Live Your Best Lives
Yunnan, known as the "South of Colorful Clouds", has a pleasant climate with spring-like weather all year round. There is no pollution from modern industry or the noise of bustling cities, and many places even retain the most primitive way of life.
Every November and December, Yunnan welcomes several spectacular seasonal sights: Tengchong's yellow ginkgo leaves, Wuliangshan's winter cherry blossoms, and the Nujiang Grand Canyon's autumn colors. Enjoy these three spectacular sights on a single trip: experience the cherry blossoms in full bloom in early winter, wander through golden-hued ancient towns, or simply sit and soak in the ancient, mysterious atmosphere.
Take in three seasonal sights on this one trip to help you understand your itinerary:
DAY1: Dali gathering
DAY2: Dali - Longjiang Bridge - Ginkgo Village
DAY3: Ginkgo Village-Heshun Ancient Town
DAY4: Heshun Ancient Town - Liuku - Tiger Leaping - Feilai Stone - Laomudeng
DAY5: Laomudeng - Zhiziluo - Taohuadao - Bingzhongluo
DAY 6: Bingzhongluo - Nujiang River First Bend - Puhua Temple - Yunnan-Tibet Border - Qiunatong - Wuli Village
DAY7: Bingzhongluo - Lisu Zipline - Liuku
DAY8: Liuku - Taiji Locking Water - Nuodeng City Walk
DAY9: Nuodeng-Wuliangshan Cherry Blossom Valley
DAY10: Wuliangshan Cherry Blossom Valley-Dalian Disbandment
As Tengchong's most famous autumn scenery, this ancient village transforms into a golden kingdom hidden in Yunnan in mid-November every year. It gradually begins to show its autumn charm, attracting many tourists and photographers to capture the autumn colors.
Ginkgo Village is not big, but it has a long history and rich culture. It is known as "China's No. 1 Ginkgo Village". In the golden autumn season (mid-November to early December), the ancient ginkgo trees in the town are golden. The courtyards, eaves, fields, and ditches are covered with golden ginkgo leaves. The ancient buildings are even more quaint under the shade of thousands of ginkgo trees. The movie "Wuxia" starring Donnie Yen was filmed here.
Some people describe Ginkgo Village as: the village is in the forest, and the forest is in the village. 827 households have lived in harmony with more than 3,000 ancient ginkgo trees for generations. The oldest of them, the "Ginkgo King", is more than 1,300 years old. In summer, when the trees are full of lush green, it must be a different scene.
Tips:
ðLocation: Ginkgo Village is located in Gudong Town, Tengchong County, Baoshan City, Yunnan Province, a 40-minute drive from Tengchong City
â°Best time to visit: Ginkgo Village is only beautiful for about 20 days a year, and the best viewing period is from mid-November to early December.
â¶Reference time: half a day to 1 day
â¶Tickets: 40 yuan/person
â¶Opening hours: Open all day
The winter cherry blossoms of Nanjian, Dali, begin to bloom after the beginning of winter each year. Even in the coldest of winter, the area exudes a vibrant spring scene. The warm winter sun around midday, backlit by the cherry blossoms, makes Sakura Valley a prime spot for photographers. Early morning mist shrouds the valley, creating a breathtaking spectacle.
This was originally a tea garden. In order to provide shade for the tea trees, the merchants who bought this place not only did not remove the several cherry trees originally growing here, but instead bred a large number of cherry seedlings in the following years. Until today, the former "tea garden" has become the "Cherry Blossom Valley" in the hearts of tourists.
Tips:
ðLocation: De'an Village, Wuliang Town, Nanjian County, Dali Prefecture, a two-hour drive from Dali City
â°Best time to travel: The cherry blossoms in Wuliang Mountain are a unique variety of cherry blossoms in Yunnan - winter cherry blossoms. The flowering period is generally from late November to mid-December, about 25 days.
â¶Reference time: 1-3 hours
â¶Tickets: Free
â¶Opening hours: Open all day
The Nu River runs through Bingzhongluo, its canyon walls steep and cliff-lined, its waters surging like a galloping wild horse. You may not have heard of this place, but you've undoubtedly seen its popular online photos somewhereâthe river flows around a horseshoe-shaped peninsula, marking the Nu River's First Bend. As it flows through southern Bingzhongluo, the river is blocked by mountains, changing direction twice, forming the present-day Nujiang Bay.
The water here flows fast and is majestic. People traveling east and west often go boating or take a zipline to cross the river. A zipline is hung between two mountains as a "Nujiang Sky Bridge". Now with the development of transportation, ziplining has also become a special experience for tourists - tie a thick rope and fly across the Nujiang River, with the wind rustling around you, which is thrilling.
(Ancient Tea-Horse Road)
As the name suggests, this is a village shrouded in clouds and mist. You can reach Wuli Village hidden in the mountain stream by walking about two kilometers along the Ancient Tea-Horse Road beside the Nujiang River. The Ancient Tea-Horse Road was the only transportation route connecting Wuli Village with the outside world. Wuli Village has no road so far, and the only way to reach it is by walking.
There are more than 60 households in the village, which is picturesque and surrounded by mountains on three sides. The stilt wooden houses scattered in the fields dot the mountains and fields, making it like a paradise. It is the last original ecological village.
When talking about Nuodeng, everyone inevitably thinks of the most famous Nuodeng ham in Yunnan. Only a village with a long history and rich culture can produce such a legendary delicacy. This is the ancient village of Nuodeng, a Bai village with a history of thousands of years.
The ancient village of Nuodeng is located in the mountains of Yunlong County, Dali. Modern residential buildings are rare in the village. Instead, the houses are built around salt wells. Most of the buildings here retain a lot of Ming and Qing Dynasty styles. They are stacked layer upon layer and surrounded by mountains. Walking along the thousand-year-old stone steps, strolling through the ancient alleys, and listening to the crisp sound of horse bells, it feels like going back thousands of years.
Heshun Ancient Town, located 4 kilometers west of Tengchong County, is a renowned overseas Chinese hometown in Yunnan Province and a vital stop on the Ancient Tea-Horse Road and the Southwest Silk Road. The town's buildings are nestled among the mountains, and the Shunhe Memorial Archway at the entrance, built in 2001, is a local landmark. Ancestral halls, memorial archways, and ancient residences from the Ming and Qing dynasties dot the town. Li Genyuan, Acting Premier of the Republic of China, eulogized Heshun in a poem: "It surpasses even the little Suzhou and Hangzhou."
There is also the famous Hot Sea Big Boiling Pot here, located in Qingshui Township, southwest of Tengchong County. It is rich in hot springs. There are 10 hot spring groups with hot steam gushing out, and the water temperature reaches over 90â. The most typical spring is the Big Boiling Pot.
Here, we experience sunrises, seas of clouds, morning mist, ethereal winter cherry blossoms, gilded ginkgo leaves, and the breathtaking Nu River that flows through Bingzhongluo. We savored delicious food in Ginkgo Village, where smoke curled up from chimneys, captured the Nu River's first bend from a specially selected viewing spot, and stayed in Cherry Blossom Valley to watch the sunrise over Wuliang Mountain. This is Nujiang Ginkgo and Cherry Blossoms! This is early spring in Yunnan!
