The Prettiest Town We’ve Ever Visited

Ever heard of Lijiang?

It’s an old town in northern Yunnan, in what was once the Dali Kingdom, the fought-over hinterland between China and Tibet.

Willows and flowers droop into a canal in Lijiang, China.

Curved eave buildings topple up narrow alleys towards a Qing dynasty pagoda.

Rooftops rising up the hill in Lijiang Old Town.

Willows and flowers drip over its narrow canals, crossed by slender bridges. There’s a reason they call it “the Venice of the Orient”.

Flowers on a canal in Lijiang, China.

Old shophouses cater for the tourist trade — as always in mainland China, more Chinese than Western.

Shophouses and flowers in Lijiang, China.

There are little waterwheels in the alleyways but the big one marks where the old town ends and the new city begins, a cusp between the past and the future.

Old waterwheel, autumn tree and pink "chrysanthemums" in Lijiang, China.

Lijiang is full of flowers, all year round. We’re here in autumn, so the flowers are what the Chinese call chrysanthemums.

Flowering Chinese chrysanthemums in Lijiang, China.

In winter there are bonsai plum trees, in summer they bring out azaleas and in spring the town is full of orchids. And I do mean full.

Canals, shop houses, willows and flowers in Lijiang.

Chocolate box? Sure.

Disneyfied? A little.

I mean, you can even play with eagles in the town square.

Z holding an eagle in Lijiang town square

We’ve seen some amazing places since we left. The painted lakes of Flores, Indonesia, the cave houses of Coober Pedy in Outback Australia, the underground river in Central Laos and the karst islets of Halong Bay, Vietnam. But this is still the prettiest place I’ve ever been.

What’s yours?


Our thanks to China Odyssey Tours for hosting us in Lijiang.

34 Responses

  1. This place is phenomenal! I’m so bummed we won’t have time to see more of China when there in two weeks, but as it is, we only have three days each in Hong Kong and Shanghai, which isn’t nearly enough time!

    • Theodora says:

      One thing I’m learning is that with 5000-ish years of recorded history, 1.3 billion people, a gadzillion ecosystems — from Everest to desert via tundra and tropical karst — and a ton of cities, several much bigger than NY or London, you don’t get to see much of China HOWEVER long you’re here. What are your dates, though? Would be great if we overlapped…

  2. WOW!! this is so incredibly beautiful. i want to go!

  3. Gen says:

    I was there just this past summer! Too bad you don’t have photos of the club district at night…very surreal, ethnic and rave fusion.

    • Theodora says:

      Almost worth leaving the nipper home to take a look at, maybe?… I guess it makes a change from KTV bars.

  4. iPoT says:

    We had been there 2 weeks ago and as soon as we arrived we started to make our escape plans. Regarding the old town of Lijiang it might be one of the most artificial places in China. Quite funny thing is people are so much comparing Lijiang with Dali (not Xiaguan), both is indeed crowded with local and foreign tourists but in Dali local houses are more spread inside the old town that gives more atmosphere of everybody are looking to their own business, however in Lijiang everybody is rather just walking either to buy something or to eat something. On the other hand seeing the same type of shop every ten meters, selling the same things mostly fabricated Chinese handicraps and hearing the same Chinese song (da li da li da) playing almost in every shop can be tiring.

    Venice of the Orient term is also weird while there are so many awesome Chinese water villages which not like Lijiang, you can travel through the canals by boat. Of course most of the “Golden tourists” who likes to have photos with birds in capture are not aware of these places because neither guide books nor the tour companies mention about them.

    • Theodora says:

      I’d agree that Lijiang feels artificial — which is why I described it as Disneyfied — thanks to the interrelated factors of its UNESCO listing and the volume of tourists and tourist businesses. However, I don’t think it is as artificial as you appear to think it is.

      The “Venice of the Orient” caption (a widely used term) dates back to before the 1940s, when Peter Goullart used it in his book about the town, and refers not only to the canals, flowers and architecture (yes, the flowers were there before the tourists), but to Lijiang’s position on the trade route into Tibet and India (like Venice, it’s a merchant city). Further, precisely because of the UNESCO listing, which has survived the damage caused by the earthquake, the architecture is, despite its chocolate-box feel, pretty damn authentic – although the store fronts which once held traders on the trade route now hold tourist shops.

      And, yes, I’m aware that there are plenty of water villages in China. We went to this one because we started in Kunming and wanted to see Tiger Leaping Gorge and Jade Dragon Snow Mountain.

      I don’t know what you mean by a “Golden tourist”. Do you mean a ten-year-old boy who’d like to have his photo taken with a hunting eagle? (Again, the domestication of birds for hunting has a long, long history in the region, both among the Naxi and the people of the fishing villages around Dalian, it’s now moved, with the times, towards the tourist dollar.) Do I want my photo taken with an eagle or sitting on a yak? No, because I’m not ten. Am I going to stop my son doing that because it doesn’t meet a defined idea of an authentically Chinese experience? Umm, no.

