You Cannot Miss These When Travel To Lijiang

Lijiang is a popular destination in Yunnan, is considered an imaginary ideal place blessed with fresh air, clear streams, breathtaking snow mountains and an undisturbed landscape. It is wonderful to enjoy a quiet and pleasant holiday in its Old Town which is graced by well preserved ancient buildings and the Naxi culture.

How to get Lijiang

I went Lijiang by air, there are fights linking Lijiang and Kunming and you’d better choose a morning flight. Lijiang airport is about 28km from the city center and the taxi takes about RMB80 for 40 minutes. If you want to save some money, you can choose the share-car service, but do remember to cut the cost if possible.

You can also take trains to Lijiang if you want to see some sceneries during your travelling. There are many trains form Kunming to Lijiang.

 Where to live in Lijiang

The local inns in Lijiang are almost rebuilt from Naxi people’s wooden house with a yard.  I booked Author Art Hotel in Shuhe Ancient Town before I came Lijiang and they have free Airport-pick service. You can check in a double room for about RMB200 for one night. Just leave you luggage in the hotel and begin to relax yourself in an Utopia.

 Shuhe Old Town

Shuhe is also one of the first settlements of Naxi ancestors. It is not only a very important town in the Anciet Tea Route that leads to Tibet, but also a famous cobbler town. The cobblers here are as skillful as those in Italy. Due to the trading activities along this road, the Naxi people gradually gave up the nomadic life and settled for farming and later started to do business.

 What to eat in Lijiang

Salted Pork Ribs Hot Pot(highly recommended)

The main ingredient in the salted pork ribs hot pot is pork ribs salted with wine, sugar, and spice and other seasonings. After stored the salted ribs in a water-filterable wooden vat for 15 days, the pork ribs are fully permeated with salt and flavor of flesh and rib are well-blended. Later, dry them in the shady ventilating area for one or 3 months, then the savory salted pork ribs are prepared. Boiling them with other vegetables in hot pot, the Salted Pork Ribs Hot Pot would be a great feast to your taste bud.

 Salmon with sauce

Lijiang has the largest breeding base of Salmon in China. Since Salmon is cold-water fish, so the glacial melt water of snow mountain is particularly suitable for raising Salmon either in water-quality or in water-temperature. The Salmon is featured with tender flesh and savory flavor, which is totally different from that of frozen products that commonly eaten.

Dayan Old Town

Then you can rent a bike head to Dayan old Town which about 6km far away from Shuhe. There you can take a horse ride to experience the ancient life if you like, but do remember to cut the price.

The popular snacks

Taste the special snacks when you lounged in Lijiang, especially those made of tofu and potato, you will find it is really different from what you have eaten before.

The night bars

If you like bars, don’t miss it. After feeling the undisturbed life of Naxi people during the daytime, you should enter into the noisy bar to spend your night until you feel tired. Then go back to the hotel to get some rest and head to Lijiang airport at 7am. My one day travel embraced its end.

 What’s important

There are often heavy rains on summer, an it is also more expensive to visit Lijiang in summer. Wear any summer clothes, such as shirts, shorts and skirts, but also a light coat or sweater for early morning and evening. If you visit the mountainous areas, you need to prepare warmer clothes. Sunlight is very strong in summer, wear sun protection such as hats, sunglasses and sun block, and drink lots of water.