Lijiang
Lijiang is an 800-year-old Naxi town at 2,400 metres with no straight streets, a snow mountain at the end of the lane and Tiger Leaping Gorge two hours out. Two nights in a courtyard inn, Dayan before eight in the morning, and Shuhe or Baisha when the coaches arrive.
Lijiang in a nutshell
Lijiang: what to expect
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Lijiang is two nights, and the best hour of both is before eight in the morning. Dayan's cobbled lanes and canals are empty at dawn and full by ten, Jade Dragon Snow Mountain's cable car climbs to 4,506 metres with oxygen included in the ticket, Tiger Leaping Gorge takes two days on the high trail with a guesthouse at the midpoint, Black Dragon Pool mirrors the mountain at first light, and the Ming murals at Baisha mix three religions in one painted programme. Most travellers give Lijiang 2 nights on Stippl.
Lijiang is the far end of the Yunnan circuit, and it belongs to the China-only trips. 41.4% of the trips that carry it stay inside China, of everyone who plans it on Stippl, well above the national share, and it closes 5.1% of them, while Beijing and Shanghai both read below parity from here, which no other Chinese destination we cover can say.
Sleep in Shuhe or a Naxi courtyard in Dayan with a mountain view, go to Qiaotou for the gorge under your own steam, and give the body a night at 2,400 metres before the cable car. Skip the packaged gorge trip, since the bus is cheap and the trail needs no guide, and skip a straight flight from sea level onto Jade Dragon, because the altitude is the real risk here rather than anything on the ground.
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Download the appWho Lijiang is for
Anyone doing the Yunnan circuit
Which is nearly everyone who comes: 41.4% of Lijiang trips on Stippl stay inside China, and Dali and Kunming are the partners.
Hikers with two days to spare
Tiger Leaping Gorge is two and a half hours out, the high trail takes two days, and the midpoint guesthouses are half the reason to walk it.
History and culture travellers
The Naxi ruled here for 470 years, the Dongba script is still used in ceremony, and the Baisha murals are Ming paintings nobody else has.
Early risers
Dayan before eight is the town the guides describe, and by ten it is the town the complaints describe.
Slow travellers
Shuhe and Baisha are quieter with every kilometre, and 23.0% of Stippl stops here are a single night, so a third one is rare and rewarded.
Mountain travellers
Jade Dragon's cable car reaches 4,506 metres, the town sits at 2,400, and the peaks above it have never been climbed.
Maybe not for you: anyone who cannot stand a crowd, because Dayan by day is one of the busiest old towns in China; and anyone flying straight in from sea level, since the altitude here is the real risk and the cable car doubles it in an afternoon.
The best time to visit Lijiang
The dry spring
March to May
Sunny days, cold nights, the mountain clear above the town and the azaleas out on the slopes, with March the third busiest month on Stippl.
The rainy summer
June to August
Most of the year's rain in afternoon bursts, the gorge trail slippery and the mountain in cloud, but the valleys green and the rooms cheaper.
The clear autumn
September and October
The best window of the year, with the rain gone, the snow mountain visible from the lanes and the two busiest months on Stippl, Golden Week in the middle of them.
Winter
November to February
Cold, dry and bright with snow on the peaks and frost in the lanes at dawn, the old town at its quietest, and the courtyard inns heating one room at a time.
- Most travellers give Lijiang 2 nights on Stippl, and 23.0% of stops are a single night. One day for the old towns and Black Dragon Pool, one for Jade Dragon, and the gorge needs two more.
- 29.0% of Lijiang plans on Stippl are made half a year out, and only 11.7% inside a fortnight. It is the most-planned-ahead Chinese stop we cover, because the gorge and the mountain need the days.
- Jade Dragon sells 10,000 tickets a day, and they go in the morning. The glacier cableway is booked through the park's app or the inn the day before, and the shuttle from town takes an hour.
- September and October are the busiest months on Stippl, and Golden Week sits in the first week of October. The old town doubles its prices for the week, so the trip moves to the fortnight after.
- The gorge takes two days at a normal pace with a guesthouse in the middle. The high trail closes after heavy rain, and June to August is when that happens.
