Yunnan Grand Tour Journey to Shangri-La

South to Shilin, the Stone Forest, in the country of the Sani people, a branch of the Yi. Limestone pillars up to 30 metres tall stand in dense clusters, worn into shape over millions of years, and the site is part of the South China Karst UNESCO World Heritage Site.

On to Jianshui, a walled town on the old frontier, for the Double Dragon Bridge at sunset, seventeen stone arches across the river crowned with pavilions, built under the Qing. Around 316 km and four hours of driving.

A morning in Jianshui: the Chaoyang gate tower, built in 1389, the courtyards and gardens of the Zhu family mansion, and the Confucian Temple, founded under the Yuan and one of the largest in China.

Then into the Ailao Mountains to Yuanyang and the Honghe Hani Rice Terraces, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, where the Hani have cut thousands of terraces into the mountainsides over some 1,300 years. The day ends at Bada, watching the sun go down over the terraces and the cloud in the valleys. Around 134 km and three and a half hours of driving.

An early start for sunrise at Duoyishu, when the flooded terraces fill with light one level at a time. Then Aichun's blue terraces, best in the mid-morning light, and Laoyingzui, where algae colour the water deep red.

The afternoon is spent walking among the terraces and the Hani villages, before sunset at Laohuzui, Tiger Mouth, one of the finest views in Yuanyang. From November to April the terraces are flooded, and that is when they are at their most photogenic.

A last chance for sunrise over the terraces before the long drive north through Yuxi to Kunming, around 302 km and four and a half hours, ready for the train the next morning.

The high-speed train from Kunming to Dali, the old capital of the Bai people, at around 2,000 metres beneath the Cangshan range.

Start with the Three Pagodas of Chongsheng Temple, the tallest nearly 70 metres high and over a thousand years old, best seen reflected in the pond below. Then Erhai Lake, a long lake below the mountains, and an evening in the lanes and gates of Dali old town.

North to Xizhou, a Bai town of courtyard houses with carved gateways and painted walls, among the best preserved in Yunnan.

Then Shaxi, a caravan stop on the Tea Horse Road, where tea from Yunnan was traded for horses from Tibet, with its old market square, theatre stage and temple still standing. On to Lijiang in the evening. Around 229 km and four hours of driving.

Lijiang old town, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1997, is a web of cobbled lanes, canals and bridges between wooden houses, with the view over its roofs from Lion Hill. At the Black Dragon Pool, the snow peaks of Jade Dragon Mountain, 5,596 metres, reflect in the water on a still day.

The Naxi people's pictographic Dongba script, still used by their priests, is the subject of the museum beside the pool. Then the Ming-era murals of Baisha, which combine Buddhist, Taoist and Tibetan imagery, and the house at Yuhu where the explorer and botanist Joseph Rock lived for much of the 1920s to 1940s.

Tiger Leaping Gorge, where the upper Yangtze squeezes between Jade Dragon and Haba Snow Mountains, more than 3,000 metres from peak to river and one of the deepest gorges in the world. Legend says a tiger escaped a hunter by leaping across the narrowest point. You walk into the gorge to see the river at close quarters.

Then up to Shangri-La, at around 3,300 metres, the Tibetan town of Gyalthang, which took its name from James Hilton's novel Lost Horizon in 2001. An evening in the old town of Dukezong. Around 201 km and three and a half hours of driving.

A day by bike, around 40 km in all. First Songzanlin, founded in 1679 and the largest Tibetan Buddhist monastery in Yunnan, its gilded roofs rising above the town in a way that has earned it the name Little Potala.

Then out across the Napahai grasslands, a seasonal lake that fills in summer and becomes a wetland in winter, when black-necked cranes arrive to feed. The route passes Tibetan villages and farmhouses, with time for butter tea on the way.

North through the Hengduan Mountains along the upper Yangtze, over a pass at around 4,300 metres with views to Baima Snow Mountain, and down to Benzilan and the great bend of the river below it. Stop at the Dongzhulin monastery before reaching Deqin.

The day ends at Feilaisi, at around 3,400 metres, facing the Meili range across the Mekong gorge. On a clear evening, the sunset lights up Kawakarpo, 6,740 metres, the highest peak in Yunnan. Around 176 km and three and a half hours of driving.

Up before dawn to watch the first light turn Kawakarpo gold. The mountain is sacred to Tibetans, has never been climbed, and climbing it is no longer allowed.

Then down into the Mekong valley to Mingyong and a hike of several hours through forest, climbing from around 2,200 metres past the Taizi temple to the Lianhua temple at around 3,100 metres, with the glacier spilling down beneath the peak. The glacier has retreated a long way in recent decades, and the viewpoints look out across the ice rather than reaching it.

South along the Mekong through the Three Parallel Rivers of Yunnan, a UNESCO World Heritage Site where the Yangtze, the Mekong and the Salween run side by side through deep gorges.

Stop at Cizhong, where a stone church built by French missionaries early in the twentieth century still serves a Tibetan Catholic community and vines from the mission are still tended. Then Tongle, a village of the Lisu people, and the Kangpu monastery, before reaching Tacheng. Around 248 km and four and a half hours of driving.

A morning at the Xianggujing reserve in Tacheng with a troop of Yunnan snub-nosed monkeys, a black and white primate found only in these mountains. It is endangered, lives at higher altitude than any other primate except humans, and only a few thousand survive.

Then back towards Lijiang by way of Shigu, where the Yangtze makes its first great bend, turning sharply from south to north. Around 178 km and three and a half hours of driving.

Transfer to Lijiang airport for your onward flight.