Shangri-La Daocheng Aden self-driving tour

Number of days: 6 days
Time: July
Average cost: 5000 yuan
With whom: parent-child
Updated: 2021.07.28

Route: Guangzhou----Shangri-La---- Daocheng---- Shangri-La---- Guangzhou

Accommodation: Shangri-La Yicheng Hotel, Daocheng Marriott Hotel, Shangri-La Yunshang Qinglu Hotel (Manor)

Attractions: Kadan Songzanlin Temple, Pudacuo National Park, Dukezong Ancient City, Daocheng Aden, Napa Sea Huanhu Road, Ira Grassland, Tiger Leaping Gorge.

Special food: yak hot pot, matsutake chicken hot pot, yellow braised yak beef, Tibetan pork, air-dried yak meat.

Passing by from your whole world, Shangri-La and Daocheng Aden!

Shangri-la, also known as Shambhala, is a county-level city under the jurisdiction of Diqing Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan Province, which means "sun and moon in the heart" in Tibetan, located in the northwest of Yunnan Province, in the hinterland of the Hengduan Mountains of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, and is the junction of Yunnan, Sichuan and Tibet provinces, with a total area of 11,418 square kilometers and jurisdiction over 7 townships and 4 towns. The Shangri-La Tibetan area has a long history and gorgeous natural scenery, with Pudacuo National Park, Dukezong Ancient City, Kadan Songzanlin Temple, Tiger Leaping Gorge and other scenic spots. Shangri-La appeared in the novel "The Vanishing Horizon" by British writer James Hilton in the 30s of the 20th century and was coveted by the world, and was soon made into a movie of the same name and won a number of Oscars, making it more well-known to the world.

Daocheng Aden National Nature Reserve is located in Shangri-La Town, Daocheng County, southern Ganzi Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province, located in the eastern part of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, in the middle of the Hengduan Mountains, adjacent to Shangri-La in Yunnan Province in the south, and connected to Lugu Lake and Lijiang in the southeast. The forest area of Daocheng Aden National Nature Reserve is 560 square kilometers, with 1,126 species of vascular plants and 291 species of vertebrates. There are more than 10 peaks above 5,000 meters above sea level, more than 30 peaks above 4,500 meters above sea level, and 62 alpine ancient glacial lakes. Aden National Nature Reserve is mainly composed of three sacred mountains of "Xiannairi, Yangmaiyong and Xiano Dorji" and the surrounding rivers, lakes and alpine meadows, the northern peak of Xiannairi Peak (meaning "Guanyin Bodhisattva" in Tibetan) is 6,032 meters above sea level, which is the fifth highest peak in Sichuan Province; The southern peak Yangmai Yong Peak (meaning "Vajra Hand Bodhisattva" in Tibetan) is 5,958 meters above sea level, symbolizing the god of eliminating violence and peace; The eastern peak of Xiano Dorjee Peak (meaning "Manjushri Bodhisattva" in Tibetan) is 5,958 meters and represents wisdom.

Book your flights, hotels, and cars in advance. Fly directly from Guangzhou to Shangri-La at 9 am, arrive at Shangri-La Airport at 12 am, and pick up the car at the airport to the hotel. Shangri-La City is not big, and you can reach the hotel in a few minutes. Check in and put your luggage away, then set off for Kadansong Zanlin Temple.

Songzanlin Monastery, also known as Guihua Temple, is located at the foot of Foping Mountain, 5 kilometers north of Shangri-La, and is one of the "Thirteen Forests" established by the Fifth Dalai Lama and the Kangxi Emperor of the Qing Dynasty in 1679 AD. It is not only the largest Tibetan Buddhist temple community in Yunnan, but also the center of Huangjiao in northwest Yunnan, known as the "Little Potala Palace". The temple is built on the mountain, resembling an ancient castle, which is the culmination of Tibetan plastic art and is known as the "Museum of Tibetan Art".

