12 Days Yunnan and Tibet Tour

Day 01  Arrive in Kunming

Activities: Arriving Kunming, the China representative will be at the airport to welcome you and transfer to your hotel. In the afternoon, city tour includes the famous Qiongzhu Si (Bamboo Temple), which dates back to the Tang dynasty with 500 colorful clay Buddhas, and a Taoist temple, the Golden Temple.

Accommodation:Golden Dragon Hotel Kunming

Meals: L

Day 02  Kunming

Activities: This morning you visit famous Stone Forest. Lunch at a local restaurant. Return to Kunming with city tour of Golden Horse & Green Cockerel Archway.

Accommodation:Golden Dragon Hotel Kunming

Meals: B/L

Day 03  Kunming -  - Lhasa

Activities: Transfer to airport for your flight to Lhasa and be transferred to the hotel to adjust your body to the thin air. Visit Sera Monastery after lunch.

Accommodation:Lhasa Hotel in Lhasa

Meals: B/L

Day 04  Lhasa

Activities: Depart from hotel in the morning to have the second whole-day trip of Potala Palace, Jokhang Temple and Barkhor Street in Lhasa.

Accommodation:Lhasa Hotel in Lhasa

Meals: B/L

Day 05  Lhasa -  - Shangri-la

Activities: This morning transfer to airport for your flight to Shangri-La. Pick up and transfer to hotel. Then you will start your fantastic journey. Visit Songzanlin Monastery.

Accommodation:Holy Palace Hotel Shangri-la

Meals: B/L

Day 06  Shangri-la

Activities: Visit Potatso National Park, including Bita Hai (Emerald Pagoda Lake), Xiagei Village. Lunch at a local village restaurant, drive back to town. On the way visit a local Tibetan family home.

Accommodation:Holy Palace Hotel Shangri-la

Meals: B/L

Day 07  Shangri-la -  - Lijiang

Activities: This morning drive to Lijiang. On the way, visit the Tiger Leaping Gorges which is believed to be the deepest gorge in the world. Upon arriving at Lijiang, transfer to hotel. After lunch, visit Lijiang Ancient Town where you can gain the insight of Naxi people and their history.

Accommodation:Lijiang Jian Nan Chun Hotel

Meals: B/L

Day 08  Lijiang

Activities: Rise early in the morning as we drive up to visit Jade Dragon Snow Mountain (cable car and green vans available but is exclusive in our quotation. Feel free to contact our travel advisor about the details and cost), and Yufeng Temple.

Accommodation:Lijiang Jian Nan Chun Hotel

Meals: B/L

Day 09  Lijiang -  - Dali

Activities: This morning you begin the early morning tour of the famous Black Dragon Pool Park. Then drive to Dali. Upon arrival in Dali, transfer to hotel in the late afternoon. Then visit Dali Ancient Town.

Accommodation:Asia Star Hotel - Dali

Meals: B/L

Day 10  Dali

Activities: Today you will have a boat tour on Erhai Lake, then visit Butterfly Spring and Xizhou Bai's Houses.

Accommodation:Asia Star Hotel - Dali

Meals: B/L

Day 11  Dali -  - Kunming

Activities: This morning, visit Three Pagodas of Chongsheng Temple. After lunch you will be driven back to Kunming. Upon arrival, transfer to hotel.

Accommodation:Golden Dragon Hotel Kunming

Meals: B/L

Day 12  Depart from China

Activities: Today comes to the end of your wonderful and impressive tours in China.

Accommodation:

Meals: B

Day 01  Arrive in Kunming

Qiongzhu Si (Bamboo Temple) is located in Yu'an Mountains in the Northwest of Kunming, about 7 Kilometers away from the center of the city. Around the temple are mountains covered with trees everywhere, and at the gate of the temple stand many very tall cypress trees which were planted in ancient times. The streams and brooks are flowing through the woods and valley, making a beautiful natural sound. At the back of the temple, a great deal of bamboo is so green as if there were some dew-drops on its leaves. That is the so-called Qiongzhu - a kind of bamboo.
Golden Temple: The Golden Temple built during the Ming Dynasty is the most unique and well known structure in the park. It, like Taihe Temple, is a Taoist temple. However, the special thing about Golden Temple is its architecture. The walls, sixteen pillars, rafters, roof tiles, altar, statues, altar-hanging, the horizontal inscribed board, the table and even the banner on the right in front of the temple are all made from bronze. The burnished copper gleamed like gold and that is why people named it the Golden Temple. The whole temple weighs more than 280 tons, making it not only one of the four largest bronze temples in China, but also the heaviest and best preserved.

