The first time I was in Dali Lijiang and Zhongdian
I
realized why so many tourist keep on coming there. The sceneries are
spectacular but you find sceneries in many other places. The western food
then was a good excuse to go there at the time. Nowadays everywhere in
China you get western food. And believe me, many westerners can not live
without their bacon and eggs for breakfast!
Another reason was the
"other" travelers. In those days, not even 10 years ago! it was hard to
find other travelers in China, it's such a big country.
But the main attraction it had to me were the people. Time seemed to
have stand still here. Especially Lijiang and Zhongdian where still very
rural. By the way, Zhongdian is now officially renamed in Shangrila.

Entrance ticket for the Tibetan monastery a few
kilometers out of the city center of Zhongdian (Shangri-La
I came back by bicycle and found things changed. The roads were in
better condition. There were more quest houses. Dali was under
construction and as it seemed to me, not for the better. Lijiang "new
city" now was indeed a massive city contrary to my first visit when the
new city was just one street with new buildings.
What actually had not changed were the people. They seemed to continue
with what they had been doing for so many years: live their life and
accepting the increase of tourism for what it was. And it was fantastic!
So, what can you cycle these days in this area of Yunnan. And how much
time will it cost you?
Time schedule
The here described area can be done as a separate journey in China. It
will keep you busy for 3-4 weeks easily! Don't forget, Yunnan only is as
big as for example France. It's ideal for a summer holiday but the long
distance cyclist shouldn't feel disencouraged.

The Tibetan monastery, a few kilometers out of the city
center of Zhongdian (Shangri-La
Kunming - Dali - Lijiang - Kunming
It's more difficult now to cycle from Kunming to Dali. The old road nr.
320 is after Anning no longer possible to cycle. It is transformer in a
motorway. It is possible to get some small provincial roads to Lufeng,
Lipingly and Chuxiong. From Chuxiong you can follow the 320 further to
Xiaguan (new Dali) and Dali. You have to find the small road out of Anning.
Staying on the 320 will lead you to the toll gate and you have to go
almost all the way back to Anning to find the right road.

Shaping Market, north of Dali
The journey to Dali will take 5-6 days. Alternatively you can leave
Kunming in the direction of Panzhihua. A much easier and better option is
to drop your bicycle on the bus and skip the road to Dali. You can take
three ways:
- bus/train to Dali
- bus to Lijiang
- train to Panzhihua
As it goes in China, in general it's no problem to get your bicycle on
the bus or train for a few extra yuen. If the bicycle has to be on top of
the bus, make sure it's proper strapped. The new busses however carry your
bike inside the bus in the luggage space.

View on the Jade Dragon Mountain
Although cycling in Yunnan is pleasant, there are things to consider
using other transport.
- Kunming-Dali is not the most interesting part
- Saving time, so you can visit Zhongdian (Shangri-la)
- Spend more time exploring the western areas of Yunnan which are far
more interesting then the roads around Kunming
An alternative road
The northern parts of Yunnan has options to do something very
different. An interesting option is to cycle first to Wuding and Yongren,
on the way to Panzhihua. In Yongren take the road to Dayao where there is
a white pagoda to be visited. A bit further on, in Yao-An you find a nice
temple. Disadvantage is that you come back on the "320" at Chuxiong and
you still have to go a few days westwards.
Xiangyun however is 2 days cycling on the 320 from here. Now you can
take an alternative road north to Lijiang. This road follows partly a
river and will pass by the beautiful Cheng lake. From here to Yong sheng
is about 200 and then an additional 130 to Lijiang. This is a great
alternative for using the busier road from Dali going north. Keep in mind,
you will principally cycle up from 2000 meter altitude in Kunming to 3300
meter in Lijiang.
Zhongdian
Unfortunately there's only one decent road going north to Zhongdian.
From the junction at Baihanchang it's about 200 km on the 214. Some
cyclist who do not want to cycle it twice choose to take the bus from
either Dali or Lijiang and then cycle back.

The monastery of Zhongdian
There is an alternative road to Zhongdian. This old road is used as a
horse trekking route to Zhongdian. As far as my knowledge goes, this
mountain trail is yet not updated but you can without any problem as far
as the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain. After that point it's unclear if you can
proceed on bike.
Back to the top of Dali Lijiang and Zhongdian
Back to cycling
in Yunnan
Back to Bicycle Adventures
Homepage
Subscribe to my Bicycle adventure RSS feed, if you don't know what this
is, please read
here more:
Let others know about this site by bookmarking at your favorite social
bookmarking system: