10 / 11 days in Yunnan, help with itinerary
Jan 16th, 2007, 07:50 AM
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10 / 11 days in Yunnan, help with itinerary
I am starting to put together my itinerary for a trip in Yunnan we intend to do next March.
We fligh from Italy to Guangzhou and from there we move to Kunming.
We have then 10 / 11 full days before returning to Guangzhou.
Any suggestion or advise would be really appreciated. I think to visit Dali, Liljan
... Info of hotels / transports etc. are more then welcome.
Grazie, arrivederci.
Gianni (Milan, Italy)
We fligh from Italy to Guangzhou and from there we move to Kunming.
We have then 10 / 11 full days before returning to Guangzhou.
Any suggestion or advise would be really appreciated. I think to visit Dali, Liljan
... Info of hotels / transports etc. are more then welcome.
Grazie, arrivederci.
Gianni (Milan, Italy)
Jan 16th, 2007, 09:37 AM
#2
Definitely visit Lijiang. How energetic are you? I didn't hike Tiger Leaping Gorge, but I did take a look, and hope to do it on a future trip. I flew from Kunming to Lijiang, then took a local bus to Dali and the train back to Kunming. It's a long trip by bus and train. I quite liked Kunming, but they were busy tearing down the old and putting up new glass and concrete buildings.
I also did a loop south of Kunming by bus, you can read about that part of my trip at www.wilhelmswords.com/rt2004.
I also did a loop south of Kunming by bus, you can read about that part of my trip at www.wilhelmswords.com/rt2004.
Jan 16th, 2007, 12:17 PM
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Tiger Leaping Gorge is a highlight for anyone that does it. You can even cheat and take a car along the road as far as Tina's Guest House - stay the night and then take the path directly opposite Tinas UP... once your up you follow the path left back towards the way the car brought you in and the path is basically flat and views from this high path are only equalled in Nepal. One to two hours walk brings you to the Half Way Guest House where you chill on the most amazing balcony overlooking the gorge and sleep for a couple of dollars. Next day walk back out back to the town to catch the bus. Take the bus to Zhongdian which is a Tibetan town and has an amazing monestry designed by the 5th Dala Lama.
Yunnan is wonderful and very easy to do. The route is logical and all set up - we organised all over the net but youll have to put in the hours to get confident enough to do this but its worth it. Kumning bus to Dali bus to Lijiang bus and car into Tinas TLGorge walk and bus to Zhongidan with a plane (2 daily) from Zhongdian back to Kumning. This route takes you as a straight line from one side to the other with a flight back. From Kunming we flew to Hong Kong if thats what you need to do. - Good luck - we loved it!
We actually enjoyed the bus rides from Kumning to Dali and Dali to Lijiang. They are tourist buses run by Korean companies and equal to the ones in the west, so very comfortable. (and cheap) The longest trip was 5 hours but through wonderful scenery so it was a bonus not a trial. Recommend this over the overnight train.
Yunnan is wonderful and very easy to do. The route is logical and all set up - we organised all over the net but youll have to put in the hours to get confident enough to do this but its worth it. Kumning bus to Dali bus to Lijiang bus and car into Tinas TLGorge walk and bus to Zhongidan with a plane (2 daily) from Zhongdian back to Kumning. This route takes you as a straight line from one side to the other with a flight back. From Kunming we flew to Hong Kong if thats what you need to do. - Good luck - we loved it!
We actually enjoyed the bus rides from Kumning to Dali and Dali to Lijiang. They are tourist buses run by Korean companies and equal to the ones in the west, so very comfortable. (and cheap) The longest trip was 5 hours but through wonderful scenery so it was a bonus not a trial. Recommend this over the overnight train.
Jan 18th, 2007, 07:09 AM
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Grazie to both replies. Any info / help / ideas for hotels / restaurants / website (for info & reservations). We have been already in China 3 years ago, I am used of some of the problems (e.g. language..) you can find there!
Again grazie, arrivederci.
Gianni
Jan 18th, 2007, 07:50 AM
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Gianni
Come sta? Anche andremo a Lijiang - questo maggio, e preferiamo viaggiare per conto nostro.
We will also go to Lijiang but in May not March - and only for 3-4 days.
Check out Xishuangbanna, at the south-west corner of Yunnan. I believe "rkkwan" (Fodorite) mentioned it at this website. It is bordering Thailand/Laos and the people and houses there look more like Thai to me than "Chinese". Of course many minority groups live in Yunnan. Han is the majority making up about ~93-95% of the Chinese population.
Cosmo: may I ask how you arranged for the bus transportation (you mentioned Korean bus coompany). Can you pre-book and did you? or did you wait till you got there and bought tickets on the spot? do you have more information on the buses? Thanks.
