Travelling North-West Yunnan Lodge to Lodge With Songtsam

The north-west corner of Yunnan is where the Tibetan plateau breaks into gorges. Three of Asia’s great rivers, the Yangtze, the Mekong and the Salween, run south within a hundred kilometres of each other, separated by ranges of more than 6,000 metres. Tibetan, Naxi, Lisu, Bai and Yi communities live at different altitudes on the same slopes. The region is a UNESCO World Heritage site and among the most rewarding parts of China to travel in. For a long time it was also among the hardest, with long drives and few good places to sleep.

Songtsam changed that. The group was founded in 2000 by Baima Duoji, a Tibetan from Shangri-La, who turned his family house beside the Songzanlin monastery into a small hotel. It now has twenty properties, spaced so that each is a few hours’ drive from the next, and it sells them as journeys, with its own vehicles, drivers and guides, most of them from the villages along the way.

How it works

A journey is planned as a circuit of five to twelve nights. Guests are met at an airport or station and driven from lodge to lodge, with walks, village visits, monasteries and picnics on the way. Everything is included. The lodges are small, usually of 10 to 30 rooms, built in the local style by local craftsmen, with wood stoves, copper, hand-woven rugs and Tibetan furniture. The larger properties, called Linkas, have spas and more rooms. Staff come from the surrounding communities, and that is the main difference from an international hotel: the people who serve dinner can explain the festival in the next village because they will be dancing in it.

The classic route

The first circuit, and still the best introduction, runs from Lijiang to Shangri-La and on to the Mekong. From Lijiang, at 2,400 metres, the road passes the first bend of the Yangtze and Tiger Leaping Gorge to Shangri-La at 3,300 metres, with its great monastery. It continues to Benzilan, a village on the Yangtze, over a pass to the Mekong and the view of Meili Snow Mountain, sacred to Tibetans, and to Cizhong, the Catholic wine village. Seven to nine nights are enough.

The western route

A newer route leaves from Dali and crosses to the Salween, the Nujiang, where the lodge in the canyon opened in 2024 among Lisu villages. It is wilder and lower, with subtropical forest, and suits a second visit.

Into Tibet

The longest journeys continue from Yunnan along the highway to Lhasa, by way of Namcha Barwa and other lodges, over two weeks. Foreign travellers need a Tibet travel permit, which the group arranges, and should allow time for it.

Where to start

Since 2026 the group has had a base in the provincial capital. Songtsam Linka Kunming is the place to spend the first night, adjust to the altitude and meet the guide.

When to go, and altitude

April to June brings rhododendrons and clear mornings. September to November has the best light, the harvest and the grape picking at Cizhong. July and August are wet, with landslides on some roads, and winter is cold and very quiet. Most of the classic route lies between 2,000 and 3,400 metres. The itineraries climb gradually, and travellers in normal health manage well with a slow first two days, plenty of water and no alcohol at the start.