Three Parallel Rivers Overview

1. Basic Information of Three Parallel Rivers

  • Chinese Name: 三江并流
  • Area: 3,500square kilometers
  • Opening time: all day long
  • Recommended time: one day
  • Best time to visit:all year around

2. Location of Parallel Rivers

The Three Parallel Rivers refer to the three rivers of the Jinsha River, the Lancang River and the Nujiang River, which originate from the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and run more than 170 kilometers from north to south in Yunnan Province, cross the mountains between Dandang Lika Mountain, Gaoligong Mountain, Nu Mountain and other high mountains and lofty hills.

3. Administrative Division

The Three Parallel Rivers mainly include Diqing, Lijiang, and Nujiang, Yunlong Dali, part of Baoshan, Changdu Tibet, and part of Southwest Sichuan.

4. Ethnic People

There are 22 ethnic minorities, such as Naxi, Lisu, Tibetan, Bai, Yi, Pumi, Nu, Dulong, etc. living around Three Parallel Rivers.

5. Climate and Weather

Due to the wide range of Three Parallel Rivers, there are mainly three kinds of climate, such as highland climate (Lijiang), plateau monsoon climate (Nujiang), and typical plateau climate (Diqing)

6. Best Time to Visit

The Three Parallel Rivers spans a wide range and the climate is naturally diverse. The best time to visit the Three Parallel Rivers is all year round, and you can see different scenery every season.

7. Features

1) The birthplace of the ancient tea horse road.
2) The second largest World Heritage Site in China.
3) The world's richest geological and geomorphological museum.
4) The World Biological Gene Bank, one of the most biologically diverse regions in the world.

5) World Biological Gene Bank, one of the most biologically diverse regions in the world.
6) Representative regions of the rare alpine landforms and their evolution in the world.

8. Things to Do

The Three Parallel Rivers refer to the three rivers of the Jinsha River, the Lancang River and the Nujiang River, which originate from the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and run more than 170 kilometers from north to south in Yunnan Province. Compared with other attractions, there are many attractions around Three Parallel Rivers, such as Tiger Leaping Gorge, Haba Snow Mountain, Jade Dragon Snow Mountain, Laojun Mountain National Forest Park, Yangtze River First Bend, Liming Qiangui Mountain, Tacheng Yunnan Snub-nosed Monkey Park, Nujiang First Bend, Jinsha River Moon Bend, Meili Snow Mountain, Mingyong Glacier, Baimang Snow Mountain , Yubeng Village, Lancang River Grand Canyon, Cizhong Village, Cizhong Church, Biluo Snow Mountain, Bingzhongluo, Gaoligong Mountain, Nujiang River, Lancang River, Jinsha River, Nujiang Grand Canyon, Dulong River Grand Canyon, Yunling Mountains.  

9. How to Get to Three Parallel Rivers?

The Three Parallel Rivers can be accessible by air and long-distance bus. Long-Distance Bus is another important way getting to Three Parallel Rivers, which could be accessible from Kunming, Shangri-La, etc.