Self-drive with rental car through Sichuan and Yunnan

Day 1 Arrival in Chengdu

Warm welcome by local guide (you can choose the language).
You will have a short health test to confirm that you are able to drive a car safely.
Applying Chinese driving license at traffic police station with your passport, original driving license and health examination table.

Day 2 Chengdu

The traffic police office will take one day to prepare your new temporary Chinese driving license, so you could have a leisure day in Chengdu. Hanging out and exploring the city by yourself. People’s park may be a good place to visit local people’s life, drinking Kung fu tea and playing Tai chi. Jinli is a nice place to catch night view of the city.

Day 3 Chengdu – Pingle – Shangli – Bifengxia – Ya’an (152km, 3 hours driving)

Loading your travel luggage on car and you will start this trip with full fuel tank.
You will drive by two ancient towns and arrive Panda base in Bifengxia.
Pingle Ancient Town features the ancient style architecture, river sights and idyllic life styles. Vestiges of old constructions, including wharves, bridges, houses, stone-paved streets are well preserved.
Shangli Ancient town exists with two rivers around. Facing to the fields and hills, decorated with the bamboo grove, streams and bridges, the ancient architectures seam fantastic and quiet.eserved in the town.

Day 4 Ya’an -Xichang (310km, 4.5 hours driving)

This is a spectacular highway with 270 bridges and 25 tunnels to Xichang. Xichang is the seat of the district government of the Yi Autonomous Region. Attractions include the Xichang Old Town and Qionghai Lake.

Day 5 Xichang – Lugu Lake (250km, 5.5 hours driving)

The road condition is good from Xichang to Lugu Lake. The Lugu Lake area keeps the matriarchal society way of living, the people and minority is regarded as the “living fossil of matriarchal society of human”, unique and quite interesting.

Day 6 Lugu Lake – Lijiang (207km, 4.5 hours driving)

Driving along the stunning mountain landscape to Lijiang, one of the UNESCO world heritage ancient town. Someone said that Ljiang is the only fairyland which was left by God on the earth. Lijiang Ancient Town is in the embrace of snow mountains, accompanied by serene rivers, and bathed in the fragrance of flowers. People live leisurely in harmony with the nature and reserve their primary living styles. It is a virgin land untouched by the modern civilization, and the last pure land for the spiritual quietness.

Day 7 Lijiang – Dali (164KM, 3 hours driving)

You can take the old road from Lijiang to Dali, and pass several small villages and watch the farmers working in the field.
According to literature, this Dali Ancient City was a gateway to the Silk Road in Southwest China, Bai minority people mainly lives here, The traditional Bai ethnic minority folk houses give the Dali Ancient City distinctive feel, unlike any other Chinese city.

Day 8 Dali – Zhenyuan (293km, 6.5 hours driving)

Drive through the tea horse road with more than 1000 years history, Zhenyuan connects trade between China and Vietnam.Yunnan is the birthplace of tea cultivation. The ancestors of the Dai, Hani and Yi ethnic groups planted tea more than 2,000 years ago. From April to October, you can visit the small tea factory in the village to learn about the tea processing process.

Day 9 Zhenyuan – Jianshui (361km, 8.5 hours driving)

It is a big diiving day. Jianshui is well-known for its wells. Though enjoying a history of more than one hundred years, the well has never dried up. The names and features of wells differ from each other. Pearl Well, 5 km east from the downtown, wins the beautiful name as the water gushes out from the well, like pearls seemly.

Day 10 Jianshui – Yuanyang (85km, 2 hours driving)

Yuanyang Terrace Scenic area is hiding in mountains. You need to take small and foggy mountain road for about one hour. Yuanyang is renowned for its rice terraces, which claim as the world’s largest and most spectacular one, crafted out by bare hands by the Hani people one thousand years ago and is still in use today. Because it is a relatively inaccessible part of Yunnan, the subtropical area escaped heavy development for tourism, and has so far been overlooked by the big masses. It is a self sustaining ecosystem and a perfect example of a symbiosis with nature.

Day 11 Yuanyang – Gejiu – Mile (242km, 4 hours driving)

Mile city is the biggest grape plantation place in Yunnan province. You could try Mile hotel Spring.

Day 12 Mile – Kunming (124km, 2 hours driving)

The stone forest in Yunnan province is quite famous. It is a notable set of limestone formation. The tall rocks seem to arise from the ground in a manner somewhat reminiscent of stalagmites, or with many looking like petrified trees, thereby creating the illusion of a forest made of stone.