- The nights are cold in every season at 2,400 metres. A summer day in the twenties comes with a night near ten, and winter frosts the lanes before dawn.
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Things to do in Lijiang
Dayan before eight in the morning
The cobbled lanes, the canals and the red lanterns with nobody on them, which the record names as the only way to see the old town at all, before the coaches and the shops open.
Jade Dragon Snow Mountain
By cable car to 4,506 metres with oxygen included in the price, above the glacier and the Blue Moon Valley, with the Impression Lijiang show at the foot of it.
Tiger Leaping Gorge
Two days on the high trail above one of the deepest gorges in the world, from Qiaotou to the midpoint guesthouses and on to Tina's, two and a half hours from town.
Black Dragon Pool at first light
The spring-fed park at the northern edge, with the mountain mirrored in the water, the marble bridge and the Dongba museum beside it.
The Baisha murals
Ming paintings in the temple halls of the village north of town, mixing Tibetan Buddhist, Taoist and Dongba iconography in one programme.
The Mu Family Mansion
The seat of the Naxi rulers who held Lijiang for 470 years, rebuilt after the earthquake in the middle of Dayan, with Lion Hill and the Wangu Pavilion above it.
The areas of Lijiang
Dayan Old Town
The UNESCO core
Cobbled lanes, canals, red lanterns and courtyard inns, with Sifang Square at the centre, the Mu mansion beside it and Lion Hill looking over all of it. For a first stay and the dawn.
Everything is in it, but by ten it is the busiest old town in China.
Shuhe
The quieter sibling
The older town six kilometres out on the Tea Horse Road, with fewer groups, lower prices and the character Dayan had before the coaches. For most of the stay.
The Dayan of twenty years ago, though the bus into town runs on its own schedule.
Baisha
The Naxi cradle
A working farm village eight kilometres north with wheat and rapeseed fields, the Ming murals and the old Naxi doctor's clinic. For a half day.
The murals and the fields instead of a tourist economy, and almost nowhere to sleep.
Black Dragon Pool
The northern edge
The spring-fed park with the marble bridge, the Dongba museum and the mountain reflected in the water, ten minutes' walk from Dayan's north gate. For a morning.
The mountain mirrored at first light, and the entry fee once the ticket office opens.
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Where to stay in Lijiang
Sleep in a Naxi courtyard inn, in Shuhe for the quiet or in Dayan for the dawn, and ask for a room with a mountain view, which the record says is the thing to book. Most travellers give Lijiang 2 nights on Stippl, and the gorge guesthouses are a night of their own if the trail is on the plan.
Dayan Old Town
€25–110
Courtyard inns and hostels in the lanes, €15 to €120 a night.
Shuhe
€20–85
Quieter courtyard inns at lower prices, €12 to €90 a night.
Baisha
€18–70
A handful of farmhouse rooms and one or two inns, €20 to €60 a night.
Black Dragon Pool
€25–90
A few hotels along the park's edge, €30 to €100 a night.
What to eat in Lijiang
A thick wheat flatbread, plain or stuffed with meat or vegetables
Salt-cured ribs cooked at the table, the Naxi winter dish
Grilled or dried, from the plateau above
Sliced cold with chilli and vinegar
A Yunnan pastry, sold hot from the oven
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Lijiang customs and what not to do
Dongba is a living script
One of the last pictographic writing systems still used in ceremony, painted on the shop signs in Dayan and taught at the museum by Black Dragon Pool.
The Naxi ruled here
The Mu family held Lijiang for roughly 470 years under the Ming and the Qing, and the mansion in the middle of the old town is theirs.
Baisha still farms
Wheat and rapeseed in the fields around the village, with the murals in the temple halls, so the lanes there are a working place rather than a set.
The old town has a fee
A maintenance fee is charged at the gates and checked at the sights, valid for a year, and the inns will sell it or point to the booth.
No straight streets
Dayan was laid out without a straight lane on purpose, against invaders, and the canals are the way to find your way back out.
Payment is the apps
Alipay or WeChat Pay with a foreign card linked before the flight, at the inn, the cable car and the noodle stall alike.
