I went to Lijiang and Jade Dragon Snow Mountain in 2015, but did not go to Lugu Lake due to traffic and time reasons. After I came back, I saw the introduction of Lugu Lake and felt that I must go to Lugu Lake once.
I have been planning to go to Lugu Lake in Lijiang for a long time. I had already booked a flight ticket the year before last, but the trip failed due to the epidemic.
Now the road conditions from Lijiang to Lugu Lake are much better, but it still takes more than 4 hours to drive there. It just so happens that the family members are going to Yunnan for fun, and if there are many people, they can charter a car to Lugu Lake.
11/3 D1 Shanghai -> Lijiang (House: LiJing Pure Sunshine. Ancient City Panorama Snow Mountain Viewing Beauty Hotel (Sifang Street Branch))
The scheduled afternoon flight was canceled and changed to a morning flight. I am really worried that the epidemic will cancel all flights to Lijiang and miss Lugu Lake again.
The plane takes off on time at 8:40
Arrive at Lijiang Airport at 12:20.
Queuing up to wait for the nucleic acid landing test, there are quite a lot of people, and it is estimated that they waited for half an hour.
When we left the airport, the pick-up driver was already waiting for us in the parking lot.
On the way to Dayan Ancient Town, you can see Jade Dragon Snow Mountain and arrive at Dayan Ancient Town in half an hour.
Lijiang Old Town is the general name of Dayan Ancient Town, Baisha Ancient Town and Shuhe Ancient Town.
The ancient city of Lijiang that everyone talks about generally refers to the ancient town of Dayan, which is the most prosperous here.
Shuhe Ancient Town is not as prosperous as Dayan Ancient Town, but more primitive.
Baisha Ancient Town is an original ancient town, without much renovation, mainly looking at the ancient Baisha murals.
It was already 2 o'clock when we arrived in the ancient town. The inn we booked was in the center of Dayan. The road inside the ancient town was uneven, so we could only carry our suitcases.
There is a courtyard in the middle of the inn, surrounded by two-story buildings with 11 rooms, and a small viewing platform on the roof. There is a cute dog in the inn, and it is nice to play with the dog.
It can be seen that the inn has been carefully designed and decorated, but it may be due to the lack of guests due to the epidemic, and it feels that it has not been properly taken care of for a while.
The cleanliness and linen of the room are good, and the sleeping is very comfortable.
Put down your luggage and go to the ancient town for food first.
For the first meal in Lijiang, I ate Lijiang pork ribs and local chicken hot pot. The restaurant environment is good, among the flowers.
After lunch, proceed to Wangu Building on Lion Rock.
Lijiang is about 2,400 meters above sea level. It is a bit breathless to climb up the Lion Rock, and the old people can't stand it anymore.
Lion Mountain is the place to see the panorama of the ancient town, and the panorama of Dayan Ancient Town is average, with no special features.
Ascending the Wangu Tower, this scenic spot is not cost-effective.
After getting off the Lion Rock, stroll around the ancient town and drink freshly squeezed pomegranate juice.
Went to the big waterwheel, a landmark scenic spot at the north gate of the ancient city.
Walk the oldest street in Lijiang.
Back to the hotel to rest and prepare dinner.
Dinner is at Yun Xueli Restaurant, which is also the restaurant in Lijiang for 15 years. This is the most popular and highest rated restaurant in Lijiang.
The taste of the dishes did not disappoint us. We recommend the secret snow mountain fish.
After dinner, stroll around the ancient town again. At this time, the bar street began to be lively.
I didn't have a good rest yesterday, so I went back to the inn to rest.
11/4 D2 Lijiang (Suite: LiJing Simple Sunshine. Ancient City Panorama Snow Mountain Viewing Beauty Hotel (Sifang Street Branch))
morning research
In the morning, take a taxi to Baisha Ancient Town.
I ate Naxi noodles for breakfast in Baisha Ancient Town.