Day 02  Kunming

There is a local saying: "It is a waste of time not to visit the Stone Forest while visiting Kunming", which vividly expresses the deep love of the local people toward this world wonder. The quintessential karsts landscape makes every tourist lost in wonder. There, we will visit a local village where Sani people inhabit.

Day 03  Kunming -  - Lhasa

On the way you visit the Nietang Buddha. After lunch at local restaurant in market square, we visit the Sera Monastery. This monastery was founded in 1419. The debating & teaching among the monks that takes place in the courtyard garden between 3:30pm to 5:00pm every day is the highlight of the visit. Afterwards we return to the market square, Barkhor, and visit Jokhang Temple. This temple is 1300 years old & is Tibet's holiest shrine.

Day 04  Lhasa

Today you visit the magnificent Potala Palace, Tibet's best known landmark. It was once the winter residence of Dalai Lamas.
Jokhang Temple: The Jokhang Temple is a four-storey timber complex with a golden top. The image Palden Lhamo on the third floor is the one that visitors can't miss. As the fierce protector of both Lhasa and the Dalai Lama, she is said to have murdered her own child to bring her husband and king to his senses and put an end to his endless military campaigns. The exquisite deer and wheel motifs on the roof are early symbols of Buddhism. Both allude to Sakyamuni's first sermon, in which he "turned the wheel of the Dharma," delivered in a deer park in Benares. The deer and wheel symbols were especially prominent in early Buddhism, when followers were reluctant to depict the Buddha. Inside, the temple features ancient Newari door frames, columns, and finials dating from the 7th and 8th centuries. The most revered object in Tibet is Jowo Rinpoche, an image of the young Buddha, which originated in India and was brought with Princess Wencheng as dowry. Many credit her with selecting the temple's location according to the principles of geomancy (feng-shui). The image is flanked on both sides by the altars of Songtsen Gampo and his two wives who introduced Buddhism into Tibet. Note the more recent yab-yum images of sexual union in a chapel to the south.
Barkhor Street: Bakhor, also named as Baghor, is the oldest street in Lhasa. It's said that in 647, the first Tibetan King Songtsen Gampo (617 - 650) built the Jokhang Temple. Due to its magnificence, it quickly attracted thousands of Buddhist pilgrims. As a result, a trodden path appeared. That is the origin of Barkhor Street. Today even still many pilgrims hold the prayer wheels to walk clockwise there from dawn to dark. Also you can see some pilgrims walking or progressing body-lengths by body-lengths along the street. Even some of them are teenagers or have experienced thousands of miles' walk to reach this sacred place. The way they express their piety could make you understand the holiness of religion. Now it's also a shopping center with nation characteristics. It's an old district with colorful Tibetan features. Tibetan houses line the street, and the ground is paved with man-made flagstones, preserving the ancient look.

Day 05  Lhasa -  - Shangri-la

After lunch at local restaurant, you will visit the famous 300-year-old Songzanlin Monastery where the Yellow Hat School of Tibetan Buddhism is practiced. We return to town and visit the old town of Zhongdian.

Day 06  Shangri-la

Potatso National Park: Located 22km east of Shangri-La, Patatso is the first national park in mainland China. In Tibetan language, Patatso means reaching the opposite side of the lake by boat under the help of deity. Bitahai Lake and Shuduhu Lake are two major parts of the park. Besides these two lakes, forest, marsh, valley, alpine meadow and so on can be seen in the park. All major spots are connected by walkable plank, whcih offers a closer distance for travelers to experince the natural environment.
Emerald Pagoda Lake: The Lake at an elevation of 3539 meters is 25 km. away from Zhongdian. Surrounded by mountains, its water area is 840sq.km and depth is 20 meters. For not being pullulated, the fishery resources in the lake are persevered very well. One type of the fishes in the lake named the "Bita Fold-Lips Fish" has three lips, which belongs to the species of the Fourth Glaciology Period dating back 25 billions years. There are lots of hiking options and ponies can be arranged at the lake. There is second, southern entrance, from where it is 2km to the lake. It's possible to rent boats between the two ends of the lake.

Day 07  Shangrila -  - Lijiang

Tiger Leaping Gorge is a canyon on the Yangtze River locally called the Golden Sands River-located 60 km north of Lijiang City, Yunnan in southwestern China. It is part of the Three Parallel Rivers of Yunnan Protected Areas World Heritage Site.
Lijiang Ancient Town, which is perfectly adapted to the uneven topography of this key commercial and strategic site, has retained a historic townscape of high quality and authenticity. Its architecture is noteworthy for the blending of elements from several cultures that have come together over many centuries. Lijiang also possesses an ancient water-supply system of great complexity and ingenuity that still functions effectively today.

