City guide · Yunnan

Kunming travel guide: the Stone Forest, Dianchi Lake and where to eat crossing-the-bridge noodles

China's Spring City — a mild plateau capital of flowers, markets and the Stone Forest, with gulls on the lake in winter.

Known forSpring City · Stone Forest · winter gulls
Typical spend¥1,000–1,600 for three days
Ideal length3 days
PaceEasy — metro and taxis, one day trip out of town

Plan this trip Kunming tours

Reviewed by our Beijing team Updated 2026-10-10

The short version

Kunming is the capital of Yunnan and the launch pad for the whole province, sitting at 1,890 m where the average temperature barely moves from 15°C — hence 'Spring City'. Give it 3 days: one for the Stone Forest, one for Dianchi Lake and the Western Hills, one for the old town, markets and food. In winter the lake and parks fill with red-beaked gulls, which is the season to come if you want the postcard.

3 days is the standard — Stone Forest, then Dianchi Lake and the Western Hills, then the city itself.
Pack a light jacket: at 1,890 m it is warm in the sun and cool in the shade, and 'one rain turns it to autumn'.
From November to March, tens of thousands of red-beaked gulls winter on Dianchi Lake and Green Lake Park.
High-speed rail puts Dali about 2 hours away and Lijiang about 3 — Kunming is the hub for all of Yunnan.
Eat the food: crossing-the-bridge rice noodles, steam-pot chicken, and wild mushrooms if you come between June and September.

City guide

First impressions

Photographs from the coast, and what other travellers wrote afterwards.

The Stone Forest — Yunnan's karst signature, two hours east of town

The Dragon Gate, carved into the Western Hills above Dianchi Lake

Red-beaked gulls over Green Lake Park, November to March

Crossing-the-bridge rice noodles — dunked and cooked at the table

Kunming is a leisure city with a slow rhythm. On weekends whole families head for the parks and suburbs with tents and barbecue grills, soaking up the Spring City sun.
Traveller note — 'A Kunming Spring'

The locals say the best food in all of Yunnan is gathered in Kunming, so if you want to eat well, come here. The steam-pot chicken really is that good.
Traveller note — 'A Seven-Colour Yunnan Holiday'

Kunming is the city most travellers pass through on the way somewhere else, and the ones who stop are usually glad they did. It has the mildest climate of any big Chinese city — near 15°C year-round — so it is green and flowering in every month, and its pace is slow enough to feel like a holiday the moment you step off the train.

The city wraps around the northern shore of Dianchi Lake, a vast sheet of water with the Western Hills rising directly behind it. Chiselled into those hills is the Dragon Gate, a set of grottoes and cliff passages carved by hand over seven decades; from the top, the whole lake and the city spread out below. In winter, the lake and the parks are white with gulls that have flown in from Siberia.

Two hours east lies the Stone Forest, a UNESCO karst of limestone pinnacles that is the reason many people put Kunming on the map at all. In town, the Golden Horse and Jasper Rooster archways mark the old quarter, and the flower-and-bird market nearby is the most vivid slice of ordinary Kunming life — breakfast noodles, caged songbirds, cut flowers sold like vegetables.

Treat Kunming as the opening act of Yunnan rather than a stopover. See the Stone Forest, eat properly, feed the gulls if it is winter, and then take the high-speed train south to Dali and on to Lijiang — or join one of our Kunming private tours and let someone else handle the logistics.

Kunming

Don't leave without

Seven things that are worth rearranging a day for.

Feed the red-beaked gulls at Green Lake Park between November and March
Eat a proper bowl of crossing-the-bridge rice noodles, and let it cool before you drink the broth
Wander the Jingxing Street flower-and-bird market on a weekday morning
Hunt for the 'Ashima' rock deep inside the Stone Forest
Time a visit to the Golden Horse and Jasper Rooster archways for sunset
Take a soak at a hot spring in Anning, an hour out of town, on a cold day

Highlights

What not to miss in Kunming

The Stone Forest

Yunnan's most photographed landscape: a UNESCO karst of limestone pinnacles two hours east of the city. Hunt for the 'Ashima' rock, then walk deeper to lose the tour groups.

Dianchi Lake and the Western Hills

The lake that defines the city, with the forested Western Hills above it and the Dragon Gate carved into the cliff. The lake view from the gate is the best in Kunming.

Green Lake Park and the gulls

The city's green heart, and from November to March the easiest place to feed the red-beaked gulls. Any morning, it is full of musicians, dancers and water-calligraphers.

The old town and its markets

The Golden Horse and Jasper Rooster archways, Nanping pedestrian street and the Jingxing Street flower-and-bird market — the everyday pulse of Kunming, best in the evening.

Crossing-the-bridge rice noodles

The dish that made Kunming famous: a bowl of boiling broth, a plate of raw ingredients, and you do the cooking at the table. Cheap, theatrical and delicious.

An afternoon in the ethnic village

Yunnan has 25 minority groups, and the lakeside Ethnic Village shows you a version of all of them in a couple of hours — Dai, Bai, Naxi, Mosuo and more, with shows through the day.

Suggested itineraries

Three days, and a slower five

Kunming is compact and mostly flat; the only real journeys are out to the Stone Forest and up to the Western Hills.

Spring City in three days

3 days

The classic loop: karst scenery, then the lake and the hills, then the city itself.

Day 1

The Stone Forest

Take a morning train or the tourist buses from the East Bus Station out to the Stone Forest, about 90 km east. Walk the main loop past the Ashima rock, then press on into the quieter sections where the paths empty out.
Come back to the city for the evening and eat a first bowl of crossing-the-bridge rice noodles.

Stops: Stone ForestAshima rockEast Bus Station
Day 2

Dianchi Lake and the Dragon Gate

Head to the Western Hills in the morning and ride the cable car up, then walk the cliff path to the Dragon Gate for the outlook over Dianchi Lake. In winter the lake below is dotted with gulls.
Come down to the Haigeng Dam and walk the northern shore, then take a boat if the weather is kind.

Stops: Western HillsDragon GateHaigeng DamDianchi Lake
Day 3

The city — parks, markets, food

Start at Green Lake Park, then walk to the old military academy and on to the flower-and-bird market on Jingxing Street for the morning.
Spend the afternoon on Nanping street and around the Golden Horse and Jasper Rooster archways, and have a proper Yunnan dinner — steam-pot chicken and wild mushrooms if they are in season.