  5. Great photos of a beautiful city!! Would love to visit one day!

    • Theodora says:

      I thoroughly recommend it. It is insanely beautiful. The new town — which is a small but not poor Chinese city — is also well worth looking around, because you can do it on foot quite easily and there’s a lot of street life…

  6. Even if some of your readers think it’s artficial, I think it’s awesome! 🙂

    • Theodora says:

      Thank you! It’s not a diamond in the rough, by any means, but it’s genuinely stunning. Are you going to do China on this trip?

  7. Shanky says:

    Definitely looks like Disneyland without the commercial hooks! Awesome!!

    • Theodora says:

      It’s lovely. Particularly when it’s not at the busiest times of year. (To be avoided on Chinese holidays!)

  8. nice photo story and what an awesome experience to be traveling around like that with your son! Lijiang definitely has plenty of tourist trappings but it is still a gorgeous place… spend some time getting lost (not difficult in Lijiang by any means!) and exploring the backstreets and you’ll be rewarded with charming cobbled lanes and the remnants of authentic life.

    Enjoy!

  9. Ava Apollo says:

    How beautiful! I can’t wait to go.

    • Theodora says:

      I really recommend it. Avoid Chinese holidays, as it’s heaving (it draws a lot of tourists anyway) — and don’t miss Tiger Leaping Gorge while you’re there…

  10. Sean says:

    Wow. All of these photographs are amazing, wonderful shots.

    There is something about that second pic though, where the plants hang down and slightly reflect off the water, that is by far my favorite photo of this bunch.

    Thanks for sharing these!

  11. Spencer says:

    I had never heard of the place before I went there in 2005 but I absolutely fell in love with it. Great scenery, great food and great people. I would highly recommend it.

  12. This really is quite beautiful. We would love to go to Yunnan province. We’re about 96% sure we’re moving to China later this year, so hopefully we can make it sometime soon!

    • Theodora says:

      Yunnan is absolutely gorgeous — also huge! About the size of France, I think, from memory. We really enjoyed Kunming, as well — we had a flat there for a month.

      Do definitely do Lijiang. But avoid on Chinese public holidays!

  13. akhil says:

    nice city and thanks Theodora for interacting with me and of course i would love to visit this place one day …….

  14. Vedette says:

    This would be in my to visit list for sure.

  15. tyrhone says:

    Hi,

    I was in Lijiang about a week ago, and agree with your assessment. It has indeed been disneyfied. But although most of the buildings are selling tat, the externals have been maintained, and the cobblestone streets keep it feeling somewhat real, it is the closest I have found so far to old world China (aside from a small town in the valley we passed on our way out, wrote a post about it if your keen to read).

    And of course Tiger Leaping Gorge is on the doorstep!

    Your photos are great by the way, really captured the place.

    • Theodora says:

      Thanks, Tyrone. I’m glad you enjoyed it, chocolate boxification notwithstanding. And we loved Tiger Leaping Gorge as well…

  16. Loving these photos! Never heard of Lijiang before and had no idea that this kind of place existed in China. Gorgeous.

    The prettiest place I’ve visited would have to be either Malatya in Turkey, Gdansk in Poland, or my hometown of Harrogate in the UK. Love them all 🙂

    • Theodora says:

      Conveniently, we’re in Turkey! I’ll have to make steps for Malatya. The Old Town of Byblos in Lebanon (and the ruins there) would certainly make my list now: I’ve visited Harrogate, but only in passing, and never been to Gdansk, so far as I know. I just think of it as being home to Solidarity, which shows my age…

  17. Nancie says:

    Stunning! This makes me almost want to go back to China…almost 🙂

    • Theodora says:

      I think we’re back there in December. Had a Chinese lesson this morning which was slightly alarming as a) I remember more characters than I did but b) my conversational Chinese has fallen down the pan…

  18. Nuria says:

    anybody knows by any chance the song and artist that plays everywhere you go in Lijiang old town ? I would really like to find it…

  19. Arianne says:

    I used to live in Heqing (50 km south of Lijiang, on the road to Dali) while working for Teach for China. Lijiang can beautiful – all our Chinese friends back in Beijing were jealous that we got to live in ‘paradise’. But even back in 2010-2011 there was an ugly underside of town – plenty of poverty at the edges, preying on tourists for money, and a decent amount of inter-ethnic discontent (between the native populations of the Lijiang region, the incoming Chinese businessmen, and the Bai locals coming up from Dali to establish small restaurants and shops). If you do ever make it back to Yunnan, the entire stretch from Lijiang to Dali is equally beautiful and serene (through rapidly changing), and southern Yunnan (Simiao, Gengma, Cangyuan) is stunning, if not always so stable.

    • Theodora says:

      I’d love to make it back to Yunnan – and do hope to before it all changes. The Chinese minority picture is always complicated – I love the way that you’ll get Han Chinese dressing up as minorities, for example – but I didn’t realise southern Yunnan was actually unstable..