10-day China Tea Horse Road Tour

Day 1Arrival in Kunming

Upon arrival in Kunming, your tour guide will meet you and escort you to your hotel. The rest of the day is yours to relax, or step out onto the city for a little adventure of your own.

Day 2Kunming

On this day you will visit famous Kunming Stone Forest, a bizarre rock formation created over millennia of rain and weather. A must-see! In the afternoon you will visit Guandu Old Town featured by the architectural style of Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming, and Qing Dynasties.

Day 3Kunming/Dali

Take a morning flight to Dali. Upon arrival in Dali, your tour guide will meet you and escort you to your hotel. You will then take a cruise on the picturesque Erhai Lake, together with a visit to a Bai ethnic minority village on Jinsuo Island. In the late afternoon you will visit Dali Ancient Town, and its ancient Three Pagodas.

Day 4Dali/Shaxi

A morning drive to Xizhou Town to visit Bai traditional courtyards, taste fragrant Three-Course Tea of Bai distinctive culture. Visit Zhoucheng Village and the Bai people's Tie-dying cloth workshop where you can take some special Bai ethnic souvenir.

If your tour date is right, you also visit Shaping Bazaar in the morning of every Monday in Shangguan Town, gathering the Bai people from the villages around Lake Erhai, Dali, who come to buy and sell fruits, vegetables, poultry, animals, hardware, so-called "antiques". Then after 3 hours' drive, you will come to Shaxi Ancient Town at the foot of Fozhong Mountain, west of Yousuo Town in Eryuan County, where you can have a walk to explore the local ethnic life.

Day 5Shaxi/Lijiang

After 10km drive from Shaxi Ancient Town, you are to pay morning hiking around Shibaoshan Mountain for 3 hours. There are Baoxiang Buddhism Temple of Yuan Dynesty, Shizhong Temple and Grottoes of 800-year history on the mountains. In the afternoon you will be driven to Lijiang and explore the wonderful night of Lijiang Ancient Town.

Day 6Lijiang

After a morning sight for the sunrise at Lijiang Ancient Town, You will go ahead to the picturesque snow capped Jade Dragon Snow Mountain. On the way, you will see White Water Terraces and then take the chairlift up to view Ganhaizi Spruce Meadow and hike around on the mountains. After lunch, you will enjoy the Impression Lijang, a an outdoor ethnic culture show of the Naxi, Yi and Bai people's traditions and lifestyles at Ganhaizi Meadow. The show was produced by Zhang Yimou, Fan Yue and Wang Chaoge, with a cast of over 500 people, and a number of horses.

After that you will come next to Baisha Village, an enchanting traditional Yunnan village with ancient murals of 600 years, listed as UNESCO World Cultural Heritage in 1997.

Day 7Lijiang

Today your tour will start with the visit to Black Dragon Pool is the water source of the Jade River in Lijiang Ancient Town. Then learn local minority culture and legend at Dongba Culture Museum. Then climb up to the top of the Lion Hill, you will get a panoramic view of Lijiang Ancient Town and Lijiang New City from Wangu Tower.

After lunch, you will pay a drive or cycle visit to Shuhe Ancient Town, a key stop on the Ancient Tea-Horse Trade Caravan from Yunnan to Tibet and India. It is an important part of Lijiang Ancient Town listed as UNESCO World Cultural Heritage.

Day 8Lijiang/Shangri-La

Today you will contiue a 60km drive to the Qiaotou Village to hike around the Tiger Leaping Gorge, the deepest gorge in the world. With 34 rapids of the Yangtze River, it is also locally called "Jinsha" because locals found gold in the river. Afternoon, you'll go ahead for Shangri La, old name as Zhongdian, where is well-known paradise for tourists.

Upon arrival in Shangri La, you will have vision of Tibetan culture with a landscape of barley fields and yaks scattered in the valleys. Walk around Dukezong Ancient Town, an important station on the Ancient Tea-horse Trade Caravan from Yunnan to Tibet and India.

Day 9Shangri-La

Pay a morning visit to the Ganden Sumtseling Monastery, the largest Tibetan monastery in Yunnan with a fame as "the little Potala Palace". And go ahead to the tranquil Bita Lake & Shudu Lake in Pudacuo National Park, one of the most biologically-diverse regions with over 20 percent of the country's plant species, about one-third of its mammal and bird species and almost 100 endangered species.

Day 10Shangri-La/Departure

On this day you will be free until your tour guide escorts you to the airport for your flight to your next destination.