Day 08  Lijiang

Lijiang does not have a direct rail link and is reached by travelers by air or by coach. However, having got to Lijiang, visiting round and about is easy with the help of the city buses, taxis or for the more energetic by bicycle. However, please don't forget to save some time to walk in Lijiang. Along your way, you must visit some of the souvenir shops and taste some local dishes and snacks. At night, the famous bar street in the Old Town is really worth a visit. No matter where you go, you will find a harmonious combination of tradition and fashion in Lijiang City.
Jade Dragon Snow Mountain: The 13 peaks of 18,360-foot Jade Dragon (Yu Long) Snow Mountain, a treasure of wild plants and rare animals are like a silver dragon lying in the clouds.
Awesome and unconquered, they dominate the Lijiang Plain. Some have described Jade Dragon Snow Mountain as a radiant cornet crowning Lijiang's head. Scientists say she arose from an ancient geosynclines 230 million years ago in an age when dinosaurs began to increase and formed her present shape sometime during the last 600,000 years, even as late as 12,000 years ago. Storms frequently rage around the glaciers and silver-gray rocks and eternal snowfields of her five primary peaks. She is a sanctuary to animals that know not the scent of man and a flower kingdom that was old when the Gardens of Babylon were new. In the alpine meadows of her lower slopes, lonely herders sing to their goats and set the wild echoes flying with the music of their reed pipes.

Day 09  Lijiang -  - Dali

The Black Dragon Pool is a famous pond in the scenic Jade Spring Park (Yu Quan Gong Yuan) located at the foot of Elephant Hill, a short walk north of the Old Town of Lijiang in Yunnan province, China. It was built in 1737 during the Qing Dynasty and offers a spectacular view on the region's tallest mountain, Jade Dragon Snow Mountain, over its white marble bridge. The park features several smaller temples and pavilions.
Dali Ancient Town:Dali Ancient Town is about 13km away from Xiaguan in Dali City and is one of Dali's Three Ancients-ancient city, ancient pagoda and ancient steles. History of Dali can be dates back to 1382 during the Ming Dynasty and it has been listed among the top historic cities of China.
Unlike any other Chinese town, the traditional Bai ethnic folk houses give the town distinctive feel. The town's layout was uniform, with five main streets from south to north and eight main streets from east to west, while marketplaces were neatly arranged within the town, which has remained unchanged to this date. Besides the Bai houses, the houses with gray-green roof tiles, peculiar workshops, temples, schools and churches with antique flavor are scattered. Traditional marble artworks, like pencil vases, striped screen, and a variety of woven handicrafts of fine straw are laid chockablock on both sides of the street to be appreciated and purchased. Its grand city wall, traditional Bai houses and marvelous scenery have been attracted many visitors.

Day 10  Dali

Erhai Lake is situated at 1,972 m above sea level. In size, the North-South length of the lake is 40 km and the East-West width is roughly 7-8 km. Its area is 250 square kilometres, making it the second largest highland lake of China, after Dianchi Lake. Its circumference reaches 116 km; its average depth is of 11 meters and the total storage capacity of 2.5 billion cubic meters.

Day 11  Dali -  - Kunming

Three Pagodas of Chongsheng Temple, commonly known as Dali Three Pagodas, and located in the Chongsheng Temple, northwest of Dali City in Yunnan Province, it is a major national treasure under preservation.
As its name implies, Three Pagodas are made of three ancient independent pagodas forming a symmetrical triangle. This is unique in China. Standing like three legs of a tripod, the Chongsheng Three Pagodas made of bricks were built a thousand years ago.
Straight and towering, the Quadrangular Qianxun Pagoda, the main one was exquisitely constructed, with multiple tiers of eaves. It has 16 storeys and a height of 69.13 meters. In the central part of each facade, a shrine was built and a Buddha statue of white marble installed. The two other pagodas of 10 stories are 42.19 meters high. They are solid and beautiful, and in octagonal shape. Coated with white mud, and carved with a shrine, a Buddha statue, lotus flowers, etc. on each story, the pagodas look elegant and stately. On top of the pagoda are placed three bronze gourds, representative of the ethnic style.

Day 12  Depart from China

In the past few days you have had a wonderful time in China. You must be fascinated about her. We are sure that you have enjoyed its splendid culture and unique scenery and you can be our best ambassadors to share that experience with your friends and neighbors. We sincerely hope to see you revisit China again with your friends.