Yi Tribe

彝人部落

Yi Ancient Town is a 4A-rated scenic spot integrating Yi culture and customs, including dining, accommodation, transportation, sightseeing, shopping, and entertainment. Within the Yi Tribe Scenic Area, the Yi people's original ecological architecture, production and living practices, song and dance, and sacrificial rituals showcase the unique characteristics of the Yi people. This comprehensive tourist attraction prioritizes visitor participation.

Attractions Location: Yi People Ancient Town, Cheping Road, Chuxiong City, Chuxiong Yi Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan Province

Tickets: 120 RMB

Opening hours:
All day (Monday to Sunday, January 1st - December 31st)

Official phone number: Ticketing Inquiry
0878-3150088

Time reference: 1-3 hours


Recommended itinerary for Yi Tribe tours

1-Day Itinerary: Cultural Insight into Chuxiong Yi Tribe

This itinerary offers a focused experience on the unique culture, traditions, and daily life of the Chuxiong Yi Tribe, perfect for travelers with limited time.

  • Morning: Arrive at Chuxiong Yi Tribe cultural village by taxi or local bus from Chuxiong city center (approx. 15-20 minutes).
  • Midday: Explore traditional Yi houses, visit the Yi Ethnic Museum, and witness folk dance performances.
  • Lunch: Enjoy authentic Yi ethnic cuisine at a local village restaurant.
  • Afternoon: Participate in handicraft workshops such as embroidery or silver jewelry making.
  • Evening: Return to Chuxiong city or stay overnight in a local guesthouse.

Accommodation & Food: Guesthouses near the village offer traditional-style rooms; savor dishes like smoked pork, bamboo rice, and wild vegetable soups.

Souvenirs: Yi embroidery, silver jewelry, traditional musical instruments, and handcrafted bamboo items.


2-Day Itinerary: Chuxiong Yi Tribe and Dashanbao Nature Reserve

Combine the rich cultural experience of the Chuxiong Yi Tribe with the natural beauty of Dashanbao Nature Reserve, known for migratory birds and scenic hiking.

  • Day 1: Follow the 1-day itinerary focusing on the Yi Tribe culture.
  • Day 2 Morning: Travel by taxi or arranged transport to Dashanbao Nature Reserve (approx. 70 km, 1.5-2 hours).
  • Day 2 Afternoon: Hike scenic trails, bird watch, and enjoy the plateau landscapes.
  • Day 2 Evening: Return to Chuxiong city or stay near the reserve.

Accommodation & Food: Choose eco-lodges near Dashanbao or return to guesthouses in Chuxiong; sample local trout and mushroom dishes.

Souvenirs: Bird-themed handicrafts, local honey, Yi silverwork, and embroidered textiles.


3-Day Itinerary: Yi Tribe, Dashanbao, and Nanhua Ancient Town

Explore the cultural heritage of the Yi Tribe, enjoy nature at Dashanbao, and discover historical sites at Nanhua Ancient Town.

  • Day 1: Yi Tribe cultural village visit and workshops.
  • Day 2: Dashanbao Nature Reserve hiking and bird watching.
  • Day 3: Travel to Nanhua Ancient Town (approx. 50 km, 1.5 hours by taxi), visit temples, and stroll ancient streets.

Accommodation & Food: Stay in local guesthouses; try Yi cuisine and local snacks like roasted maize and mushroom hotpot.

Souvenirs: Ceramics, Yi embroidery, herbal teas, and silver jewelry.


4-Day Itinerary: In-Depth Cultural and Nature Exploration

Spend four days deepening your experience with the Yi Tribe’s culture, nature reserves, and historic towns around Chuxiong.

  • Days 1-2: Yi Tribe village cultural immersion and craft workshops.
  • Day 3: Dashanbao Nature Reserve for hiking and bird watching.
  • Day 4: Nanhua Ancient Town exploration.

Accommodation & Food: Comfortable inns and eco-lodges; savor wild mushroom dishes, smoked meats, and traditional Yi wines.

Souvenirs: Yi silver jewelry, embroidered clothes, bamboo crafts, and herbal products.


5-Day Itinerary: Extended Tour of Yi Culture and Surroundings

This itinerary offers a thorough journey through Yi culture, neighboring nature reserves, and historic ancient towns with time for local village visits.

  • Days 1-2: Yi Tribe cultural village and craft workshops.
  • Day 3: Dashanbao Nature Reserve.
  • Day 4: Nanhua Ancient Town.
  • Day 5: Visit nearby Yi villages for festivals (seasonal) and folk arts.

Accommodation & Food: Local guesthouses and inns; enjoy Yi barbecue, bamboo rice, and wild vegetable dishes.

Souvenirs: Yi embroidered fabrics, silverware, traditional musical instruments, and local teas.


