9-Day Yunnan Family Tour

Meet your private local guide in the arrival hall and transfer to your hotel. Your guide will help you check in and make sure everything at the hotel is satisfactory.

Skip the touristy spots loved by Chinese people. Visit a less crowded area — the Naigu Stone Forest. You will feel that you are walking in a national geological park, but not a tourist attraction. Play at science fiction or “name the rock” with your children in this amazing landscape.

Take a bullet train to Dali in the late afternoon.

Have a bike ride along Erhai Lake in the morning. Feel the wind, enjoy the flowery meadows and rice fields, and see the clouds floating above the majestic Cangshan mountians.

Stop at a small square and take pictures of the landmark of Dali — The Three Pagodas.

Have a baking class in a flower farm. Learn to make the famous Yunnan snack — flower cakes. Enjoy the cake you have made with a cup of flower tea and play on a swing in the garden, while facing the great Cangshan (‘Deep Green Mountains').

Visit Zhoucheng Village, located at the foot of Cangshan, in the morning to catch the daily life of Bai people at the market. Discover the beauties created by Bai people in their architecture, traditional dress, and a family tie-dyeing workshop. Dye a handkerchief for yourself in the traditional way.

Be entertained by a local Bai family. Taste the hostess's cooking in her beautiful courtyard and feel her warm hospitality through the home-cooked cuisine.

Head to Lijiang in the afternoon in your private car. Explore the charming kingdom of the Naxi people in Lijiang Ancient Town.

Pilgrimage to holy Jade Dragon Snow Mountain in the morning. The mountain massif is believed to guard and bless the Naxi, and so they in turn protect it.

Take a cable car to Spruce Meadow at an altitude of 3,240 meters (10,630 feet). Besides appreciating the awesome natural landscape and views of Jade Dragon Snow Mountain, you will unlock its romantic legends with the help of your guide.

Enjoy lunch in a local restaurant run by a Naxi family. You will also have the chance to learn to make Naxi pancakes (Naxi baba) as a dish of your lunch.

Understand more about the mysterious Naxi culture by visiting a shaman's house in the village. Learn some Naxi characters and enjoy a piece of old Naxi music. You will be impressed by the local people's passion for their culture and homeland.

You will drive from Lijiang to Shangri-La in the morning. On the way, you will stop at the magnificent Tiger Leaping Gorge. Listen to the roar of the Jinsha River (upper Yangtze River).

After lunch, discover a best-kept secret of Haba Snow Mountain. Have an easy 2-hour hike on an alpine meadow as you enjoy exclusive views of Haba Snow Mountain and share this meadow with no-one but the yaks.

Continue to Shangri-La by a brand-new highway. Be impressed by the amazing scenery along the way and yet another super project of China. Check in to your hotel on the Tibetan plateau pasture.

Visit the largest Tibetan Buddhist Lamasery in Yunnan Province — Songzanlin Lamasery. Be impressed by the splendid architecture as you ascend to the entrance. Then be embraced by the holy atmosphere of Tibetan Buddhism as you enter the hall with huge Buddhas and colorful murals. Feel the piety of Tibetan people who are praying and listen to the chants of the lamas.

Experience a Tibetan ceremony of blessing behind the Songzanlin Monastery, which is not seen by ordinary tourists. Tie your own prayer flag to the pagoda and pray toward the sacred Songzanlin.

Explore Shangri-La Old Town in the afternoon. Learn to paint a thangka (‘sacred tapestry') and bring the self-made souvenir and the good luck back home.

Note: If you would rather not take part in religious activities, you could always just watch, and there are many other Tibetan cultural experiences that you and your family could enjoy in Shangri-La.

Enjoy a beautiful sunrise while having breakfast.

Stop at a small square and take pictures of the landmark of Dali — The Three Pagodas.

Visit a local Tibetan family in a nearby village. Take part in their work on the day to experience ploughing or seeding, harvesting highland barley, picking matsutake mushrooms, or collecting firewood. The farmwork experience will be according to the season. It will not be arranged in advance. We will just follow the real working schedule of the local family on the day, because we don't want to disturb their daily life, and we would love for you to see and experience their authentic lifestyle.

In your free time in the afternoon, you could try on traditional Tibetan dress and have a family picture in the Tibetan manor. Or Walk to the quiet Dabao Lamasery near the hotel

Enjoy a starry night with a bonfire on the grassland.

Private transfer to Deqen Shangri-La Airport