Stops: Green Lake ParkMilitary AcademyJingxing marketGolden Horse archways

Five days, the slow version

5 days

Add the underground caves at Jiuxiang, the world horticulture expo gardens and a hot-spring soak, and never rush a morning.

Days 1–3

The classic three

Run the three-day loop above — Stone Forest, Dianchi Lake, and the city — at half speed, with long lunches in between.

Stops: Stone ForestDianchi LakeGreen Lake
Day 4

Jiuxiang caves and the expo gardens

Take a day trip east to the Jiuxiang cave system, a maze of underground rivers and chambers, then work back via the world horticulture expo gardens north of the city.

Stops: Jiuxiang cavesExpo Garden
Day 5

Anning hot springs and a flower market

Ride out to the hot springs at Anning for a long, hot soak on a cold morning, then finish at the Dounan flower market, where cut flowers sell for a fraction of big-city prices.

Stops: Anning hot springsDounan flower market

Sights

The places worth your time

Ticket prices in China change without much notice. Treat these as a guide and confirm on arrival.

UNESCO · Karst landscape

Stone Forest (Shilin)

A forest of limestone pinnacles that geologists date back some 300 million years, and China's classic karst landscape. Paths wind between towers and blades of rock, many of them named for their shapes — the best known is the Ashima rock, from the Sani Yi legend. The first stretch is shoulder-to-shoulder with tour groups by mid-morning; walk twenty minutes further and you will have the formations to yourself.

Ticket: ¥175 adults · ¥100 students
Hours: Open all day; the main loop 08:00–18:00
Where: Shilin Yi Autonomous County, about 90 km east
Getting there: Direct train, or bus from the East Bus Station (every 10–15 min)
Time needed: Most of a day

Tip Skip the cheap 'zero-fee' day tours from town — they run on forced shopping stops. Go independently by train or from the East Bus Station.

Cliff grottoes · Lake view

Western Hills and the Dragon Gate

A forested ridge on the west shore of Dianchi Lake, threaded with temples and, near its top, the Dragon Gate — a set of grottoes, passages and shrines cut into the cliff face by hand between 1781 and 1853. From the gate you look straight down onto the lake, and across to the city. It is the best single viewpoint in Kunming.

Ticket: ¥40 high season · ¥30 low season
Hours: 08:00–18:30
Where: West of the city, on the Dianchi shore
Getting there: Bus 3, 4, 62, 98 or 107; cable car from the lake side
Time needed: Half a day

Tip Walk in from the quiet sections rather than the gate — some of the outlying paths on the hill have a reputation for petty theft, so stay on the main routes and do not go alone after hours.

Lake · Winter gulls

Dianchi Lake and Haigeng Dam

Yunnan's largest lake and the reason Kunming sits where it does — a 300 km² sheet of water on the city's south-west edge. The northern shore and the Haigeng Dam are the accessible parts, best walked in winter when the water and sky are full of red-beaked gulls. Be honest about the water: near the shore it is murky, so this is a place to look out across, not down into.

Ticket: ¥8
Hours: Open all day
Where: Haigeng Park, Dianchi Road, south-west of the centre
Getting there: Bus or cable car from the Western Hills; taxis from the centre
Time needed: 2–3 hours

Tip In winter, buy a bag of bread and hold it up — the gulls catch it in mid-air. Throw high and they perform; feed from the hand and you will not get a photo.

City park · Free

Green Lake Park (Cuihu)

The prettiest of the city parks, in the north of the centre beside Yunnan University, ringed by willows and lotus and always full of life. In winter it is the most convenient place to feed the gulls; the rest of the year it is an open-air living room of musicians, dancers, chess players and old men writing calligraphy on the paving with water. The story of the 'Gull Man', who walked ten kilometres a day to feed the birds, is fixed here in a statue.

Ticket: Free
Hours: 07:00–23:00
Where: 67 Cuihu South Road, Wuhua District (opposite Yunnan University)
Getting there: Bus 100 or 103 to Cuihu South Road; bus 1 to Yunnan University
Time needed: 1–2 hours

Tip It is free and closest to the centre — go first thing in the morning, when locals exercise and the light is soft, and take a coffee from a nearby café down to the water.

Landmark · Old town

Golden Horse and Jasper Rooster Archways

Two ornate Ming-style archways at the heart of the old city, one facing the Golden Horse Hill and one the Jasper Rooster Hill, and the symbol Kunming has adopted as its own. Their celebrated 'gold and jade shine together' optical illusion, when the sun and moon cast the two shadows towards each other, is said to happen once in sixty years — but the archways themselves, at dusk, with the whole food quarter around them, are worth the trip.

Ticket: Free
Best time: Dusk, when the lights come on
Where: Jinbi Road, central Kunming
Getting there: Bus 3, 4, 62, 98 or 107
Time needed: 1 hour, plus dinner

Tip Come for the evening, not the day — the archways and the surrounding streets are at their best after dark, and the food quarter here is one of the best places in the city to eat.

Caves · Day trip

Jiuxiang Scenic Area

A vast cave system of underground rivers, huge chambers and terraced stone 'fields', about 90 km east of the city on the way to the Stone Forest. You ride an elevator down, take a short boat through a gorge, then walk through a sequence of caverns lit to dramatic effect. Photographers love it; the lighting is genuinely spectacular.

Ticket: ¥90 · cable car ¥30
Hours: 09:00–18:00
Where: Jiuxiang Township, Yiliang County
Getting there: Bus to Yiliang then a local bus, or a car (about 2 hours)
Time needed: Half a day

Tip The cave is cool and damp — bring a layer. If you are serious about photography, a tripod is allowed and worth carrying; the light displays are the whole show.

Culture · Lakeside

Yunnan Ethnic Village

A lakeside park on the Haigeng shore that recreates the villages and architecture of Yunnan's minority peoples — Dai stupas, Bai pagodas, Yi totem poles, Naxi Dongba culture, Mosuo houses and more. It is unashamedly a theme park, but it is an efficient introduction to a province of 25 ethnic groups, and the song-and-dance performances run all day.

Ticket: ¥90 adults · ¥45 students
Hours: Day 08:30–17:00 · evening 18:00–22:00
Where: 1310 Dianchi Road, on the north shore of Dianchi Lake
Getting there: Bus 24, 44, 73, 94, 135 or 172
Time needed: Half a day

Tip Ask for the day's show schedule at the gate — the opening ceremonies, the pole-climbing and the elephant shows run at set times, and it is easy to miss them by wandering.

