What Yunnan lacks in sea, it more than makes up for with fine and beautiful lakes. A trip around one of its waters is a must-do for any visitor to the province.
1. Lugu Lake: Love Above All
Lugu Lake is a natural pearl on the plateau. Her picturesque scene, along with customs handed down from a unique ancient matriarchal clan, attracts more and more tourists every year.
Route: Gecun Village - Nisai - Xiaoluoshui - Dazui - Mukua - Zhaojiawan - Luowa - Wuzhiluo - Boshu - Caohai - Shekua - Langfang - Sanjia Village - Luoshui - Lige.
Food: Pork, dried beef, buttered tea, Sulima liquor and grilled fish.
2. Erhai Lake: Literary Style
Dali is a place yearned for by the literary youth, and the Erhai Lake in Dali is born to be a master among storytellers. It is repeatedly telling the story of the Husband-Longing Stone and the story of Wind, Flower, Snow and Moon to tourists from all corners of the world.
Route: Ancient City - Xizhou - Shangguan - Shuanglang - Wase - Haidong - Xiaguan - Ancient City. It is suggested to ride in counterclockwise in winter and autumn, and in clockwise in summer and spring.
Food: Erhai carp, dried beef and wild fungus
3. Sword Lake: Countryside Style
Sword Lake keeps an annual average temperature of around 11 ℃. There’s barely a few thin layers of ice on the lake before dawn in deep winter. The water quality is exceptionally clean and pleasant, giving the lake a renowned reputation as a bright pearl on the plateau in northwest Yunnan.
Route: Sword Lake, Jinhua Mountain
Food: Hot and sour fish of Bai people, bolete and pine mushroom
4. Fuxian Lake: Among Mountain and Stream
Fuxian Lake, located in Chengjiang in south Yuxi City, Yunnan, becomes a summer resort for its unique climate - warm in winter and cool in summer. It is called the back garden of Kunming. As the lake water is clear enough to see the bottom, glittering and translucent, the ancients described it as "a coloured glaze as long as ten-thousand miles.”
Route: Cherry Valley - Hot Water Pond - Fairy Lake - Jieyu Stone - Gushan Island - Sunshine Coast - Star Fish Cave - Biyun Temple - Luchong Village - North Shore Wetland Park
Food: Chengjiang lotus root, copper pot fish and potato stewed with rice
5. Dianchi Lake: A pearl in the arms of the sleeping beauty.
The 500-mile long Dianchi Lake is vast, beautiful, and elegant amidst mountains, like a sleeping beauty at the lakeside. Vast blue waters bring tourists an intoxicated and joyful mood. You can run along the lakeside with childlike innocence, as the gulls disperse and fly away together.
Route: Guangfu Road - Fubao Road - Huanhu East Road - Chenggong - Jincheng - Kunyang - Huanhu South Road - Haikou - Xishan - Haigeng Dam - Hongta East Road - Guangfu Road.
Food: Cross bride rice noodle, four-stuffing sweet dumplings, Taishi cake and shepherd's purse dumplings
6. Napa Lake: An unpredictable beauty
Napa Lake, located in the northwest of Shangri-La County, eight kilometres away from downtown and at an elevation of 3,266 m, is a seasonal highland lake.
It shows different scenery across the four seasons. The rainy season starts from late summer to early autumn. With large amount of water, Napa Lake grows larger into a small grassland on the lakeside. In summer, plump water plants and flowers, along with sheep and cows feeding on the grassland, make for a harmonious scene. In autumn, the grassland turns yellow, and a pure white snow mountain is mirrored in the lake’s waters. A wonderful sight.
During the dry season in winter and spring, the lake shrinks, even dries up, and turns into swamp meadow - Yila Grassland.