11 Days Yunnan Classic Tour with Holy Lugu Lake and Mosuo Matriarchal Society (Departure from Shangrila)

Tour Overview

For this tour, Luguhu Lake in Lijiang is very different attraction from others. The exotic Mosuo ethnic culture and Matriarchal Society around Luguhu Lake is very attractive for every...

Code of Tour: YET0000000151

Length of Travel: 11 Day

Destinations of Tour: Kunming-Dali-Lijiang-Lugu Lake-Lijiang-Tiger Leaping Gorge-Shangrila

Departure City: Kunming

Price of Tour: Request

Type of Tour:

Features of Tour: Nature Culture History Minorities

More Map & Picture

For this tour, Luguhu Lake in Lijiang is very different attraction from others. The exotic Mosuo ethnic culture and Matriarchal Society around Luguhu Lake is very attractive for every tourist. The main destinations will include Kunming, Dali, Lijiang, Luguhu Lake, Shangri-La, Tiger Leaping Gorge. You will explore Naxis, Yis, Bais, Mosuos and Tibetans ethnic culture in the trip.

Highlights:

• Visit the highlights of Kunming, Dali, Lijiang and Shangri-La.
• Discover the ethnic culture of Yis, Bais, Naxis and Tibetan.
• Explore the mysterious Muosuo minority in Lugu Lake.
• Be shocked by the ruggedness and magnificence of Tiger Leaping Gorge.

Brief Itinerary

• Day 1: Kunming Arrival
• Day 2: Kunming – Stone Forest – Kunming
• Day 3: Kunming – Dali
• Day 4: Dali – Lijiang
• Day 5: Lijiang
• Day 6: Lijiang – Lugu Lake
• Day 7: Lugu Lake
• Day 8: Lugu Lake – Lijiang
• Day 9: Lijiang-Tiger Leaping Gorge- Shangri-La
• Day 10: Shangri-La
• Day 11: Shangri-La Departure

Google Map

Detailed Itinerary

Day 1 Kunming Arrival

Sightseeing and Activities:Kunming Arrival
Accommodation: Kunming
Meals: 

Upon arrival at the Kunming International Airport, meet your local guide and transfer to the hotel. 

Day 2 Kunming – Stone Forest – Kunming

Sightseeing and Activities: Stone Forest, Guandu Ancient Town
Accommodation: Kunming
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch

You will drive 86 km to the Stone Forest. An old local saying says that ‘If you have visited Kunming without seeing the Stone Forest, you have wasted your time.’ Truly, the Stone Forest is one of the most important attractions of Yunnan. After lunch drive back Kunming to visit the Guandu Ancient Town which is a famous historical & cultural town in Kunming; it keeps the main architectural style of Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming, and Qing Dynasties.

Day 3 Kunming – Dali

Sightseeing and Activities: Three-pagodas in Chongshen Temple, Erhai Lake Cruise, Dali Ancient Town
Accommodation: Dali 
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch

Take the morning flight to Dali, a historically and culturally famous city of China, which is renowned for her historical interest and Bai ethnic culture. After landing, you will visit the Three Pagodas in Chongshen Monastery which has a history of over 1,800 years located at the foot of Cangshan Mountain facing to the Erhai Lake. Three Pagodas are made of three ancient independent pagodas forming a symmetrical triangle. After lunch, you’ll cruise in Erhai Lake by the small boat to the Jinsuo Islet in the east Erhai Lake. There are 200 Bai ethnic families around 1000 people in Jinsuo Island. In Erhai Lake cruise, you will enjoy the green Cangshan Mountain and the Three Pagodas from a far as well as lots of birds and seagulls flying over the lake. At last, you will visit the Ancient Dali Town, walk around the Foreigner Street and enjoy the relax time with local people. After climbing up to the City Wall of Dali, you will have a panoramic view of the Erhai Lake.

Day 4 Dali – Lijiang

Sightseeing and Activities: Xizhou Town, Zhoucheng Village, Black Dragon Pool, Dongba Museum, Lijiang Ancient Town
Accommodation: Lijiang
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch

Today, you will head for Xizhou Town to fully appreciate Bai-style traditional architectural courtyards, taste their fragrant Three-Course Tea and explore their distinctive culture. Visit Zhoucheng Village and the Bai people’s Tie-dying cloth workshop where you can take some special souvenir with the Bai ethnic style.

Then drive about 180KM to Lijiang with the beautiful farmlands and ethnic villages on the way. Arrive in Lijiang and visit Black Dragon Pool, and the Dongba Museum to explore the rich Naxi minority culture. In the late afternoon, explore Lijiang Old Town. Lijiang Old Town has a history more than 800 years; it was listed as the World Cultural Heritage by the UNESCO 1997. Here you will see the wonderful wooden architecture of Naxi ethnic people.

Day 5 Lijiang

Sightseeing and Activities:Yulong Snow Mountain, the Impression Lijang Ethnic Show, Baisha Old Town and Murals
Accommodation: Lijiang
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch

In the morning, drive about 30KM to Ganhaizi Meadow(3100M), you will take the sightseeing bus for a short visiting through the Baishuihe River, take the chairlift up to visit Jade Dragon Snow Mountain. The cable way up to Yak Meadow. After lunch, you will enjoy the Impression Lijang Ethnic Show directed in Ganhaizi Meadow(3100M). A cultural show demonstrating the traditions and lifestyles of the Naxi, Yi and Bai peoples of the area. The show takes place inside Jade Dragon Snow Mountain Park at 3500m in an outdoor theater specifically designed to showcase the mountain which is used as a backdrop. The production itself was designed by Zhang Yimou, Fan Yue and Wang Chaoge, a cast of over 500 people, and a number of horses.

