4-Day Tour in Lijiang (Dayan, Jade Dragon Snow Mountain, Blue Moon Valley, Shuhe Ancient Town)

Number of days: 4 days
Time: May
Average cost: 4,000 yuan
With whom: couple
Updated: 2024.07.05

Revisiting Lijiang Ancient Town

At the end of May, echo, a social animal, quit his job. With only a week left before my next trip to the sea, how could I miss it? Before the trip, I looked up travel guides for Yunnan, Jiuzhaigou, and Tibet. Tibet was my favorite, but a week was too tight, and I had a fat cat at home that needed to be petted, so I had to give up. Finally I came to Yunnan. During the Spring Festival two years ago, I went to the ancient town for a night tour when I was transiting in Lijiang. I was nostalgic for the unique shops and rice noodles, so this time I wanted to visit every corner of Lijiang Ancient Town.

First, let's go to the inn to put our luggage. It was a bumpy ride. I booked Muyun Tingfeng Inn in advance online. It is in the core location of Wuyi Street. The innkeeper took us to a slightly remote courtyard. The courtyard environment was different from the one I chose before. I started to ask, and the guy said that we upgraded your room for free. The room here is bigger, cleaner, and the view is better. Pay attention! This is a common tactic used by inns in Lijiang. I was completely disappointed upon seeing the room. I'd chosen a Naxi-style inn, and the decor was no different from a hotel room with a king-size bed. I told the agent I wasn't satisfied and asked to switch back to my original room. He was nonchalant and gave me all sorts of excuses, completely ruining my initial good mood. When I saw that more than half an hour had passed, I was furious! I called the main hotel front desk to complain, but they offered no apology and simply upgraded me, blaming a leak in my original room. After hanging up, I told the agent I'd stay in the room I'd booked, and the leak wasn't a problem. Whichever room I booked was the one I got. After another ten minutes, they told me they had moved me back... This is pure customer ripping! After an hour's delay, I finally checked in. The room had the Naxi-style ambiance I loved, and for 168 yuan per day, it was a steal.

The tofu with glaze is so delicious, highly recommended!!! 10 yuan/portion

The best tofu with glaze + the best snacks in the ancient city, no doubt about it.

The succulents in front of a very distinctive tea house are suitable for all kinds of posing photos. People often take photos here.

Night in the ancient city. Maybe because there are not many people, the lanterns on the streets are not turned on, so the scenery is a bit worse.

Blue Moon Valley - Jade Dragon Snow Mountain

We signed up for a one-day tour for 420 yuan per person, which included shuttle service, entrance fees, the cable car, the three mountain treasures, and lunch (chicken hot pot). Once inside the scenic area, you had to buy a ticket for the electric car within the area for 50 yuan per person. It wasn't that far to walk, but the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain cable car is only open a few times a day, so the ride was a bit more time-consuming.

In Yunnan, all trips are weather-dependent. This day's itinerary was especially challenging: our morning visit to Blue Moon Valley was sunny, but our afternoon visit to Jade Dragon Snow Mountain was rainy and snowy the entire way. Our friends, on the other hand, experienced the opposite; we each enjoyed half of the beautiful scenery on a sunny day.

I was hesitant about going to Jiuzhaigou before the trip, but I didn’t expect to see the scenery of Mini Jiuzhaigou in Blue Moon Valley.

Lee was about to give up climbing the mountain, but he was worried about me going up alone, so he bought a tank of oxygen and climbed with me. After reaching the summit, we found that it was not as difficult as we had imagined. We both thought of what Lee had said before: "It was me who gave him the courage to just go."

This is a dividing line.

Below is the snow-capped mountains that my friend took that morning. 🏔️

I spent the evening strolling around Dayan Flower Alley, which is also known as a folk song alley. It was quite relaxing to listen to folk songs while exploring unique shops.

I wandered around the bar street in the old town in the evening. It was crowded, but many of them were local and lively bars.

Speaking of bars, we had been eyeing the Sunlight Allure Bar on Wuyi Street since the first day we arrived. The resident Su Su folk singer was very nice. The first time we went, it closed after 11pm. The second time we passed by Folk Song Street, we thought we shouldn't go there since we could listen to folk songs while walking. But when we passed by Sunlight Allure on our way back to the inn, we realized we should definitely go! What a pity...

Shuhe Ancient Town-Dayan Ancient Town

Shuhe Ancient Town is more quiet

That makes many people like this town

Without so much noise and bustle, it feels more like an ancient town with a more primitive flavor

What impressed me most about Shuhe Ancient Town was the food in this garden restaurant!

Delicious, delicious, delicious, delicious, delicious, this meal overturned my idea of rice. You can really have many bowls of this rice. It is relatively rare in Shuhe Ancient Town. It is a more commercial restaurant, but the taste is good, so the queue here is very congested, so try to avoid peak hours. It is worth checking in!