax on Day 8;
- All dinners, other meals, drinks and personal expenses;
- Tips to the guide and driver;
- Any program other than mentioned in our program.

Print Inquiry

Beijing	Chengdu
Chongqing	Guilin
Hong Kong	Lhasa
Shanghai	Xiamen
Xi'an	Yangtze Cruise


Beijing	Chengde	Chengdu	Chongqing
Dali	Dalian	Datong	Dunhuang
Fenghuang	Guangzhou	Guilin	Guiyang
Hangzhou	Harbin	Hohhot	Hong Kong
Jiuzhaigou	Kashgar	Kunming	Leshan
Lhasa	Lijiang	Longsheng	Luoyang
Mt. Emeishan	Mt. Huangshan	Mt. Wudangshan	Mt. Wutaishan
Mt. Wuyishan	Nanjing	Pingyao	Qingdao
Sanya	Shanghai	Shangri-La	Shigatse
Suzhou	Tai'an	Taiyuan	Tingri
Tongli	Turpan	Urumqi	Wuhan
Wuxi	Wuyuan	Wuzhen	Xiamen
Xi'an	Xining	Xitang	Ya'an
Yangshuo	Yangtze Cruise	Yichang	Yuanyang
Zhangjiajie	Zhouzhuang	Zhujiajiao


Beijing	Chengde	Chengdu	Chongqing
Dali	Dalian	Datong	Dunhuang
Fenghuang	Guangzhou	Guilin	Guiyang
Hangzhou	Harbin	Hohhot	Hong Kong
Jiuzhaigou	Kashgar	Kunming	Leshan
Lhasa	Lijiang	Longsheng	Luoyang
Mt. Emeishan	Mt. Huangshan	Mt. Wudangshan	Mt. Wutaishan
Mt. Wuyishan	Nanjing	Pingyao	Qingdao
Sanya	Shanghai	Shangri-La	Shigatse
Suzhou	Tai'an	Taiyuan	Tingri
Tongli	Turpan	Urumqi	Wuhan
Wuxi	Wuyuan	Wuzhen	Xiamen
Xi'an	Xining	Xitang	Ya'an
Yangshuo	Yangtze Cruise	Yichang	Yuanyang
Zhangjiajie	Zhouzhuang	Zhujiajiao

E-mail:
First Name:
Last Name:
Comment:

Tour Packages	City Tours

Tour Duration:
Budget (per adult):
	This is a required field.

Shangri-La Join Tour - Summer Program

Schedule DetailsPrice DetailsComment

Select a month to view a calendar of availability and departure details.

Price Includes:

Price Excludes:

Schedule Details Price Details Comment