Lijiang

Introduction

Lijiang Park

© All Rights Reserved Degolasse

Lijiang (丽江) is the historic capital of the Naxi people. Left almost derelict following a major earthquake in 1996, the past 10 years have seen the town restored, cleaned and polished up by the Cultural Tourism Agency. Lijiang old town (including Dayan, Baisha and Shuhe) was registered on the UNESCO World Heritage List on 4 December 1997 and lies in the Himalayan foothills at an altitude of 2,400 metres. It has the feel of a living museum, a pulsating network of tiny winding streets, canals, ancient bridges, water wheels, wells, shrines and temples. The centre of Lijiang looks like a fairy tale in the evening, when the small canals, bridges, cobble stone streets and wooden houses are lit up by red Chinese lanterns. It almost feels like going back in time. Looming in the distance is the enormous and captivating mass of Jade Dragon Snow Mountain - the best view is from the lovely Black Dragon Pool park. This is the most photographed location in China, with its temples and white mountain tops reflected in the lake.

Sights and Activities

• Canals, water wheels, bridges and tiny winding streets in the Old Town.
• The Mu Palace - a very well preserved palace/fortress of the Naxi.
• Jade Dragon Snow Mountain - three cable cars run to different points on the mountain (or it's a very long and challenging hike).
• Black Dragon Pool Park - a very well kept and serene park with amazing views over Jade Dragon Snow Mountain and a great tea house next to the pool.
• Visiting surounding Naxi Villages - a particularly good day out by bike.
• Listening to a performance by the Naxi Orchestra.
• Take a short bus ride to the start point for the Tiger Leaping Gorge trek

Events and Festivals

• Snow Mountain Music Festival, a Chinese Rock festival.

Getting There

By Plane

Lijiang Airport (LJG) is served by a limited but growing number of scheduled regional and national flights, particularly to Kunming and Chengdu. Jinghong/Xishuangbanna, Chongqing and Shenzhen are other destinations.

By Car

Lijiang is currently the last point on the major highway network though the road to Shangri-La is being improved.

By Bus

Buses are available to many destinations, including Dali, Kunming, Shangri-La and Hutiaoxia Town (for Tiger Leaping Gorge).

By Train

There is a 3 trains a day to Kunming, one of which travels overnight. One train a day also goes to Dali..

Getting Around

By Public Transport

Local buses connect important locations across the new town, though no traffic is allowed in the old town.

By Foot

The best, and only, way of exploring the fascinating old town is on foot.
Also interesting is a trek to Baisha ancient town, all the way up to Weihai Lake. It starts at 2,500 metres and goes up to 3,200 metres. This is a full day trek. At the lakeside, you can have a lunch in the local Naxi people's house. There also some local guesthouses where you could spend the night. If starting from Lijiang, you can take local transport first to Baisha village, and find the mountain trail for trekking. This trek will take about 4 hours through the forest.

By Bike

Many guesthouses hire out cycles, and this is a good way of getting out of town, particularly to visit traditional local villages.
Biking from Lijiang old town to Baisha ancient village is a great idea. It is about 10 kilometres and takes around 1 hour. It is north of Lijiang, with very nice views of the Jade dragon snow mountain.

Eat

Lijiang isn't the cheapest place in China to eat, but does have a good range of eateries, including many restaurants serving Naxi specialities as well as flash international restaurants and standard Chinese fare.
A particularly nice area to eat is the line of cafes with balconies hanging over a small canal to the southwest of Sifang Square. A favourite for travellers is the Prague Cafe, which has a nice cosy atmosphere and serves good, reasonably proced food despite being in quite a touristy area.

Drink

There are several bars located along the apty named "bar street" which face each other across the narrow canal. A unique experience during the evenings is hearing how men and women sing limericks to each other, often from one side of a canal to another. It’s quite a lively scene and there is singing, screaming, drinking and dancing. This is not only done by the Naxi, Chinese and Western tourists often also join in adding to the celebratory atmosphere.

Sleep

Budget

• Lao Shay Youth Hostel is a very nice hostel in the old city. Check out the website for a map to find this guesthouse, because the alleyways can be very maze like. The people that own this guesthouse also own a satellite guesthouse located on a lake in a nearby village.
• Lijiang Inn reservation. US$10-$20 per room/per day. Airport pick up. For more information, please contact lijiangtravel@hotmail.com.

Mid-Range

There are plenty of traditional-style guesthouses in the Old Town. The Moon Inn is particularly good value.

Keep Connected

Phone

See also International Telephone Calls

Post

China Post (中国邮政) is the official postal service of the People's Republic of China, operated by the State Postal Bureau of the People's Republic of China (website in Chinese only), and has more details about price to send letters, postcards and parcels, both domestically as well as internationally. The Chinese postal service is very good. Remember that in more remote places usually only one post office in a city can handle sending international boxes or letters. Also many times it might be worth having the name of the country you are trying to send to in Chinese characters. Post offices have a striking green logo and can easily be found everywhere in the cities. They are mostly open every day (including weekends!) from 8:00am to 6:00pm, though small offices might have shorter opening times, while the bigger ones in central and touristic areas are sometimes open during evenings as well.

External Links

• Official Governmental Website