Yunnan travel blog — The fullest Yunnan travel guide for first-timers

March 13, 2024

Blue Moon Valley situated right at the foot of Jade Dragon snow mountain. This place possesses beautiful natural scenery, a harmonious combination of snowy mountains and clear blue lakes. Looking down from above, the valley looks like a crescent moon, so people named it Blue Moon valley.

Shuhe Ancient Town

This is a long-standing place of residence of the Naxi ethnic people, who mainly live by farming. Later, merchants brought tea from the central plains down to this area, forming a place to gather, trading, and then become a town.

Black Dragon Pool

Black Dragon Pool or Heilongtan Park is located on the outskirts of the city, considered the “Dream of the Red Chamber” attract a large number of visitors. The park has a beautiful natural landscape of a lake, located at the foot of Elephant Mountain and has a dark black underground water stream that flows continuously, so people named it Black Dragon Pool. Standing from here, you can also peacefully view Jade Dragon Snow Mountain from afar.

Wangu Pavilion

Wangu Pavilion was built with 5 floors, 33m high, with a bold Chinese architectural style. Located on top of Lion Hill, this is considered the highest place in Lijiang. Standing from here, you can see the panoramic view of Lijiang Ancient Town and Jade Dragon Snow Mountain.

Lugu Lake

Lugu is certainly no stranger to audiences who have seen Journey to the West. About more than 200km from Lijiang. With an area of 48km2, located at an altitude of 2,690m above sea level, the scenery here must be described as extremely poetic: mountain peaks immersed in thousands of clouds all year round, the surrounding deep green forest, the ecosystem rich landscape, many rare animals such as leopards, muntjacs, deer, short-tailed monkeys…

The largest island is Heiwawu located right in the center of the lake, home to many different types of birds and the smallest island is Nixi which looks like a rectangular rock covered with moss and bushes.

Especially Lige Island – the most beautiful and famous island here, considered the symbol of the lake. For that reason, Lugu Lake is considered one of the most beautiful lakes in Yunnan .

Shilin Stone Forest

Shilin Stone Forest is one of the most impressive tourist attractions in Yunnan, located on the outskirts of Kunming. Shilin stone forest was once a large area of the sea, limestone mountains emerged slowly from movements in the lithosphere.

Songzanlin Monastery

This is a typical Buddhist architectural work in Shangri-La, bearing the quintessential beauty and typical culture of the Tibetan people. Songzanlin Monastery has massive Buddha statues, banners and ceilings of worship halls that are all exquisitely sculpted, demonstrating the talented technique of the creator.

Songzanlin Monastery was built according to a miniature prototype of the famous Potala palace in Lhasa, Tibet. This monastery is the largest monastery in Yunnan and fully concentrates the typical cultural features of the Tibetan people of this country.

Shika Snow Mountains

This is a famous attraction when you come to Shangri-La. The mountain top is covered with snow all year round. Coming here, you can freely admire Shangri-La from the cable car and play in the snow on the top of the mountain.

What to eat?

Yunnan cuisine is a perfect combination of national cultural characteristics and flavors including sour and spicy flavors made up of many fresh ingredients.

Crossing-the-bridge noodles

This is a Yunnan specialty that has existed for over 100 years, originating from a touching story. The girl brought food to her husband who worked on a remote island, but when she arrived, the food was cold. She came up with a cross-bridge noodle dish with pre-blanched vermicelli, broth and side dishes to keep hot when eaten they are mixed together.

This dish includes 4 parts. First is a large bowl of chicken soup. The second is a plate of pork kidney, sliced raw meat, tofu, boiled chicken, green bean sprouts, green onions, leeks, coriander, and fresh fish. Third is a bowl of rice noodles. The fourth is quail eggs. When enjoying, fish, sliced meat and eggs will be put into a bowl of chicken and egg soup. When both vegetables and meat are cooked, add noodles and eat together.

Termitomyces

Termitomyces Brait Termitomyces is a famous food in Kunming, Yunnan. Termitomyces is the name of an extremely expensive mushroom. It often grows outside termite nests and uses termite waste as a nutritional fertilizer. The reason Termitomyces is so expensive is because it is so hard to find. Termitomyces mushrooms have a juicy flavor somewhat similar to chicken. When you taste it without looking, you may mistake this mushroom for a piece of meat.

Wild mushroom hotpot

Wild mushroom hot pot is very famous in Yunnan because the hot pot uses many different types of mushrooms in the same pot, so it has a lot of mixed mushroom aroma. The broth for cooking mushroom hotpot is usually stewed from pullet meat. There are up to 30 different types of mushrooms when eating this dish such as shiitake mushrooms, golden silk mushrooms, Malabar magic mushrooms…

Kunming-style pickles

Kunming pickles are a very popular and loved dish in Yunnan. Melon is often served as stir-fry, salad, soup, etc. This dish has a very sour taste. In spring and winter, locals will wash and dry the pickles, then cut it into small portions, sprinkle with salt and mix with chili, pepper, ginger, star anise, wine and dill. Continue to put it in a jar, cover it tightly and wait about 1 month before bringing it out to enjoy.