Then visit Baisha murals.
Many murals in Baisha are under repair and have not been opened yet. Only a small part can be visited.
Baisha murals are mainly the content of Tibetan Buddhism, which seems to have a history of more than 600 years.
However, the preservation is not perfect, and it cannot be compared with famous murals such as Dazu Rock Carvings and Mogao Grottoes.
After leaving the Baisha murals, continue to visit Baisha Ancient Town.
Baisha feels relatively simple and the area is not large.
There are some distinctive shops and inns in the ancient town.
Take a taxi to Shuhe Ancient Town, first go to Naxi Huotang in Shuhe Ancient Town for lunch.
The Naxi Huotang is a hot pot in the middle, surrounded by stone platforms, which can be used for barbecue.
After lunch, go to Jiuding Longtan, where the water feels a bit like Jiuzhaigou.
The Ancient Tea Horse Road Museum is under renovation and cannot be visited.
I did a nucleic acid test at the gate of Shuhe Ancient Town, and finally took a taxi back to Dayan Ancient Town.
I found a bar in Dayan Ancient Town, had a cup of coffee and listened to music.
Go back to the inn and play with the dog
Lijiang's Internet celebrity restaurants
The fire pit for lunch was full, and rice noodles for dinner.
There are many people taking artistic photos in the ancient town, and the ancient town at night is very charming.
Finally, climb up the Lion Rock again to see the night view of the ancient city.
11/5 D3 Lijiang -> Lugu Lake (Overnight: Lugu Lake Citi Blossom Inn)
Today is the highlight of this itinerary, the two-day tour of Lugu Lake.
The family members also want to travel to Dali and Tengchong, so they booked Lijiang->Lugu Lake->Lijiang->Dali->Tengchong->Baoshan High-speed Railway Station, chartered on the 8th.
It was agreed to leave for Lugu Lake at 8 o'clock, and the chartered car arranged for 2 drivers. In fact, one is a driver and the other is similar to a tour guide.
It is very important to meet a good driver for a chartered car tour. This time the chartered car driver is good, but people who are similar to tour guides are not so friendly. I will elaborate on it later.
Arrive at the Jinsha River Observation Deck, take a look at the scenery of the Jinsha River, and solve your physical problems by the way.
keep going
Arriving at the observation deck of Haba Snow Mountain, Haba Snow Mountain is shrouded in clouds and mist, hiding behind the clouds and seeing nothing.
The shopping point of this viewing platform is very deep. There is a person pretending to be a tourist with a camera who has been shopping at the point. He is suspected of defrauding tourists.
I almost fell for it. He took a fancy to a traditional Chinese medicine, and the man said it was good, so he also bought it for 9 yuan a catty. The family said to buy a catty, and then the merchant began to break up the traditional Chinese medicine, and finally the merchant told us that it was 9 yuan a gram. 9 yuan instantly turned into 4,500 yuan, and I refused decisively. When all the tourists had left, the man was still by the shop, waiting for the next batch of tourists.
It was almost 12 o'clock when we arrived in Ninglang County, the chartered driver took us to a restaurant on the side of the road for lunch. This restaurant is full of guests brought by chartered cars or tour guides. The price is slightly expensive but acceptable.
After lunch, continue to Lugu Lake and drive for nearly 2 hours to reach the first scenic spot of Lugu Lake.
Lugu Lake Observation Deck.
The viewing platform is very beautiful to see Lugu Lake, but it is not amazing.
A person like a tour guide arranged for us to take a cruise at the pier of Sanjia Village. In fact, we have not confirmed whether we want to take a boat tour of Lugu Lake in Sanjia Village.
I plan to take a cruise ship at the Daluoshui Pier after staying at the Daluoshui Inn. This is when the tour guide started nagging, saying that if you come to Lugu Lake without taking a cruise ship, you will not come. Well, anyway, the cruise ship is supposed to be taken, and it is the same at any pier, but everyone understands why the tour guide nags about taking the cruise ship.
