Yunnan云南·滇 / 云
Ethnic diversity, ancient towns, and year-round-spring weather.
Yunnan is many travellers' favourite province. Its altitude keeps temperatures pleasant year-round, and give every valley its own architecture, cuisine and festivals.
You can spend weeks combining the cobblestone alleys of , the snow peaks above , the rice terraces of Yuanyang and tropical near the Laos border.
Yunnan is also the — caravan trade routes that carried Pu'er tea, salt and silver up to Tibet for over a thousand years.
Top Attractions
Culture & Traditions
25 Ethnic Minorities
Yunnan is home to more recognised ethnic groups than any other province — Bai, Naxi, Yi, Hani, Dai, Lisu and more, each with distinct dress, festivals and architecture.
Dongba Pictographic Script
The Naxi people of Lijiang still use the world's only living pictographic writing system. Workshops in the old town teach you to brush the symbols for sun, mountain and tea.
Crossing-the-Bridge Noodles
Yunnan's signature dish — paper-thin slices of meat, vegetables and quail egg cooked tableside by pouring boiling chicken broth over a separate bowl of rice noodles.
Water-Splashing Festival
Mid-April in Xishuangbanna, the Dai new year is celebrated by drenching everyone within reach. Bring a waterproof bag and join in.
Pu'er Tea Aging
Yunnan's signature dark tea is compressed into discs and aged for years or decades — a single cake from a famed mountain can fetch thousands of yuan.
Sani Torch Festival
Each summer the Sani people of the Stone Forest light pine torches at dusk, wrestle bulls and dance around bonfires through the night.
Cities
11 prefecture-level · sorted by tourist popularity- 1
Kunming
昆明CapitalProvincial capital and the "Spring City" — Dianchi Lake, Stone Forest day trip, Yunnan Provincial Museum, and the main airport and HSR gateway to all of Yunnan.
- 2
Dali
大理Bai-minority lakeside heritage city — Erhai Lake cycling loop, Three Pagodas, Cangshan Mountain cable car, and a thriving expat-and-digital-nomad scene in Xizhou.
- 3
Lijiang
丽江UNESCO Naxi old town beneath Jade Dragon Snow Mountain — Black Dragon Pool, Naxi Ancient Music nightly, and gateway to Tiger Leaping Gorge and Shangri-La.
- 4
Shangri-La (Diqing)
香格里拉（迪庆）Tibetan-plateau prefecture capital at 3,200 m — Songzanlin Monastery, Pudacuo National Park, and the southern start of the Yunnan-Tibet Highway.
- 5
Xishuangbanna (Jinghong)
西双版纳（景洪）Tropical southern prefecture on the Mekong — Dai stilt villages, Water-Splashing Festival, Menglun Tropical Botanical Garden, and the Kunming-Vientiane HSR.
- 6
Yuanyang (Honghe)
元阳（红河）Hani Rice Terraces UNESCO site — sunrise photo platforms at Duoyishu, sunset at Laohuzui; best December-March in the flooded season.
- 7
Tengchong
腾冲Volcanic hot-springs town near the Myanmar border — Heshun overseas-Chinese ancestral village, Beihai wetlands, and the 1944 Anti-Japanese War cemetery.
- 8
Pu'er
普洱Tea-mountain prefecture — Jingmai Mountain UNESCO ancient tea forest, Yiwu single-mountain Pu'er production, and gateway to Mengla on the Lao border.
Famous Locals
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