It seems that every traveler I’ve met in Yunnan has been to Dali. It is known for being a place where “east meets west”, where you can find an interesting mix of Chinese locals and westerners who decided to stick around and open up cafés and music bars. It is true that you can find all of this in the Dali old town, along with a decidedly laid-back atmosphere.
What I didn’t expect was how much tourism there would be. You can’t walk half a block in the main old town section without seeing at least three silversmithing shops, a Yunnan coffee bean shop, and three or four shops selling the exact same cheap trinkets as the next one. The restaurants are a little better – there’s a nice mix of traditional Bai food, Chinese food, and western cafes, and there’s a great music scene in the evenings at the bars along Renminlu. The most famous bar is the Bad Monkey, where I caught a local band playing some good covers of Guns N Roses, Metallica, and other grunge rock, but the whole street is lined with musicians for all tastes.
The city itself is quite pretty, with part of the ancient wall still intact and walkable. I was there in early April, perfect timing for the flowers to bloom and for the days to be warm and breezy. I stayed in a great hostel on the edge of the old town called Dragonfly Hostel. The owner was very friendly and gave me some great tips to plan the rest of my trip through Yunnan.
I got a little bored with the old town (since as I said the shops are extremely repetitive and there’s far too many tourists on the streets), so I decided to rent a bike and go out to Xizhou. Xizhou is another Bai village close to Erhai lake. It is quite small, just a central square and a few alleys that shoot off from it, but it retains an older, less built up feeling than Dali. It is worth a day-trip out and lunch on the square. I cycled back along the lake, or rather, tried to. There is a lot of construction going on (pretty much everywhere in China) and the “road” I was following was rocky dirt at best or hopelessly detoured at worst. I made it about 15km back down along the lake before giving up and cutting back over to the highway for an easier return. It was still nice to see the villages along the lake as well as the lake itself.
The three pagodas of Chongsheng Temple are an iconic Dali site, but the entrance fee is exorbitant (CNY 121) so I was content to take a picture from outside the entrance.
Dali is definitely a fun place to visit, pretty and with plenty to see, but I wouldn’t recommend making it the highlight of your trip. I talked to several people who said they’d spent two weeks in Dali and wanted to go back, but I was content to leave after a couple of days. Trade those extra days for time to hike Tiger Leaping Gorge instead, which is spectacular!