It is only about ten minutes' drive from the hotel to Songzanlin Temple, and there is a large free parking lot in the scenic spot, so you can buy tickets at the ticket office of the scenic spot. Online booking is the same as buying at the scenic spot, because you have to buy student tickets, so choose to buy it at the scenic spot, otherwise online booking will save some time. Then take the scenic sightseeing bus into the scenic spot. The scenic spot is equipped with a tour guide, which allows tourists to fully understand the history and culture of the scenic spot. The tour duration is 2~3 hours. We had plenty of time, so we first visited the Songzanlin Temple, and then walked around the plank road around Ramyangcuo Lake in front of the temple to see the magnificent Songzanlin Temple in all directions.

After visiting Songzanlin Temple, return to the ancient city of Dukezong for dinner in the evening. I chose the "Yizun Hot Pot Restaurant" around the ancient city, the yak noodles and beef hooves here are very good, and I ordered some fresh yak meat and vegetables, a very sumptuous dinner, and went back to the hotel to rest after eating.

The next morning I went to Pudacuo National Park. Had a hearty breakfast buffet at the hotel and drove away. Pudacuo National Park is more than 20 kilometers away from the city and takes about 40 minutes by car. A few kilometers away from the city are good asphalt roads, and the plains along the road are beautiful. The remaining road to the park is being widened and constructed, all dirt roads, coupled with rain and water, the road is potholed and a little bumpy. It is estimated that it will take a year to repair. However, due to the wide road surface and the short distance, we arrived at the attraction quite early. There is a large free parking lot in the scenic area, and parking is very convenient. Get off the bus and go directly to the ticket hall to buy tickets, and then take the scenic sightseeing bus to enter the scenic spot. The scenic spot is currently only open to the attractions of Duhu Lake, which can be hiked in two sections: the first section is the stream forest wetland landscape, about 2 kilometers, and the other section is the lakeside plank road, about 3 kilometers. Take a sightseeing bus from the entrance of the scenic spot, get off the bus and walk after about 10 minutes, go up the stream, cross the woods, enjoy the stream, flowers, etc., arrive at the waterfall and take the sightseeing bus again to the shore of the capital, and then you can walk along the lakeside plank road. It was rainy and cloudy when we went, and the temperature was around 15 degrees, which was very comfortable. Green mountains and green waters, wetland meadows, lakes and mountains in full view. I took pictures while walking and visited for more than 4 hours. It was already past one o'clock in the afternoon when I returned to the gate of the scenic spot, and I ate rice noodles across the bridge at the exit of the scenic spot. Because it is in the scenic spot, the price is a bit expensive and the cost performance is not high.

Return to the ancient city of Dukezong in the afternoon to slow down and visit the ancient city.Basically all ancient cities are the same: stone streets, antique buildings; Shops selling souvenirs, accessories, and ethnic costumes, as well as restaurants, bars, and museums. After shopping for more than an hour, I sold some souvenirs, and then ate at an Internet celebrity restaurant in the ancient city: at the water side hot pot restaurant. The butter tea in this restaurant is very fragrant and delicious, and it deserves praise.

