China · Yunnan
Where to Stay in Lijiang, Yunnan
Where to stay in Lijiang
Where you base yourself shapes the visit — here's the character of each area.
A stay in Lijiang is decided by the old town: inside its lanes, or out beyond them. The cobbled lanes by the canals keep the courtyards, the shops, and the music bars within a walk, and staying in the old town suits anyone here for the ancient streets. The streams run past every door.
Rooms fill the old wooden courtyards. Out toward the new town and the snow mountain, the streets run wider and plainer. A room outside the old town trades the crowds for space, parking, and an easy road to the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain.
The green valley opens past the edge. If you want the canals, stay in the old town; if you want the mountain, take a room outside. Both bases leave the cobbled Old Town of Lijiang within reach.
About Lijiang
Lijiang is famous for its ancient old town.
What is Lijiang known for?
A maze of cobbled lanes, canals, and wooden houses winds below the great Jade Dragon Snow Mountain, built by the Naxi people over eight hundred years, and streams from the hills run through every street. Snow peaks rise white above the roofs. Canals and old streets mark the town.
What are the main landmarks in Lijiang?
The Old Town of Lijiang is the heart of the city. Its maze of canals, cobbled lanes, and wooden courtyards spreads below the snow mountain, the emblem of the town, without a single wall. Palaces and pools ring the streets.
The Mu Mansion of the old chieftains and the Black Dragon Pool, which mirrors the snow peaks, crown the town, while the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain rises beyond.
What is the history of Lijiang?
Lijiang was the seat of the Naxi kings. For centuries the Mu chieftains ruled the mountain valley from here, on the tea-and-horse road that carried tea from the south to Tibet, and they built a town of canals and courtyards without a wall, trusting the mountains to guard it. The Naxi kept their own ways.
They followed the old Dongba faith and wrote in a picture script, the last such writing still used, and their music and customs set them apart in the hills. The old town survived the centuries whole. Earthquakes and change spared its wooden houses and stone bridges, and Lijiang kept its canals and cobbled lanes as few old towns did.
Then the world found it. Travellers came for the old streets, the Naxi music, and the snow mountain above, and Lijiang grew into one of China's most loved old towns. The streams still run through every lane.
Lijiang guards its canals and courtyards below the snows.
Where is Lijiang?
Lijiang lies on a high plateau in the mountains of northwestern Yunnan. The old town sits at over two thousand metres in a green valley below snow peaks, where streams from the hills feed its canals, near the great gorges of the upper Yangtze. The Jade Dragon Snow Mountain rises white to the north.
Green ridges ring the valley.
What is the climate of Lijiang?
Lijiang has a mild, sunny highland climate. The great altitude keeps the days warm and the nights cool all year, with bright sun and dry air, though a summer rainy season brings the monsoon clouds. Snow caps the peaks through the winter.
The mountain air stays clear and thin.
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Updated August 2026