Shangri-La tips

Getting there

 

More Shangri-La
tips and insights

Driving distance

Zhongdian is 200 kilometers (125 miles) from Lijiang. The road is good-conditioned, but has many mountainous curves. Figure on a minimum of 4 to 5 hours. Kunming is nearly 500 kilometers (300 miles) away.

Windshield sightseeing

The drive from Lijiang to Zhongdian to Deqin offers spectacular mountain and valley vistas. The closer you get to Deqin, the more the culture, architecture, clothing, food and ethnic features become Tibetan.

Shangri-La to Lhasa

You can visit both Shangri-La and Tibet on the same vacation without having to take a long, roundabout, plane-switching trip (which used to be the case). There are now scheduled daily flights between Shangri-La (Zhongdian) Airport and Lhasa. There are also scheduled flights from Chengdu, Dali, Kunming, and Lijiang.

Learn my other
Lijiang/Shangri La
tips and insights

Lijiang
Top 5- Nearby attraction - Ranked
Tips - When to go and not go
Tips - Avoiding altitude sickness
Tips - Mountain cable car ride
Tips - More
Tips - Some more
Lijiang insights
Photo gallery

Shangri-La
Top 5  attractions - Ranked
Tips - When to go
Tips - Getting to Shangri-La
Tips - Zhongdian name confusion
Shangri-La insights
Photo gallery

More topics
Pronouncing Yunnan names
Yunnan highlights map
Lost Horizon - The book
Lost Horizon - The film
Lost Horizon - Location debate

Also read
Wonders of China - Top 10 rankings
China Wonders map
Chinese cuisine

 

CNTO

 

Share this page

World's Top 100 Wonders
World's Top 1000 Wonders

Site map
My credentials
About my website and criteria
Reader testimonials