6-Day Itinerary: Comprehensive Yi Cultural and Natural Experience

Six days to explore Yi culture, natural reserves, ancient towns, and village life with time for workshops and festivals.

  • Days 1-2: Yi Tribe village cultural immersion, museum visits, and crafts.
  • Days 3-4: Dashanbao Nature Reserve hiking and bird watching.
  • Day 5: Nanhua Ancient Town cultural and historic sites.
  • Day 6: Visits to Yi villages, participate in craft making and folk performances.

Accommodation & Food: Boutique inns and eco-lodges; local dishes include goat meat hotpot and wild mushroom cuisine.

Souvenirs: Handcrafted Yi silver, embroidered textiles, bamboo crafts, and herbal teas.


7-Day Itinerary: Ultimate Chuxiong Yi Cultural Journey

A full week discovering the depth of Yi culture, nature, ancient towns, and village traditions around Chuxiong, including workshops and relaxed exploration.

  • Days 1-2: Yi Tribe village, museum, and folk dance performances.
  • Days 3-4: Dashanbao Nature Reserve hiking and birding.
  • Day 5: Nanhua Ancient Town exploration.
  • Days 6-7: Visits to Yi ethnic villages, craft workshops, and cultural festivals (if in season).

Accommodation & Food: Comfortable local guesthouses; enjoy Yi specialty dishes and local wines throughout the trip.

Souvenirs: Yi embroidery, silver jewelry, bamboo crafts, herbal products, and folk art items.


User Reviews

By China-TravelNote users |

I guess the staff of the Yi Tribe who gave this negative review should have seen it, right? Come and see the garbage of your own tribe, malicious refunds, not daring to reply, not daring to answer the phone, as a man is like a woman, isn't it embarrassing for your local area? It's not easy for you to have such a colleague. And by the way, tell him that I have collected most of this person's information, and will expose it through various channels later. If you don't want to be affected, please contact me, otherwise I will find out his parents' information so that I can talk to his parents about what this son of a bitch looks like.

By China-TravelNote users |

There is a temple inside. After you go in, they give you three incense sticks, and then you have to light them and pay a minimum of 199 yuan for the incense.

By Xiwei |

When I went to Yunnan, I passed by Chuxiong and stayed there for one night. The tour guide said it was a local regulation to boost the economic development of Chuxiong.

By King Vegetable Root |

An artificially built antique commercial area, a place to buy things and eat snacks, there is no point in going there specifically

By Drunk in the Breeze |

Mainly because we stopped by here for lunch on the way to Dali.

By China-TravelNote users |

There's a temple right at the entrance, and someone's offering incense at the door. You can see for yourself. Anyway, I accepted it and went in, and had my fortune told. The incense was 99 yuan. The sutra recitation was 99 yuan.

By Alian |

You used to have to buy a ticket to go to the Yi tribe, but now you don’t need to. There is a stone cave inside. I would go there every time I took my friends there. Today I took my friends there again, but I was shocked. There were a few more "monks" who coaxed you to burn incense and pray for your family's safety, and then asked for a minimum of 199 yuan. If you didn't pay, they would curse you. I want to say, is this kind of business management really good?

By Little Radish Sister |

Commercial operation, there is really nothing to do

By Avatar |

A good place to eat and watch a show, but the hot pot there is the worst I have ever had

By YOLO-Dream |

It is not recommended to go in. There is a fee and there is nothing fun to do after entering. There are only some hotels and performances.

By Mai's Divination |

A good place to understand Yi culture and customs!

By Night watch |

The feeling at night is still great and has ethnic characteristics

By 👣Sleepwalking Memories👣 |

It is in the Yi Ancient Town. I didn't go in. I need a ticket.

By fox |

There are performances to watch, very commercial, but also very national

By Colorful Cloud Wanderer |

Although it is a built-up "ancient town", it is a good place to stop for a self-driving tour from Kunming to Dali and Lijiang, especially during the Spring Festival. There is no need to stay in a place as expensive as Dali.......

By Xiao Bianzi just wants to go wild |

It's been a while, so I can't remember clearly. I just think most ancient towns are about the same length.

By Good mentor and helpful friend |

I will come to Yunnan again if I have the chance.

By Qiaoshan Crane |

It's a completely man-made landscape. I just came down from the highway to have a meal. Don't go there specifically, unless you want to die.

By Follow me everywhere |

Yi People's Ancient Town is located north of Yong'an Avenue in the Economic Development Zone of Chuxiong City, Chuxiong Prefecture. It's a newly developed area offering food, accommodation, and sightseeing. Many shops sell Yunnan specialties, and the evening bonfire parties are lively.

By Cat looking at the starry sky |

It's quite commercial, I personally don't like it!

By nico |

I knew it was a commercial town when I arrived, but there was no planning or management at all, and I couldn't feel any ethnic customs. It was just average. I had thought of staying two more nights, but it was boring and I left after one night.

