3 Days Kunming Essence Hiking Tour

► Route: World Horticultural Expo Garden → Dianchi Lake → Western Hills

Day 1 World Horticultural Expo Garden & Yunnan Provincial Museum

On your first day in Kunming, a brief city tour would be a good choice. In the morning, it is recommended to visit the famous World Horticultural Expo Garden. There are song and dance performance and float parade in the garden. It is very large and deserves a full day's visit, or you could just spend the morning there.

► How to get there: Take bus line 47, 69, 71, 182, 204, 228, 235, A1, A12, C101, C136, K18, or Airport Shuttle Bus Line 3, and get off at Shiboyuan (World Horticultural Expo Garden).
► Recommended Touring Route: Main Entrance → Garden Avenue (south) → Grand Greenhouse → International Outdoor Exhibition Garden → International Hall → Garden of Famous Flowers and Strange Stones → Wuchakou → Domestic Outdoor Exhibition Garden → China Hall → Garden Avenue (north) → Main Entrance
► Opening Hours: 8:00 – 17:00
► Recommended Time for a Visit: 3 to 4 hours
► Ticket Price: CNY 100

World Horticultural Expo Garden

Kunming Expo Garden

In the afternoon, you could go to Yunnan Provincial Museum. Take bus line A12 from the Expo Garden, get off at Xin Bao Xiang He Qiao, and then walk 5 minutes northeast to get across a river to find the north gate of the museum; it takes 1 hour and costs CNY 2. To save time, you can hire a taxi to get to the museum in half an hour at a cost around CNY 40.

► Opening Hours: 9:00 – 17:00 (closed on Monday)
► Recommended Time for a Visit: 2 to 3 hours
► Ticket Price: Free

Day 2 Grand View Park, Dianchi Lake, Yunnan Nationalities Village

On the second day, Dianchi Lake is your main destination. First, you are recommended to visit the Grand View Park on the northern tip of the Dianchi Lake. The park is famous for the Daguan Pavilion. Do not forget to take a picture of the longest antithetical couplets in China hung beside the gate of the pavilion. If you visit the Grand View Park in autumn, you can enjoy a leisurely stroll in a sea of chrysanthemums.

► How to get there: Take bus line 22, 100, 104, Z131, or Z145 to Daguanlou (Daguan Pavilion).
► Opening Hours: 7:00 – 19:00
► Recommended Time for a Visit: 1 to 2 hours
► Ticket Price: CNY 20

Dianchi Lake

The next stop is the Haigeng Park, which is one of the best places to appreciate the scenery of the Dianchi Lake.

► How to get there: From the dock at the Daguan Pavilion, you can take a sightseeing boat to explore Caohai Lake. Or you can take a boat to reach Haigeng Park directly. The boat runs from 9:30 to 17:00. The one hour cruise costs CNY 80 per person. Otherwise you can hire a taxi from the Daguan Pavilion to Haigeng Park within 30 minutes at a cost of CNY 30.
► Top Things to Do: go for a stroll, rent a bicycle, watch the seagulls
► Opening Hours: all day
► Recommended Time for a Visit: 1 to 2 hours
► Ticket Price: Free

After visiting the Dianchi Lake, you should not miss the Yunnan Nationalities Village near the lake. During the day there are ethnic folk dances and elephant shows. In the evening it is enjoyable to watch a lantern show, water screen movie and firework display there. The food in the village is a bit expensive than that outside. It is possible for you to stay overnight in the village or outside.

► How to get there: From the north gate of Haigeng Park, go north, and it is about 5 minutes’ walk to the south gate of the Yunnan Nationalities Village.
► Things to See: Natural villages and residences of 25 ethnic groups, folk customs and art performance, ethnic minorities’ festival celebration
► Opening Hours: 9:00 – 18:00
► Recommended Time for a Visit: 3 to 4 hours
► Ticket Price: CNY 90

Day 3 Western Hills & Dragon Gate

Admire Dianchi Lake at Dragon Gate

After one night's rest, you are recommended to climb up the Western Hills today, with the Dragon Gate on top of the mountain as a best place to admire the panoramic view of Kunming City and Dianchi Lake.

► How to get there: If you stay in the Yunnan Nationalities Village the night before, you can take the cable car from the southwest gate of Yunnan Nationalities Village to go up the Western Hills. A single trip costs CNY 40 per person.
► Travel Tips: If you do not want to take the cable car, it takes approximately 3 hours to climb to the top of Western Hills. From the upper station of the cable car, it takes 1 hour to hike up some stone stairs leading to the Dragon Gate Grottoes, the highlight of the Western Hills tour. Along the way, you can see top attractions like Huating Temple, Taihua Temple, Sanqing Pavilion, and Tomb of Nie Er. Get down the mountain on the other side and exit from the eastern gate.
► Opening Hours: 8:30 – 17:30
► Recommended Time for a Visit: 4 hours
► Ticket Price: Free to enter Western Hills; CNY 75 for a combo ticket including Dragon Gate Grottoes, single-way cable car of Dragon Gate, single-way battery car of Dragon Gate, and round-trip shuttle bus of Western Hills.

More Kunming Hiking Tours:

Tour to Shangri-la: 8 days hiking to Shangri-la, Haba Village, Dark Lake, Sanchahe Ranch
Warming-up Exercises Tour: 6 Days of Kunming, Yiliang, Xiaoshao Village, Shilin Town, Long Lake
Kunming Mountain and Village Tour: 13 days Kunming hiking adventure to mountains and villages

Recommended Tours with Visit to Kunming:

China Dreamland Tour: 11 days to visit Lhasa, Shangri-La, Lijiang, Kunming
Yunnan Highlight Tour: 8 Days of Kunming - Dali - Lijiang - Shangri-La - Kunming