On the third day, we drove from Shangri-La to Daocheng, and the mobile phone navigation showed that the whole journey was about 335 kilometers and took about 8 hours. After passing through National Highway 214 and 215, County Highway 460, National Highway 227, etc., the whole process is asphalt road, and the road surface is very good, but through canyons, mountains, there are many curves, and the speed cannot be too fast. Leaving the city and walking in the direction of the Balagzong Grand Canyon, there are Songshan mountains along the way, and the scenery of the canyon is very shocking and the vegetation is sparse. I am particularly grateful to be able to build a road on such a steep mountain, admire the wisdom and perseverance of the road builders, and truly understand the true meaning of "Shu Road is difficult to go to the sky". However, with today's technology and economic capabilities, the difficulty of the Shu Road is a thing of the past. After passing the canyon, we came to a reservoir area, the road winds along the edge of the reservoir, this section of the road is particularly curved, the right side of the road is a cliff, you need to be especially careful when driving. The eyes are full of brown rocks. After passing through the reservoir area, we came to a more open place with more houses, and it was already lunch time, so we stopped for lunch in this place we will call "small town" for the time being. The owner of the restaurant is very good, looking at the three of us, he directly introduced us to 3 dishes, the price of the dishes is not expensive, and each person has eaten well with no more than 30 yuan. What's even more rare is that there is a very large free parking lot opposite the restaurant. After lunch, we continued to set off, here we began to go uphill, the scenery on both sides of the road was very different from before, the road was green and green, the stream was gurgling, it turned out to be the beginning of entering the plateau wetland pasture. Reaching the top of the mountain at an altitude of 4,000 meters, there is a green alpine grassland pasture, which is very eye-catching and has beautiful scenery. Although this section of the road is a climb, the route is relatively straight, and it is very comfortable to drive, and you can enjoy the beautiful scenery and cattle on both sides of the road along the way. There are actually many viewing points (parking areas) on the whole road for everyone to rest and enjoy the beautiful scenery, so although it is a little far, but all the way to appreciate different natural landscapes and customs, which is also one of the purposes of travel, especially self-driving tours. We parked the car at the observation deck on the side of the road and slept in the car for about half an hour, after all, it was a little tiring to drive for a few hours, so we took a break to recuperate and then set off, which was more secure for safety. After passing through the mountains of Songshan, the beautiful alpine pastures, and the beautiful architectural style of Shangri-La Town, we arrived at the hotel located at the entrance of Daocheng Aden Scenic Area at 4:30 pm. The hotel is about 100 meters away from the entrance of the scenic spot, after parking the car and putting down the luggage at the hotel, we first go to the gate of the scenic spot to step on the point and purchase oxygen, food and other necessary items for the next day's mountain climbing. Oxygen and chocolate are necessary to enter the Aden scenic spot, and mountaineering consumes a lot of physical strength, and chocolate is needed to quickly replenish physical energy. Oxygen is used to prevent altitude sickness.

Finish breakfast at the hotel at 7 am and walk to the attraction to buy tickets. The scenic spot opens at 7 a.m. Daocheng Aden is divided into two lines, called long lines and short lines. The long line is Chonggu Temple - Luorong Cattle Farm - Milk Sea - Wusehai, the whole journey is about 11 kilometers, from 4100 meters above sea level to the highest altitude of 4700 meters; The short line is Chonggu Temple - Pearl Sea, about 1.5 kilometers, full of plank roads, relatively easy to walk. It is best to take 2 days to complete the 2 routes, and the ticket is valid for 2 days, but you need to buy a sightseeing ticket at half price or 60 yuan to enter the next day, because it is about 33 kilometers from the entrance of the scenic spot to Chonggu Temple, and you need to take about 1 hour to arrive by scenic sightseeing bus. The sightseeing car drives halfway up the mountain, enjoying the sea of clouds, snow-capped mountains and other scenery along the way, and the scenery is beautiful and steep.

The

first section of the long line is about 6.5 kilometers from Chonggu Temple to Luorong Cattle Farm, and the whole journey is a plank road, and it takes 2~3 hours to walk.This section of the scenery is similar to the first section of Pudacuo and the front section of Jiuzhaigou, which is a meadow and wetland landscape, so if you are an experienced tourist, you usually do not walk on this section, but choose to take a sightseeing bus (round-trip fare is 80 yuan), because after walking this section, you basically have no physical strength to walk the latter section. Take a sightseeing bus to Luorong Cattle Farm, which is a wetland, meadow and plank road, where you can see 3 sacred (snow) mountains. The second section is about 3.5 kilometers from Luorong Cattle Farm to Milk Sea, which is a sand and gravel road, and the middle section needs to climb high, which is the hardest section, basically you need to take a break and walk after climbing a few steps, at this time you need to take oxygen and eat chocolate to replenish energy. There is a gentle boardwalk near the Milk Sea, so it is easier to climb the high section. It is about 1.5 kilometers from the Milk Sea to the Five Colors Sea, which is a plank road and relatively easy. The milk sea is a glacial lake, and at this time it has reached the foot of the snow-capped mountains, the lake water is crystal clear, and the snow-capped mountains are very beautiful; The air is fresh and clean, and the sky is clear and spotless. Climbing further up is the five-colored sea, climbing to the top of the mountain, surrounded by 3 snow-capped mountains, the snow-capped mountains are close to Chichi, the glacier lake is in full view, and there is a great pride of seeing the mountains. After the limit of climbing, it is much easier to go down the mountain, basically no oxygen inhalation, but you need to return to Luorong Cattle Farm from the original road to take a sightseeing car. We brought 2 bottles of medical-grade oxygen, and we didn't take in much, and when we were about to return to the Luorong Cattle Farm, there were tourists who climbed the mountain and needed oxygen, so we gave them the oxygen that was not finished. We entered the mountain relatively early, there were relatively few tourists, and when we went down the mountain, there were many tourists, and it was even more difficult to climb the mountain. It was already past one o'clock in the afternoon when we returned to the rest point of the Luorong Cattle Farm, and our physical strength was basically exhausted, so we ate our own hot lunch box, instant noodles and fruits for lunch.

