Kunming
Kunming is the Spring City, the capital of Yunnan at 1,900 metres where the daily highs barely move all year, and the door to the Dali, Lijiang and Shangri-La circuit. Two nights, one for Green Lake and the old centre, one for the Stone Forest, and then north.
Kunming in a nutshell
Kunming: what to expect
Every number below comes from 113,000+ planned stops in China on Stippl.
Kunming is two nights, and one of them is really about somewhere else. The Stone Forest is a karst field of limestone pillars ninety minutes out, Green Lake fills with red-billed gulls from Siberia every winter, the Dragon Gate is cut into a cliff three hundred metres above Dianchi Lake in the Western Hills, Yuantong Temple descends into a hollow rather than climbing a hill, and the Bird and Flower Market has traded on the old downtown streets since 1980. Most travellers give Kunming 2 nights on Stippl.
The numbers call Kunming a door rather than a room. 42.2% of stops here are a single night, of everyone who plans it on Stippl, and the city opens 16.6% of the trips it appears on, which is the Yunnan circuit starting: Dali, Lijiang, Tiger Leaping Gorge and Shangri-La in that order, with Lijiang the destination Kunming lifts more than any other.
Sleep by Green Lake, do the Stone Forest by bullet train rather than the coach, and eat crossing-the-bridge noodles once in the city where they were invented. Skip the tea-house invitation around the landmark squares, since it is the region's known scam, and skip the plan that treats Kunming as the trip, because the record and the travellers who come here agree that the good things are outside it.
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Download the appWho Kunming is for
Anyone heading into Yunnan
Which is most people who come: the city opens 16.6% of the trips it appears on, of everyone who plans it on Stippl, and Lijiang follows.
Mild-weather seekers
A plateau city at 1,900 metres where the daily highs move less than ten degrees across the whole year, which is the actual selling point.
Food travellers
Crossing-the-bridge noodles cooked at the table, steam-pot chicken, and the wild mushroom season after the summer rains.
Overland travellers from Laos
The China-Laos railway reaches Vientiane in about ten hours, and Kunming is where a land entry to China begins.
Coffee drinkers
Yunnan grows China's coffee, the cafes on Wenlin Street are good because of it, and the province grew the tea that went to Tibet.
Short-stay planners
42.2% of Stippl stops here are a single night, and the city rewards exactly that before the train north.
Maybe not for you: anyone after a sightseeing city, because the record and the travellers who come here both say the good things are outside it; and anyone on a fixed loop through the east, since Kunming sits a long way from Beijing and Shanghai and lifts neither.
The best time to visit Kunming
The dry spring
February to May
Sunny, dry and warm by day with cool nights, the camellias and cherry blossom out, and the busiest months on Stippl, with March the single biggest.
The rainy summer
June to September
Most of the year's rain in afternoon downpours, the hills green and the mushroom markets full, but the Stone Forest and the Western Hills often in cloud.
The clear autumn
October and November
The rain gone, the skies clear, the light at its best on the karst and the terraces north, and the second window the guides agree on.
The gull winter
December and January
Cool, dry and sunny, with the red-billed gulls on Green Lake from November to March, and a chill at night that the mild reputation forgets.
- Most travellers give Kunming 2 nights on Stippl, and 42.2% of stops are a single night. One day for Green Lake and the old centre, one for the Stone Forest, and the train north on the morning after.
- Only 14.9% of Kunming plans are made inside a fortnight, of everyone who plans it on Stippl, and 23.6% half a year out. The trains to Lijiang sell out in the spring, and they open thirty days ahead.
- March is the busiest month on Stippl, and it is Yunnan's blossom season. The rooms by Green Lake fill for the weekends, and the Stone Forest coaches run full.
- The gulls arrive in November and leave in March. Green Lake is the sight of the winter, and it is free, so the season is the one to pick if the lake is the point.
- The Stone Forest takes a day, and the bullet train to Shilin West takes twenty minutes. The coach is slower and cheaper, and the tour buses stop at the tea houses on the way.
- Golden Week in early October and Chinese New Year fill the province. The rest of October is inside the clear window, so the dates move a week either side.
