Welcome to Dali Garden Bed & Breakfast

Our address

XiangYangXi village, WangQiao township

Dali County

Dali Autonomous Prefecture

Yunnan Province

China 671008

df

Xiaguan (or Dali City)

Xiaguan lies on the southern tip of Erhai lake, 380 km west of Kunming. It was once an important staging post on the Burma Road and is still a key centre for transport in north-west Yunnan. Xiaguan is the capital of Dali Bai Autonomous Prefecture. The prefecture is subdivided into 12 county-level divisions: one county-level city (Dali Shi), eight counties and three autonomous counties.

About 15 km north of Xiaguan lies the Ancient Town of Dali.

Ancient Town of Dali

Dali is a perfect place to take vacation from travelling. The CangShan in the west and the Erhai lake in the east site, the farmers- and fishermen's villages and the Ancient Town by itself. Dali is a small town that has some preserved cobbled streets and traditional stone architecture with its old walls. You can have a good overview of the town and its surrounding by walking around the town walls. Entrance of the still existing wall is near the South-gate. You have a better overview from Zhonghe Si (temple) halfway (3000m) CangShan mountain, you can get there by cable car.

SanTa Si Three Pagodas

One km north of Dali, standing on the hill-side, the Three Pagodas look particularly pretty when reflected in the nearby lake. They are among the oldest standing structures in south-western China. The tallest of the three, Qianxun Pagoda, has 16 tiers that reach a height of 70m. It was originally erected in the mid-9th century by engineers from Xi'an. Its flanked by 2 smaller 10-tiered pagodas, each of which are 42m high.

CongSheng Si

The temple behind the pagodas, CongSheng Si, is built in the traditional Yunnanese style, with three layers of buildings lined up with a sacred peak in the background.

Money

In China it’s easy to withdraw money from an ATM using Maestro, Visa or other plastic. For safety (e.g. the card don’t go out) do it always when the bank is open. Opening times are mostly from 8.30 to 17.00.

Maximum withdrawal per day is 3000 rmb.

National Holidays

On and around the following four Chinese Holidays, many Chinese people are travelling. Prices of accommodation and transportation are perhaps higher than normal.

Be aware that in touristic places also restaurants and bars could calculate higher prices.

1. Chinese Lunar New Year (Spring Festival), which takes place between late January and late February. According Gregorian calendar on February 5th in 2019.
2. Labour Day: May 1th. Holidays are taken from 28/4-15/5.
3. School holidays: June-July
4. National Day: October 1th. Holidays are taken from 28/9-15/10.

Festivals

• March Street or March Fair

March Fair is a festival and a country fair as well. It lasts one week beginning from 15th day of the 3rd lunar month (according Gregorian calendar on April 19  to April 25 in 2019). In the fair, the goods, cattle and horses may be bought and sold. It is the happiest festival in the year for the Bai people.

In addition, the Bai people hold different activities, such as horse-racing, performances of folk dance and folk song singing.

• Torch Festival

From the 24th to the 26th of the six lunar month is the Torch Festival (according Gregorian calendar on July 17 in 2019). It’s an important festival for Yi and Bai people The main activities are wrestling, bull-fighting, archery contests and horse-racing.

On the night of the festival, people light torches and then move in a procession towards the outskirts of the village, they sing and dance around the huge burning torches.

• Mid-Autumn or Moon Festival

Every year on the 15th of the eight lunar month is the Mid-Autumn Festival in China (according Gregorian calendar on September 13 in 2019). On that night the moon is supposed to be brighter and fuller than other at any other time. People get together in their courtyards, on river banks or in parks to offer feasts to the moon and eat “moon cakes” and many different kind of fruit. The Mid-Autumn Festival is generally accepted as an occasion for family reunion.

• Local God Festivals

Most of the Bai people are Buddhist. Every village has several temples. But besides their Buddhism the Bai also have their local gods. So each temple is dedicated to this gods. There are many gods, e.g. money god, medicine god, god for mercy, god for fishermen, etc. The gods have birthdays too and when it is, it’s a great festival, people dance, sing and bring offers to the god.

• Markets

Markets are always nice to visit. So much colours and the smell of herbs, tea and the locals who do their shopping. You will need a lot of memory in your camera.

When you like to visit a market in any place, ask us. We will organise a tour for you including one of the many markets in Yunnan. Example of markets around Dali:

Most market days are calculated with lunar-calendar, like the market in Dali Ancient Town and in XiangYangXi (with life stock and everything a farmer wants to buy or sell, dentist, hairdresser and more).

Some markets roulades between places.

There are also markets on fixed days.

In Wase (east side of Erhai lake, by boat), every month on day 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30.

The market in Shaping is every Monday morning.

Xizhou have a morning market every day.

In Shanba is a Wednesday market, many livestock.

In Yousuo is a Friday market.

In Guanping is a Tuesday market.

Other sites and places of interest

Xizhou (2km), Zoucheng (7km), Weishan (60km) with Weibaoshan (Taoist temple mountain),  the Hui Moslim village Donglianhua and the Yi village Zhuomulang, Shaxi (with Sideng market on Fridays) with Shibaoshan (110km), Gantong Si, Guanyin Pavillion, Zhonghe Si, Putuo Si, Tiger Leaping Gorge, and much much more.

Activities

Biking, walking, horse-riding, fishing, swimming in the nearby hot springs, climbing, golf and more.

Climate of Dali

Yunnan's mild climate is both pleasant and diverse. The province enjoys a tropical highland humid monsoon climate, characterized by cool summers and warm winters.
Dali is, despite it's altitude of 2000m (6561ft), most often warmer in summer and winter. Sometimes a cool fresh wind blows through the area. This is the result of Dali's location between the beautiful Lake Erhai and the Cangshan mountains, rising up to a height of 4200m (13779ft).
Dali is not only beautiful in Summertime. Also in Winter, Spring and Autumn it's very pleasant.