Come sta? Anche andremo a Lijiang - questo maggio, e preferiamo viaggiare per conto nostro.
We will also go to Lijiang but in May not March - and only for 3-4 days.
Check out Xishuangbanna, at the south-west corner of Yunnan. I believe "rkkwan" (Fodorite) mentioned it at this website. It is bordering Thailand/Laos and the people and houses there look more like Thai to me than "Chinese". Of course many minority groups live in Yunnan. Han is the majority making up about ~93-95% of the Chinese population.
Cosmo: may I ask how you arranged for the bus transportation (you mentioned Korean bus coompany). Can you pre-book and did you? or did you wait till you got there and bought tickets on the spot? do you have more information on the buses? Thanks.
Jan 18th, 2007, 09:08 AM
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Hi
we have been to Yunnan twice & its a wonderful area!
We like Kunming & have stayed in Camelia Hotel - this is a simple hotel located near Holiday Inn (& with softer beds than there!!!) - its clean & a good place to stay - there are dorms, but in the main building nice, clean doubles with own bathroom. Its not in the Centre - but its easy to get a bus from there. It is near the sports stadium too & there is a place there to book long distance buses.
We visited Dali - its very nice & stayed in quite a cheap place here in the Centre of town - more expensive place is outside of centre - harder to build inside old town walls! Its possible to visit country markets from there by bus.
We love Lijiang - we have stayed twice in the Grand, located in front if the water wheel. But there are many hotels to choose from. Lijiang is lovely to wander around - although there are many tourists & many Chinese tour groups too. A trip to Jade Dragon Snow Mountain from here is great.
We also visited Zhongdian after tiger Leaping Gorge (an area whcih is changing a great deal) & that was ok. We have also been to Jinghong (Xishuangbanna) - a lovely area & as the previous poster says very different. Zhongdian is Tibetan influenced - Jinghong more Thai/Laotian. In this area there are many minority people & its very interesting! If you like textiles there is lots of embroidery done by these people that can be bought. We also went to Jianshui - which was fine. I hesiate to go to detail on some of these places as this was now 3 years ago & China is changing fast - but its a great area with lots to see. We have travelled a lot in China & Yunnan remains a favourite place. Kunming is the eternal spring city with a fairly even climate - in March if you are going as far as Zhongdian check temperatures it could be cold & in the south Jinghong much warmer! When we first went to Yunnan there was not too much info on this area - I found a Bradt guide on Yunnan - I've just looked it up & it seems there will be a new edition for February 2007 - as this is so up to date I think it would be worth checking out - the first edition was the best guide on this area I found.
we have been to Yunnan twice & its a wonderful area!
We like Kunming & have stayed in Camelia Hotel - this is a simple hotel located near Holiday Inn (& with softer beds than there!!!) - its clean & a good place to stay - there are dorms, but in the main building nice, clean doubles with own bathroom. Its not in the Centre - but its easy to get a bus from there. It is near the sports stadium too & there is a place there to book long distance buses.
We visited Dali - its very nice & stayed in quite a cheap place here in the Centre of town - more expensive place is outside of centre - harder to build inside old town walls! Its possible to visit country markets from there by bus.
We love Lijiang - we have stayed twice in the Grand, located in front if the water wheel. But there are many hotels to choose from. Lijiang is lovely to wander around - although there are many tourists & many Chinese tour groups too. A trip to Jade Dragon Snow Mountain from here is great.
We also visited Zhongdian after tiger Leaping Gorge (an area whcih is changing a great deal) & that was ok. We have also been to Jinghong (Xishuangbanna) - a lovely area & as the previous poster says very different. Zhongdian is Tibetan influenced - Jinghong more Thai/Laotian. In this area there are many minority people & its very interesting! If you like textiles there is lots of embroidery done by these people that can be bought. We also went to Jianshui - which was fine. I hesiate to go to detail on some of these places as this was now 3 years ago & China is changing fast - but its a great area with lots to see. We have travelled a lot in China & Yunnan remains a favourite place. Kunming is the eternal spring city with a fairly even climate - in March if you are going as far as Zhongdian check temperatures it could be cold & in the south Jinghong much warmer! When we first went to Yunnan there was not too much info on this area - I found a Bradt guide on Yunnan - I've just looked it up & it seems there will be a new edition for February 2007 - as this is so up to date I think it would be worth checking out - the first edition was the best guide on this area I found.
Jan 18th, 2007, 09:12 AM
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I agree with everything in the 1st two posts. I don't really think it is worthwhile to go to xish w/your time. Better to do Lijiang & Kunming & Zhong. If you are into hiking and can find some guide, there are uninhabited areas nr Lijiang which are truly beautiful as it is the place where 2 continents collide & the landscape is dramatic.
