Ancient Yunnan: Kunming, Dali, Lijiang & Shangri La

Yunnan sits in China's far southwest — and it feels nothing like the rest of the country. This is where subtropical valleys rise into Himalayan plateaus within a single day's drive, where ancient Naxi towns have been continuously inhabited for centuries, and where the gorge carved by the Jinsha River is so steep and narrow that even the tigers once used the rocks to cross. Nine days is exactly enough time to move through it properly, without rushing. You begin in Kunming — the City of Eternal Spring — before heading northwest to Dali, a former kingdom with a well-preserved old town, a lake the size of a small sea, and a Muslim community that has lived here since the Yuan dynasty. From Dali you travel to Lijiang, where the cobbled lanes of the Naxi old town lead to the base of Jade Dragon Snow Mountain. The cable car takes you up to the glacier at 4,506 metres — one of the most accessible high-altitude landscapes in China. The Impression Lijiang show, staged on a hillside with the mountain as its backdrop, is one of those rare evening performances worth building the day around. Day five takes you higher still — into Shangri La, the Tibetan-influenced plateau town at 3,200 metres where the Dukezong Old Town glows lantern-lit at night. Tiger Leaping Gorge is on the way, one of the deepest river gorges on earth. The return journey brings you through Nah Pah Hai Lake and back to Lijiang before a high-speed train delivers you to Kunming and then Yiliang, where the ancient Naigu Stone Forest waits — a limestone landscape over 270 million years old. Halal meals are included throughout, and the itinerary is built around Muslim-friendly standards as our default — not as a specialty. This tour is for you if you want China beyond the obvious cities, structured well enough to cover real ground, with the key moments — the mountain, the gorge, the old towns — given the time they deserve.

• ◆Cable car to Jade Dragon Snow Mountain glacier at 4,506m
• ◆Impression Lijiang — performed on a hillside, mountain as backdrop
• ◆Tiger Leaping Gorge — one of the deepest river gorges on earth
• ◆Dukezong Old Town at night — lantern-lit Tibetan plateau at 3,200m
• ◆Naigu Stone Forest — limestone landscape over 270 million years old
• ◆High-speed train from Lijiang to Kunming
• ◆Charter flight by Batik Air from Subang Airport

Day-by-Day