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  From China to South-East Asia

  • From Shangri-La to the Lanna Kingdom 12D
  • From Yunnan to the Lanna Kingdom 11D

  Tibetan Highlands

  • From Chengdu to Lhasa 14D
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  • Escape to Shangri-La 5D
  • On the Tea Horse Trail 5D
  • Mountain Kingdoms of Yunnan 7D

  Best of Yunnan on Back Roads

  • Best of Yunnan on Back Roads 8D
  • Best of Yunnan on Back Roads 11D
  • Best of Yunnan on Back Roads 13D

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Day 1

Arrival in Kunming…I’m filled with anticipation…
You arrive in Kunming according to your own arrangements.  We will pick you up in a comfortable car and take you to Kunming’s best hotel by the Green Lake.

Day 2

Getting your Chinese Driving License and heading north to Shangri-La…
After a leisurely breakfast, we will complete the formalities required for your Chinese driving license application. You will just need to have your eyesight and hearing checked and sign on the dotted line, and that’s it! In the late afternoon, you fly to Shangri-La, a short hop of just one hour. 

Upon your arrival in Shangri-La, we will pick you up in the “home-away-from-home” car that will be yours for the journey and take you to the Gyalthang Dzong Hotel (an Angsana hotel, and member of the Banyan Tree Group). This lovely hotel’s Tibetan style will introduce you to the charms of the highlands…

Day 3

Sight-seeing in Shangri-La
Visit the largest lamasery outside of Tibet, the Songzanlin Monastery, go hiking or take a ride on horseback, or if you prefer a more relaxed start to the journey simply rest for a day at the hotel - the Gyalthang Dzong Hotel is a splendid place for unwinding and getting into a holiday mood!

Day 4

On the backroads to Tiger Leaping Gorge and Lijiang…
You’re on the road in China! Today’s drive starts with crossing a 4,000m pass on perfectly paved roads that wind their way southward toward Tiger Leaping Gorge. The morning’s scenery is spectacular and among the most untouched along the entire journey – the mountains are steep and the vegetation lush, this region truly is the edge of the Tibetan Plateau. When you reach the Yangtze, which here carries the poetic name of Golden Sand River, the road narrows and hugs the river cliffs as you approach Tiger Leaping Gorge on a road inaccessible to anyone without their own transport.

After lunch and a visit to Tiger Leaping Gorge, you will continue driving for another two hours to the old town of Lijiang, where you will stay overnight in a charming hotel.

Day 5

In and around Lijiang
Enjoy a stroll around Lijiang’s old town – a UNESCO World Heritage Site – and shop for souvenirs, or visit the nearby Jade Dragon Snow Mountain and take the cable-car to the top (5,600m) - beware of altitude sickness at this height! Alternatively, there are many wonderful hiking and horse-riding trails to nearby villages and in the countryside surrounding Lijiang. We will be happy to make arrangements for you.

Day 6

Via Dali, the lovely old town by Lake Erhai, to Kunming…
Yunnan has the best roads in South-West China, and today will be the first (but certainly not the last) day that will convince you of that.   In the morning, you will drive along a wide country road to Dali. After eating lunch in Dali’s old town, you can wander through the old town, or relax with a good cup of coffee – Dali is less spectacular than Lijiang, but is quieter, and has a pleasant, laid-back atmosphere.

The afternoon drive to Kunming is on a gorgeous divided highway that runs through the lush plains of Yunnan. In the evening you will enjoy a great dinner in the heart of Kunming, right by its Green Lake.

Day 7

Exploring Kunming, the capital of Yunnan
Kunming is a major Chinese city, with all the benefits and shortcomings that this entails. While redevelopment has claimed some of the Kunming’s characterful old quarters and markets, a fantastic range of restaurants and other activities are available – anything from making a trip to the spa to visiting a Tang Dynasty temple, from visiting the pet market to eating delicious mushroom hotpot could fill your day today.

