Yuanyang Rice Terraces

UNESCO

10d · Ten days through two of China's most photogenic landscapes: Yunnan's terraced rice fields and highland villages, followed by the karst pinnacles and river mist of Guilin and Yangshuo.

14d · Fourteen days through the full breadth of Yunnan: Kunming, Dali, Lijiang, Shangri-La, the Yuanyang terraces, Jianshui and the geothermal fields of Tengchong — the province's different climates, altitudes and minorities in one loop.

UNESCO · UNESCO Natural World Heritage site in Inner Mongolia — the third largest desert in China, featuring some of the world's tallest stationary dunes and a unique network of freshwater and saline lakes sustained by a still-unexplained subterranean water system.

UNESCO · UNESCO Natural World Heritage site — a serial property of six Danxia landscapes across six provinces, representing China's defining red-cliff-and-pillar sandstone landform type, including Danxia Mountain, Zhangye, Taining and Langshan.

Spring-fed crescent-shaped lake at the foot of 250m sand dunes, 5 km south of Dunhuang. Camel rides, sand-sledding, sunset viewing.

A remote highland sanctuary in south-western Sichuan centred on three sacred snow peaks venerated by Tibetan Buddhism, often called the 'last Shangri-La'.

The largest freshwater lake in Yunnan at 300 km², historically the scenic centrepiece of the Kunming basin and now being restored after decades of water-quality degradation.

250 km² freshwater lake east of Dali Old Town. 130 km cycling loop; Bai-minority lakeside villages on the eastern shore.

UNESCO · UNESCO Natural World Heritage site in Guizhou — an isolated mountain island rising from subtropical forest, home to two critically endangered endemic species: the Guizhou snub-nosed monkey and the Fanjingshan fir.

The lowest-altitude glacier accessible in Asia, flowing from the slopes of Mount Gongga down through a bamboo and subtropical forest valley to just 2,980 m above sea level.

The walled city of Pingyao, inscribed by UNESCO in 1997, preserves the most complete example of Ming-Qing urban planning in China — its banking heritage, city wall, temples and courtyard residences forming a cohesive historical ensemble.

UNESCO-listed pair of Ming-Qing Huizhou merchant villages in southern Anhui, renowned for whitewashed walls, inky horsehead gables and moon-shaped ponds.

UNESCO-listed archaeological site in Hangzhou preserving the remains of a 5,000-year-old city with a sophisticated water-management system, jade ritual culture and social hierarchy — regarded as one of the earliest state-level societies in East Asia.

UNESCO Natural World Heritage site in Inner Mongolia — the third largest desert in China, featuring some of the world's tallest stationary dunes and a unique network of freshwater and saline lakes sustained by a still-unexplained subterranean water system.

UNESCO-listed capital cities and royal tombs of the Koguryo Kingdom in Jian, Jilin — the Chinese portion of a transnational heritage property shared with North Korea, representing one of the most powerful states of ancient East Asia.

UNESCO Natural World Heritage site — a serial property of six Danxia landscapes across six provinces, representing China's defining red-cliff-and-pillar sandstone landform type, including Danxia Mountain, Zhangye, Taining and Langshan.

UNESCO-listed collection of private gardens in Suzhou — four inscribed in 1997 and five more added in 2000 — representing the pinnacle of Chinese garden design through the refined integration of architecture, water, rock and plant.

UNESCO-listed Suzhou garden organised symmetrically around a central residence. Less crowded than the four most-visited gardens.

Blog · Yunnan has 25 of China's 56 official ethnic groups — Yi, Bai, Dai, Hani, Naxi, Tibetan and more. Why the geography produced this diversity, and how to access it as a traveller without falling into theme-park ethnic tourism.