Do
- Walk Dayan before eight and again after nine at night
- Sleep in Shuhe if the crowds are the worry
- Give the body a night in town before the cable car
- Book the Jade Dragon cableway the day before
- Go to Qiaotou by public bus for the gorge
Don't
- Fly in from sea level and go straight up Jade Dragon
- Buy the packaged gorge trip when the bus is cheap
- Photograph the Naxi grandmothers in Sifang Square without asking
- Expect a warm night because the day was warm
- Skip Baisha because it is eight kilometres out
What a Lijiang trip costs
Backpacker
€20–35
A courtyard dorm in Dayan or Shuhe, the old towns on foot, Black Dragon Pool, Naxi baba.
Mid-range
€45–95
A courtyard inn with a mountain view, Jade Dragon all in, the Impression show.
High-end
€160+
A restored Naxi courtyard, a private driver, the two-day gorge trek with transfers.
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Fun facts about Lijiang
The Dongba script of Lijiang is one of the world's last living pictographic writing systems. It is still used in Naxi ceremony, and the museum by Black Dragon Pool teaches the characters.
Shanzidou, the 5,596-metre summit above Lijiang, has never been climbed. The Naxi hold it too sacred, and the cable car stops nearly 1,100 metres below it.
The old town of Lijiang has no straight streets, by design. The lanes were laid out to confuse invaders, and the canals are how residents still give directions.
Shuhe, outside Lijiang, sat on the Tea Horse Road to Tibet. The caravans carried Yunnan tea north and horses south for a thousand years, and the cobbles are the same ones.
The Baisha murals near Lijiang combine three religions in one Ming programme. Tibetan Buddhist, Taoist and Dongba iconography share the same walls, which nowhere else in China manages.
Beijing and Shanghai both read below parity from Lijiang. No other Chinese destination we cover can say that, which is the data showing Lijiang as the end of a loop and not a side trip.
Local tips for Lijiang
Skip the packaged gorge trip
Getting to Qiaotou yourself is cheap and easy by the public bus from the main station, and the trail needs no guide.
Qiaotou is only the trailhead
Described by our sources as a dusty village with nothing else to it, so the night before the walk is spent in town, not there.
Altitude is the real risk
2,400 metres in town and 4,506 at the top of the cable car, which is more than a body flown in from sea level can take in a day.
Acclimatise first
A night or two in town before Jade Dragon, water rather than beer, and the cable car on the second morning at the earliest.
Headache with nausea means down
The combination is the one to act on, and the answer is down, not the oxygen canister sold at the top.
Two nights, planned early
Most travellers give Lijiang 2 nights on Stippl and 29.0% of plans are made half a year out, so the inn with the view is booked the same way.
Lijiang questions, answered
Dayan by day is very busy, and the answer is Shuhe, Baisha and dawn. Most travellers give Lijiang 2 nights on Stippl, and 23.0% of stops are a single night, which is enough for the old town empty at eight and the mountain the next morning.
Yes. A maintenance fee is collected at the gates and checked at the main sights, it is valid for a year, and the courtyard inns will either sell it at check-in or point to the nearest booth. It applies to Dayan; Shuhe and Baisha are covered by the same ticket where they check at all.
The glacier cableway reaches 4,506 metres from a town at 2,400, with oxygen included in the price and a shuttle of about an hour from the old town. A night or two in Lijiang first is the rule, and the peaks above the top station have never been climbed because the Naxi hold them sacred.
Two days at a normal pace on the high trail, with a guesthouse at the midpoint and a public bus from Lijiang to the trailhead at Qiaotou. 29.0% of Lijiang plans on Stippl are made half a year out, and the gorge days are the reason, added on top of the town rather than squeezed inside it; the trail closes after heavy summer rain.
Usually. 41.4% of Lijiang trips on Stippl stay inside China, it closes 5.1% of them, and Beijing and Shanghai both read below parity from here. Put it into Stippl as two nights after Dali, then ask people who have done Yunnan in subreddits like r/chinatravel whether Shangri-La is worth the extra climb.
September and October, when the rain has gone and the snow mountain is visible from the lanes, with Golden Week in the first week of October the fortnight to avoid; March to May is the sunny second window, and June to August brings the afternoon rain that closes the gorge trail.
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 Lijiang 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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