Eating

What Kunming eats

Yunnan food is bright, sour and often spicy, built on mushrooms, flowers and rice. The cheapest and best of it is street-level.

Crossing-the-bridge rice noodles

The city's signature dish. A bowl of scalding chicken broth arrives with a plate of raw pork, chicken, vegetables and rice noodles, which you slide in to cook at the table. The broth is kept near-boiling under a layer of oil — let it cool a moment before you drink.

Steam-pot chicken (qiguoji)

A Yunnan classic made in a stack of clay pots, where the broth is pure steam condensed back to liquid. The result is an intensely clear, sweet chicken soup — light, restorative and the dish locals reach for when they want to feel well.

Douhua rice noodles

A breakfast favourite: rice noodles topped with soft tofu, chilli oil, peanuts and pickles, mixed at the table. Cheap, slippery and spicy, and the definition of a Kunming morning.

Pea-flour porridge (xidoufen)

Ground peas cooked into a thick, smooth, gingery porridge, eaten with torn pieces of fried erkuai or dough sticks and a scatter of spring onion and chilli. Silky, spicy and warming, it costs almost nothing.

Guandu baba

A baked flatbread from the Guandu district, stuffed with sesame, peanut and walnut ground with sugar. It comes out of the oven too hot to hold — the shop hands it to you in a bamboo basket and you wait to bag it.

Wild mushrooms

From June to September, Yunnan's forests yield a national obsession: chicken-oil mushrooms fried red in soy, and a whole family of wild fungi stewed in clay pots. A treat and worth seeking out — eat them properly cooked, never raw.

Where to eat

Restaurants worth the address

Phone numbers are local landlines; add +86 and drop the leading 0 if calling from abroad.

Rice noodles · Icon

Qiaoxiang Yuan

The name every Kunminger gives when you ask where to eat crossing-the-bridge rice noodles. Cheap, fast and everywhere, with branches across the city; a basic bowl runs about ¥12 and the set versions add side dishes, roast duck feet and the like. Expect a scrum at lunch.

Order: Crossing-the-bridge rice noodles, steam-pot chicken, braised duck feet
Where: 38 Daguan Street, Xishan District (one of many branches)
Phone: 0871-5357131

Yunnan · Steam-pot chicken

Fuzhaolou Steam-Pot Chicken

A long-standing house for the dish Kunming does best. The steam-pot chicken is the real thing, and the cold rice noodles and mashed potato are good too. Comfortable inside, but it fills at meal times and you will queue.

Order: Steam-pot chicken, cold rice noodles, mashed potato
Where: 1F, Jinjiang Hotel, 98 Beijing Road, Guandu District
Phone: 0871-63556858

Old house · Dian cuisine

Yikeyin

A 150-year-old courtyard house shaped like a traditional seal, hung with red lanterns and serving Dian cooking on roof-tile plates. The signature is the steam-pot chicken, with mushroom-and-erkuai stews, tile-roasted meats and bamboo-grilled fish alongside. In the middle of the flower-and-bird market, and easy to miss.

Order: Steam-pot chicken, wild-mushroom erkuai, tile-roasted meat
Where: 18–19 Jixiang Lane, Dongfeng West Road, Wuhua District
Phone: 0871-3644555

Courtyard · Historic

Deyiju

An atmospheric courtyard restaurant tucked into the Golden Horse and Jasper Rooster quarter, said to have been the residence of General Cai E and his companion Xiao Fengxian. Creaking wooden floors, carved beams and lanterns, and a menu of well-executed Yunnan classics — the 'Deyi chicken' and the mushroom clay pot are the dishes to order.

Order: Deyi chicken, king mushroom clay pot, braised chicken-oil mushrooms
Where: Unit JB3-6-1, Jinma Biji pedestrian zone, Wuhua District
Phone: 0871-3633555

Street · Seasonal

Guanshang Wild-Mushroom Street

Kunming's dedicated wild-mushroom quarter — a whole street of restaurants that come alive in summer and autumn when the fungi arrive from the hills. This is where locals go for a mushroom hotpot done properly. Go with people, order a few kinds, and let the staff cook them for you.

Order: Wild-mushroom hotpot, fried chicken-oil mushrooms, mushroom rice
Where: Guanshang Middle Road, Guandu District
When: Best June–September, when the mushrooms are fresh

Sleeping

Where to stay

Stay near the old town around Green Lake or the archways for the walkable centre. Book a few days ahead — Kunming is a hub and rooms tighten up.

Budget hotel · from ¥87

Mingtong Impression Youth Hotel

A well-located, good-value hotel 200 m from Dongfeng Square and the Shangyi Street flower market, with malls around the corner. Wood-finished rooms with Wi-Fi, hot water and card locks. One of the best price-to-position ratios in the centre.

Price: Doubles from ¥87
Where: 94 Mingtong Lane, Beijing Road, Kunming
Phone: 0871-3128858

Hostel · from ¥39/bed

Qingcheng International Youth Hostel

Perched beside Green Lake, fifteen minutes' walk from Yunnan University, the old military academy and the park. Clean, with Wi-Fi, 24-hour hot water and a bar and reading room upstairs — the natural base for a slow Kunming stop. Run by a long-time traveller-host.

Price: Beds from ¥39 · rooms from about ¥120
Where: 92 Huashan West Road, Wuhua District
Phone: 0871-63378910

Hostel · from ¥35/bed

Tuofeng Inn International Youth Hostel

Right by the Golden Horse and Jasper Rooster square in the busy heart of the city, ten minutes on foot from the pedestrian street and 10 minutes from a food court. Chinese-retro fit-out, 33 rooms from dorm to twin, self-service and friendly to backpackers. From the balcony you can see the flower-and-bird market.

Price: Beds from ¥35
Where: Central Kunming, beside the Jinma Biji square

Apartment hotel · from ¥158

Shangpinju Home Hotel

An apartment-style hotel in the busiest commercial centre, next to Jinbi Square and three minutes' walk from Nanping pedestrian street, so eating and shopping are on the doorstep. Rooms vary in layout and colour, comfortable and modern; the only snag is that it sits on the tenth floor of an office tower and is a little hard to find.

Price: Rooms from ¥158
Where: 10F Yinyu Building, 215 Baoshan Street/Huguo Road, Wuhua District
Phone: 0871-3210616

Full-service · from ¥329

Yinghua Hotel

A comfortable full-service hotel in the commercial and entertainment heart of the city, beside the Shangyi Street flower market and Zhenqing Culture Square. Well-equipped rooms and suites with broadband, satellite TV, individual air-conditioning and safes — the most polished option of the mid-range set, and priced accordingly.

