I’ve always dreamed of travelling to Yunnan, China, especially Shangri‑La. A few years ago I had flights and accommodation booked for Kunming/Shangri‑La, but then COVID hit and the trip was cancelled. This year I really wanted to go on a long trip to China – so Yunnan it is.
That being said, I am too busy and too lazy to plan out a free and easy itinerary and do comparisons between agencies and check out reviews etc, I decided to book a package tour that would cover all the places I wanted to see without the stress.
This will be the main post explaining the trip’s details.
Tour package with Chan Brothers
I chose a tour package from Chan Brothers, because I’d travelled with them before (to Japan) and had a good experience – decent hotels, good food, and smooth logistics. This 8D Scenic Yunnan/Dali/Lijiang/Shangri-La package ticked all my boxes: Kunming, Dali, Lijiang, and Shangri‑La, with five‑star accommodation, no shopping stops, and perfect timing a tour departing on 31 Aug (start of school holidays) and arriving back 7 Sept (end of school holidays) – so I booked it!
Itinerary
| Day 1 | Singapore – Kunming | Horizon Hotel Yunnan |
| Day 2 | Kunming – Dali – Lijiang | Lijiang International Hilton Hotel |
| Day 3 | Lijiang | Lijiang International Hilton Hotel |
| Day 4 | Lijiang – Shangri-La | Shangri-La Hotel |
| Day 5 | Shangri-La | Shangri-La Hotel |
| Day 6 | Shangri-La – Dali | Dali Honglongjing Hotel |
| Day 7 | Dali – Kunming | Horizon Hotel Yunnan |
| Day 8 | Kunming – Singapore | — |
Some travel tips
Here are some practical tips if you are planning a trip to Yunnan:
- You don’t need to change RMB if you are comfortable with mobile payment. Mobile payments are everywhere – you can use Wechat or Alipay to pay for anything and everything. Even vendors on the street have a QR code for you to scan and make payment.
- Bring hygiene supplies such as hand sanitizers, wet tissues and dry soap, especially for the ladies as some of the washrooms ain’t the best in class. (you get what I mean). Some of the washrooms didn’t even have running water, so ensure you have sufficient hygiene products
- Wear comfortable shoes as there will be lots of walking. Additionally, the stone and cobble footpaths at some of the ancient towns ain’t easy to walk on. Very slippery especially when they are wet.
- Last but not least, high attitude supplements. I asked the tour leader if I should get them in Singapore and she told me it’s cheaper to get it from China. On our first night in Kunming after dinner, the tour leader recommended this Chinese herbal supplements Hong Jing Tian. There’s 10 bottles per box, each box costs RMB 100 (about SGD 10). We started taking it the next day, 2 bottles after breakfast and 2 bottles at night. Because of this, we only finished the entire box by the time we get to Shangri-La. I don’t know if there’s a noticeable difference when taking high attitude supplements. However, I always think it’s better to be safe than sorry.
