Dreaming of Shangri-La: Yunnan’s Tibetan Valleys

Arrive in Lijiang and meet your local guide • Transfer to your hotel for check-in • Visit a Pu’er tea workshop to taste and press your own tea cake while learning about its cultural role in Yunnan • If time allows, stroll the quieter lanes of Lijiang Old Town for encounters with Naxi residents and a glimpse into their music, rituals, and Dongba traditions.

Visit Baisha Village, a quiet Naxi community of stone and wood houses at the foot of Jade Dragon Snow Mountain • Stroll through Wenhai Valley, rich in biodiversity and home to yak, miniature horses, and blooming rhododendrons • Meet a Yi village shaman, or Bimo, to learn about his hereditary role, animist faith, and efforts to preserve Yi traditions in the face of modern change • Return to Lijiang for the evening.

Drive 5–6 hours from Lijiang to Tacheng, stopping in Shigu Old Town to wander its market, browse local specialties such as wild honey and rainbow trout, see the carved stone drum, and view the Yangtze River’s first bend • Enjoy lunch in a village along the route • In Tacheng, visit a local family to talk about their traditions, farming practices, and daily life in this remote valley • Continue on to Benzilan.

Visit the Tacheng Snub-Nosed Monkey Sanctuary with a local conservationist to see these rare, protected primates in their mountain forest habitat • Stop in Kena Village to share tea with a local family and learn about life in the countryside • In Hada Village, visit a farming family to make soy milk and tofu together • Explore Dharma Cave at Xiangbi Mountain, a pilgrimage site linked to Bodhidharma, with sweeping views over the mountains and the Jinsha River.

Drive from Tacheng to Shangri-La, stopping at the Great Bend of the Jinsha River • Visit Dongzhulin Monastery, the second-largest Tibetan Buddhist lamasery in Yunnan, to observe monastic life and prayer • Continue to Napahai Lake, a high-altitude wetland where yaks, sheep, and horses graze and seasonal birdlife flourishes • Arrive in Shangri-La and check in to your hotel to rest and acclimate to the altitude.

Visit Songzanlin Monastery, known as “Little Potala” for its resemblance to the Dalai Lama’s palace, and home to 700 monks • Wander through incense-filled halls, gilded copper pillars, and scripture rooms while taking in views of snow-capped peaks • Explore Pudacuo National Park, China’s first national park, on a two-hour hike past alpine lakes, grasslands, and forests that shelter over 100 endangered species • Stroll Dukezong Old Town, once a key stop on the Ancient Tea-Horse Road, and browse markets, prayer halls, and lanes draped with colorful prayer flags.

Your local guide will escort you to the airport and help you check in for your flight home.