Stone Forest
A karst labyrinth an hour from Kunming that looks like a petrified forest. Easy paths, shade, and a genuine geological wonder.
Highland lakes, Bai and Naxi old towns and the snow line of Jade Dragon Mountain. Yunnan has a Hui community in every town on this route, which means halal food is not a compromise here — it is simply where the locals eat. Prayer stops are built into the altitude pacing, because 2,400 metres changes how a day feels.
Highland lakes, Bai and Naxi old towns and the snow line of Jade Dragon Mountain. Yunnan has a Hui community in every town on this route, which means halal food is not a compromise here — it is simply where the locals eat. Prayer stops are built into the altitude pacing, because 2,400 metres changes how a day feels.
The halal guarantee on this route: every restaurant is a certified halal restaurant with no pork and no alcohol on the premises. We send the full list with addresses before you fly, and your guide re-checks each booking the day before you eat there.
A karst labyrinth an hour from Kunming that looks like a petrified forest. Easy paths, shade, and a genuine geological wonder.
A walled Bai town at the foot of the Cangshan range, with a lake you can cycle around in a morning.
4,500 metres of permanent snow, reached by cable car. We take it slowly because of the altitude.
Naxi culture, canal streets and a water system that still works the way it did in the Ming dynasty.
Yunnan's Muslim communities run some of the best beef and rice-noodle houses in the province.
We build in rest blocks on the first day at height, because headaches at 2,400 metres are not a small thing.
A working skeleton, not a fixed package — we rebuild it around your dates, your prayer needs and whoever is travelling with you.
Halal transfer from KMG. Afternoon at the Green Lake and the city's main mosque. Dinner: Yunnan halal beef in a Hui restaurant the guide's family uses.
A full day among the karst pinnacles with a guide who keeps you off the crowded main loop. Evening train or flight to Dali.
Morning cycling the lakeshore, afternoon in the old town and the Bai courtyards. Maghrib at the Dali mosque.
We break the drive at Shaxi, a caravan town on the old tea-horse road that mass tourism has largely skipped. Arrive Lijiang in the evening.
A slow morning in the canal streets, the Mu palace and Black Dragon Pool with the mountain behind it. Halal dinner in the Hui quarter.
Cable car to the glacier park, walked slowly because of the altitude. Afternoon rest at the hotel; oxygen is available if anyone needs it.
Transfer to the airport, or a flight back to Kunming for an international connection.
Kunming, Dali and Lijiang all have working mosques with daily congregations, and Lijiang's Hui quarter is a five-minute walk from the old town. We carry a printed prayer-time sheet for each town, and at altitude we keep the day lighter so nobody is praying while short of breath.
March to May for the flowers and September to November for clear mountain light. July and August are the rainy season — green, dramatic and wet.
Send us your dates and who is travelling. A Muslim advisor replies within one hour during China working hours with a day-by-day halal plan for this route — restaurants, mosques, prayer times, hotels and an itemised price.