Kunming pickled vegetables is a favorite dish of Yunnan people. Kunming pickled vegetables are made quite similar to pickled vegetables but the preparation is more elaborate. Pickled vegetables are delicious mixed, stir-fried or eaten plain. The pickles taste is mildly sour and mouth-watering.

Fried Cheese

Fried Cheese!? You read that right. If Fried Cheese is not a traditional dish, it probably won’t be very delicious. However, that doesn’t mean you miss out on this dish in Yunnan. This is a type of cheese made from goat’s milk with many different variations to satisfy everyone’s hungry stomach.

Stir-Fried insects

If you have traveled to Laos, Myanmar or Cambodia, Stir-Fried insects is no longer a strange name… in Yunnan, they process cicadas, dragonflies and silkworms into strangely delicious insect skewers. This dish, when prepared, will be very crispy and flavorful, just like fried chicken. This dish also contains many nutrients that are good for health.

This dish provides protein for the body. But it seems that it is not for those who are afraid of insects, enjoying this dish is like a big challenge for visitors. Do you want to try!?

Yak beef hotpot

The special thing about Yak beef hot pot is that the main ingredient is yak. Because it only lives in high mountains, the meat is very clean, soft and has its own sweet taste.

Dried Yak beef

In terms of appearance, Yak dried beef looks quite similar to the kitchen buffalo dish in the Northern region of Vietnam. However, when eating Yak dried beef, the fresh, sweet taste that lingers in the throat is very unique and cannot be confused with any other type of dried beef.

Some indigenous people also said: “Tibetan people, in addition to a healthy lifestyle and pure nature, eating Yak beef is also a way to help them stay healthy and rarely get sick.” The method of preparing Yak beef jerky is also quite simple but no less sophisticated.

Canola flowers

Some people think that canola flowers are so simple that they are often forgotten and bloom and wither on their own, but perhaps few people know that canola flowers are also used to prepare very popular dishes in many regions in Yunnan.

Rapeseed flowers have an unpleasant smell, every time you smell or eat this flower, you can’t stop crying. Mixed canola flowers and stir-fried canola flowers are popular dishes. Some people also use this flower to cook soup or hotpot, etc. With important economic value and decorative value, canola flowers have important tourism value.

Stir-Fried ErKuai (Yunnan Rice Cakes)

Yunnan rice cakes are cooked in soup and are unique to Yunnan. To cook this dish, locals first bake rice cake slices until they are soft and puffy. Then add it to the beef soup. This type of soup has a stronger flavor than the broth of Vietnamese Pho. The dish is eaten with hot chili and green onions.

Boluo fan or pineapple rice

Purple pineapple sticky rice is a traditional food of the Dai people. In Yunnan, Dai people use unique purple sticky rice for food. Local people first soak purple rice in purified water for about 7-8 hours, and then put the rice into a hollow pineapple. Purple pineapple sticky rice is then steamed in a special pot. This pineapple sticky rice smells very sweet and fresh. When you open the lid of the pineapple, you will find beautiful purple rice inside. The taste is slightly sweet, soft and sticky.

Flower cake

Flower cake is a traditional cake from Yunnan made from flour and rose petals. Roses are used as a filling. When eaten, it will have a slightly sweet taste and will not be greasy.

Chinese Tea Eggs

tea eggs chinese — Cooking tea eggs Chinese

A popular Chinese specialty is eggs boiled in tea. When eating, you will feel the aroma of tea leaves mixed with the inherent flavor of eggs.

Youtiao and soy milk

This is a popular breakfast dish of Tibetan people, long fried dough and dipped in warm soy milk. Breakfast is simple but nutritious.

Buffalo meat stir-fried with dried chili

Yunnan culinary treasure is famous for its specialty dwarf buffalo meat. The piece of buffalo meat, when marinated for processing, is already spicy. However, when stir-fried, they add more than half of a dried, dark black chili. People here find it delicious to eat and also to keep their bodies warm.

Yark Yogurt

Yogurt is produced in Shangri La, but you will see them sold a lot in Lijiang and Shangri-La. The milk is extremely sour and tastes like raw lemon, so you have to add a little sugar. A jar costs about 5 – 10 yuan.

Dimsum

This dish is familiar in Yunnan tourist destinations. The dimsum has a crust on the outside and is filled with meat inside, very delicious. The price is cheap, about 10-15 yuan for 7-8 pieces of meat filling.