Price: Rooms from ¥329
Where: 29 Dongfeng East Road, Panlong District
Phone: 0871-3165888

Getting around

Arriving, and moving about

The metro is the easy way in from the airport; the rest of the centre is a warren best covered on foot and by taxi.

By air

Kunming Changshui International (KMG) is the gateway to all of Yunnan and one of China's busiest airports, 25 km north-east of the centre, with routes across Southeast and South Asia and domestic service to every major city.

Airport: Kunming Changshui International (KMG)
To the centre: Metro line 6 ¥5, about 25 min · taxi ¥100–120, 30–40 min
Airport bus: Konggang lines 1/2/3, ¥25 each, every 20–30 min
Watch out: Domestic check-in closes 30 min before departure — leave town 2 h ahead

By rail

High-speed rail transformed Yunnan. Kunming South is the hub for the province; the older Kunming station still handles some regional and sleeper services. Daytime high-speed trains have largely replaced the overnight sleepers.

To Dali: About 2 hours by high-speed rail
To Lijiang: About 3 hours by high-speed rail
Kunming South: The main high-speed station, south of the city
Old sleepers: Still run to Dali and Lijiang; slower but save a hotel night

Buy high-speed tickets a day or two ahead in peak season — Kunming-to-Dali and Kunming-to-Lijiang are the two busiest short routes in the province.

Metro

The metro is clean, cheap and English-signed, and the six-line network now covers the airport, the railway stations, the centre and much of the city. It is the simplest way to move around the centre and the best way in from Changshui.

Line 6: Connects the airport to the city, about 25 min
Lines 1 & 2: Cross the centre and reach the stations
Fare: ¥2–5 by distance

Taxi

Plenty of metered taxis and cheap fares, but the city has a serious shift-change problem: half the drivers hand over between 5:30 and 7pm, when finding a cab is genuinely hard. At the stations, walk clear of the exit touts before hailing.

Day rate: ¥8 for the first 3 km, then ¥1.8 per km
Fuel surcharge: About ¥3 added to the fare
Watch out: Avoid unofficial cars outside railway stations — walk to the rank

Buses and bicycles

Buses cover nearly everywhere at ¥1 a ride, with a useful tourist line (A1, ¥2) threading the main sights. The city is flat enough for bikes, and shared bikes are everywhere — a good way to work the old-town lanes.

Bus fare: ¥1 exact change (tourist line A1 ¥2)
Coverage: All central districts and the near suburbs
Bikes: Shared bikes on every corner; the centre is flat

Shopping

What to take home

Kunming is the 'Flower City' and the province's shopping hub — most Yunnan souvenirs pass through here, and flowers are absurdly cheap.

Fresh and dried flowers

Kunming sells flowers the way other cities sell vegetables. Head to the Dounan flower market near closing time and prices fall to a fraction of what you would pay anywhere else — a rose for under ¥1 is normal. Fresh, dried, potted and hydroponic flowers all fill the stalls.

Yunnan mushrooms and tea

Dried wild mushrooms — chicken-oil mushroom, matsutake, morel, bamboo fungus — are the real edible souvenir, sold by weight and light to carry. Pu'er tea is the other classic Yunnan purchase, bought as cakes or loose.

The flower-and-bird market

The Jingxing Street and Yongdao Street markets are the most vivid slice of old Kunming: flowers, caged songbirds, fish, insects, curios, jewellery and crafts, plus rice noodles, erkuai and baba to eat on the spot. Open roughly 08:00–17:00, and free.

Crafts and stone inlay

Kunming is known for its ivory-substitute carvings and Jianchuan wood carving, and Yunnan's minority crafts — Dai brocade, bamboo weaving, batik and tie-dye — make good small gifts. Edible specialities from the big supermarkets around Nanping Street are the easy, cheap option.

Practical

The numbers to save

Area code 0871. Staffed English help is not guaranteed — save these before you need them.

Emergency (police / ambulance / fire)	110 · 120 · 119
Tourist hotline	0871-3163620 · quality complaints 0871-3164961
No.1 People's Hospital, Yunnan	157 Jinbi Road, Kunming · 0871-3638293
Kunming TCM Hospital	25 Dongfeng East Road · 0871-3151691
Airport / rail enquiries	Airport 96566 · rail 0871-3542321
Currency & cards	Cards, WeChat Pay and Alipay accepted almost everywhere; carry cash for markets
Buying by weight	Kunming often sells by kilogram, not the 500 g 'jin' used elsewhere — ask first
Sun protection	High altitude means strong UV — sunscreen, hat and water even on cloudy days

Tips

Small things that save a trip

Carry a layer, every day

At 1,890 m Kunming swings between warm sun and cool shade, and locals say 'one rain turns it into autumn'. A light windproof jacket belongs in your bag even in summer.

Don't taste the rice-noodle broth first

It is kept near-boiling under a layer of oil and will scald your mouth. Add your ingredients, let it sit a moment, and stir to cool it before you drink.

Mind the kilogram

In Kunming a 'jin' is a full kilogram (1,000 g), not the 500 g used elsewhere in Yunnan. Ask whether a price is per jin or per kilo before you buy fruit, mushrooms or tea.

Plan around the taxi shift change

Half the city's taxis change shift between 5:30 and 7pm, and hailing one is nearly impossible then. Use the metro, or start dinner early and travel after 7.

Book the Stone Forest independently

The cheap day tours are built on forced shopping stops. Go by direct train or from the East Bus Station, buy your own ticket, and keep your day.

Come for the gulls in winter

November to March is gull season on Dianchi Lake and Green Lake Park. It is the most photogenic time to be in the city, and the gulls are spectacularly tame.

Background

Why Kunming looks like this

Geography and climate

Kunming sits in the middle of Yunnan on the Yunnan–Guizhou Plateau, at 1,890 m, on the northern shore of Dianchi Lake, with mountains on three sides and the lake plain opening to the south. That position — a low latitude at high altitude — is what gives the city its extraordinary climate: an average of about 15°C, the smallest annual temperature range of any major Chinese city, flowers in every month and almost no frost.

Meteorologically it is a plateau monsoon climate with a long dry season from November to April and a wet season from May to October. It is bright and dry in winter and warm and green in summer, but the high altitude means strong sun and a sharp day-to-night difference, and a single rain in summer can make it feel like autumn within an hour. The nickname 'Spring City' is not marketing; it is the actual weather.