In order to protect the environment, Lugu Lake can only be entered by rowing boats. It costs 70 yuan from the pier to Linubi Island, and another 30 yuan for the boat around the island. The price of the cruise ship is the same at the big falling water pier.
The water in Lugu Lake is very clean and the visibility reaches 13 meters. There are migratory red-headed gulls on the lake, and you can feed the birds with small dried fish or bread.
Eighty percent of the water in Lugu Lake comes from groundwater. You can see the spring outlet of Lugu Lake around the island. The water here has reached the national first-class standard for drinking water.
Climb to Linubi Island. There is a hill on the island. On the mountain is the Linubi Temple of Tibetan Buddhism. At the highest point, you can overlook Lugu Lake.
On the return trip, I saw the watery flowers in the lake. The blooming period of the watery flowers is in July and August, and there are not many watery flowers in the lake in November.
The whole cruise takes about 1 hour and 40 minutes, the price is 100, and the price/performance ratio is still good.
The tour guide on the bus recommended us to go to the bonfire party. We didn't like this, and the tour guide started nagging again, but we resolutely refused the bonfire party.
The tour guide had no choice but to say that the time was still early, and we went to two more scenic spots. In fact, it was already 4 pm at this time, and our idea was to go to the inn to rest.
We booked the Seaview Inn and wanted to check in earlier. The tour guide has been nagging that it is still early, and the time to play tomorrow is a bit rushed.
Well, first we went to Lover's Beach, a small beach on the edge of Lugu Lake.
After that, I went to the Lige Observation Deck, and it rained and snowed on the Lige Observation Deck.
Lige Observation Deck is the most classic scenic spot of Lugu Lake, I think we should spend more time here.
I hurriedly took a few photos, got on the car and went back to the inn in Daluoshui Village.
At first glance, Lige Village seems to be unpopular, and due to time reasons, we did not arrange for us to stroll through Lige Village.
Arriving at the Big Falling Water Inn, we booked a lake view room. I wanted to enjoy the first-line lake view in the room, but it was already past 6 o'clock when I arrived at the inn.
This is the tour guide who has not left. He followed us. I don’t know what his intention is. He probably wants us to take him to dinner. We ignored it and he had to leave. He made us feel uncomfortable.
Hang out at Big Fallingwater Pier
For dinner, I ate steam stone pot fish in Chuanxiang Garden near the inn. It tasted good.
Only a few clear bars are open at night in the big falling water, and they are not very popular, which is greatly affected by the epidemic.
In the middle of the night, I looked at the stars by the lake. Although it is much better than the light pollution in the city, I still can't see the stars in the sky.
11/6 D4 Lugu Lake -> Lijiang (Hostel: LiJing Pure Sunshine. Ancient City Panorama Snow Mountain View Beauty Hotel (Sifang Street Branch))
The breakfast in the inn is rice noodles and porridge, which is not to our liking.
The garden of the inn
Walk along the lake to the big falling water pier to play, the scenery is good
Booked lake view room
At 9 o'clock, the car waited for us at the door of the inn, and started today's journey.
As soon as we got on the bus, the tour guide was nagging. We need to understand the local culture when we travel. After doing a series of foreshadowing, we recommended that we go to the local Mosuo people for free home visits. This routine, we can only "hehe", decisively refused.
Today's attraction is the Walking Marriage Bridge on the Sichuan side of Lugu Lake, which is on the Caohai Sea.
At this time, the grass has withered and turned yellow, and under the sunlight, it looks golden in pieces.
After visiting the Marriage Bridge, the tour guide said that if we don’t visit home, there will be no scenic spots today, so we can only go back to Lijiang.
The family decided to return to Lijiang.
Still in the restaurant for lunch.
After a few viewing platforms to rest and go to the toilet, we arrived at Dayan Ancient City at 4 pm.