Jan 18th, 2007, 09:55 AM
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Jan 18th, 2007, 06:34 PM
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In response to the Korean Bus question - I am the same as Janey in that we were there 3 years ago and also stayed at the Camelia Hotel
http://www.kmcamelliahotel.com/English/Home.htm So youll have to check all the smaller detail eg. times etc.
This hotel is perfect as they have free airport transfer and the bus transfer station for the Dali Lijiang buses is located directly opposite the hotel.
If you go onto the hotels website you will see the link for a travel agent office onsite at the hotel(Ive a feeling its an independent but been there for years) and from memory (I hope) I organised our bus tickets by email to them and picked them up at the hotel.
If you try that and they say no - Id still risk going there as we must have in that case booked seats on arriving at the hotel - but I remember there was no drama in the process either way.
We flew in at 3.30pm and got the 8am bus the next day to Dali with no problems. The Korean owned tourist buses are 5 hours Kumning to Dali and 3 hours Dali to Lijiang - so easy.
The only flight you want to consider is the one from Zhongdian back to Kunming as the bus trip is really nice - count it as a holiday activity, as the scenery changes and is really interesting.
The same goes for the overnight train - why have a bad night sleep when you can get to Dali just after lunch on the bus and accommodation is so cheap anyway its not a matter of saving on a nights accom as would be the case for eg. in Europe.
I agree with the comment about Xishuangbanna, adding a flight to go there will put a lot of stress on the whole schedule. The logical route is usually the most relaxing and if you check out the map the Kunming, Dali, Lijiang, TLG, Zhongdian fly back is a straight line straight across Yunnan
One comment on TLG if you dont intend to walk up to the top path then it may be worth by passing it as there is a road cut along the bottom of the gorge where hordes go in and out and take a picture of the rapids and is a bit of an anticlimax.
If you got time to walk up to the high path then it will be an added hightlight of Yunnan.
Hope this helps.... nuf said I think - WE LOVED YUNNAN
http://www.kmcamelliahotel.com/English/Home.htm So youll have to check all the smaller detail eg. times etc.
This hotel is perfect as they have free airport transfer and the bus transfer station for the Dali Lijiang buses is located directly opposite the hotel.
If you go onto the hotels website you will see the link for a travel agent office onsite at the hotel(Ive a feeling its an independent but been there for years) and from memory (I hope) I organised our bus tickets by email to them and picked them up at the hotel.
If you try that and they say no - Id still risk going there as we must have in that case booked seats on arriving at the hotel - but I remember there was no drama in the process either way.
We flew in at 3.30pm and got the 8am bus the next day to Dali with no problems. The Korean owned tourist buses are 5 hours Kumning to Dali and 3 hours Dali to Lijiang - so easy.
The only flight you want to consider is the one from Zhongdian back to Kunming as the bus trip is really nice - count it as a holiday activity, as the scenery changes and is really interesting.
The same goes for the overnight train - why have a bad night sleep when you can get to Dali just after lunch on the bus and accommodation is so cheap anyway its not a matter of saving on a nights accom as would be the case for eg. in Europe.
I agree with the comment about Xishuangbanna, adding a flight to go there will put a lot of stress on the whole schedule. The logical route is usually the most relaxing and if you check out the map the Kunming, Dali, Lijiang, TLG, Zhongdian fly back is a straight line straight across Yunnan
One comment on TLG if you dont intend to walk up to the top path then it may be worth by passing it as there is a road cut along the bottom of the gorge where hordes go in and out and take a picture of the rapids and is a bit of an anticlimax.
If you got time to walk up to the high path then it will be an added hightlight of Yunnan.
Hope this helps.... nuf said I think - WE LOVED YUNNAN
Jan 18th, 2007, 06:44 PM
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Just went in for a 'play' on the Camellia Hotel website myself and found this at the bottom of their SERVICES link :
Flight ticket, Train ticket,
Long distance bus ticket,
Booking and Confirming.
Tel：0086(871) - 3163000−5918
Flight ticket, Train ticket,
Long distance bus ticket,
Booking and Confirming.
Tel：0086(871) - 3163000−5918
Jan 18th, 2007, 06:59 PM
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Dont know what happened to the characters on the last post - here is their email - If it doesnt download properly do a search on the hotel website for it at the bottom of Travel link
Telephone:0086（871）3166388、3188949、3172867
E_mail:[email protected], [email protected]
Telephone:0086（871）3166388、3188949、3172867
E_mail:[email protected], [email protected]
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