History and people

People have lived around Dianchi Lake for at least 30,000 years, and by the Warring States period the 'Dian' people had founded a kingdom here. Kunming's first walled town came in 765 under the Nanzhao kingdom, and it became a provincial capital in 1276 under the Yuan. In the Ming, mass migration from the heartland made Han Chinese the majority for the first time, and in 1910 the railway to Vietnam turned Kunming into an open, modernizing city.

The twentieth century added its own layers — a 1911 uprising against the Qing, and during the war with Japan Kunming became a rear base and a lifeline, the terminus of the Burma Road. Today it is a city of about 8.6 million and a genuine jumble of peoples: Yunnan's 25 minority groups are all represented, from the Bai and Yi to the Naxi and Mosuo, and the provincial museum and the lakeside Ethnic Village are the easiest places to put names to the faces you will see all over town.

Travel with them

Kunming on screen and in print

Not guides — films, books and music that show the city the way the people in it see it.

Film

Ashima (阿诗玛)

Dir. Liu Qiong, 1964

The classic film of the Sani Yi legend, in which a beautiful girl, Ashima, and a shepherd, Ahei, are parted by a jealous rival and Ashima is turned to stone in the Stone Forest. It was one of China's first colour widescreen musicals, and the rock that shares her name is now the most photographed spot in the park.

Book

The Eyes of Kunming (昆明的眼睛)

Ran Longzhong, ed.

An anthology of a century of writing about Kunming by some of China's best writers — Mao Dun, Ba Jin, Lao She, Shen Congwen and Wang Zengqi among them. The best way to understand what outsiders have long found beguiling about the city: warm, unhurried, and perpetually in flower.

Book

Kunming's Lazy Hours (昆明的慵懒时光)

Big Tomato Media

A gentle, idiosyncratic book about the slow pleasure of everyday Kunming — markets, snacks, parks and neighbourhoods — written as if thinking out loud. It captures the local belief that 'doing leisure well is itself a way of enjoying life'.

Music

Impressions of Yunnan (印象云南)

Various artists

A compilation built around the sounds of Yunnan's peoples — folk songs sung in their own languages, and the hulusi, the gourd flute, threaded through modern arrangements. A good companion to the markets and the mountain roads of the province.

The questions visitors ask us most about Kunming, answered plainly.

Frequently asked questions

Prices and practical details are reviewed every month by our Beijing team and updated the day a rule changes.

How many days do I need in Kunming?

Three days is the comfortable answer. Day one is the Stone Forest, a train or bus ride east; day two is Dianchi Lake with the Western Hills and the Dragon Gate; day three is the city — Green Lake Park, the archways, the flower-and-bird market and a serious lunch of rice noodles. Two days is the minimum if you are only connecting onward.

What is the best time of year to visit Kunming?

Almost any time works, because the temperature barely changes — that is the point of the Spring City. March to April and September to November are the most pleasant, with clear, dry days. The one seasonal event worth planning around is the winter gull season, roughly November to March, when tens of thousands of red-beaked gulls flock to Dianchi Lake and Green Lake Park.

Is the Stone Forest worth the trip from Kunming?

Yes, and it is usually the highlight. It is a genuine UNESCO karst landscape of limestone pinnacles, about 90 km east of the city, reachable by direct train or the tourist buses from the East Bus Station. Go early to beat the tour groups, walk well past the main viewpoints, and give it most of a day. Ignore the cheap 'zero-fee' day tours — they are built around forced shopping stops.

Will I get altitude sickness in Kunming?

Very unlikely. At 1,890 m, Kunming is below the height where most people feel anything; a few visitors notice mild breathlessness or a headache on the first day. Take it easy, drink water and skip heavy drinking on arrival. The real altitude in Yunnan is further north — Shangri-La at 3,200 m and the Tibetan plateau — so save your caution for there.

What food should I not miss in Kunming?

Crossing-the-bridge rice noodles above all: a bowl of near-boiling chicken broth into which you slide raw meat, vegetables and noodles to cook at the table — do not taste the soup first, it will scald you. Then steam-pot chicken, and in summer wild mushrooms, which Yunnan treats as a national treasure. For cheap street food, look for douhua rice noodles, pea-flour porridge and baked erkuai cakes.

How do I get from Kunming to Dali and Lijiang?

High-speed rail, and it is now the easy answer — about 2 hours to Dali and about 3 to Lijiang from Kunming South, with frequent departures. The old overnight sleeper trains still run and save a hotel night, but the high-speed line makes them unnecessary. Buses from the west station take 4–5 hours to Dali and 8–10 to Lijiang, and flights connect both in under an hour.

Is Kunming easy to get around without Chinese?

Mostly. The metro is signed in English and connects the airport, the centre and the railway stations, and taxis are cheap and metered (¥8 for the first 3 km). English is thin at ticket offices and in markets, so a translation app helps, and drivers often change shift between 5:30 and 7pm, when hailing a cab is genuinely difficult — plan around it or take the metro.

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Kunming Yunnan · 0 tours Kunming is the capital of Yunnan and China's 'Spring City', set at 1,890 m where the average temperature sits near 15°C all year — it has no real wint

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Shenyang City guide · 12 tours Where the Qing dynasty began — an imperial palace, a warlord's mansion and the cheapest good food in the northeast.

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Shuhe City guide · 12 tours The quiet version of Lijiang — a Tea Horse Road village of canals, stone bridges and slow afternoons, 4 km from the crowds.

Lijiang City guide · 12 tours A UNESCO Naxi old town of canals and cobbles beneath a 5,596 m snow mountain — the cultural heart of north-west Yunnan.

Xiamen City guide · 12 tours A subtropical island city of temples, fishing-village lanes and the best street food in Fujian — with the car-free islet of Gulangyu a 20-minute ferry away.

Gulangyu City guide · 12 tours A car-free island of colonial villas, pianos and cats, twenty minutes off Xiamen — and the one place where the trick is simply to stay the night.

Fuzhou City guide · 12 tours A 2,200-year-old capital of banyan trees and mountains-within-the-city, where the Ming lanes of Sanfang Qixiang meet the dockyard that built China's modern navy.

Lugu Lake City guide · 12 tours A 2,680 m lake on the Yunnan–Sichuan border, home to China's last matrilineal people, pig-trough canoes and a great deal of doing nothing.