In the afternoon, you’ll stroll through Baisha Old Town, which is an enchanting traditional Yunnan town.  Visit the Baisha Mural about 600 years old, which is one part of the World Cultural Heritage by the UNESCO 1997.

Day 6 Lijiang – Lugu Lake

Sightseeing and Activities: Heiwawu Island and Liwubi Island of Luguhu Lake
Accommodation: Lugu Lake
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch

In the morning, drive 4-5 hrs on the spectacle mountain road to visit the mysterious Lugu Lake. On the way, enjoy the beautiful view among the huge mountains and rivers. We plan to start your walking from Jin’anqiao Bridge to Shudi along the road at the bank of Yangtze River. You will see the beautiful canon and Yi ethnic people’s villages in the steep mountains. After 1 hour walking in the canon, we will continue the driving and we can stop in many Yi villages.

Late afternoon, you will take the canoes to visit Liwubi Island and Heiwawu Island in Lugu Lake. In the evening, take part in Mosuo Bonfire Party with ethnic dance and singing performance. You will dance and sing with Mosuo boys and girls around a big bonfire in the outdoors theatre.

–Matriarchal Society of Mosuo Ethnic PeopleAs in many other matriarchal societies this one is both matrilineal and matrilocal. However beyond the lack of property ownership and policy making decisions the men are also placed in a subservient role in sexual matters as well. A woman of the Mosuo selects a partner during a ritualistic dance. Such unions last at the woman’s discretion, lasting as briefly as one night to becoming a lifelong partnership. With such a highly fluid relationship pattern in effect many men are in a marriage system called tisese. They are Tibetan Buddhist by religion.

Day 7 Lugu Lake

Sightseeing and Activities: Zhamei Monastery, Mosuo Ethnic Market in Yongning, Mosuo Ethnic Home-made Optional Special Experience
Accommodation: Lugu Lake
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch

In the morning, you will drive about 20Km to the Zhamei Lamaist Monastery which is the biggest lamasery in Moso area Yongning Town. Tibetan people call Yongning as “taluo”, meaning “the way to heaven”. The place the Zhamei Lamasery lies in is called “Zhameige”, which means “no war”. The coincidence of these two names make the Lamasery even famous in Tibet. Yongning Town is an important town of the Ancient Tea-Horse Trade Caravan from Yunnan to Tibet. Located between Yunnan and Sichuan, Yongning keeps the original ethnic life which is still not damaged by tourists. You will visit Mosuo Market in Yongning Town. We will arrange a Mosuo family to visit and have lunch in Mosuo family, enjoy the Mosuo real life in a village. 

Afternoon, you will walk along the Luguhu Lake by yourself. Enjoy the sunset wonder of Luguhu Lake in Luoshui Village. Take a special Barbecue dinner with beef, mutton, pork, fish, frog, and some vegetables in the Barbecue City.

Day 9 Lijiang-Tiger Leaping Gorge- Shangri-La

Sightseeing and Activities:First Bend on the Yangtze River, the Iron Chain Bridge, the Red Army’s Long March Memorial Monument, Tiger Leaping Gorge
Accommodation: Shangri-La
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch

From Lijiang, you’ll drive about 60KM to the First Bend on the Yangtze River with imposing gorge scenery, visit the Iron Chain Bridge, the Red Army’s Long March Memorial Monument in the Shigu town. The town of Stone Drum got its name from a large, cylindrical, marble tablet shaped like a drum. The scenery is magnificent as the road running through the Lijiang valley which is filled with wheat fields and drying haystacks. You will have an experience of the floating from the First Bend of the Yangtze River to Longpan Town, after one hour floating, meet the driver and transfer to Tiger Leaping Gorge. With 34 rapids of the Yangtze River, it is called the Jinsha in this area because you can find gold in the river. Afternoon, you’ll head for Shangri La, the former Zhongdian which is well-known as the paradise destination for every tourist.

Upon arrival in Shangri La, you will have entered the Tibetan cultural area and a landscape of barley fields and yaks scattered in the valleys.

Day 10 Shangri-La

Sightseeing and Activities:Sogzanlin Monastery, the Bita Lake & Shudu Lake, Dukezong Ancient Town, the largest Prayer Wheel
Accommodation: Shangri-La
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch

In the morning, visit the Ganden Sumtseling Monastery, the largest Tibetan monastery in Yunnan. Songzanlin Monastery has another alias – ‘the little Potala Palace ‘, so named because the whole monastery is in the traditional style with mysterious atmosphere. And afterwards you’ll visit the tranquil Bita Lake & Shudu Lake in Pudacuo National Park which is located in one of the most biologically-diverse regions of the world. While the region comprises only 0.7 percent of China’s land area, it contains more than 20 percent of the country’s plant species, about one-third of its mammal and bird species and almost 100 endangered species.

Visit Dukezong Tibetan Ancient Town in the late afternoon, climb up to the top of Guishan Hill or tortoise Hill, you will see the largest Prayer Wheel of the world and have a panoramic view of shangrila county and Dukezong Ancient Town.

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Service Included:

1.Admission fees for all of the sightseeing spots listed in the itinerary;
2.Meals as listed in the itinerary;
3.Hotels as listed in the itinerary;
4.Private English-speaking tour guide and vehicle for transfers & sightseeing;
5.Service charge & government taxes;
6. Luggage transfers between airports and hotels;
7. Free-bottled mineral water;

Service Excluded:

1.Any arrival and departure international airfares or train tickets;
2.Chinese visa fees;
3.Excess baggage charged by Airlines;
4.Single room supplement;
5.Tips to guides and drivers;
6.Personal expenses and gratuities to service staff.
7.Personal travel accident insurance;
8.All optional programs;
9.Domestic air tickets fares with airport tax and fuel extra fee based on economy class mentioned in the program.