Dali city is located 300 kilometers away from Kunming and only a 40 minute flight apart Kunming. It has traditionally been settled by the Bai and Yi minorities for more than 4000 years. As one of the most amazing tourists’ destination, its scenic attractions are Dali Ancient Town, Erhai Lake, Cangshan Mountain, and Three Pagodas and so on.
Dali Ancient Town
Dali Ancient Town is a magical fascinating place with an international flair. It attracts lots of tourists from all over the world annual. Far-reaching Dali history, it’s known as “literature of the state” good reputation. Due to its long history, there are lots of cultural relics. Therefore, Dali is famous for its literature, historical records, cultural of heritage and richest relic in Yunnan Province. In the ancient town, the architecture is built in the traditional Bai ethnic minority style and gives the city a very distinct feel. Each house has a main room and two wing rooms and facing the main room is a large screen.
Erhai Lake & Cangshan Mountain
Erhai Lake, Chinese meaning is ‘ear-shaped sea’, is situated at 1,972 m above sea level. In size, the North-South length of the lake is 40 km and the East-West width is roughly 7-8 km. Its area is 250 km², making it the second largest highland lake of China, after Dianchi Lake. When you arrive at there, you can have an Erhai Lake cruise to explore the beautiful scenery.
Cangshan Mountain is a high mountain rising above the city of Dali in the southern province of Yunnan that borders Vietnam. There are all together 19 peak; every peak is 3,000 meters height above the sea level, the highest is more than 4,000meters. Cangshan Mountain is famous for its snow, cloud and spring. There is cable car up the mountain, and a road connects various sites of interest. With lots of springs and pounds and waterfalls, the wonderful scenery, you can enjoy in those highlights by take cable car or hiking up to the mountain.
Three Pagodas
Three Pagodas are one kilometer away from north of Dali. The styles of the three pagodas are similar. The main pagoda is “Qianxun Pagoda”. It is a square pagoda and it is 69.13 meters high. Its molding and style were imitated the Small Wild Goose Pagoda in Xian and the Song Yue Monastery Pagoda in Henan Province. Each layer has set up with a white marble Buddha statue, which is the typical style of Tang Dynasty. There is an octagon brick pagoda on each side of the Qianxun Pagoda. Those set of octagon pagodas were built after the Qianxun Pagoda and its body were white with ten layers in each pagoda.
By Air:
At present, Dali Airport only has the flight routes to Kunming and Xishuangbanna in Yunnan province. There are daily flights from Dali to Kunming (about 30 minutes), Dali to Xishuangbanna (about 50 minutes).
By Train:
Tourists also can by train get in and out of Dali. However, at the Dali railway station, the train just reaches Kunming and Lijiang.
By Bus:
By bus is the main means of transportation in Dali. In Dali Bus station, you can by bus to Kunming (about 4- 5hours), to Lijiang (about 3hours), to Zhongdian (Shangri-La) (about 9 hours).
Local Food:
Most of the best Dali restaurants are in the ancient city. If you want to taste some of the local delicious food when in Dali, going to Renmin Road in the ancient city is a good choice. Every restaurant has its own characters.
– The Three-Course Tea of the Bai ethnic minority
– Fish in casserole
– Butter tea
Dali is the main habitation of Bai People; therefore, there are full fiiled with ethnic customs. Most of the Bai people’s festivals are holed during March and April, such as Third Moon Fair, Guanyin Pavilion and Torch Festival.