Day 8

Into Xishuangbanna…where China and South-East Asia meet
Today takes you from Kunming at an elevation of nearly 2,000m into the lowlands of Yunnan, a region called Xishuangbanna which takes its name from a similar sounding Thai word meaning “twelve thousand rice fields”. This gives a hint of the region’s nature, which feels much more South-East Asian than Chinese. The streets of Jinghong, the main town, are lined with palm trees, road signs are adorned in Dai – a close relative of Thai, and the climate is tropical. You will stay overnight in Jinghong.

Day 9

Discovering Xishuangbanna… Gateway to the Lanna Kingdom
Visit the Menghai market, where local ethnic minorities come to sell food and handmade goods, or take a trip to the Xishuangbanna Biosphere reserve and learn about Xishuangbanna’s endangered rainforests. The sleepy tropical climate may prompt you to rest for a day with a good book. There’s even a wonderful deli, run by a French-Swiss fellow and his Taiwanese wife – why not go there for brunch? You will enjoy dinner in a garden restaurant that serves delicious Dai and Yunnanese cuisine.

Day 10

From China via Laos to Thailand’s Golden Triangle…
You depart early today to make it to the China-Laos border crossing before it gets busy. In Laos by mid-morning, you will eat brunch by a lovely river in Luang Nam Tha, a sleepy, but charming Laotian town. In Laos, we drive along Route 3, a superb, newly constructed country road. As you drive through northern Laos you might just feel as if you had gone back in time – the road dates from 2008, but life in the surrounding villages seems to have continued unchanged for centuries.  

In the afternoon, you arrive in Huay Sai where you will cross the Mekong by car ferry to arrive in Thailand. Once in Thailand, you will drive for another one-and-a-half hours north along the Mekong to arrive in the Golden Triangle.

Today is a long day, but you will be rewarded with the luxuries of the Anantara Golden Triangle Hotel which is a gem in this part of the world – a hotel in the finest tradition of Thai hospitality, design and service.

Day 11

In the Golden Triangle…of elephants, rainforests, the Mekong and more
Having been on your journey for a while, perhaps spending the day by the Anantara Golden Triangle Hotel’s pool is all that you’re looking for. Or how about a leisurely drive to a lovely riverside restaurant that serves nothing that isn’t produced by its own fields and gardens? Or how about a day spent at an elephant camp including a sunset elephant trek?  Or a day-long Thai cooking course?  Or a visit to the splendid Grand Hall of Opium, a modern museum where you can learn all about the poppies and opium for which the Golden Triangle gained notoriety in the past?

Day 12

Doi Mae Salong and on to to Chiang Mai…
This is your last day of driving on this journey…and on wonderful roads it will be! 

In the morning we drive from the Golden Triangle into the hills toward Doi Mae Salong, driving along fantastic roads. It was in Doi Mae Salong in 1949 the remnants of Chiang Kai Shek’s army were allowed to seek refuge after the communists proclaimed victory in China’s civil war. Thus, this little corner of northern Thailand has been “forever China”. These refugees started to plant and sell tea, and tea groves still cover the area’s lovely hills. A wonderful wat towers high above the centre of Doi Mae Salong village – no transport goes to the site, so your visit is certain to be enjoyed in peace.

After enjoying the vistas and a cup of local tea in the village, you will continue on Chiang Rai, lunching in a superb riverside restaurant. In the afternoon, you drive the remaining few hours to Chiang Mai where you will be staying in one of the town’s finest hotels, before enjoying a farewell dinner in the evening.

Day 13

Stay a while longer, move on or return home?At any rate, life goes on…
Chiang Mai is a wonderful town that has much to offer, so why not stay longer?  See how silk is made? Shop in its charming night market?  Or perhaps your holiday continues elsewhere…or you must return home. 

Be that as it may, you will have met people like you who enjoy adventure and travelling off-the-beaten track, but don’t want to give up all comfort; people who are as much at home on winding mountain roads as they are on broad, straight highways; people who long to immerse themselves into the worlds that they have chosen to discover.

And you will have partaken in a unique driving journey others may only dream about, but you have actually done it!