16Days China-Thailand Mekong River Cruise Tour by Speed Boat
Tour Overview
Cruise from Yunnan to Golden Triangle in Thailand, it is only one day cruise tour. After Yunnan tour, you will experience the tropical forest and the wild elephant in...
Code of Tour: YET0000005644
Length of Travel: 16 Day
Destinations of Tour: Kunming-Jianshui-Yuanyang-Puer-Jinghong-Chiang Saen-Chiang Mai-Bangkok
Departure City: Kunming
Price of Tour: Request
Type of Tour:
Features of Tour: Nature History Cruise Minorities Landscape
Cruise from Yunnan to Golden Triangle in Thailand, it is only one day cruise tour. After Yunnan tour, you will experience the tropical forest and the wild elephant in Thailand, that is the tour highlight of this tour. Now the Chinese government has built the road from Kunming to Bangkok, it is long but nice driving through the Southeast Asia. If you take the boat cruise along the Mekong River, the scenery will be totally different. The Golden Triangle is one of Asia’s two main illicit opium-producing areas. It is an area of around 350,000 square kilometers that overlaps the mountains of four countries of Southeast Asia: Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam, and Thailand. The Golden Triangle also designates the confluence of the Sop Ruak River and the Mekong River, since the term has been appropriated by the Thai tourist industry to describe the nearby junction of Thailand, Laos, and Myanmar.
Highlights
- Cruise along the Mekong River with fabulous tropical rainforest sceneries.
- Meet colorful ethnic villages and tribal groups to appreciate the diverse ethnic cultures.
Brief Itinerary
- Day 1: Kunming Arrival
- Day 2: Kunming
- Day 3: Kunming-Shangri-La
- Day 4: Shangri-La-Lijiang
- Day 5: Lijiang
- Day 6: Lijiang-Dali
- Day 7: Dali-Jinghong
- Day 8: Jinghong
- Day 9: Jinghong-Chiang Saen
- Day 10: Chiang Saen-Chiang Rai
- Day 11: Chiang Rai-Chiang Mai
- Day 12: Chiang Mai
- Day 13: Chiang Mai-Bangkok
- Day 14: Bangkok
- Day 15: Bangkok
- Day 16: Bangkok Departure
Google Map
Detailed Itinerary
Day 1 Arrive in Kunming
Sightseeing and Activities:Arrive in Kunming
Accommodation:Kunming
Meals:None
You’ll begin your journey to the diverse and captivating province of Yunnan from the capital city, Kunming. Upon arrival at the Kunming International Airport, meet your local guide and transfer to the hotel. You can explore Kunming city on your own then.
Day 2 Kunming
Sightseeing and Activities:the Stone Forest, Green Lake, Birds and Flowers Market
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 to Kunming to visit the Green Lake and then enjoy a 20-minute walk to visit the Flowers and Birds Market in downtown area.
Day 3 Kunming – Shangri-La
Sightseeing and Activities:Songzanlin Monastery, Tibetan Village, Dukezong Ancient Town, the Giant Prayer Wheel
Accommodation:Shangri-La
Meals:Breakfast, Lunch
Take the morning flight to Shangri-La. Upon the arrival, meet your local tour guide and driver, then drive to visit 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. You will also pay a visit to a local Tibetan village named Xiaojiezi Village around the monastery.
After that, drive to visit Dukezong Old Town, stroll around in the town and 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.
Day 4 Shangri-La – Lijiang
Sightseeing and Activities:Tiger Leaping Gorge, Shigu Ancient Town, Iron Chain Bridge, Red Army’s Long March Memorial Monument, Lijiang Ancient Town
Accommodation:Lijiang
Meals:Breakfast, Lunch
From Shangri-La, you will drive to visit Tiger Leaping Gorge, the deepest gorge in the world. With 34 rapids of the Yangtze River, it is called the Jinsha in this area because you can find gold in the river.
Then, continue drive to visit the Iron Chain Bridge ,the Red Army’s Long March Memorial Monument in the Shigu Old 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. After that, drive along the imposing gorge scenery to Lijiang, on the way, have a distance view of the First Bend of the Yangtze River.
After arrive at Lijiang, pay a visit to Lijiang Ancient Town. You will be relaxed around Lijiang Old Town, a well-preserved old city of ethnic minorities with brilliant culture, is a central town of the Lijiang Autonomous County of the Naxi Ethnic Minority in Yunnan Province. Located on the plateau which is 2,400 meters above the sea level and embraced by the tree-covered Lion Mountain in the west, Elephant and Golden Row Mountains in the north, vast fertile fields in the southeast and crystal clear water running through, the old town looks like a big jade ink slab, therefore got the alias the Town of Big Ink Slab (Dayanzhen).
Day 5 Lijiang
Sightseeing and Activities: Lijiang Ancient Town, Black Dragon Pool, Dongba Cultural Museum, Yuhu Village, the Former Residence of Joseph Rock, Yufeng Temple
Accommodation:Lijiang
Meals:Breakfast, Lunch
In the morning you will head for the scenic Black Dragon Pool and the Dongba Museum to explore the rich Naxi minority culture. Black Dragon Pool is the main headwater of the Yushui River which goes through the Old Town. People believe that the gods of the Naxi people are living in the chestnut woods, beside the mouth of springs, behind the carved doors and below the bridges.
Then, transfer to Yuhu Village which is located at the foot of Jade Dragon Snow Mountain. When walking into this authentic Naxi Village, you’ll see unique stone houses, Naxi ladies dressing in traditional clothes, kids playing, a tranquil Yuhu Lake…Explore leisurely around the village and then get to the Former Residence of Joseph Rock,who was an Austrian-American Botanist came to Lijiang and stayed in Yuhu Village for 27 years and made huge research work on Naxi minority. Then, pay a visit to Yufeng Monastery not long from Yuhu Village.
Day 6 Lijiang – Dali
Sightseeing and Activities: Zhoucheng Village, Xizhou Town, Erhai Lake, Three Pagodas in Chongsheng Temple
Accommodation:Dali
Meals:Breakfast, Lunch
After breakfast, transfer to 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, head for Xizhou Town to fully appreciate Bai-style traditional architectural courtyards, taste their fragrant Three-Course Tea and explore their distinctive culture.
After lunch in Xizhou Town, 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.
Afterwards, drive to visit Three Pagodas in Chongshen Temple 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.
Day 7 Dali – Jinghong
Sightseeing and Activities: Lijiang Ancient Town, Black Dragon Pool, Dongba Cultural Museum, Yuhu Village, the Former Residence of Joseph Rock, Yufeng Temple
Accommodation:Lijiang
Meals:Breakfast, Lunch
Service Included:
- Admission fees for all of the sightseeing spots listed in the itinerary;
- Meals as listed in the itinerary;
- Hotels as listed in the itinerary;
- Private English-speaking tour guide;
- Private vehicle for transfers & sightseeing with skilled driver;
- Service charge & government taxes;
- Luggage transfers between airports and hotels;.
Service Excluded:
- Any arrival and departure international airfares or train tickets;
- Chinese visa fees;
- Excess baggage charged by Airlines;
- Single room supplement;
- Tips to guides and drivers;
- Personal expenses and gratuities to service staff;
- Personal travel accident insurance;
- All optional programs.