By Bei Wenshui |

This is a place to eat. The food is quite unique, with various mushrooms, and they taste good.

By Dong Ge |

The newly built ancient town is similar to an ordinary market and has no special features.

By Like a dream, like a moon |

The ancient architectural complex imitates Lijiang, but it doesn’t have any special features. It’s worth a visit if you want to kill time nearby!

By xSeptember-Wendy |

In fact, these are all newly built buildings. In addition to the Yi culture, the biggest feature of Chuxiong is the delicious food. I especially recommend coming during the Torch Festival when it will be more lively.

By Yangyang |

The most distinctive feature of Chuxiong Yi Autonomous Prefecture is the local Yi ethnic characteristics.

By sundb2009 |

In this city where there are basically no tourist attractions, we can only create one artificially.

By Yili FX |

It is located in a place in the urban area of Chuxiong City. It is full of Yi ethnic characteristics, but it is a bit commercialized.

By Alenly |

It is impossible to compare the ancient town with Dali and Lijiang, but it is relatively close to Kunming. You can also go there when you go to Dali and take a walk around. The roasted beef is pretty good.

By Traveling the World |

Different experience, different life, some taste

By Legends of the Fall |

1. You must go at night; there's nothing going on during the day. 2. No entrance fee required. 3. The Torch Festival on August 8th and the celebrations are very lively. People also do the left-foot dance on weekdays.

By Travel around China |

The ancient town with Yi ethnic group as its theme is more lively at night.

By jade |

It's a big ancient town, no tickets are required, and you can watch the Yi people's Torch Festival performance at night.

By My name is Black Knife |

The Yi people's ancient town and Yi people's tribe are crowded at night, with a variety of delicious night market stalls and barbecues.

By doudoubean |

Chuxiong was a special stop on the way home from Tengchong. The locals lived in the ancient town, which was quite lively at night. The construction of the ancient town is very distinctive, the streets are spacious, and it is very convenient to eat and stay. After dinner, you can go out for a walk to help digest the food.

By Cat Master Laoqi |

The architectural style is uniform, and the content is more commercial. I had a long street banquet that was different from what I imagined. In the evening, I caught the Torch Festival performance, which was more like a praise for the Torch Festival than a performance.

By cc |

There will be a bonfire party in this small ancient town, where everyone will dance hand in hand, showing national characteristics!

By ximen_lxy |

The environment is very good, the scenery is nice, it is worth a visit

By viola |

It's a relatively mature town, but it's not as crowded with tourists as Dali, with bars everywhere.

By C family |

The ancient town is located in Chuxiong City. It's not very big, just a few streets, and it's newly built. I personally feel that it's not very interesting and there are very few tourists. In fact, when we went there, it seemed that we were the only tourists in the entire ancient town. The theme is not prominent, the characteristics are not obvious, and the publicity is not in place. We walked around and had dinner inside. The owner of the restaurant said that there would be a performance in the central square at 8 o'clock in the evening, but since we were staying a little far away, we didn't go to see it.

By Surging |

In the ancient town, it is very conspicuous on the left. It was a little late and I hurried past.

By DaliClouds |

It is an ancient town that has been well developed in Chuxiong Development Zone. Although it is called an ancient town, it is newly built and has many Yi elements.

By Straw Man |

The newly built "ancient town" was where we went when we were learning to drive. We had a long street banquet here and it felt pretty good.

By MR_Hans_ |

Although it is an ancient town, I stayed there for two days and it felt great.

By Spatarcus |

There is nothing special about it. There was a big bonfire party on the night we went there, which was a bit interesting. It can be excluded from the itinerary.

By Bobo |

This is a land that has nurtured a great culture; this is a nation of fiery passion, a sea of song, a world of dance, a whirlpool of joy. Every visitor is a most important friend of the Yi people. Beautiful gardens are the pursuit of life. The Yi tribes embody the "Along the River During the Qingming Festival" and Song and Ming Dynasty landscape paintings, stretching in all directions. Small bridges, flowing water, lush flowers and trees, pavilions and towers, a God-given piece of the vast Jiangnan. Leveraging Chuxiong's rich tourism resources, regional customs and ethnic cultural characteristics, the Yi Ancient Town has joined forces with a world-class design firm to disassemble and construct outstanding global cultural elements and creatively apply them to the planning and development of the Yi Ancient Town's eastern district. The result is a complex tourism product cluster integrating sightseeing, leisure and vacation, conferences and business, culture and art, performing arts exhibitions, shopping and entertainment, fitness and sports, and high-quality living. This has laid a solid foundation for the Yi Ancient Town to become a world-class tourist destination.

By bye |

You can go to the street to buy beef jerky, which tastes good. Some tribes require you to pay to visit, which is not very interesting.

