Things to do in Yunnan

Day 1 Kunming /Dongchuan (-/L/D) At 08:30, you will be picked up by your tour guide from the lobby of your hotel in Kunming downtown or Kunming Airport/ train station. Then, you will be driven from Kunming to Dongchuan Red Land (3 to 3.5-hours), a new rising tourist destination near Kunming. Upon arrival, take a tour of Music Hollow (Yuepuao) and enjoy the beautiful red land of Luoxianggou Valley surrounded by mountains at sunset. From a distance, Luoxiagou looks like a sunken depression. See traditional local villages adorn the colorful fields along the way. Day 2 Dongchuan/Kunming (-/L/-)  After a pick-up from your hotel early in the morning, transfer to enjoy a sunrise of Damakan. A large spread of red fields will be found in the arms of continuous mountains at the skyline. Continue to visit Seven Color Slope (Qicaipo), which got its name from the seven fields with seven different colors (when the right crops are planted and growing). Later, move to visit Jinxiuyuan which has a vast expanse of many rolling hills with red fields - a great location for shots of the colorful fields, a traditional village and some trees which will also offer a vivid countryside picture. After lunch, drive back to your hotel in Kunming (3 to 3.5-hours) in the afternoon or Kunming Airport/ train station.

Your private tour guide will pick you up from your hotel at 09:00. Then, visit Ganden Monastery, the largest Tibetan monastery in Yunnan province. It has another alias - 'the little Potala Palace.' Built in 1679, it is located in the capital of Diqing Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture and is the most important monastery in southwest China. After lunch, you will visit Napahai Lake. It is 3270 meters (10,728 feet) above sea level and covers 660 square kilometers (254 square miles). Approximately 8 kilometers northwest of Shangri-La, the lake fills up a valley surrounded on three sides by mountains covered in snow during the winter and spring time. Walk around Yila Grassland and an ancient Tibetan town, Dukezong. When you climb up to the top of Guishan Hill or Tortoise Hill, you will see the largest prayer wheel in the world and have a panoramic view of Shangri-La county and Dukezong. At the end of the tour, you will be transferred back to your hotel in Shangri-La downtown.

The Stone Forest is a remarkable set of limestone formations located in Yunnan Province China, near Shilin and approximately 120 kilometers from the provincial capital Kunming. At this unique place you'll see tall rocks that seem to rise from the ground in the manner of stalagmites, thereby creating the illusion of a forest made of stone. Your tour will take you through the entire Stone Forest; which includes the Greater Stone Forest, the Lesser Stone Forest, the Outer Stone Forest, and the Stone Forest Lake. Be prepared to be amazed by these incredible natural formation. You will spend a few hours walking through the winding trails as you learn from your guide about the legends behind these impressive but (just as equally) strange stone formations. Once the walking tour has concluded you will enjoy a local lunch before being driven back to your hotel in Kunming.

At 08:00, you guide will meet you in the hotel lobby of centrally located Kunming hotels. You will first be transferred to visit Yuantong Monastery, the oldest Buddhist temple in Kunming, with a history spanning more than 1200 years. The construction of the monastery is Chinese architectural gem to take advantage of hill view to indulge into gardens, pool and pavilions etc. The monastery is the seat of Avalokitesvara,  you can view various sculptures of Buddha here. From there you will take a two-hour ride to the Stone Forest, which is a well-known World Heritage site. Stone Forest (Shilin, in Chinese) is a remarkable Karst geography, covering an area of 400 square kilometers, and includes both large and small stone forests. The Stone Forest consists of three parts: Major Stone Forest, Minor Stone Forest and Naigu Stone Forest. The natural climate made the magnificent, strange and astonish landscape in the past millions years. Nowadays there are countless various formations including animals, plants, and even human figures that can be found here. Lunch, served in a local restaurant, is included.  Finally, you will be transferred back to your hotel, where the day trip concludes. Please note that visiting sequences might be changed as per local traffic.

After breakfast, your private tour guide and driver will pick you up from your hotel. Then, you'll visit the tranquil Bita and Shudu Lake in Pudacuo National Park located in one of the most biologically diverse regions in the world. While the region is comprised of 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. You will spend 4 to 5-hours in this national park.  After lunch, you will visit some Tibetan villages and families. At the end of the tour, you will be dropped back off at your original departure point.