Xishuangbanna City guide · 12 tours China's tropical south — rainforest, wild elephants, Dai villages and the Mekong, wrapped around the gateway city of Jinghong.

Shangri-La City guide · 12 tours A Tibetan town at 3,300 m in Yunnan's Diqing prefecture — monasteries, grassland, prayer wheels and cold thin air.

Nanchang City guide · 12 tours Jiangxi's 'hero city' on the Gan River — one great Tang pavilion, a 160-metre Ferris wheel, and the best claypot soup you will eat in China.

Hefei City guide · 12 tours Anhui's 2,000-year-old capital: the hometown of China's model judge, a moat-turned-garden ring, and the fast rail gateway to Huangshan.

Hongcun City guide · 12 tours A 900-year-old Hui village laid out as an ox, with water running to every door and a mirror-still crescent pond at its heart.

Wuhan City guide · 12 tours Three towns, two rivers and the best breakfast in China — a huge, blunt river city of bridges, lakes and cheap, brilliant street food.

Changsha City guide · 12 tours Hunan's loud, young capital: a 3,000-year-old city that eats chilli-hot food, stays up all night and treats foot massage as a civic duty.

Fenghuang Ancient Town City guide · 12 tours The stilt-house river town of Shen Congwen's 'Border Town' — glowing lanterns, stepping stones and the best two nights in western Hunan.

Lushan City guide · 12 tours A cloud-wrapped granite mountain with a Victorian hill station on top, waterfalls in three tiers, and the mist that Su Shi said you could never see through.

Wuyuan City guide · 12 tours China's 'most beautiful countryside' — dozens of white-walled Huizhou villages strung along streams and terraced into the hills, and two weeks a year of gold.

Mount Heng (Hengshan, Hunan) City guide · 12 tours The South Great Peak: a pilgrimage mountain of 72 summits where the temples run all the way to the top, and the sunrise over the cloud sea is the whole point.

Huangshan City guide · 12 tours Yellow Mountain: 82 granite peaks of twisted pines and grotesque rock, a sea of cloud that changes by the hour, and hot springs at the foot.

Wudang Mountain City guide · 12 tours The Taoist first mountain of China — a gilded bronze hall on a 1,612 m summit, temples hung off cliff faces, and the birthplace of tai chi.

Luoyang City guide · 12 tours Thirteen dynasties, 100,000 Buddhas carved into a river cliff, China's first Buddhist temple — and a whole city that turns peony-pink every April.

Yuntai Mountain City guide · 12 tours A UNESCO geopark in Henan where red-stone gorges squeeze a river to a slot, a 314 m waterfall drops in one plunge, and every path leads to another pool.

Rizhao City guide · 12 tours A low-key Shandong beach town where the sun rises straight out of the Yellow Sea, the sand runs 60 km and a seafood dinner costs less than a coffee in Shanghai.

Yantai City guide · 12 tours A northern Shandong port of fairy-tale cliffs, wine cellars and long golden beaches — where emperors once hunted the elixir of life and China's wine industry still begins.

Lianyungang City guide · 12 tours A working Jiangsu port with a myth in the middle of it — the Flower-Fruit Mountain of Journey to the West, a sea causeway to a big island beach, and some of the cheapest seafood on the coast.

Sanqing Mountain City guide · 12 tours A vertical forest of granite pillars in Jiangxi — the Python Out of the Mountain, the Goddess of the East Sea, two cable cars and a cliff-hugging walkway at 1,660 metres.

Tianjin City guide · 12 tours Beijing's port city next door — a river of 24 bridges, 2,000 colonial villas, and the best street breakfast in northern China.

Datong City guide · 12 tours A frontier capital of carved Buddhas — the Yungang Grottoes, a temple pinned to a cliff, and the oldest wooden tower in China.

Taiyuan City guide · 12 tours Shanxi's provincial capital and noodle heartland — the spring of Jinci, two Ming pagodas, and a museum that explains the whole province.

Pingyao City guide · 12 tours China's best-preserved ancient walled town — a Ming wall, the first Chinese bank, and two temples of painted clay just outside the gates.

Wutai Mountain City guide · 12 tours China's foremost Buddhist mountain — fifty-plus temples in one valley, crowned by five flat-topped peaks up to 3,058 m.

Hulunbuir City guide · 12 tours China's finest grassland — a 263,000 km² sweep of steppe, birch forest and border river, best driven with the windows down.

The Forbidden City City guide · 12 tours Beijing's 600-year imperial palace — 8,700 rooms behind a 72-hectare wall, and the largest surviving wooden palace complex on earth.

Sanya City guide · 12 tours China's only true winter-sun coast — four very different bays, a coral island and a 108 m sea Buddha, all at 18° north.

Haikou City guide · 12 tours Hainan's capital is the island's living city — 600-year-old arcade streets, a volcanic village, and a morning-tea-to-midnight food culture.

Beihai City guide · 12 tours 24 km of fine white sand on one side, a volcanic island of coral and lava on the other — plus a 19th-century arcade old street in between.

Nanning City guide · 12 tours Guangxi's green capital is a gateway to Detian Falls, Beihai and Vietnam — and a genuinely excellent food city if you let it slow you down.

Guangxi City guide · 12 tours One autonomous region, a dozen landscapes — limestone peaks and rice terraces in the north, a Vietnam border and a warm gulf coast in the south.

Huizhou City guide · 12 tours A free West Lake, a Taoist mountain and 200 km of white-sand coast — the Pearl River Delta's most underrated weekend.

Beidaihe City guide · 12 tours Northern China's classic beach escape — one sunrise headland, 10 km of calm swimming water, and a bird flyway overhead twice a year.

Shanhaiguan City guide · 12 tours The town where the Great Wall stops being a rumour of mountains and walks into the Bohai Sea.

Baiyangdian City guide · 12 tours The biggest freshwater lake on the North China Plain — and almost none of it can be reached except by boat.

Qinhuangdao City guide · 12 tours 126 km of Bohai coast in one municipality — a working port, two famous resorts, and the only desert dunes that meet this sea.

Yesanpo City guide · 12 tours Gorge country where the Taihang and Yan ranges collide — 52.5 km of canyon walls, a cave that spits fish, and a river to fall off.

Zhuhai City guide · 12 tours The delta's slow city: a 28 km promenade, 146 islands, oysters fattened where the river meets the sea.

Wuyi Mountain City guide · 12 tours Nine bends of clear water, red sandstone cliffs, and the tea that made a mountain's name.

