5-Day Yunnan Private Tour of Kuming and Shangri-La

Meal: Not Included
Hotel: Not Included

Welcome to Kunming, the Spring City of China! Your local guide will meet you at the arrival hall of airport. Then you will be escorted to your hotel in a private vehicle. The rest of today is on your own to explore this city.

Attractions: Stone Forest, Jiuxiang Scenic Area
Meal: Not included
Hotel: Not included

After breakfast, your local guide and driver will meet you at your hotel and then escort you to discover Stone Forest first for about 1.5 hours’ riding (85km)!

Kunming Stone Forest as the “Essence of World Karst Landform” has been listed as the UNESCO World Natural Heritage with the incomparable coverage of 12 square kilometers’ stone pinnacle groups. Take the sightseeing bus to visit the Greater Stone Forest Scenic Area to admire the typical concentrating cinerous stone pinnacles by walking through the maze of stone peaks and jumping high for the panorama of the forest of protruding stone peaks. Also, you will see the famous peak on many photos and even stones towering over 40 meters.

There is a saying goes: See stone forest above ground and explore Jiuxiang underground. After stone wonderland exploration, let’s go to discover Jiuxiang Scenic Area after driving about 40 minutes (36 kilometers). Boasting more than 100 different sized Karst caves, Jiuxiang is praised as the “Museum of Karst Caves” and the “Hometown of Karst Caves” for world visitors to explore the incredible underground palace. You will take a sightseeing boat at the emerald gorge and then go down to be immersed into the dazzling world with diverse shaped stalactites lit in rich colors, layers of amazing stalagmites like terraced fields, iridescent underground river, etc.

After today’s visiting, be escorted back to your hotel in Kunming downtown. Have a good sleep!

Attractions: The Potatso National Park, Baiji Temple
Meal: Not included
Hotel: Not included

Be transferred to the airport in the morning for your flight to Shangri-la (about 1 hour and 20 minutes). Upon arrival at Shangri-la Sanyi Airport, your guide and driver will meet there then transfer to Potatso National Park.

The Potatso National Park. It is a world-class nature reserve with varied landscapes including highland meadow, alpine pastures, mirror-like lakes and wetlands as well as lush virgin forests. An amazing boat cruise on Shudu Lake will take you step into the untouched part of the reserve where wildlife lives. Then take a leisure stroll at Militang Pasture to breathe in the enchanting steppe. Next, pay a visit to a local Tibetan family to enjoy a Tibetan-style meal and experience the authentic home life of locals.

Next, go to Baiji Temple. It is an off-beaten spot perched on a hilltop in the west of Shangri-La’s Dukezong Ancient Town. Though it is little known to travelers, the temple offers an awesome bird’s eye view of the old town and the surrounding serenity of Shangri-La. At the end, your guide will escort you to your hotel.

Attractions: Songzanlin Monastery, Tibetan Family visit, Napa Lake 
Meal: Not included
Hotel: Not included

Your private guide and personal driver will meet you in your hotel lobby by 8am and then visit the Songzanglin Monastery which is the largest Buddhist monastery in Yunnan province. 

The monastery is situated in the high altitude region over 3,300 metershigh, and is one of the famous monasteries in the Kang region. The monastery is full of treasures. There are a lot of golden figures of Buddha josses, golden lamps, Tibetan lections, silver censers and so on. All of these are wonderful collections accumulated from each dynasty.

Then continue your visit to Napahai Lake and Tibetan Village. The Napahai Lake is 3270 meters above sea level and covers 660 square Km. It is a state-designated wetlands area with mountains standing by it on three sides and 10-plus rivers flowing into it after zigzagging through the grasslands.

Lunch at a local restaurant.

The visit to a Tibetan Village is also the highlight of this tour. You can experience the daily life and the living condition of the local people which is totally different from what you can imagine. The friendly citizens with ethnic costumes and the unique residence of the village will give you a deep impression.

The last stop of this tour is Zhongdian Old Town.

At about 17:00pm, the driver will take you back to your hotel.

Attractions: Not included
Meal: Not included
Hotel: Not included

Today is free for you until your tour guide and driver escort you to the airport in time for the scheduled flight to next destination. Tour ends.