Lijiang is the gist of our journey.
Driving from Dali to Lijiang takes around 2 – 2.5 hours to arrive.
High speed train from Dali to Lijiang takes around 1.5 – 2 hours.
It may worth going to Lijiang by car in this case as travelling time is around the same. Besides, it also helps tourists to adjust the height atmosphere.
Day 1: Changsha South
Day 2: Kunming (Altitude : around 1850m)
Day 3 – 4: Dali (Altitude : around 1890m)
(Dali Accommodation)
Day 5 – 7: Lijiang (Altitude : around 2500m) – part i
(Lijiang Accomodation)
Day 8 : back to Kunming
Day 9: Return
Cautions of altitude sickness
Lijiang altitude is around 2500m. This height may cause altitude sickness. Therefore, it’s important for visitors to monitor own’s health. If you find yourself with the following symptoms:
- headache
- short of breath
- feeling vomit
You should sit down and calm yourself. Get an oxygen bottle to breathe in and control your breath. You can easily purchase an oxygen bottle from supermarket / convenient store.
Lijiang Accommodation
If you are still looking for value worth accommodation, check this out to see if my stay experience meets your expectation.
Lijiang Sightseeing Venues
Just 3 days in Lijiang is definitely not enough. And there is not enough time to continue travelling to Shangri la. There are lots of places to visit nearby include – Tiger Leaping Gorge 虎跳峽 (a legendary story about a person saw a tiger leaped to opposite of the river), Lugu Lake 瀘沽湖 (a place where woman made all the decisions, as a breadwinner), Lashi Lake (拉市海) and more.
Each venue can take one whole day to tour or a need to stay for a night. This time, we only went to several places due to time constraint and rainy season.
Blue Moon Valley in Jade Dragon Snow Mountain 藍月谷 (玉龍雪山)
Altitude 4680m (highest peak is around 5500m). All people are required getting the entrance ticket (RMB100/adult, kids and students half price). Entrance ticket can be purchased at the gate. Lots of staff will be on the road to assist your ticket purchase if you are self driving / rented a vehicle.
It’s required to purchase the cable car ticket one day before the arrival if you are going up to the mountain. The cable car ticket is a package include entrance and transport fee from the entrance to the cable car station. You can get the package at trip.com or request hotel staff to assist your purchase via wechat. As far as I know, people without China ID can’t purchase at wechat.
If you are planning to go up, you need to set off latest by 8.30am in order to avoid traffic jam and long queue at the entrance. If you miss out the timing and already get into a congested traffic, I advise you to either postpone visiting on the next day, or simply go to Blue Moon Valley like us.
We got off at around 9.30am and already met the jam. The car park at the top is already full and we need to walk up from another car park (which took us around 15-20 minutes walking to the entrance). I suggest you to take the train just near the city area. Location here. It saves you lots of time waiting.
When you arrive the entrance hall, purchase the transport ticket fees at the kiosk near the train station. Dun follow the long queue as there is another lane opposite (right arrow in the image) that lots of ppl not aware of.
The queue for transport takes at least an hour to get onto the bus. Whether you are going up to the mountain or heading to Blue Moon Valley, both places take the same tour bus. Alight at the second station (last station) for the cable car, or the first/second station for Blue Moon Valley.
It takes around 2 hours to walk around the Blue Moon Valley. The return tour bus is located next to the first station. Long queue will start after 2.30pm (according to the official announcement, or at around 3pm according to other comments)
This place often called Lijiang mini Jiuzhaigou. If you have gone up the peak in the morning, you should have enough time to visi the Yak Meadow (牦牛坪景区) and Blue Moon Valley.
Naxi tribe (納西部落)
It’s just a name for commercial purposes. One of the most famous locations for photo taking with snow mountain as the background. Some visitors rent costume at the ancient town and come here for photo taking.
(Tibetan) prayer flag is one of the attractions for visitors. In fact, the prayer flag in Lijiang isn’t the true prayer flag as the real one does not allow tourists for photo taking. In September 2026, all these imitate colorful flags were brought down in Lijiang. It’s still not known if this place has rebuilt a new one. According to the forum, a new one colorful flag has built in another place which I will talk about later.
This place has two ticket prices. One simply getting in the colorful flag for images, RMB6/person, or RMB30/person to the whole area including carrying sheep for images.
Lijiang Botanical Garden (麗江植物園)
Liijang second colorful flag for photo taking locates here. It was removed in Sep, 2026 but was later rebuilt again just recently. This place purposes is the same as Naxi tribe, is for photo taking with snow mountain as the background. It was free of charge until July 2026, all facilities required to be paid.
The snow mountain is covered up by thick cloud most of the time during rainy season. Check out the fb post / IG to see how we get out of the cloud from the mountain.
Dinner
If you have seen the Liijang accommodation recommendation, I strongly recommend taking a meal at Yongchang beef restaurant (永昌牛肉小吃店). Not only the price is considered moderate low as compared to other places, the food is very good as well. There are two other restaurants review in the article.
Even if you are not staying there nearby, you really need to go there to try it out. You won’t regret it. I went there for dinner twice.
From snow mountain to blue moon valley, then to Naxi tribe and Lijiang Botanical Garden is one straight lane down on the road. If you set off early, you can visit all of the above places in just one day.
Stay tuned for the next part tour guide in Lijiang.
AXA Travel, Home, Accidential Insurance offer promotion periodically as well as Zurich general insurance.
To purchase automotive tire, batteries and automobile, travel and personal insurance in HK, whatsapp Jimmy +852 5113 0668
Other related articles:
-> Yunnan Tour Itinerary, Lijiang – 9 Days Adventure (part ii)
-> Yunnan Lijiang Accommodation Recommendation
-> Yunnan Tour Guide 2D1N – Kunming
-> Yunnan Tour Guide 3D2N – Dali
Other articles:
-> Tyre related information
-> Automotive Battery related information
-> Vehicle maintenance and DIY
-> Insurance Related Information
-> Global Travel Guide
