Three days in Lijiang: cobbles, canals and a snow peak at the end of every lane
Two nights in the Naxi old town: the palace and the orchestra on arrival, a day up the Jade Dragon massif, and the pool with the famous view before the train.
- Length
- 3 days, 2 nights
- Where you stay
- Lijiang
- Places
- 8 across 3 days
Lijiang sits at 2,400 metres on a plateau in northwest Yunnan, and it belongs to the Naxi, whose priests still use the only pictographic script in the world that is in living use. The old town is a maze of cobbled lanes and stone bridges with meltwater channels running down the middle of them.
It is also, unmistakably, a tourist town. The 1996 earthquake destroyed much of the modern quarter and left the old wooden houses standing, world heritage status followed, and the lanes filled with guesthouses, drum bars and shops selling the same scarves. Nobody sensible pretends otherwise.
What survives that is the setting. A snow massif directly north, meadows and gorges on its flanks, and villages within cycling distance that the coaches do not reach. Come for those and treat the old town as somewhere to sleep and eat, and it works.
Highlights
- The old town at first light, when the lanes belong to people sweeping and the channels are running clear
- Jade Dragon Snow Mountain from the cable car, with the glacier terrace at 4,500 metres at the top
- Spruce Meadow, a clearing high in the fir forest that the Naxi treated as a place to die for love
- The Naxi orchestra, playing Tang and Song court music on instruments that went out of use everywhere else
- Black Dragon Pool at dawn, with the mountain reflected in it, which is the view Lijiang is famous for
Where to stay
Lijiang, two nights
Stay in a Naxi courtyard guesthouse in the old town, ideally in the quieter northern lanes rather than near Sifang Square, which has a row of bars that compete on volume until late.
Shuhe, five kilometres north, is the calmer alternative: the same architecture, a fraction of the crowds and a short taxi from the old town when you want it.
Day by day
Day 1 in Lijiang
The old town, the Mu family palace, and an orchestra of old men
Arrive, and spend the afternoon getting lost. The old town is a few hundred metres across and has no grid at all, and the way to see it is to follow whichever lane looks quieter and end up somewhere unexpected.
The Mu Palace on the western edge is the historical anchor. The Mu clan governed this valley for the Chinese court for more than four hundred years, and their compound climbs the hillside behind the town in a series of halls, most of them rebuilt after the Cultural Revolution and the earthquake.
In the evening, the Naxi orchestra. It is a small hall, the musicians are elderly, and the repertoire is Taoist ceremonial music that has otherwise disappeared. The introduction runs long and the playing is the real thing.
Do not plan anything for tomorrow evening. The mountain day is longer than it looks.
- 15:00
Old Town of Lijiang
LandmarkA maze of cobbled lanes, wooden shopfronts and stone bridges over meltwater channels, on the world heritage list since 1997. Best before eight in the morning and after ten at night. In between it is very busy indeed.
- 17:30
Mu Palace
VisitThe compound of the Mu clan, who ruled this valley on behalf of the Ming and Qing courts for four centuries, climbing the hill behind the old town in successive courtyards. Largely rebuilt, and the view back over the roofs from the top is the reason to pay.
- 20:00
Naxi Concert Hall
VisitNightly performances of Naxi ceremonial music by an orchestra whose oldest members are in their nineties, on instruments that fell out of use elsewhere centuries ago. The talking between pieces is long; the music is worth sitting through it.
With more time: The Dongba Cultural Museum by the Black Dragon Pool explains the Naxi pictographic script, which is the only one anywhere still in ceremonial use, and takes forty minutes.
Day 2 in Lijiang
Up the Jade Dragon massif
The mountain is thirty kilometres north and the whole day goes on it. Buy the entrance ticket, the shuttle and the cable car together, and go early, because the glacier cable car has a daily cap and the queue for it can be two hours by mid morning.
Three cable cars go up different sides. The big one climbs to a boardwalk at about 4,500 metres on the edge of the glacier, which is the highest most people will have stood, and the air up there is thin enough to notice on the first step.
Lower down, the fir forest opens into a clearing that the Naxi called the place of death for love, after the couples who came here to escape arranged marriages. It is a walk of about twenty minutes from the smaller cable car.
Come back through the valley below, where a chain of shallow pools runs an improbable turquoise over white limestone.
- 07:30
Jade Dragon Snow Mountain
NatureA glaciated massif rising to 5,596 metres at Shanzidou, thirty kilometres north of town and snow-capped all year. The main cable car reaches a boardwalk near the glacier at about 4,500 metres. Take the oxygen, go slowly, and buy the ticket in advance.
- 13:00
Spruce Meadow (Yunshanping)
VisitA meadow at 3,240 metres in the spruce forest on the eastern flank, reached by a smaller cable car and a twenty minute walk. Naxi tradition made it the place lovers came to die rather than accept arranged marriages, which is more affecting than the yaks and photo props suggest.
