Kunming Lijiang Cultural Tour

Upon your arrival at Kunming,"the Spring and Flower City", our local guide will meet you and escort you to your hotel. The rest of the day is free at your own leisure. Overnight in Kunming.

Today, you will enjoy a full day trip to the Stone Forest which is about 90km to the south of Kunming. Overnight in Kunming.
- Stone Forest (Shilin): a 270-million-year-old limestone karst formation of tightly bundled gray rocky outcrops, a natural wonder acknowledged as "World Karst Landscape Museum", the Stone Forest shows a variety of unique shapes such as sword, mushrooms, tower, pillar, castle representing the greatest miracle that the nature can present to human beings.

After breakfast, you will have a half-day city tour including the West Hill and Dragon Gate, and the bird and flower market before your transfer to the airport for your flight to your next destination--Lijiang. Upon your arrival at Lijiang County,"an UNESCO World Cultural Heritage" site, our local guide will meet you and escort you to your hotel. Overnight in Lijiang.
- The West Hill and Dragon Gate: located by the Dian Lake, known as "Sleeping Beauty," it is a natural forest park in Kunming with a series of winding steps, tunnels, and statue-filled grottoes leading to the top. After taking the cable car up to the the Cablecar Station, you can walk along the path in the mountain, and stop now and then to enjoy the beauty of the scenery: blue skies, green water with slow sailing fishing boats and so on.
- The bird and flower market: located in the old section of the city, it is a bustling market not just selling birds, flowers, but also jade, so-called "antiques", handicrafts and so on together with lots of food stands serving local specialities.
- Lijiang County: located in the northwest of Yunnan Province, 544 km away from Kunming, perched at bottom of the Himalayas and the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, it is one of the National Scenic Areas and famed for its Ancient Town of Dayan, the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain, rich culture of different ethnic minorities and so many more.

Today, you will enjoy a full day trip to the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain and the Baisha Mural Paintings, the Black Dragon Pool Park and Museum of Naxi Dongba Culture inside the park. Overnight in Lijiang.
- The Jade Dragon Snow Mountain: it is so called because it looks like a flying jade dragon from afar. The mountain consists of 13 peaks and sprawls 35 km from north to south, its glacier is the modern oceanic glacier closest to the equator in the Northern Hemisphere. By taking the cable car up to certain height, you can enjoy the expansive mountains views and snowy scenery.
- The Baisha Mural Paintings: located in Baisha Township, 8km north of Lijiang, there are altogether 53 groups of mural paintings in different temples with fine and smooth lines, bright colors, vivid pattern and harmonious composition. Painted from the early days of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) to the early Qing Dynasty (1644-1911),these mural paintings are an artistic representation of the different religious cultures such as Buddhism, Lamaism, Daoism and the Naxi Dongba religion.
- Black Dragon Pool Park: where you can see the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain from afar and the reflection of the mountain in the pool in a clear day, this park is the source of the water system of the Old Lijiang Town as the clean spring from Jade Dragon Snow Mountain gathers here.
- Museum of Naxi Dongba Culture: where you will see the exhibitions of Naxi culture and dress, Dongba script, information on Lijiang's old town and so on.

After breakfast, you will have an excursion to the Ancient Town and the Lion Hill inside the Ancient Town before your transfer to the airport for your flight to your next destination. End of tour.
- The Ancient Town: also called Dayan Town, built in the late song dynasty and the early Yuan dynasty with a history of more than 800 years, this ancient town consists of clean streams flowing freely through the raod network, the colorful cobbled streets, age-old swaying willow trees, age-old buildings and stone bridges. There are over 22 different ethnic minorities making Lijiang their home, now and then you may see local folks in their own tradtional dress. Strolling around this charming ancient town, you will be attracted by the unique atmosphere and surprised by its ancient yet simple sense of "Harmony of Heaven and Man."
- Lion Hill: the name is derived from its resemblance of a lion playing a ball, the mountain is best known for its vast and green pines and cypresses planted mostly in Ming Dynasty with over 500 years old, from the Tower of Eternity (Wangoulou) on the top of the mountain, you can enjoy a bird's eye view of the ancient town and the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain far away.