Yunnan Province in China: visit to the Tiger Leaping Gorge

After crossing the entire Tibetan part of Sichuan in often chaotic buses (driving on dirt roads between 3,500 and 4,700 m altitude) but with breathtaking landscapes, we reached the northern part of Yunnan province and the small town of Shangri-La. And what better way to explore the area than to do a trek in Tiger Leaping Gorge! Come on, lace up (once again) your hiking boots, we’ll tell you all about it!

Introduction to the gorge

The name of this place might evoke some kind of paradise on earth, but that’s not the case at all! That’s more the connotation it has in literature and myths… This locality is actually called Zhongdian and was simply renamed Shangri-La to attract tourists. Nevertheless, it remains an excellent base for visiting northern Yunnan. For us, it was also a more than welcome return to civilization after 1-2 weeks away from everything. Back to good food and a comfortable bed!

There are many trekking possibilities in the region. But as usual, you can’t do everything! We decided on Tiger Leaping Gorge, located 2 hours south of Shangri-La.

If you read a travel guide about China, this is the unmissable trek in southwestern China and it’s apparently quite difficult. There have even been deaths among foreign tourists… So, don’t be discouraged by the term “difficult” because we encountered absolutely no difficulty along the entire trail! In any case, nothing compares to the thousands of steps at Mount Hua or Mount Emei! The gorge trail is probably the best-marked path we’ve encountered in China so far ;). In short, trusting guides is good, but in moderation! As for the landscapes, the guide doesn’t lie this time… And as you’ll see, it’s definitely worth the detour!

In total, the gorges are about 16 km long between the Haba and Jade Dragon mountains, whose peaks reach around 5,400 m altitude! The Jinsha River (part of the Yangtze River, the world’s 3rd longest river) carves its way through with a crash, 2,000 m below, making it the world’s deepest canyon!

Fun fact: Its name comes from a legend telling that to escape a hunter, a tiger jumped over the canyon at its narrowest point (well, 30 m anyway!). A statue was erected on the riverbank at the end of the trek.

Trek video

Come on, let’s whet your appetite with a little video and by the way, don’t forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel ;). For trek info, it’s below!

Practical information for the Tiger Leaping Gorge trek

In brief

• Starting point: Jane’s Guesthouse
• Arrival: Tina’s Guesthouse
• Accommodation: several options along the way
• Total distance: 24 km
• Positive elevation gain: about 2,000 m
• Negative elevation gain: about 2,000 m
• Equipment: hiking poles, sunscreen, several layers of clothing, including waterproof, snacks, filtering water bottle
• Food: numerous stands throughout the hike or in guesthouses. For water, if you don’t have a filtering bottle, prefer buying it in hostels, it’s cheaper 😉
• Budget: doing the Tiger Leaping Gorge trek costs in total around 360 yuan per person (trip to Qiaotou, 65 yuan ticket + paid viewpoints, 2 nights in a guesthouse and bus return to Shangri-La or Lijiang)
• Weather: if it rains hard, be careful as waterfalls can overflow and the path can be slippery! If the sun beats down hard, expect more effort.
• Best season: avoid the rainy season, between June and September! Prefer spring and autumn: you’ll enjoy mild temperatures in dry conditions!

If you don’t want to rush, do this hike in 2 days (or even 3!). There are several nice guesthouses along the way and it’s definitely cooler to take your time! We give you the good addresses in the article and on the map below.

Tiger Leaping Gorge trek map

To help you navigate, here’s the trek map you can download to have it offline on your phone.

The trails

There are two possibilities to cross the gorges: by a hiking trail that runs along the top of the cliffs (high trail) or by a paved road that crosses the gorges mid-height, on which tourist buses pass. As you probably imagine, the first solution is the most interesting. This trail offers magnificent views of the gorges all along. Difficult if done in one go, it doesn’t represent a sporting challenge if you do it over 2 days. In short, we strongly advise you to take the High Trail (Upper Trekking Trail on the signs) and it’s this route we’ll detail in this article.

