9Days Yunnan Photograph Tour with Luoping Rapeseed Flowers Festival and Honghe Hani Rice Terraces Field (Feb-March Available)

You’ll begin your journey to the diverse and captivating province of Yunnan from the capital city, Kunming. Upon arrival at the Kunming International Airport, meet your local guide and transfer to the hotel.
You will take a leisurely stroll along the Green Lake, a charming area of teahouses and small boutiques selling handicrafts and beautiful local paintings. If time permits, you will have a Kunming city tour. Enjoy welcoming dinner of Yunnan Flavouring food with crossing Bridge Rice Noodle and Steam Pot Chicken/Qiguoji.

— Kunming is the capital of southwest China’s Yunnan province, a primarily agricultural province of 45 million. Kunming has a population of five million and is located in one of the world’s most geographically, ethnically, biologically and linguistically diverse regions. Situated at 1,900 meters (6,233ft) above sea level and 25° north of the Equator it has a rather unique and pleasant climate for a Chinese city.

You will drive 86 km to the Stone Forest. An old local saying says that ‘If you have visited Kunming without seeing the Stone Forest, you have wasted your time.’ Truly, the Stone Forest is one of the most important attractions of Yunnan. Stone Forest is known as the ‘First Wonder of the World’. You’ll marvel at its natural stone masterpieces and be bewitched by the intricate formations. Walking through the Stone Forest, visitors marvel at the natural stone masterpieces and are bewitched by the intricate formations.

After lunch drive to Luoping and visit the Sea of Rapeseed Flowers. During the rapeseed flower Luoping’s stunning karst scenery is at its best: and the tourism office lays on a few shows to attract even more tourists. The dense cluster of karst around Luoping is stunning at any time of the year. But when the flower of the rapeseed turns the fields into a sea of yellow, thousands of photographers come for the view.And to provide a bit more entertainment, Luoping’s tourism authorities lay on extra shows, many staged by the counties minorities, the Buyi and the Miao.

— The Stone Forest is in Shilin Yi Nationality Autonomous County, which is about 120 kilometers from Kunming and requires only a three-hour drive. It covers an area of 400 square kilometers (96,000 acres) and includes both large and small stone forests, as well as many other scenic spots. The Stone Forest has unique karst topography which is one of the best of its kind within China. There are six scenic spots in the Stone Forest: the Greater Stone Forest, the Lesser Stone Forest, the Naigu Stone Forest, the Zhiyun Cave, the Long Lake, the Da Dieshui Waterfall and the Qifeng Cave.

–Luoping lies in the relatively underdeveloped eastern part of the province, 228km east of Kunming, dominated by karst features with small basins among mountain ranges. Early spring, the blossoming rapeseed flowers of Luoping draws flocks of tourists and photographers. Sprawling farmland covered in golden rape stretches right up to the horizon, forming a sea of yellow buds and filling the air with the refreshing smell of spring.

Get up early in the morning, enjoy the nice view of vast rape fields got from the top of Jinji Mountain, in the February of every year, when rapes bloom, what will be showed before eyes is the biggest garden in the world and a sea of yellow flowers measuring over 130 square kilometers, this gorgeous view made Luoping, a remote small town on the border of Yunnan the most popular destination in every spring. There are patches, undulating waves, snaking lines and coiling spirals of these flowers, together forming a boundless sea of lustrous gold. Yudai Lake, Lashan Lake and Wanzi Lake set like three brilliant mirrors in the midst of a sea of flowers, enhance the luxuriant green of Baila Mountain. Dotted about the sea are Karst cones in all shapes. White clouds partially cloak the verdant mountains and streams flow quietly through the village.

It is also the season for beekeeping and honey processing. Beekeepers set up base in tents amongst the rapeseed farms every spring to keep bees and harvest their honey- the bees feed on the rapeseed flowers. Hence most rapeseed farms are also abuzz with bees in the spring and can be a little irritating. These beekeepers move on to other locations within Luoping after the rapeseed season, using wildflowers as feedstock for their bees.

Move to Niujie for different type of nice rape fields’ view, where the farmland was cultivated interesting spiral shapes and with many terraces. NiuJie is a few kilometers to the north of Luoping town. The farms here are of smaller scale. They are carved out of a shallow valley with gentle slopes. These farms do not look any different or attractive as one passes them by on ground level. However as soon as one gets higher up, following the road, the scenery changes.

The flowers are grown in circular rings following the contours of the slopes. As a result, from higher ground, these farms looks like the rings of a snail’s shell, akin to rice terraces in corkscrew patterns. It is rather amazing when one considers that the farms were created by the farmers as a response to the natural limitations of the land. Yet they are like a work of art, with an artist exquisitely drawing circular rings on the ground and then filling them up with splashes of shocking yellow.

