Yunnan is a travel destination sought after by national (Chinese) and international travelers alike. This is one of my personal favorite places that I have been to in all of China. However, there are a lot of potential travel destination within Yunnan itself. If you’re trip to Yunnan is not carefully planned out, you could end up spending excess time and money without seeing some of the most desired locations in Yunnan.
In order to ensure that you get the most out of your trip to Yunnan please read the following tips below:
Helpful tip: It should be known that flying into Li Jiang or Dali is relatively expensive. If time is sufficient it might be a good idea to fly into Kunming and then take a train from Kun Ming to Dali or Li Jiang. This would be a much cheaper way to travel to either Dali or Li Jiang and gives you more money to spend during the trip. This is a good idea if time is sufficient. The train ride from Kunming to Dali is only about a 2 hour ride. From Kunming to Li Jiang is a 3 hour ride.
The Best Time of Year to go to Yunnan
In Chinese there’s a saying that it Yunnan is one of those places that only has one season throughout the year. While that is true and the temperature is similar to that of San Francisco it does matter what time of the year you venture to Yunnan.
In my opinion the best time of the year to go to Yunnan is in the winter months. The reason is because around the end of autumn (November-ish) the first snow will fall on the mountains in northern Yunnan, where Li Jiang is located. This will change the peaks of the mountains to snowcapped peaks and make pictures of Li Jiang and the surrounding area that much better.
Also, the temperature will be like spring time in the winter months, cool in the mornings and evenings and warm in the afternoon. While, this might make packing light a bit difficult it is very conducive to traveling because it neither get uncomfortably hot nor cold.
Traveling to Tiger Leaping Gorge
How to Pack and what to do with the luggage
One of the obstacles with arranging a hike and on the same trip that you will tour cities is that you will either pack to heavy to hike or too light to dress appropriately in social settings in a new city. To mitigate this problem I suggest that you adhere to the following suggestions.
First I suggest that you pack a suitcase (either large or small it depends on you and how much stuff you would like to bring) and a backpack/hiker’s bag. On the flight you could put the backpack in the suitcase, so that you don’t have to pay extra for luggage. The suitcase will contain all of the clothes that you’re comfortable wearing for the city and urban setting.
Once you decide to go to Tiger Leaping Gorge you can pack all of your essentials in a backpack or hiker’s bag. The suitcase can be stored at your place of lodging. At any rate you will need to go back to Li Jiang anyway because it is the closest major city to Tiger Leaping Gorge. This way you will carry less weight with you during your hike through Tiger Leaping Gorge.
International Kev 