The gorges are divided into 3 parts: upper, middle and lower. This trek includes the upper and middle areas, the lower being the least “impressive.” You can continue beyond Tina’s Guesthouse and do the trek in 3 days. You can walk to Walnut Garden or Walnut Grove to go to the lower part of the gorges (30 minutes walk), but also to Haba or Daju, but it looks very steep!

How to get to the beginning of the High Trail

As we told you, this trail should delight hiking fans. We advise you to go in the late afternoon to the village of Hutiaoxia/Qiaotou, where the park entrance and the beginning of the hike are located. Depending on your last stop, you’ll first pass through Shangri-La or Lijiang.

From Shangri-La

We were in Tagong and to go to Hutiaoxia, we returned to Kangding by taking a minibus, departure every day between 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. The journey takes 2 hours and price-wise, the ticket costs about 50 yuan per person. Otherwise, you can take a taxi from Tagong (at least 200 yuan). Once in Kangding, buses go to Xiangcheng via the South Tibetan Highway. However, it’s nothing like a highway; the road is broken! It took us 15 hours and was quite tiring for our nerves and buttocks. On the other hand, you’ll see incredible landscapes going up to 4,800 m altitude, crazy stuff!

Then, the journey from Xiangcheng to Shangri-La (Zhongdian) also takes 15 hours on roads in equally good condition… Once again, the landscapes are up to par! If you prefer a faster (but less scenic) journey from Tagong, the ideal is to return to Chengdu to take a flight to Shangri-La.

And if you’re coming from another place in China, Shangri-La has its own airport, and you’ll easily find domestic flights.

Finally, from Shangri-La to Hutiaoxia, you need to count about 3 small hours. From the bus station (this one), get on one of the buses to Kunming, Lijiang, or Dali, and ask to get off at Hutiaoxia (虎跳峡镇). The ticket costs between 40 and 50 yuan per person. Apparently, there would be only one direct bus between Shangri-La and Hutiaoxia; it would leave at 7:30 a.m. every day.

From Lijiang

Lijiang is a city closer to the gorges than Shangri-La. Depending on your last stop, it can be a good option, especially since the city has quite a few assets, notably its old town and Black Dragon Pool Park. However, expect to see lots of people! Otherwise, it can just be one night to go to the gorges the next day. Getting to Lijiang from Chengdu is easy: either by train (9-hour journey) or by plane (1 hour 15 minutes flight). Find transport schedules online.

Then, from Lijiang, the journey to the gorges is very easy. Buses leave from the bus station (this one) for Qiaotou, get on bus number 18. The journey takes 2 hours and costs about 45-50 yuan. The first bus normally leaves at 7:30 a.m. and there are departures every hour until 3-4 p.m.

Accommodation near the trail start

If you’re very motivated, you can walk the 12 km to Tea Horse Guesthouse just after getting off the bus ;).

Otherwise, after paying your entrance fee, go spend the night at Jane’s Guesthouse! It’s clean, cheap (40 yuan per person in a dormitory), good wifi, free gorge maps and the food is good… In short, we even came back there after the trek ;). It’s also a stone’s throw from the departure of this famous high trail. You can leave your big backpacks there: once the trek is finished, the bus driver who takes you back to Shangri-La will stop there so you can pick them up.

Day 1 of the trek

You need to count between 5 and 7 hours of walking, depending on your pace and the guesthouse you choose to stop at. Most of this first day is only uphill. Don’t worry, it’s totally doable! There’s about 900 m of elevation gain and tell yourself it’s good for the glutes ;). Even the 28 bends of death, according to Lonely Planet, aren’t as insurmountable as that ;).

The first stop to eat lunch or simply take a break is at Naxi Guesthouse, 6 km after departure (about 2 hours of walking). There, locals will offer you a mule to help you climb the steepest part of the trek. The continuation climbs steeply with the 28 switchbacks to the trek’s highest point! At 2,650 m altitude, it’s time to catch your breath while admiring the peaks of Yulong Xue Shan (the snowy Jade Dragon Mountain), on the other side of the canyon. Then, it goes downhill! But we were still happy to arrive at the guesthouse, to eat a bite and spend a good evening with other hikers.

