Why this route
These eight days form one continuous route through Yunnan, and the old town is the thread that ties them together: most days are anchored by one, and each is paired with the landscape or history around it. The trip opens with a full day of Lijiang’s towns — the Old Town of Lijiang, then Shuhe Old Town for three hours and Baisha Ancient Town for two — before Day 2 turns to the mountains with Jade Dragon Snow Mountain and a three-hour stop in Xuesong Village. Days 3 and 4 repeat the shape around Dali: the Dali Old City with three hours at Chongsheng Temple, then a five-stop day running from Xizhou Town and Butterfly Spring out to the Erhai Lake stops of Shuanglang Ancient Town, Wase Town and Little Putuo Island. Lijiang and Dali share Tea Horse Road heritage, and the route touches it directly on Day 5 with a two-hour walk at Fengyangyi Tea Horse Road before continuing west into the Tengchong leg: Heshun Ancient Town, then the war cemetery and thermal springs, a full day in the Gaoligongshan National Nature Reserve, and a closing day at Tengchong Ginkgo Village.
The day split does the pacing work. The first half runs dense — Day 4 alone stacks five stops and ten hours of listed time — while the Tengchong half thins out to two stops on Day 6 and a single stop each on Days 7 and 8, so the route decelerates into the reserve and the ginkgo village rather than rushing them. Day 5 is the hinge: a two-hour morning at Fengyangyi Tea Horse Road leaves the rest of the day for Heshun Ancient Town, so the handoff from Dali’s lake country to Tengchong lands on a deliberately light day instead of on top of another heavy one.
Day by day
Day 1 is a triple dose of Lijiang’s old towns: the Old Town of Lijiang to begin, then three hours in Shuhe Old Town and two hours in Baisha Ancient Town.
Day 2 belongs to the mountains — Jade Dragon Snow Mountain, followed by a three-hour visit to Xuesong Village.
Day 3 brings the route to Dali: the Dali Old City first, then three hours at Chongsheng Temple.
Day 4 is the fullest day of the trip, ten hours of listed time across five stops — Xizhou Town (3 hours), Butterfly Spring (1 hour), Shuanglang Ancient Town (2 hours), Wase Town (2 hours) and Little Putuo Island (2 hours).
Day 5 pivots west: two hours at Fengyangyi Tea Horse Road, then Heshun Ancient Town.
Day 6 pairs two hours at the National Cemetery of the War of Resistance with the Tengchong Thermal Sea Scenic Area.
Day 7 is given over entirely to the Gaoligongshan National Nature Reserve.
Day 8 closes the route at Tengchong Ginkgo Village.
Trade-offs
Day 4 is the pinch point — five stops and ten hours of listed time, more listed stop time than any other day on the plan. The cleanest trim is Butterfly Spring, the shortest stop at one hour; cutting it and Wase Town leaves a seven-hour day built around Xizhou Town, Shuanglang Ancient Town and Little Putuo Island. Travellers who would rather linger than tick boxes, and anyone pacing the trip with small children, should simplify Day 4 first and leave the rest of the route intact.
The schedule flexes at the end. Days 7 and 8 each carry a single stop, so a traveller who needs to recover a day can pair Tengchong Ginkgo Village with the Gaoligongshan National Nature Reserve on Day 7 and finish a day early. In the other direction, anyone with little appetite for war history can drop the two-hour National Cemetery of the War of Resistance and give Day 6 entirely to the Tengchong Thermal Sea Scenic Area.