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Things to do in Kunming
Photo by ling ze via Unsplash
Photo by Vincent Tint via UnsplashThe Stone Forest
A UNESCO karst field of limestone pillars ninety minutes from the city, walked on paths between the towers, best early before the tour groups and with the Sani villages around it.
Green Lake in winter
Hundreds of thousands of red-billed gulls arrive from Siberia from November to March, and the willow ponds and stone bridges fill with people feeding them at dawn.
The Dragon Gate
Cut into a cliff three hundred metres above Dianchi Lake in the Western Hills, reached by chairlift or a climb through the temples, with the whole lake below.
Yuantong Temple
A ninth-century complex that descends into a hollow rather than climbing a hill, with the main hall on an island in a pond, unlike any other Buddhist temple in China.
The Bird and Flower Market
Trading on the old downtown streets since 1980, with the songbirds, the orchids, the jade and the tea, and the last of the old wooden shophouses around it.
Jinma Biji Square
The Ming Golden Horse and Jade Rooster archways at the commercial heart, lit at night, with the market grid and the noodle houses behind them.
The areas of Kunming
Green Lake
The first stay
Willow ponds and stone bridges with morning tai chi and erhu players, the gulls in winter, and the cafes and bookshops of Wenlin Street around the university. For most of the stay.
The park, the cafes and the walkability, though it is a taxi from the station.
Jinma Biji and the old centre
The commercial heart
The Ming archway square and the market grid around it, the noodle houses, the malls and the easiest introduction to the city on foot. For arriving and the first evening.
Everything central and the archways lit at night, but a Chinese downtown to sleep in.
Yuantong Temple area
The quiet quarter
Residential streets around the ninth-century temple, quieter than the centre and a short walk from Green Lake, with the zoo on the hill behind. For a half day.
The temple that descends into a hollow, and little else to keep you.
Western Hills
The excursion
A forested ridge of temples fifteen kilometres out above Dianchi Lake, with the Dragon Gate cut into the cliff and the chairlift down to the water. For a day rather than a night.
The view over the whole lake, with a metro ride and a climb to earn it.
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Where to stay in Kunming
Sleep by Green Lake, where the park, the cafes and the walk to the old centre make the two nights work, and treat the Western Hills as a day rather than a bed. Most travellers give Kunming 2 nights on Stippl, and a room near the lake means the gulls at dawn before the train north.
Green Lake
Hostels on Wenlin Street and hotels on the lake, €12 to €90 a night.
Jinma Biji and the old centre
€25–90
Chain hotels and older mid-range rooms by the square, €25 to €80 a night.
Yuantong Temple area
€20–75
A few small hotels in the quiet streets, €20 to €60 a night.
Western Hills
A handful of lakeside resorts and guesthouses, €40 to €120 a night.
What to eat in Kunming
Rice noodles cooked at the table in a bowl of scalding stock, toppings added by hand
Chicken steamed in a lidded clay pot that draws its own broth
Wild fungi from the summer rains, cooked at the table
Bai-people goat's cheese, fried in slices
Grown in the province, and the reason the cafés here are good
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Kunming customs and what not to do
Twenty-five peoples
Yunnan has more officially recognised ethnic minorities than any other province, and the markets, the food and the festivals here are theirs as much as the Han majority's.
Coffee and tea are local
Both are grown in the province, the Tea Horse Road to Tibet ran through it, and a good pour-over here is a local product rather than an import.
Mornings belong to the park
Erhu players, dancers and tai chi groups take Green Lake from early, and the visitor's role is to walk around them rather than through them.
The tea-house invitation
A friendly stranger who suggests tea near the landmark squares is the region's known scam, and the bill at the end is the point of it.
Payment is the apps
Alipay or WeChat Pay with a foreign card linked before the flight, at the noodle counter and the Stone Forest gate alike.
Altitude begins here
The city sits at 1,900 metres and the route north climbs a great deal higher, so the first night is where the body starts adjusting.