Lijiang to Ninglang bus
The two-day chartered car tour of Lugu Lake was not perfect, and left a lot of regrets.
When I chartered the car, I agreed that I could drop by the Lijiang section of Tiger Leaping Gorge, but the tour guide said that the minibus couldn’t drive in, and I don’t know if it’s true or not.
It was agreed to go around the lake all the way, but only went to Lugu Lake Observation Deck, Lover's Beach, Lige Observation Deck, Daluoshui and Caohai Walking Marriage Bridge.
Goddess Mountain, Xiaoluoshui, Luyuan Cliff, Gesa Ancient Village, Goddess Terrace, Goddess Bay and other scenic spots did not go. It is said that the Sichuan section is not open, but it is confirmed with the inn that the Sichuan section has been opened. So it is very important to charter a car and meet the right person.
Go back to the inn, rest for a while, and play with the dog in the inn.
Take the family to Zhongyi Market to buy special products. This is a market that integrates vegetable markets, snacks, fruit stands, and specialty shops.
Strolling around the periphery of the ancient town, the periphery of the ancient town is full of the atmosphere of local people's life. The inside and outside of the ancient town are completely different. The shops and streets in the ancient town are very exquisite, and the outside of the ancient town is no different from ordinary small towns.
Finally, head to Star Kitchen for a creative Yunnan cuisine dinner. This restaurant should be new, but the taste of the food is good and the price is good. It feels on par with Yun Xueli.
After dinner, wander around Dayan Ancient Town and go to the lower section of Wuyi Street, which is the concentration of Qing bars. Compared with Bar Street, it is much quieter here, and the house of the famous soldier is here.
So far, we have visited Dayan Ancient Town, and finally got familiar with the route of Dayan Ancient Town.
11/7 D5 Lijiang->Shanghai
Today I am going back to Shanghai, and my family members will continue their trip to Dali Tengchong in a chartered car.
Lijiang went to Dali and passed Lijiang Airport, so I chartered a car to take me to the airport, and then continued to Dali.
After learning the lesson of carrying suitcases into the ancient city, I called a tricycle to send the luggage to the gate of the ancient town.
Arrive at Lijiang Airport in half an hour and enter through the security check.
1:40 pm flight back to Shanghai.
Is this Lugu Lake?
Arrived in Shanghai, Dishui Lake
On the way to the airport, the tour guide actually told the two drivers that they didn't have enough money for meals, implying that additional money was needed for the follow-up trip. I was very angry immediately, saying that there were 2 drivers, and the tour guide didn't drive for a minute during the whole journey. In fact, he was a tour guide who arranged consumption for us and profited from it. Our strategy itinerary is all done, and there is no need for a tour guide at all. There is no difference between the tour guide in our car and the group tour, so why bother to charter a car for a strategy itinerary? It would be better to report directly to the group.
Our chartered driver is a local in Dali, and the family members have arrived in Dali. I contacted the customer service of the chartered car, and there is no need for a tour guide for the follow-up itinerary, only the chartered driver. The tour guide also called me, hinting that he wanted to join us for the next itinerary. He was crazy about money, but I refused. Without the tour guide, the family members said that they had a lot more fun, and there was less nagging from the tour guide who only wanted to make money.
During the epidemic, Lijiang, although there were a lot fewer tourists, was better than other tourist destinations overall. I went to Lijiang again after 7 years, and I feel that Lijiang has not changed much. The ancient town of Lijiang is the originator of the ancient town tour, which is unmatched by Xitang and Wuzhen. There are snow-capped mountains, gourmet food, Naxi culture, and various specialty shops.
When you come to Lijiang, you don’t need to rush the schedule, you can bask in the sun, drink coffee, and live a slow life. I will go there next time I have a chance.
The trip to Lugu Lake is not perfect. Lugu Lake is beautiful, but there is no such thing as stunning. It may be that meeting a chartered tour guide ruined the mood. The itinerary of the two-day tour, most of the time on the road, is not cost-effective.