Day 2 of the trek

After a good breakfast at Halfway Guesthouse (1 hour walk from Tea Horse), it’s time to get back on the path. After climbing to the heights of the gorges the day before, we follow them today in spectacular scenery. There are rivers and waterfalls everywhere! For those who don’t know yet, I love water ;). The vertiginous cliffs overlooking the Jinsha River should also please you. But don’t worry, even if we’re moving along the cliff face, still no danger on the horizon!

We also had an unexpected encounter in this section: a marijuana seller! Know that at Tiger Leaping Gorge, you can have for 1 euro what costs you 40 in Europe ;). But at the same time, no need to spend money! Maybe 1 km further, the path runs along the cannabis plantation, so you just need to help yourself (see the video)!

Once in the middle of the gorges, the path gently descends to Tina’s Guesthouse. In total, you need to count about 3 hours of walking between Tea Horse and Tina’s guesthouses. This is where the High Trail joins the paved road and where it’s possible to descend to the heart of the gorges, in the middle section. You’ll have guessed, this is also where you’ll find the mass of tourists arriving by bus. And tourists mean you’ll have to pay! It’s the norm in China, the slightest viewpoint is paid!

Note: Buy your bus ticket at the hostel before going down, just to be sure to have your seat since there’s only one bus per day and per direction. We tell you more below.

The descent into Tiger Leaping Gorge

You indeed have to pay 10 yuan to use the staircase that goes down to the riverbank. You’ll need to part with 10 more yuan if you want to have the best viewpoints at the bottom of the gorges. Finally, you’ll need to pull out your wallet once more if you don’t want to go back up the same way. Well, notice that it would be stupid to quibble over 30 yuan (barely 4 euros) when the show at the bottom of the gorges is so impressive! There’s such a mass of water concentrated there. I imagine even rafting pros wouldn’t come try the experience in these rapids! Imagine that the flow rate of the Jinsha River is 1,800 m³ per second!

However, if you’re afraid of heights, don’t go back up the same way we did! The ladders are solid but they’re vertical and some are more than 20 m high… Fair warning ;). We filmed this passage to give you an idea of the possible difficulty. If you don’t feel it, retrace your steps to take the same path as on the way up or continue further along the river; another less steep path goes back up to the road.

Note: Like any Chinese tourist site, a faster way has been set up to go down closer to the waters: the escalator! Just for info, the round-trip ticket costs the modest sum of 70 yuan. When we tell you that Chinese people don’t like to walk ;).

The return

At Tina’s Guesthouse, ask for a bus ticket to Shangri-La or Lijiang, depending on your itinerary. They cost 50 yuan per person. The bus leaves around 3-3:30 p.m. and stops quickly at Jane’s Guesthouse so you can pick up your big backpacks before dropping you off in Lijiang or Shangri-La. If you’re several people and have to wait a long time before the next bus, ask the staff at Tina hostel, they can book you a minivan. Last solution: hitchhiking!

Or you can do like us by spending a night at Jane’s Guesthouse before continuing your itinerary :).

Tiger Leaping Gorge trek review

In the end, we really enjoyed these two days of trekking in the gorge! The landscapes are very varied and the High Trail is abandoned by Chinese tourists who, it must be said, don’t really like to walk during their holidays… Plus, if we compare to other places we’ve visited, like Mount Emei or Mount Hua, the prices are very reasonable, whether for the gorges themselves or the guesthouses on the trails. And once again, don’t be impressed by what you read in Lonely Planet! They really tend to overestimate the difficulty of hikes.

P.S. – This is our 100^th blog article! We’re a bit moved 😉

P.S. bis – Find our complete guide to preparing your trip to China with all our practical tips for visiting the country and our advice for creating your itinerary.

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