Yiliang Roast Duck

Beijing roast duck is famous all over the world, but in Yunnan people love Yiliang roast duck. The grilled duck is fragrant and golden in color, the skin is crispy, the meat is tender and tender. The duck chosen to make roast duck must also be a fat duck to be tender and delicious enough to make roast duck. Yiliang roasted duck is often eaten with green onions, pepper, and soy sauce to create a unique flavor.

Stewed chicken

Stewed chicken is one of Yunnan’s most famous specialties. The selection of ingredients to make chicken stew in Yunnan is extremely complicated, such as the stew pot must be a terracotta pot, the chicken and broth are condensed by steam so the chicken is sweeter when stewed by this method. Stew chicken is also ranked as one of the ten famous dishes of Yunnan. Stewed chicken usually has two flavors: chicken stewed with herbal medicine or chicken stewed with wine.

Heqing dry wine

Heqing dry wine is a specialty wine of Dali region, Yunnan. At the end of the Qing Dynasty, this was one of the most famous wines among the people. This is also one of the items that people contribute to the royal court. Heqing wine is transparent, fragrant with elegant wheat flavor. The wine is distilled from natural spring water and 56 types of fermented and brewed Chinese medicine. The flavor is both rich and elegant.

What to buy as a gift in Yunnan?

Traveling to Yunnan China, you can definitely buy an item as a gift anywhere. However, true to Yunnan and more “sophisticated”, Yunnan specialties are what you need to buy. Below are must-buy gifts you can refer to.

Yunnan Pu-erh Tea (Pu’er tea)

Yunnan has a history of more than 3000 years of tea growing. The most famous is Pu-erh tea, which is also one of the most famous delicious teas in the world. Yunnan pu-erh tea has a unique, long-lasting fragrance. The tea scent is strong and smooth. The tea still has a fragrant aroma after brewing seven to eight times.

Medicinal herbs, plants

With mountainous terrain, abundant forests and cool weather, Yunnan is China’s famous medicinal homeland. Yunnan’s medicinal herbs are diverse and rich with more concentrated essences than many other regions. Coming to Yunnan, visitors can choose to buy dried medicinal herbs or ask for medicinal preparations from the world-famous Yunnan Baiyao brand.

Jianshui Pottery

Chinese porcelain is famous around the world. In Jian Shui, Yunnan, pottery making is a traditional profession of the Han people with a long history. Jian Shui pottery is also called Jian Shui purple pottery (this name is due to the color of the ceramic). Jian Shui purple ceramics use natural colors to create unique ceramic glaze and decorative colors.

What to keep in mind when traveling to China on your own

Find out destination information: You can join groups that like to travel to China and ask about Yunnan tourist destinations that you plan to visit in your itinerary. People who have traveled on their own will give you suitable suggestions.
Be especially careful with phones, passports and cash. You should have a notebook to write down important phone numbers (embassy, phone numbers of relatives and friends if any, and some necessary Chinese phrases to prepare for unexpected situations).
You should set alarms for itinerary and pay attention to signs at airports and train stations.
Hire a translator: If you don’t want to go on a tour but prefer a self-sufficient experience and don’t want to worry about language, you can go to Chinese international student groups to ask. Many students who are passionate about traveling will help and guide you according to your desired criteria. You can negotiate the cost of hiring a guide yourself, ranging from 300 yuan – 700 yuan/day (accommodation in groups). If you go in a large group, it’s also cheaper to share.
Eating and drinking: If you are a picky eater, bringing along some your own foods like instant noodles to relieve hunger is still very good for a long trip.
You should exchange a little cash instead of carrying a bunch of visa cards.
SIM Card: China blocks most foreign applications such as Facebook and Google, so buy an international sim to take with you. Go for 5 days and buy 7 days, go for 7 days and buy 10-15 days to make it comfortable!
Some restaurants in Lijiang charge for bowls and chopsticks as well as spices and dipping sauces, so you need to be proactive and choose a suitable restaurant!
Not all cafes allow you to take photos, so remember to ask permission before holding the camera and “taking photos”!
Most temples in Shangri-La prohibit photography, so you need to be pay attention when visiting the temple. No matter how beautiful the scene is, don’t raise your camera to take pictures!
Remember to bring warm cream and warm clothes because the weather here is quite dry and cold!
Jade Dragon mountain is a mountain quite high above sea level, in case you have difficulty breathing, you should bring an oxygen tank when visiting the mountain!
It is highly recommended to book tickets online for places to visit such as Songzanlin Monastery, Jade Dragon Snow Mountain, Shika Mountain,… because according to our experience, the difference in online ticket prices and over-the-counter ticket prices is quite big! Like the ticket to Shika Mountain, we bought it online for only 130 CNY but the ticket bought at the counter was up to 220 CNY.
If you want to take photos with a Yak cow in Shangri-La ancient town square, you should not visit this place on Saturday and Sunday because these two days the cow is off and does not work.

Some best day tours, trips, activities and transfer services, tickets in, from and to Yunnan you can refer to

Read more China guide here.