Do
- Feed the gulls on Green Lake at dawn in winter
- Take the bullet train to the Stone Forest rather than the coach
- Eat crossing-the-bridge noodles once in the city that invented them
- Book the Lijiang train thirty days ahead in spring
- Walk the Bird and Flower Market before the shops close
Don't
- Follow a stranger to a tea house near Jinma Biji
- Treat Kunming as the destination rather than the door
- Expect a warm night in winter because the days are mild
- Skip the Western Hills because they are fifteen kilometres out
- Fly in from sea level and rush north the same day
What a Kunming trip costs
Backpacker
€18–30
A hostel near Green Lake, the metro, the parks and the temples, noodles twice a day.
Mid-range
€35–75
A private room in the centre, the Stone Forest with the train, a proper Yunnan dinner.
High-end
€130+
A lake-view hotel, a private car to the Stone Forest and the Western Hills, the mushroom hotpot.
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Fun facts about Kunming
Kunming's daily highs range only from 15.8°C to 25.2°C across the year. The spread is smaller than a single week's in most European cities, which is the whole reason for the Spring City name.
Yunnan, the province around Kunming, has 25 recognised ethnic minorities. More than any other Chinese province, and the reason the markets and the festivals feel unlike the rest of the country.
Green Lake in Kunming takes hundreds of thousands of Siberian gulls each winter. The red-billed gulls have come every year since 1985, and the city feeds them.
Yuantong Temple in Kunming descends into a hollow instead of climbing a hill. The main hall stands on an island in a pond, which no other Chinese Buddhist temple does.
The China-Laos railway from Kunming reaches Vientiane in about ten hours. It opened in 2021 and turned the city into a land border for the whole of Southeast Asia.
Kunming lifts four Yunnan destinations by 12 to 16 times. The best lift outside the province reads under three, which is the data saying the city is a door to Yunnan and little else.
Local tips for Kunming
The train from Laos lands here
The railway to Vientiane is part of why Kunming opens so many trips, and the border formalities happen at Mohan on the way.
Airport is 28 kilometres out
Metro Line 6 is the sensible way in, and it changes at the interchange for Green Lake rather than running straight there.
The tea-house scam
Worked around the old town and the landmark squares, with a friendly approach and a bill at the end, so the invitation is declined with a smile.
Bullet train to Shilin
Twenty minutes to Shilin West against ninety by road, and the coach tours stop at tea houses and jade shops on the way.
1,900 metres, and rising
Mild here, but the route north climbs far higher, so the first night in Kunming is where the acclimatising starts.
Two nights, then north
Most travellers give Kunming 2 nights on Stippl and 42.2% of stops are a single night, which is the Stone Forest and then the train.
Kunming questions, answered
As a base and a hub, yes; as a destination in itself the record says no. 42.2% of stops here are a single night, of everyone who plans it on Stippl, and most travellers give Kunming 2 nights, which covers Green Lake, the old centre and the Stone Forest before the train north.
About ninety minutes by road, or twenty minutes on the bullet train to Shilin West with a short bus from the station to the gate. The train wins on time and on avoiding the tea-house stops, and it is why only 14.9% of Kunming plans on Stippl are made inside a fortnight: the train is booked with the rest.
Because the city opens 16.6% of the trips it appears on, of everyone who plans it on Stippl, and lifts Lijiang more than any other destination. Put it into Stippl as two nights before Dali and Lijiang, then ask people who have done the loop in subreddits like r/chinatravel whether Shangri-La fits.
Because the daily highs move less than ten degrees across the whole year, from the mid teens in winter to the mid twenties in summer, on a plateau at 1,900 metres. The nights in winter are colder than the name suggests, and the rain comes in the summer afternoons rather than in a cold season.
Yes. The China-Laos railway runs from Kunming to Vientiane in about ten hours, with the border formalities at Mohan and Boten on the way, and it is why a Yunnan trip can now start or finish in Southeast Asia. Tickets sell through the national rail app and go on sale a fortnight ahead.
February to May for the dry, sunny spring and the blossom, with March the busiest month on Stippl; October and November for the clear light; and December to March if the gulls on Green Lake are the point. June to September brings the afternoon rain and the cloud on the karst.
Every guide is written by the Stippl editors and checked against the trips our travellers actually plan. Spotted something out of date? Let us know.
Plan Kunming in Stippl
Day-by-day planning, stays and budget in one app, with every place from this guide already on the map.
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