Go in altitude order
This is the one piece of planning that changes how the trip feels:
Kunming (1,890 m) → Dali (1,978 m) → Lijiang (2,400 m) → Shangri-La (3,200 m).
Flying straight into Shangri-La's Diqing airport at about 3,200 m from sea level is a hard first day. The high-speed rail now links Kunming, Dali and Lijiang, so the gradual route is also the easy one.
Kunming
A pleasant, mild staging post rather than a destination.
- Stone Forest (Shilin) — ¥130, about 85 km southeast, reachable by train plus a shuttle. A AAAAA site that gets very busy from mid-morning, so go early.
- Green Lake Park is free and fills with wintering black-headed gulls from about November to March; Yuantong Temple next door is ¥6. The two make an easy half day in the centre.
Dali
Both the ancient town and Erhai Lake are free. No gate, no ticket.
The best thing in Dali costs nothing: hire a bike or e-bike and ride the Erhai Ecological Corridor. The lakeside bus from the old town to Xizhou is cheap and scenic too.
Three Pagodas / Chongsheng Temple is ¥121. Be clear what you're paying for: the three Tang-era pagodas are the real thing, while the vast temple complex behind them is a modern reconstruction.
Altitude 1,978 m — noticeable but easy.
Lijiang
Lijiang's old town has no gate, but there is an ancient-city maintenance fee of ¥50, valid for a full year with unlimited entries since 1 August 2025.
Pay it through the Go Yunnan (游云南) app, the old-town WeChat account, your guesthouse, or a staffed booth. In practice the receipt is reportedly only checked at Black Dragon Pool and at the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain ticket counter — but it is a legal charge, and ¥50 for a year is not worth arguing about.
Shangri-La
At about 3,200–3,300 m, this is where altitude becomes real. Take the first day slowly.
- Songzanlin Monastery at about 3,380 m is the highest thing most visitors do in Yunnan. Sources conflict on price; the best reading is around ¥55 entrance plus roughly ¥20 for the shuttle. Do it on your second day, not your arrival day. Walk clockwise, and ask before photographing people.
- Dukezong old town is free to walk. Much of it was rebuilt after a 2014 fire. Take the climb to the Guishan prayer wheel slowly.
Tiger Leaping Gorge
Two separate scenic areas with non-interchangeable tickets — about ¥65 on the Lijiang side. Decide which experience you want:
- The Upper Gorge boardwalk is developed, takes 1.5–2 hours, and gives you the famous view.
- The High Trail is about 22 km over two days, including the 28 Bends climb, staying at guesthouses on the way. It is one of the best walks in China and a genuinely different trip.
Real-name entry with ID gates is reported; Trip.com works with a foreign passport.
Yuanyang rice terraces
One ¥70 combined ticket covers the three main viewpoints — Duoyishu for sunrise, Bada and Laohuzui for sunset.
Timing is everything here. Come between late November and early April, when the terraces are flooded and mirror the sky. Outside that window they are green or bare, and the photographs that brought you are impossible. Book guesthouses 2–4 weeks ahead for the December–February peak.
When to come
March–May and September–November for the region overall.
December to February is sunny and dry in Kunming, Dali and Lijiang — and down to −10°C in Shangri-La. It is also the best season for Yuanyang, so a winter trip built around the terraces makes sense if you skip the far north.