5 Days Private Dali and the Ancient Tea Horse Road Trip

Upon your arrival in Dali, you will find your guide and driver waiting for you outside the Baggage Claim Area of Dali Airport, holding a welcome board with your name on it. After a warm greeting, you will be transferred to check into the carefully selected downtown hotel.

After a short break, your Dali tour will start officially from the Dali Old Town, which has a history of more than 1,200 years. The cultural landscape inside is breathtaking. Numerous cultural relics such as the ancient towers and temples have been well preserved after hundreds of years' wind and rain. Afterwards, you will be transferred back to the hotel. If you are still full of energy, you could continue to wander around to explore the different kinds of shops and even stay till night and then go back by yourself.

Today, we will continue to explore Dali and its surrounding areas. After breakfast, we will drive for around 1 hour to Xizhou. In addition to appreciating the Bai traditional architecture here, you will also have a chance to learn how to cook Xizhou Baba, a special local delicacy popular among people for its crisp skin and soft interior. After that, we will head to Zhouzheng to learn about the local traditional hand-made tie dyeing process.

In the afternoon, we will drive back to downtown Dali to visit the Three Pagodas Temple as well as the Erhai Lake. The Three Pagodas Temple is the symbol of Dali and is one of the best places to take pictures with the Mt. Cangshan and Erhai Lake as background. As for visiting the Erhai Lake, you can either choose to take a leisurely walk along the ecological corridor or ride a bicycle from the old town to the lake. If you prefer the latter one, you need to pay the bike rental fee on the spot by yourself and your guide will offer assistance.

Meals: Western buffet breakfast

Today, we will start our journey along the Ancient Tea Horse Road. In the morning, we will drive to Shaxi for around 2.5 hours to visit the Shibao Mountain, a typical danxia landform with unique peaks and rocks as well as the Shaxi Ancient Town, an important node on the Yunnan - Sichuan - Tibet Ancient Tea Horse Road and the only surviving ancient market on the road today. In the Shaxi Ancient Town, you will visit the exquisite ancient stage, tour the largest and most representative Buddhist Tantra "Aza-li" Temple, the Xingjiao Temple and taste the local special swelled candy rice, milk cake and etc. After the tour, you will stay one night here.

Meals: Western buffet breakfast, Lunch

Today we will drive for around 4.5 hours to Nuodeng. On the way, we will have a stop to visit the Tongjing Bridge, a wooden single-hole wind and rain bridge with a length of 40 meters and a width of 4 meters. Then we will visit the Nuodeng Ancient Town, which is a Bai nationality town with over 1,000 years history. Under the company of your guide, you will visit the salt well, which was dug in the Han Dynasty (202 BC - 220 AD) with a history of over 2,000 years as well as the Jade Emperor Pavilion Taoist complex which includes the Jade Emperor Pavilion Hall, Maitreya Hall, Guandi Temple, Confucius Temple and Lingxing Gate. Neither Shaxi nor Nuodeng Ancient Town is overdeveloped and people there still live a primitive and leisurely life. You can get relaxed to feel the breath of history and the beauty of nature during these two days.

Meals: Western buffet breakfast, Lunch

Today, we will drive around 3 hours back to Dali and your guide and driver will see you off at Dali Airport or Train Station for your next destination. Hope you have enjoyed the tour with us. If you need further service, please feel free to contact us.

Meals: Western buffet breakfast