Lhasa OR Lijiang ,Kunming and Dali
 

Tours seem to offer either Tibet (Lhasa) or this very interesting area in the south. Haven't found a tour that offers both.
Any advice or suggestions?

I have not yet been to Lhasa, but I have been to Yunnan 3x. I really hate to mention it on this forum, but I have travelled extensively for 40 yrs & I think Lijiang is the greatest destination I have visited. You need to go soon before it is destroyed. The area in the mountains around Lijiang is really wonderful. I like Kunming for 2 days, and Dali for 2 or less (it is noisy and not v. interesting). You will see many minorities dressed in their own dress & many natural areas of great beauty. The people appear to be much more Tibetan than Chinese. You could fly K'mg to Chengdu & continue on to Lhasa.

Thanks, Merckxxx-
Actually just found out that Globus offers a tour that takes in both Lhasa and Kunming and Lijiang. I want to learn more about it, especially how large the groups are- we prefer smaller (doesn't everybody!)
Only down side, the itinerary goes to Lhasa first, so there's no chance to get used to the altitude first in Yunnan.

I totally agree with merck regarding Lijiang. I think it is heaven on earth.
Try to stay in the old town area of Lijiang. If you have time, take a taxi to the Shiner Hotel in the morning and walk across the busy street to the huge locals market. Most interesting and the ffreshly prepared food is really brilliant.

I am not really crazy about Kunming, although the stone forest is certainly worth seeing. I would spend more time in Lijiang/Dali.

I have never been to Lhasa so cannot comment on that.

I found these replies very intriguing. We are planning a 14 day trip to China in mid Nov and after hitting 4 days in Beijing, 2 days in Shanghai and 4 days in Hong Kong we were planning to include Huang Shan 2 days, and Guilin/Yangshuo, 2 days. We were originally very interested in Lijiang but heard that it was kinda Disney-esque having been so reconstructed, etc. Seems like I might have been misinformed. MerckXXX and LynnieD especially, should we trade our 2 days in Huang Shan for Lijiang esp at this time of the year? Can you expand on why you like Lijiang so much. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Having not been to Huang Shan I cannot weigh in on whether or not you should drop it from your itinerary. My understanding is that Lijiang enjoys a moderate climate year round.

I found nothing in Lijiang geared towards typical camera toting tourists. The old town area does have some places geared towards foreigners, but I think that has alot to do with the proximity to the Himilayas. When we were there, April 2005, the only other "Foreigners" we saw were a young couple of backpackers from Australia who were advised by our guide not to hike alone in the mountains because there is a thriving opium trade, and a contiginent of people from Nigeria there to see Lijiangs rebuilding from the earthquake and plan for econimic growth.

Lijiang was reconstructed, yes, but only because it was leveled in an earthquake. The reconstruction is beautiful, all in the old style of existing structures.

Lijiang was beautiful, safe and vibrant. The public square in Old Town was a gathering place for minority villiagers to meet, dance, eat, visit. Hiking in the Himalayan mountain range was breathtaking. We took a ski lift up to a certain spot and then hiked up as far as we could go and still be on the trail.

Certainly there are some tourist things you may or may not want to take advantage of. We all stopped to ride a yak and have our picture taken. Touristy, yes, but where else in your life will you be able to do this. Additionally, I dont think anyone is getting rich off of taking a poleroid picture of you for 10 yuan.

The beauty of this area is breathtaking. The "Snow Mountain" with it's huge glacier is a magnificent sight.

I would gladly go to Lijiang. In fact, I have said it before and I'll say it again, I could easily live there.