Songtsam Reopens Its Cizhong Lodge as a Wine Hotel on the Upper Mekong

Songtsam has reopened its lodge at Cizhong, a village on the Lancang River, the upper Mekong, in the far north-west of Yunnan. The lodge has grown from 10 rooms to 26 and has been redesigned around wine. The reopening was announced in September 2025, and in 2026 Time magazine included the lodge in its list of the World’s Greatest Places.

A Catholic village in Tibetan country

Cizhong lies in a deep valley within the Three Parallel Rivers area, a UNESCO World Heritage site where the Yangtze, Mekong and Salween run side by side between ranges of more than 6,000 metres. Most of its people are Tibetan. Most are also Catholic.

French missionaries of the Paris Foreign Missions Society reached the valley in the second half of the 19th century. The stone church they completed at Cizhong in the early 1900s still stands among the fields, with a bell tower under a Chinese roof and painted ceilings that mix lotus flowers with crosses. Mass is said in Tibetan. The missionaries also planted vines, for communion wine, and villagers have made wine in their houses ever since from an old variety known locally as Rose Honey, which has all but disappeared in Europe.

Asia’s high-altitude vineyards

In the past fifteen years the same valley has attracted large investment. Ao Yun, a Moët Hennessy estate, makes a Cabernet blend from villages at 2,200 to 2,600 metres a little to the north, and sells it at the price of a Bordeaux classed growth. Other producers followed. The dry, sunny climate of the gorges, in the rain shadow of the Himalaya, has proved well suited to the vine.

The lodge sets out to be the place to taste these wines where they are grown. It offers tastings of Ao Yun and other estates of the region, visits to family cellars in the village, and its own Chardonnay, made from grapes grown nearby. In autumn guests can join the harvest.

The lodge

The redesign was led by Qi Shanshan, the group’s design director. The building follows local Tibetan construction, with thick walls and timber galleries. Interiors use salvaged wood, bronze and a palette of ochre and grape purple. Rooms have balconies facing the river and the mountains. There is a restaurant, a lounge with a terrace, a small spa and a gym.

Getting there

Cizhong is about four hours by road from Shangri-La, which has an airport and a new railway from Lijiang. It is usually visited as one stop on a Songtsam circuit that continues to Meili Snow Mountain or returns by the first bend of the Yangtze. September to November brings the harvest and clear skies. The group opened a gateway hotel, Songtsam Linka Kunming, in 2026.