By Yes |

The characteristics of the Yi people make Chuxiong full of ethnic minority atmosphere. The mountains and rivers nurture the people. However, the economy is a bit depressed and there are few people.

By Tianhai's Heart |

The accommodation is very convenient. There is a bonfire party at night. The quiet street is also beautifully built.

By little fat man |

At that time, the square and the new town were still under construction. We went to a roadside restaurant and found one that had chicken soup with real free-range chicken, which was so delicious. The other one had roasted pork, which was especially delicious. 😊 Some people still think about this incident.

By Cuscuta australis |

It’s similar to the Yi Ancient Town. Actually, I don’t think I’ve ever been there, O(∩_∩)O haha~

By Linlin |

Normally, when I go there during the off-season, the street is very charming. But during the Torch Festival this time, it was dirty and messy. I really don't like it.

By jianing28 |

To be honest, it's too ordinary, just a man-made folk attraction with performances and so on.

By Kang |

Among the many ancient towns in Yunnan, this one is quite unique.

By new |

It has rich ethnic characteristics and is worth a visit. The local people are very welcoming.

By Khaki |

It is a place to eat and shop, with many special snacks, such as Paoruda

By diaoer |

I went there in the morning, and there were no merchants or tourists. It felt very quiet and clean. It is adjacent to Myanmar and you can experience a different style.

By Qu Tingting |

I've been to this street of ancient-style buildings a few times and always encountered local events. For example, there were traditional Yi festivals, long street banquets, toasting songs, and so on.

In the evening, they lit a bonfire and performed their most traditional folk dance.

By Eleven Sauce |

The food is not tasty and commercialized.

By Natsuki and Shizuru |

We stayed in the Yi Ancient Town for one night. When we had dinner at the Yi tribe, there was a singing and dancing performance on the stage opposite. It was super lively.

By Tinker Bell |

The newly developed ancient town, like many other ancient towns, is commercialized in a similar way, but the houses are unique and have ethnic characteristics. The scenery is beautiful, especially at night. It is really nice to live in the ancient town.

By distance |

I went there at night. The night view is pretty good. There is a small park inside. The rest are small shops. The things are very expensive.

By Travel and eat |

A magical land that gave birth to Jurassic dinosaurs, a vicissitudes of life that nurtured Eastern humanity, a poetic homeland embracing the thousand-mile Yi Mountains. Today, due to an encounter with an ancient tourist town, it has transformed into a city that is gradually moving towards the world.

By Yu Chen |

This ancient town is newly renovated and doesn't have many features. It feels a bit deceptive.

By Lala White |

The newly renovated ancient town is just so-so. There is nothing much to visit. I have seen too many ancient towns and I am not impressed by them.

By Colorful Yunnan-Li Jiaming |

After visiting many ancient cities and towns in big cities, I feel that the people here are simple and honest.

By Grain |

The commercialization is also quite serious, but you can go and have a look. I originally wanted to go to Heijing, but got off at the wrong station, so I just left it as it is.

By Eagles fly and fish leap ♬ |

Although it is a real estate project developed in the later stage, it is still worth a visit as a rest stop on the way to Dali and Lijiang. No tickets are required, there are bonfire parties every night, and various snacks are available. The hotel inside is cheap and clean.

By Queen Fuji |

The memories of my visit with my ex-boyfriend are naturally not good, but the Yi Ancient Town is still good, and the Torch Festival is even more fun.

By Batu |

It's a small village with restaurants and performances. It takes about 2 hours to visit it. You can consider staying in the town for a night. The food is cheap and delicious.

By What time will it arrive tomorrow? |

I went there once, but nothing was left behind, only some things were deeply engraved in my mind.

By Passerby |

A comprehensive tourist attraction in the Yi Ancient Town that showcases Yi culture, folk houses, and sacrificial customs.

By rex |

This is a town built specifically to attract tourists. It is completely commercialized and everything costs money. However, the song and dance performances are still very unique.

By Good Philips |

There are quite a lot of people, and tickets are required for the evening performances in the ancient town. It takes at least a day to walk through the entire ancient town.

By baby |

The Yi Ancient Town should be newly built. There is no entrance fee. Everyone is selling things when they enter. When I went there, I saw a stall selling mutton skewers. They really hung the mutton next to it and cut the meat off and put it on skewers for sale.


The attractions mentioned in the above itinerary


More attractions in Chuxiong


Popular attractions in Yunnan

Top attractions in Chuxiong

Top attractions in Dali

Top attractions in JianShui

Top attractions in Kunming

Top attractions in Lijiang

Top attractions in LuoPing

Top attractions in Ruili

Top attractions in Shangri-La

Top attractions in Shuanglang

Top attractions in Shuhe

Top attractions in Tengchong

Top attractions in Xishuangbanna

Top attractions in Yuanyang

Top attractions in Yubeng

Top attractions in Yuxi