Lijiang is in the centre of Yunnan Province in China's South West and has long been a favourite getaway for Chinese and Foreign tourists looking to escape China's summer heat. The spiritual home of the Naxi people, one of China's many minorities, Lijiang is sited at the foot of the Jade Dragon Mountains and is characterised as a maze like village of small one-two storey traditional wooden houses, packed closely together, cobbled streets inaccessible to most vehicles, all bisected by running streams cascading through the village as run-offs from the Jade Dragon River. It is quite beautiful.
Accommodation is best in traditional, courtyard houses, which are either family run homes with a few beds or a small boutique hotel style. Prices are at RMB300 top whack close to the main entrance to the village and closer to RMB90 the further in with no discernable difference in quality (remember no cars can get in so you have to lug your belongings with you) Bookings are not. really necessary, just turn up and walk around until you find somewhere, there's lot's on offer.
Getting to Lijiang is simple, an hours flight from Yunnan's capital of Kunming, where you can RMB 300 a night deal. For the more adventurous, buses depart from Kunming to Lijiang on a regular basis, the trip, through some spectacular scenery, takes about seven hours. Careful of your belongings though, there have been cases of thieves traveling some of these buses and razoring open bags when you're not paying attention. Lijiang itself is high, at about 2,800 metres, so it remains cool and does get its fair share of Mountain rain.
Just chilling out in the wide array of coffee shops (local Yunnan coffee is excellent by the way) and restaurants is pleasure enough, and you can certainly relax away from. it all by wandering around and exploring the old and very quaint streets soaking up the atmosphere. There are tours available to nearby destinations, the Jade Dragon Mountains themselves (snow cover December-March) with a decent, small sized ski resort for winter sports enthusiasts (turn up in Lijiang and book from there) with nature reserves and local historical sites, including Tiger Leaping Gorge and the First Bend in the Yangtse - without which the River would have flowed directly south, exiting near Vietnam and not crossed China in it's entirety. There's plenty to see.
Lijiang is also not far (a scenic seven hour drive and well worth it) to Zhongdian, further North. Zhongdian is sited in the old Tibetan Province of Kham; now Northern Yunnan, with the whole area preserving its Tibetan culture, now being promoted as the true Shangri-La. While Zhongdian itself is a bit grotty, the drive is amazing and local sites close by, including a working Tibetan Monastery built by the fifth Dalai Lama, and the Wintering Grounds for the rare Black Necked Crane are worth the trek.
As for the food, it's a less spicy version of Sichuan cuisine and yes, just as good. Lot's of freshwater fish grilled with, plenty of herbs and chillis, great vegetables and even some game. The fruit as you would expect from this region is also superb. Beer is from Dali, also in Yunnan, and the local wines are also OK. Finally, Lijiang is rainy, and can get cold in the evenings so take jerseys in the summer and cold weather gear and boots for the winter months. Enjoy and have fun!