Jiuzhaigou City guide · 12 tours 108 mineral-blue lakes in one 55 km valley — the place that ruins water everywhere else for you.

Mount Siguniang City guide · 12 tours Four snow peaks, three valleys, and the friendliest 5,000 m mountain in China to stand on top of.

Hailuogou City guide · 12 tours A glacier that comes down to 2,850 m, hot springs in the forest, and Gongga Shan filling the sky above both.

Daocheng Yading City guide · 12 tours Three 6,000 m sacred peaks, glacial lakes at 4,600 m and twenty hours of road — the hardest, highest payoff in Sichuan.

Shunan Bamboo Sea City guide · 12 tours Seventy thousand mu of bamboo over twenty-eight hills, a red sandstone corridor under a closed green roof, and a banquet made entirely of bamboo.

Dujiangyan City guide · 12 tours Not a monument but a machine: three pieces of engineering with no dam, still doing their job after 2,270 years.

Qingcheng Mountain City guide · 12 tours The mountain where Daoism was organised, and the one Chengdu escapes to when the basin turns into an oven.

Qingdao City guide · 12 tours Red-tiled roofs, cold beer and a granite mountain that walks straight into the sea — the easiest good time on the Yellow Sea.

Mount Tai City guide · 12 tours 1,545 metres, 6,290 stone steps and three thousand years of emperors — the one mountain in China that is also a document.

Jinan City guide · 12 tours A provincial capital with 700 springs under the pavement — people still queue at the spouts to fill their kettles.

Weihai City guide · 12 tours 1,000 km of clean coast, a free bathing beach, the island where the Beiyang Fleet died — and thousands of wild swans every winter.

Qufu City guide · 12 tours One family, two thousand years of steles, and a ¥150 pass that covers the lot — the easiest serious day trip in Shandong.

Penglai City guide · 12 tours China's immortals' coast — a Song-dynasty naval harbour you can walk for free, a mythology nobody ever found, and the ferry to 32 islands.

Changdao City guide · 12 tours 32 islands, one causeway, a ¥150 land pass, tens of thousands of gulls and nowhere you can drive — the place where everything happens by boat.

Nanjing City guide · 12 tours Capital of six dynasties, capital of the Republic, and the city that eats more duck than anywhere else on earth.

Suzhou City guide · 12 tours Two thousand five hundred years of canals, sixty surviving gardens, and a city that shuts its gates at half past five.

Zhouzhuang City guide · 12 tours Nine hundred years, fourteen bridges, one ticket — and a town that only makes sense before eight in the morning.

Tongli City guide · 12 tours Fifteen canals, seven islets, forty-nine bridges — and a town that still gets up at dawn because it lives here.

Wuxi City guide · 12 tours Taihu on one side, a Grand Buddha on the next hill, and ribs sweet enough to argue about — the most underrated city on the Yangtze delta.

Yangzhou City guide · 12 tours A city built by salt merchants who had more money than restraint — gardens, a narrow lake, and the best breakfast in China.

Zhenjiang City guide · 12 tours Three hills, one ferry landing, and an unreasonable share of Chinese literature — the Yangtze city people drive past.

Changzhou City guide · 12 tours A 2,500-year-old canal city that built a dinosaur park and refuses to apologise for it.

Wuzhen City guide · 12 tours A town that is two towns: the older, quieter East Zone and the lit-up West Zone you sleep inside.

Xitang City guide · 12 tours Nine canals, 122 lanes, one long roofed corridor — and a town that still works for a living.

Hangzhou City guide · 12 tours A lake in the middle of a city, a tea village in the hills, and two thousand years of getting the mood right.

Xixi Wetland City guide · 12 tours Ten square kilometres of marsh inside Hangzhou, and the only way into half of it is a boat.

Ningbo City guide · 12 tours A 7,000-year-old port with Asia's oldest private library, a free waterfront 20 years older than Shanghai's, and the best seafood before the islands.

Mount Putuo City guide · 12 tours A Buddhist island with no cars, three great temples and a ¥10 lunch that is the point of the place.

Qiandao Lake City guide · 12 tours A thousand islands that did not exist sixty years ago, and the cleanest big-lake water in China.

Shaoxing City guide · 12 tours Two and a half thousand years of water-town China, and Lu Xun's house is free.

Zhoushan City guide · 12 tours 1,390 islands, one road bridge in, and a harbour that lands more fish than almost anywhere on earth.

Hengdian City guide · 12 tours A backlot the size of a town, where the palaces are copies and the film crews are real.

Yandang Mountain City guide · 12 tours A volcano that weathering turned into scenery — 500-odd sights of peak, cave and waterfall across eight scenic areas.

Zhejiang City guide · 12 tours One small, mountainous, absurdly rich province that holds a lake, two canal towns, a Buddhist island and a dead volcano.

Hong Kong Outlying Islands City guide · 12 tours Two hundred-odd islands, half an hour of ferry from the financial district, and not a car on three of them.

Hong Kong Shopping City guide · 12 tours A duty-free port where the tag starts lower, two citywide sale seasons knock a third off, and every mall sits on an MTR exit.

Macao City guide · 12 tours Four hundred years of Portuguese streets, a fake Venice under a painted sky, and the best egg tart in Asia.

Urumqi City guide · 12 tours The city furthest from the sea, with a snow range on its doorstep and dinner starting at nine.

Hong Kong SAR, China City guide · 11 tours A harbour skyline you already know by heart, dim sum trolleys at dawn, and 260 islands an hour from the neon.

Taiwan, China City guide · 11 tours Night-market alleys, high-mountain railways, and a coastline that changes character every hundred kilometres.

Qinghai Lake City guide · 12 tours A 4,400 sq km inland sea at 3,200 m, ringed by rapeseed gold, prayer flags and the best cycling road in China.

Mount Emei City guide · 11 tours A 3,099-metre Buddhist summit you can reach by cable car before lunch — and a mountain full of monkeys that will absolutely rob you.

Beijing City guide · 11 tours Six centuries of imperial red walls, a Great Wall you can climb before lunch, and the best roast duck on earth.

Taipei City guide · 11 tours A 24-hour bookstore, a night market that never stops sizzling, and a city that apologises when you bump into it.

North Xinjiang City guide · 11 tours Alpine lakes the colour of poured enamel, a village of log cabins under birch trees, and the last tear the Atlantic ever sheds.

Lanzhou City guide · 11 tours A city split in half by the Yellow River, where beef noodles are a breakfast ritual and the Silk Road still runs through the streets.

