1-Day Tiger Leaping Gorge from Lijiang to Shangri-La

Day 1: Departure from Lijiang, First bend of Yangtze River, Tiger Leaping Gorge, Dukezong Ancient Town

Your driver will pick you up from your hotel in Lijiang ancient town in the early morning (if the car cannot enter the small streets of Lijiang ancient town we will arrange a meeting point) and we will drive to the First Bend of the Yangtze River, where you can take in the impressive landscape where many important historical stories were written. Then we will continue further north to the Tiger Leaping Gorge, one of the deepest gorges in the world, 16 km long with a sheer 3900 meters between the wild waters and the top of the snow-capped Haba Snow Mountains next to it. The inhabitants of the gorge are primarily the indigenous Naxi people, who live in a handful of small hamlets. Your tour guide will meet you there.

After lunch, you’ll continue further into the remote mountainous area of Shangri-La. People often say that the journey is as important as the destination, and as you follow the road to Shangri-La, you can only agree with them. On the way you will get tingling feelings in your stomach as you continue your way to the far corner of the world up to the Tibetan plateau. Notice the landscape and architecture gradually change, with barley fields and yaks scattered across the valleys and the mountains always towering above you. On the way to Shangri-La we will take a stop at a local Yi Minority Village. Then you will arrive at your final destination: Dukezong Ancient town, where the locals still preserve the old Tibetan way of life, crafting traditional jewelry made of silver or horn, instruments, earth ware and daggers. The amount of traditional handicrafts shows the importance in old times as a trading post on the old Tea-Horse road. Let this lovely mountain town welcome you, and spend your free time wandering through the narrow alleys and cobbled winding lanes or relaxing from the day’s adventures.