Destination guide
Dali Tours
Updated November 2026
Give Dali two nights. The old town is small enough to walk in an afternoon, but Erhai Lake is 40 km long, the best Bai villages sit on opposite shores, and the mountain behind the town takes a morning of its own. One night here is the most common regret on the Kunming to Lijiang route.
What Dali is, and what it is not
Dali sits at 1,972 m on the southern shore of Erhai Lake, in a prefecture run by the Bai minority. The walled town is Ming in outline and much rebuilt since the 1980s, but the grid, the gates and the water channels running down the streets are older than that. It is a working town rather than a museum: shops open at eight, the market sells to locals, and Bai families still live in the courtyards behind the main lanes.
What it is not is a theme park, and it is not as immediately dramatic as Lijiang. Dali’s appeal is horizontal — a lake, a mountain wall, villages spread along the shore — where Lijiang’s is vertical. Travellers who expect a second Lijiang are disappointed; travellers who want a town where people live are not.
How long to give it
| Time | What it buys you | Who it suits |
|---|---|---|
| One night | Old town at dusk, Three Pagodas next morning, straight on to Lijiang | Only if the trip is under eight days |
| Two nights | Adds a half-day on the lake and one Bai village, at an unhurried pace | Most first visits |
| Three nights | Adds the Cangshan cable car, a bike loop of the west shore, and Xizhou market | Photographers, repeat visitors, anyone in winter |
Which shore to sleep on
This decision matters more than the hotel. The lake is 40 km north to south and only 7 to 8 km wide, and the two shores feel like different places.
| Base | What you get | Trade-off |
|---|---|---|
| Dali old town | Restaurants, bars, walkable streets, the Three Pagodas 1.5 km away | No lake view; the shore is 3 km east across farmland |
| Xizhou, west shore | Bai courtyard houses, a morning market, 18 km north of the old town | Very quiet at night; you need a car or a driver |
| Shuanglang, east shore | Sunset over the lake with Cangshan behind it — the view in every photograph | An hour and a half around the north end; the village is heavily built up |
Our own preference for a first visit is two nights in the old town and a driver for one full day around the lake, rather than moving hotels. The loop road is about 120 km and takes a full day with stops.
The Three Pagodas, and whether to go in
The three towers stand 1.5 km north of the old town, on the slope below Cangshan. The central Qianxun Pagoda is 69.13 m and square, built in the ninth century during the Tang dynasty; the two octagonal towers flanking it are 42.19 m and slightly later. They are the oldest standing structures in Yunnan and the reason Dali was a capital.
The temple behind them, Chongsheng, was rebuilt in the early 2000s at a scale the original never had, and it is the rebuilt part that fills most of the visit. If you are short of time, the pagodas are clearly visible from the road and from the lake; paying to walk the compound is worth it once, mainly for the view back over the lake from the upper terraces.
Cangshan: three cable cars, three different mornings
The mountain wall behind the town runs 50 km north to south with nineteen peaks, the highest at 4,122 m. Three separate cable cars climb it, and they do not go to the same place. The Ximatan line is the long one and reaches roughly 4,000 m, into cloud forest and, from December to March, snow. The Gantong and Zhonghe lines stop around 2,600 m at temples, which is a walk rather than an altitude excursion.
Take the high one only on a clear morning; the whole point is the view down over the lake, and by eleven the cloud often sits on the ridge. Walking down from the Zhonghe path back into the old town takes about two hours on stone steps.
Erhai Lake without a tour bus
The west shore road is flat and runs through villages, which makes it the better half for cycling; electric bikes can be hired in the old town and will take you to Xizhou and back in a day. The east shore is steeper, emptier and better by car. Boats run from several piers, but the lake is shallow and the trips are short — the shoreline villages are the reason to be here, not the water itself.
Swimming is not part of it. The lake has had algae problems for a decade and local authorities discourage it.
Getting there, and getting onward
| From | How | Time |
|---|---|---|
| Kunming | High-speed train, D-class, from Kunming Station | About 2 hours |
| Kunming | Flight to Dali (DLU), 13 km east of Xiaguan | 40 minutes, plus transfers |
| Lijiang | Train, D-class | About 1 hour |
| Shangri-La | Train via Lijiang, or road direct | 4 to 6 hours |
Dali has two centres and it confuses people: Xiaguan is the modern city and the transport hub, the old town is 13 km north-west of it. Trains stop at both. Get off at Dali (old town) station if your hotel is inside the walls.
When to come
March to May and September to November are the clean windows: 18 to 26C, low humidity, and enough wind to keep the lake clear. June to August is the rainy season, which in practice means heavy afternoon showers rather than all-day rain. December to February is dry and sunny by day at 12 to 17C, cold at night, and almost empty of domestic tourists — the best months for photographs and the worst for lake villages, where some guesthouses close.
The Bai festivals are worth timing for: the Third Month Fair around the old town in April, and the Torch Festival on the 24th day of the sixth lunar month, in July or August.
What trips people up
- Booking one night and arriving at 16:00. The old town is at its best between seven and nine in the evening, and you will miss it.
- Staying in Xiaguan because the hotel was cheaper. You will spend forty minutes each way in traffic.
- Walking to the lake from the old town expecting a promenade. There is farmland and a road in between.
- Taking the Cangshan cable car in the afternoon. Cloud arrives, and the cable car closes in wind.
- Assuming the lake loop is half a day. It is a full one with stops, and longer if you photograph.
We run Dali as two nights with a driver for the lake day, then the train north to Lijiang. If you would rather base at Xizhou and skip the old town, that works too. Send us your dates and we will tell you which is better for the month you are travelling.
Questions travellers ask
How many days do you need in Dali?
Two nights is the right amount. One night gives you the old town at dusk and the Three Pagodas on the way out, which is enough to see Dali but not to understand it. Three nights adds a full day around Erhai Lake and a morning on Cangshan, and is what photographers and winter visitors usually choose.
Which side of Erhai Lake should I stay on?
The old town for restaurants, walkable streets and the pagodas; Xizhou on the west shore for Bai courtyards and a market that serves locals; Shuanglang on the east shore for the sunset view that appears in every photograph, at the cost of an hour and a half around the lake to get anywhere. For a first visit, sleep in the old town and hire a driver for one day around the water.
How do you get from Kunming to Dali?
D-class trains take about two hours from Kunming Station, and there are flights of around forty minutes to Dali airport, which is 13 km east of Xiaguan. Trains stop at both Xiaguan and the old town, so check which station your hotel is nearer. Buses take four to five hours and are only worth it if the trains are sold out.
When is the best time to visit Dali?
March to May and September to November: 18 to 26 degrees, low humidity and clear light on the lake. June to August is the rainy season, which means heavy afternoon showers rather than all-day rain. December to February is dry, sunny by day and cold at night, with the fewest visitors of the year.