The short line from Okikoji Temple to the Pearl Sea is about 1.5 kilometers, and you can see the lake and snow-capped mountains up close, making it a relatively easy route to visit.We originally planned to go the next morning, considering that the road from Daocheng to Shangri-La is relatively steep, if we go back from Aden at noon, it may take a little more to arrive at night, so we chose to return to Shangri-La directly from the hotel the next morning.

Back to Shangri-La at 3 p.m., I checked in at the hotel, and then drank tea and chatted with the boss at the hotel. The hotel is on the edge of the Napa Haila grassland, with the grassland in front, cattle and horses grazing leisurely, and Shangri-La Airport on the other side of the grassland. Sitting on the warm sofa of the hotel, listening to the boss introduce his entrepreneurial history, watching the cattle grazing, watching the plane take off and off, tasting Yunnan famous tea, leisurely and freehand. After chatting for more than half an hour, we drove out for a tour around the lake along the Napa Sea.

Napa Sea is right next to Shangri-La, slow down along the lake, watch the cattle and horses graze leisurely, park into the grassland, and come to the cattle for close contact. Watching the horse farm staff run, if you are interested, you can also ride by yourself, there are many racecourses here. Come to the wetland to see the beautiful scenery of the water and sky, enjoy the free flight and play of water birds, take pictures while walking, relax, play for about 2 hours, and have dinner at the banquet food city at the east gate of the ancient city in the evening. This is a restaurant located next to the archway of the east gate of the ancient city, which mainly serves locals, and the yak hot pot and barbecue here are very good and the price is also very reasonable. The owner is a local guy born in the 80s, warm and hospitable. I especially like Cantonese songs, and we listened to all the classic Cantonese songs of Principal Tan during the meal. The next night we also had dinner here before going to the airport.

On the 6th day, there were no attractions arranged, because it was a flight at more than 9 o'clock in the evening, and there was plenty of time, so we arranged to go to Tiger Leaping Gorge. From Shangri-La to Lijiang has a highway, we first take a section of National Highway 214 to Xiaozhongdian, Xiaozhongdian has a flower sea attraction, but at this time there are no flowers, we only see green plants when we arrive at the flower sea, no flowers. So I got on the highway from Xiaozhongdian, and after about an hour, I arrived at Tiger Leaping Gorge Town, and then had lunch here, and then went to the scenic spot after lunch. When we came to Lijiang in 2015, we went to the Zhonghu Leaping Gorge, and this time we swam to the Tiger Leaping Gorge, the surging river water was like thousands of horses, majestic, the water was rushing, and the river hit the rocks with a deafening sound. On both sides are high mountains and mountains, and the river at the foot of the mountain is narrow, which means that tigers can also jump over the river, so it is called Tiger Leaping Gorge. We took a tour and spent about two hours to appreciate the magic of nature. Then drive back to Shangri-La. Return to Shangri-La at 4:30 p.m., have dinner at the banquet, drive to the airport to return the car after dinner, take a flight back to Guangzhou at 9:35 p.m., return to Guangzhou at 12:30, and then go home to end the pleasant journey.