Yunnan is the most attractive province for me and that is why I have been there for 4 times in the past five years. One of the reasons is that it is very warm in bitter cold winter and another is I like nature the most This time I choose Lugu lake, a paradise of water and wild ducks.
Beautiful Wild Roses by the Lake
Introduction of Lugu Lake:
Location: Lugu Lake is located 280 kilometers in the north of Lijiang city (Yunnan province, China), tourists may pass by an important county before arriving Lugu Lake – the Ninglang county, it is only 73 kilometers to the lake. The lake is located on the borderline of Sichuan province and Yunnan province.
Best Season to see Lugu Lake: All year round but it is suggested to visit the lake between March and October.
Recommended time for a visit: it is recommended to spend at least two nights to better enjoy the lake.
Flocks of Gulls and Wild Ducks
Lugu Lake is over 50 square kilometers, it is of an elevation of 2690 meters and an average water depth of 45 meters, the lake is the highest lake of Yunnan province and one of the deepest freshwater lakes in China.
There are about 13000 people living along the bank of the lake, 45% of them are Mosuo minority people, other nationality are Yi, Han, Naxi, Tibetan, Bai, and Zhuang. Mosuo people is an ancient minority, it keeps the matriarchal society way of living, the people and minority is regarded as the “living fossil of matriarchal society of human”, unique and quite interesting.
Tranquil Lugu Lake
How to get there:
By shuttle bus: Tourist can easily get the ticket from Lijiang to Lugu Lake (no need to get to Ninglang county firstly). The round-way ticket between Lijiang and Lugu Lake is available at only RMB140 yuan, the car departs at 9:30 am every morning. Usually the bus will stop at Luoshui village, the most popular village is Lige, it still has about 11 kilometers from the Big Luoshui Village to Lige Island, you can hire car at Luoshui or tell the driver your destination is Lige village before the boarding.
Hiring cars: If you have a group or can find some people with same itineraries as yours, you can hire cars to Lugu Lake, the price is about RMB400-600 per car (based on the type of the car, tourist car, off-road car, etc. If you are traveling along, ask for it at the hotels and get help.
Multiple Colorful Boats
By flight: it is not so accessible but the flight is available from Kunming to Lugu Lake and Chengdu is the second city to open the flight, which makes it much convenient compared with past when the people in Chengdu have to spend long time on the road by car or take overnight train to Xichang and then change public bus.
Lugu Lake Airport
It takes only about one hour by flight from Chengdu to Ningliang county, (Lijang city ) which is around 25km to Lugu lake but it takes at least 40-50 minutes by airport shuttle bus on a rugged mountain road and some people even have bus sickness.
But I made a mistake on the accommodation because I booked hotel online and it is at Sanjiacun pier where are less tourists but many restaurant and hotel are located at Daluoshui village.
The Hotel I Booked
It is already in late afternoon, so we had dinner first and we taste the famous local fish Steam Stone Pot Fish, then take few picture when the dusk is fallen at the pier which is only 200 meters from our hotel.
Sunset at Lugu Lake
Waking up in the fresh air and surrounded by blue sky and green mountain, it is really a relax of life and work or everything is behind. sometimes we do need such kind of way to find the peace and rethink something. The hotel car send us to the near port and the landscape is amazing.
Lugu Lake Pier
We captured the wild duck, interesting dog and wooden boat.
And then we walk along the lake with sunshine on our face, sitting down and chatting , it seems that everything is so cool and it is totally different from city life .so we walk back to hotel and make us a part of the views.
We take the small boat to Liwubi island in next morning because the wind is not big but I am still a little bit worry about the safety. We cruise about the small island and the left side is belong to Yunnan and right side is belong to Sichuan but you are surprised to see the trees color is yellow and green respectively because thesmall stream separates them.
Cruising around the Border Between Sichuan and Yunnan
The good time is always short and after a layover of 3 days we take flight back to Chengdu for outskirt trip. I would like to remind that Chengdu is followed by Chongqing that opened the direct flight to Lugu lake, so it is much easier for flight back to Chongqing and change high speed train( about 2 hours ) to Chengdu and better then change flight in Kunming.
Back to Chengdu
It is the beginning of second half of 2019 and the annual holiday will come soon, hopefully, I will go to Yunnan for Dongchuan red land and Yuanyang Rice terrace, see you again, my love for good.
Lugu Lake travel tips:
1. The average temperature here is only 17 degree centigrade, although there is no chilly winter here, don’t forget to take more cloth as the temperature differences between morning and night is huge. Bring your umbrella and rain coat as it rains sometime (most of the time it has no rain at the Lake, it stops soon even when it rains). Take care of your skins as the sunlight and ultraviolet rays here is sufficient due to the high elevation.
2. Please respect the local culture, religions and living habit there.no no swimming and no hunting. Bring some common medicines and try best not getting ill there as the medical condition there is relatively backward.
If you are interested in more tours about Lugu Lake, you can head to our Yunnan Tours and Chengdu Tours with different experiences. Feel free to select yours to explore the beauty of Tibet!
>> 2 Days Magic Lugu Lake Tour with Mosuo Ethnic Culture
>> 5 Days Lijiang Lugu Lake with Mosuo Matriarchal Society Experience
>> 7 Days Yunnan Paradise Tour to Lijiang, Shangri-La & Lugu Lake
Want to know more about the experienced travel expert Jack’s trip? You could just contact him directly or continue to read more about her travelogues.