In the afternoon, visit Jiulong Waterfalls, a cluster of spectacular waterfalls formed on the Jiulong River, the greatest waterfall there has a drop of 56 meters with width of 112 meters. iulong(Nine-dragon) Waterfalls 22 kilometers away in the northeast from county seat, in a section no longer than 4 kilometers along the Nine-dragon River, diversified landforms created 10 falls in different sizes and shapes, some grand, some graceful, some elegant and some small, this is the biggest waterfall group through whole country, as well one of the Six Most Beautiful Waterfalls in China assessed by Chinese National Geography.

Excursion to Lubuge Gorge (known as “Small Three Gorges”) and the picturesque Duoyi River with waterfalls at different levels, where you can also have a glimps of the water mills that shows how the ancient people made use of the natural water resources. Duoyi River is the main residential area of Buyi ethnic people, visit villages and learn about their traditions and folk custom. Duoyi River lies 33km southern of the county seat. Formed by the water from 5 underground springs, the 12km Duoyi River runs 40km to the southeast of Luoping Town. The river has more than 50 shoals formed by waterfalls. The bamboo raft on the river, the bamboo groves, trees, houses and waterwheels on the both bandks of the river present an idylic setting.

After lunch, drive to Mile County which is well-known as the home of “Hot Spring” in Yunnan Province. Enjoy the hot spring in Huquan Spring Resort in the late afternoon.

Mile is famous for being the site of having good hot springs near Kunming which are convenient for people to access. Another claim to fame is having Buddha statues as high as 19.99 meters. Mile County is about 143 KM (89 miles) southeast of Kunming, the capital city of Yunnan Province. Located in the center of the tourism area of southeastern Yunnan, with well-constructed roads and railways, it is easy and convenient to travel to other tourist spots from Mile, such as the Stone Forest, Jianshui and Luxi, among many other popular areas in central Yunnan.

Mile is a county of many ethnic groups with long histories. Over 23 nationalities live here, including Han, Yi, Miao, Hui, Zhuang, just to name a few. Among its over 500 thousand people, about 42% belong to minority ethnic groups. Yi is the largest ethnic group here, making up 30% of the total population. Weaving into the grand tapestry of Yi culture are the sub-groups of Yi people, among which are the Axi, the Azhe, the Sanni, the Black Yi and the White Yi.

Visit Mile Giant Buddha in the morning, Mile Giant Buddha, located in Jinping Mt, 10 km north of Mi’le County of Honghe Prefecture, is tourist site integrating eco tourism, ethnic cultures and places of interest. What is the most eye-catching is a 19.999-meter-high gilded statue of the Maitreya Buddha (the future Buddha), and Mi’le Temple first built in 1626.

Transfer to Jianshui County, visit Jianshui Old Town, Chaoyang Gate Tower and Zhu Family Garden.

In the morning, visit the Confucius Temple, which has a history of 700 years. It is the second largest Confucius Temple in China. Then you’ll visit Tuanshan Village and the Garden of Family Zhang; Tuanshan Village is a rare surviving example of an intact-albeit neglected-traditional walled Yunnan village compound in southwestern China, and has been added to the 2005 list of internationally significant sites by the World Memorial Fund for Architecture (WMF), an international fund for the protection of world heritage sites.

In the afternoon, you will transfer to Yuanyang and enjoy the sight of terraced fields of Laohuzui (Tiger Mouth) at sunset.
–Yuanyang is about 300km south of Kunming, 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. The rice farmers have had to practice ecology and land preservation centuries before those concepts were widely accepted around the world. Without hard work maintaining the terrace walls and irrigation system, the precious top soil would wash down the hillsides into the rivers.

Yuanyang Rice Terrace is a self sustaining ecosystem. During winter to early spring, the entire field is irrigated with spring water from the forest above to rejuvenate and getting prepared for the next season. The Hani people have repeated this for more than a thousand years. There is only one harvest in a year for the Yuanyang Rice Terrace; planting is from March to Oct./Nov. every year.

Get up every early in the morning,you’ll drive 30KM to visit Doyishu Village and enjoy the sunrise of Duoyishu Rice Terrace Fields when the sun appears above the eastern horizon. The terraced fields are ring upon ring and cascade one by one. They go along the hillside up to the sky. You will see the scenery of the terraced fields from the top of the mountains to the bottom. They are all farms under the sunshine and cloud and mist. The landscape is spectacular.

And then, you will visit Qingkou Village and rice terraces where Hani people for generations inhabit. Visit Bada Hani Rice Terrace, Shengcun Market as well. You will enjoy the sunset of Longshuba Rice Terraces in the late afternoon about 5KM away from Xinjie Town.

Enjoy the morning sunrise rice terrace in Yuanyang, you’ll drive back to Kunming. On the way, Xingmeng Mongolian Village.
Arrive in Kunming in the late afternoon.

You will be dropped off at Kunming Airport and end your journey in Yunnan.