Flavors of Yunnan.

Wild Mushroom Hotpot

You’ll be met at Kunming airport (KMG) and transferred to your hotel. Tonight sets the tone for everything ahead: dinner at a local restaurant specializing in wild mushroom hotpot — probably Yunnan’s most iconic dish.

The rainy season transforms Yunnan’s forests into a forager’s paradise, and the markets burst with mushrooms in dozens of shapes and flavors. Your hotpot will be made with seasonal fungi sourced directly from the surrounding hills — no artificial seasoning, just the pure, earthy depth that makes this dish so extraordinary. A warming, convivial way to arrive.

Morning — Traditional Soy Sauce Workshop

Your day begins on a family farm on the quiet outskirts of Kunming: making soy sauce by hand. Using only soybeans and wheat, this family has been following the same slow fermentation process for generations — a six-month labor of patience that produces something no supermarket bottle can replicate. You’ll learn hands-on, share a vegan lunch cooked by the family, and leave with a real understanding of what goes into one of the world’s great condiments.

Afternoon — Food Forest Farm & Tofu Making

An hour’s drive brings you to a food forest organic farm — a lush landscape growing hundreds of varieties of fruits, vegetables, and wild plants. Walk the land, pick what’s in season, then gather around a stone mill and open fire for a traditional tofu-making workshop. Using a stone grinder, large wok, firewood, and natural coagulant, you’ll make fresh tofu entirely from scratch. Dinner is a relaxed, family-style plant-based meal cooked together — one of the most memorable evenings of the trip.

Morning — Kunming’s Great Wet Market

Zhuanxin Wet Market is the beating heart of Kunming’s food culture. Wander through stalls overflowing with wild foraged vegetables, exotic fruits, regional grains, and produce from across the province. Taste some of Yunnan’s best plant-based street food: douhua mixian (Kunming’s signature rice noodles with silken tofu), buckwheat and purple rice cakes, and crispy lotus fritters fresh from the pan. Part food tour, part living history lesson.

Afternoon — Drive to Weishan Old Town

Set off on the five-hour drive southwest toward Dali, stopping for the night in Weishan — one of Yunnan’s oldest and least-visited historic towns. With over 1,300 years of history as the political heart of the ancient Nanzhao Kingdom, Weishan still looks and feels much as it did during the Ming Dynasty: stone-paved streets, ancient city gates, and beautiful wooden courtyard homes. Unlike the busier Dali Old Town, Weishan is genuinely lived-in and unhurried.

Morning — Ancient Tea Horse Road Hui Village

Just outside Dali lies a small Hui Muslim village that was once a key resting point along the Ancient Tea Horse Road — the legendary trade network connecting Yunnan with Tibet and Southeast Asia. Cobblestone lanes, courtyard homes, and the village mosque speak quietly of centuries of trade and faith. Sit down to a home-cooked halal lunch made with local ingredients — a warm and generous window into a community that has preserved its way of life remarkably intact.

Afternoon & Evening — Yi Ethnic Village: Macramé, Music & Dinner

Drive into the hills above Dali to spend time with a Yi ethnic minority family — the largest minority group in Yunnan, with a rich tradition of music, embroidery, and dance. Learn traditional Yi songs and join a group dance led by villagers who carry these customs with obvious joy. A local artisan guides you through making your own macramé bracelet using traditional Yi patterns. Dinner is a home-cooked vegan spread from the family garden.

Morning — Ethnic Minority Market Day

Thursday mornings bring one of the region’s most vibrant ethnic minority market gatherings — a weekly event where farmers, artisans, and villagers from different communities come together to trade, share food, and catch up. Many women arrive in their finest traditional dress. Sample freshly cooked Yunnan snacks prepared on the spot, and experience the kind of cultural mixing that makes this province so special.

Afternoon — Ancient Pear Village on Cibi Lake

Tucked along the shores of Cibi Lake, this ancient Bai village feels like it exists slightly outside of time — for centuries it could only be reached by boat. Visit a local artisan to learn the traditional craft of making pear paste and pear Jiaosu (a naturally fermented pear juice), tasting as you go. The day ends at the pear village’s fine dining restaurant, then overnight at a nearby hot spring village.

Morning — Woodcarving Workshop in Jianchuan

Jianchuan has been the woodcarving capital of Yunnan for centuries, supplying finely crafted work to temples and heritage buildings across the province. A master craftsman introduces you to the tools and traditions of the trade, then guides you through carving your own wooden spoon or small plate — a genuinely satisfying, hands-on skill.

Afternoon & Evening — Shaxi: Bai Culture & Village Dinner

Drive into the peaceful valley of Shaxi — one of the finest surviving stops along the old Tea Horse Road. The cobblestone market square, wooden inns, and surrounding farmland feel almost unchanged from centuries past, yet remain refreshingly free of mass tourism. In a nearby Bai village, local musicians welcome you with Bai songs and dances, including the playful whip dance and the iconic three-stringed dragon-headed instrument. A genuinely participatory evening — joining in is part of the experience.

Morning — Forest Hike to Nanzhao Grottoes

Hike through quiet pine forest into the sacred highlands above Shaxi, where ancient cliffside temples and stone grottoes from the Nanzhao Kingdom (8th–9th century) are carved directly into the rock. The imagery here is unlike Buddhist art found elsewhere in China — a fascinating blend of Tibetan, Southeast Asian, and local animist influences.

Afternoon — Lijiang: Lentil Workshop with a Naxi Family

Visit the home of a Naxi family for a hands-on workshop centered on the lentil. Starting from whole beans, grind, cook, and shape them into silky lentil jelly, delicate lentil skin, and lentil soup — before sitting down together for a full vegan lentil feast made largely by your own hands.

Evening — Dongba Cultural Experience

Be introduced to the Dongba tradition — the ancient spiritual practice at the heart of Naxi culture. Dongba priests are the living keepers of one of the world’s only remaining hieroglyphic writing systems, and their rituals draw on centuries of animist and shamanistic belief. A rare and meaningful glimpse into a living tradition genuinely unique to this part of the world.

Morning — Nanhua Wild Mushroom Market

On the drive back to Kunming, stop at Nanhua — home to one of the largest wild mushroom markets in Yunnan. At its peak during the rainy season, the market is an extraordinary spectacle: stalls piled with porcini, matsutake, chanterelles, and dozens of varieties found nowhere else on earth. Local foragers arrive with their morning harvest to trade and share knowledge, and the energy is buzzing.

Evening — Farewell Dinner: A Taste of Tranquility

Your final dinner is at a remarkable fine dining vegan restaurant hidden in a quiet corner of Kunming — a four-story home-restaurant run by a couple who live upstairs and cook with obvious devotion. Every dish is crafted with simplicity and intention. The atmosphere is calm and beautiful, somewhere between a private home and a gentle meditation. Arrive early enough to find a tea table, pour a cup, and let the trip settle around you.

Until We Meet Again

Transfer to Kunming Airport (KMG) for your onward journey. As they say in Yunnan: 谢谢，祝您接下来的旅途平安 — thank you, and have a safe onward journey. You’ll leave with handmade keepsakes, jars of wild mushrooms, and memories of a province that fed your body and your soul in equal measure.