Getting there
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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.
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
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Shangri-La
Top 5 attractions - Ranked
Tips - When to go
Tips - Getting to Shangri-La
Tips - Zhongdian name confusion
Shangri-La insights
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Pronouncing Yunnan names
Yunnan highlights map
Lost Horizon - The book
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Lost Horizon - Location debate
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