- 15:30
Blue Moon Valley (Shilin Lugu Lake)
VisitA chain of shallow terraced pools below the mountain, running an unlikely milky turquoise over white limestone, with a boardwalk along them. Twenty minutes on the way back down, and the best photographs of the day.
With more time: There is an outdoor show performed on the lower slopes with the mountain as the backdrop, using several hundred people from local ethnic villages. It runs in the afternoon and adds about two hours.
Day 3 in Lijiang
The pool with the view, and the quieter old town
Black Dragon Pool sits at the northern edge of the old town, ten minutes' walk from Sifang Square, and the view across it to the mountain with a marble bridge in the foreground is the one on every poster of Yunnan.
Get there at opening. The water is stillest early, the mountain is most likely to be clear before the cloud builds, and the park fills with people dancing and playing chess by nine, which is worth staying for.
Then go out to Shuhe, five kilometres north. It is the same Naxi architecture as Lijiang with a fraction of the visitors, water running through the middle of it and horses in the square.
The station and the airport are both south of town, so an afternoon departure is straightforward from either.
- 07:30
Black Dragon Pool
HistoricA spring-fed pool at the top of the old town with pavilions, a marble bridge and the Jade Dragon massif reflected in it on a still morning. Go at opening; by nine it is full of tai chi and card games, which is also worth seeing.
- 10:00
Shuhe Old Town
VisitA Naxi town five kilometres north on the old tea and horse road, less restored and far less crowded than Lijiang, with a canal down the main street and a small museum in a former temple. Half an hour by taxi or an hour by bike.
With more time: Baisha, three kilometres beyond Shuhe, is the original Naxi settlement and holds fifteenth century murals that mix Tibetan, Han and Naxi painting, with almost nobody looking at them.
Before you go
Getting there and around
Lijiang has an airport with flights from Kunming, Chengdu, Shanghai and Beijing, and a railway that connects to Dali in about two hours and Kunming in about three and a half.
The old town is pedestrian and easy to get lost in, which is part of the pleasure. Remember that all the water channels flow downhill and away from Sifang Square, so following the current takes you out.
For the mountain, buy a package through your guesthouse or take one of the shuttle buses; the entrance fee, the transfer and the cable car are three separate tickets.
Altitude
The town is at 2,400 metres and the top cable car station on the mountain is at about 4,500. That is a big jump in one morning and people do get altitude sickness on it.
Spend the first day in the town rather than going straight up. On the mountain day, take the oxygen canister they sell at the base, walk slowly on the boardwalk, and come down if your head starts pounding.
Anybody with a heart or lung condition should think carefully before taking the glacier cable car, and there is plenty on the lower slopes if you skip it.
When to come
March to May and September to November. Spring is dry with clear mountain views, autumn is green after the rains with the best light.
June to August is the wet season, when the peak spends most of its time in cloud. Winter is cold, bright and low season, and the mountain is at its best if you can stand the temperature.
The altitude means strong sun and cold nights all year. Bring sun cream and a proper jacket regardless of the month.
Lijiang has been sold hard for thirty years, and a lot of what is written about it is the same paragraph about lanterns and cobbles. The honest version is that the town is pretty and crowded and the reason to come is what surrounds it.
Stand on a boardwalk at 4,500 metres in the morning and in a Naxi courtyard at eight at night, and the day makes the case on its own.
Or make it a longer trip
These trips pass through here on the way somewhere else.
Make it your trip
Every stop, day and place here lands in your account as an editable trip. Move the days around, swap a city, add your own bookings and costs, and share it with whoever is coming.
Common questions
- Is Lijiang too touristy?
- The old town in the middle of the day is very busy and very commercial, and there is no point pretending otherwise. Before eight and after ten it is a different place, and Shuhe and Baisha within a few kilometres are what Lijiang was thirty years ago. Judge the trip on the mountain and the villages, not on the souvenir lanes.
- How high is it and will I feel it?
- The town is at 2,400 metres, which most people notice as slight breathlessness on stairs and nothing worse. The glacier boardwalk on the mountain is around 4,500 metres, which is a serious altitude to reach in one morning. Take a rest day first, buy the oxygen canister, and turn back if you get a headache.
- How does Lijiang fit with the rest of Yunnan?
- It is the middle stop. Kunming is three and a half hours south by train, Dali two hours south, and Shangri-La about four hours north into ethnically Tibetan country. Tiger Leaping Gorge, which is the best two day trek in China, starts an hour and a half from here.
- When should I go?
- March to May or September to November. The summer monsoon keeps the peak in cloud for weeks and the mountain is the reason to be here. Winter is cold and clear and quiet, and the views are the best of the year if you dress for it.
- Can I change this plan?
- Yes. Copy it into the planner, add a night to walk Tiger Leaping Gorge, or move the mountain day if the forecast is against you.