Mount Hua City guide · 11 tours Five granite peaks, one plank road bolted to a cliff face, and a sunrise that justifies the 2am start.

Dunhuang City guide · 11 tours A desert oasis where Buddhist cave art survived a thousand years and a crescent lake refused to dry up.

Gannan City guide · 11 tours 433 kilometres of the Yellow River's first bend, a 3.5 km prayer-wheel circuit, and Tibetan grasslands almost nobody has commercialised yet.

Sichuan–Tibet Highway City guide · 11 tours 2,142 kilometres of cliff-edge switchbacks, four of China's most beautiful mountains, and a road the Tibetans walk on their knees.

Kangding City guide · 11 tours The town that gave Asia its most famous love song, a 7,556m sacred peak on its doorstep, and the last real Tibetan town before the road climbs to Lhasa.

Lhasa City guide · 12 tours A city of prayer wheels and butter lamps at 3,700 metres, where the sun shines 3,000 hours a year and the world's highest palace watches over it all.

Nyingchi City guide · 11 tours Tibet's greenest corner — peach blossom valleys, a 7,782 m peak that hides from almost everyone, and the world's deepest canyon.

Namtso City guide · 11 tours A 1,920-square-kilometre sheet of impossible blue at 4,718 metres, ringed by snow peaks and prayer flags.

Chongqing City guide · 12 tours A vertical city of fog, cable cars and cliff-side stilt houses, where the火锅 never stops boiling and the night skyline outshines Hong Kong.

Qiandongnan City guide · 11 tours A thousand Miao households stacked up a mountainside, drum towers and wind-rain bridges in Dong villages, and a 600-year-old Ming garrison town on the road to Guiyang.

Libo City guide · 11 tours Emerald rivers threading through karst peaks, a 600-metre forest growing out of a riverbed, and China's largest wild plum grove.

Guiyang City guide · 11 tours China's summer capital at 1,100 metres, where the nights run on sour fish soup, street-side barbecue and mahjong that never quite stops.

Zhenyuan City guide · 11 tours A 2,000-year-old river town where the Wuyang River carves an S through the mountains and every lane hides a story.

Huangguoshu City guide · 11 tours Asia's biggest waterfall, and the only one on earth you can walk behind, above and around — plus 600-year-old Ming dynasty villages a short drive away.

Harbin City guide · 11 tours Minus 30 degrees, a frozen river you can walk across, and a cathedral built by Russians who never went home.

Yunnan City guide · 11 tours Snow mountains, tropical rainforest, twenty-five minorities and a plate of rice noodles — all in one province.

Shanghai City guide · 11 tours A 1920s waterfront of colonial banks facing a science-fiction skyline, soup dumplings you eat with a straw, and 20 million people moving like clockwork.

Zhangjiajie City guide · 11 tours Three thousand sandstone pillars straight out of Avatar, a glass skywalk bolted to a cliff, and a cable car that leaves from downtown.

Guangzhou City guide · 11 tours A 2,200-year-old trading port where dim sum is a religion, colonial islands sit beside 600-metre towers, and the food never stops.

Guilin City guide · 11 tours Karst peaks rising straight out of a green river, rice terraces carved into mountainsides, and the best bowl of noodles you'll eat in China.

Shenzhen City guide · 11 tours A fishing village that became a megacity in forty years — and it still has 500-year-old banyans, empty beaches and dim sum worth the border crossing.

Chengdu City guide · 11 tours A 3,000-year-old city where the schedule is tea, mahjong and hotpot — and the pandas are just the opening act.

Xinjiang City guide · 11 tours Snow peaks, grassland, desert and oasis — one-sixth of China, and the longest road you will ever ride.

Xi'an City guide · 14 tours Thirteen dynasties of emperors, a terracotta army buried for 2,200 years, and a walled city you can cycle in 100 minutes.

Qinghai City guide · 11 tours China's high-altitude blue heart: a salt lake you can walk on, a 3,200-metre sea, and yak butter tea at the roof of the world.

Tibet City guide · 11 tours A plateau the size of Western Europe where the sky starts at your feet, prayer flags carry the wind, and the roads run past 8,000-metre peaks.

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Free itinerary design, a revised plan within one working day, and nothing charged until you approve the final version.

3 days is the standard — Stone Forest, then Dianchi Lake and the Western Hills, then the city itself.
Pack a light jacket: at 1,890 m it is warm in the sun and cool in the shade, and 'one rain turns it to autumn'.
From November to March, tens of thousands of red-beaked gulls winter on Dianchi Lake and Green Lake Park.

Kunming travel guide: the Stone Forest, Dianchi Lake and where to eat crossing-the-bridge noodles

The Stone Forest

Dianchi Lake and the Western Hills

Green Lake Park and the gulls

The old town and its markets

Crossing-the-bridge rice noodles

An afternoon in the ethnic village

The Stone Forest

Dianchi Lake and the Dragon Gate

The city — parks, markets, food

The classic three

Jiuxiang caves and the expo gardens

Anning hot springs and a flower market

Stone Forest (Shilin)

Western Hills and the Dragon Gate

Dianchi Lake and Haigeng Dam

Green Lake Park (Cuihu)

Golden Horse and Jasper Rooster Archways

Jiuxiang Scenic Area

Yunnan Ethnic Village

Crossing-the-bridge rice noodles

Steam-pot chicken (qiguoji)

Douhua rice noodles

Pea-flour porridge (xidoufen)

Guandu baba

Wild mushrooms

Qiaoxiang Yuan

Fuzhaolou Steam-Pot Chicken

Yikeyin

Deyiju

Guanshang Wild-Mushroom Street

Mingtong Impression Youth Hotel

Qingcheng International Youth Hostel

Tuofeng Inn International Youth Hostel

Shangpinju Home Hotel

Yinghua Hotel

Fresh and dried flowers

Yunnan mushrooms and tea

The flower-and-bird market

Crafts and stone inlay

Carry a layer, every day

Don't taste the rice-noodle broth first

Mind the kilogram

Plan around the taxi shift change

Book the Stone Forest independently

Come for the gulls in winter

Geography and climate

History and people

Ashima (阿诗玛)

The Eyes of Kunming (昆明的眼睛)

Kunming's Lazy Hours (昆明的慵懒时光)

Impressions of Yunnan (印象云南)

Frequently asked questions

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Kunming trips and tickets

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Sort out before you fly

Understand the place

Tell us your dates.We'll do the rest.

Tell us your dates.
We'll do the rest.