4 Days Xishuangbanna Tour with Tropical Flavor & Dai Culture

Full Itinerary Day by day

Day 1 Xishuangbanna Arrival

Welcome to Xishuangbanna, the home of the Dai people! Upon arrival at Xishuangbanna Gasa Airport, the local guide and driver will meet you at the arrival hall. Transfer to your hotel in Jinghong city. The rest of today is free on your own to explore this southernmost city in Yunnan Province.

Arrival Ideas: You can take direct flights from Kunming (about 1 hour), Dali (about 1 hour), Lijiang (about 70 minutes), Chengdu (about 2 hours), Chongqing, Guiyang and more cities of China to Xishuangbannan. Xishuangbanna Gasa Airport is about 7 kilometers to Jinghong downtown area which needs only 20 minutes. 

Day 2 Xishuangbanna Dai Minority Park - Manting Park - Xishuangbanna Zongfosi Temple (B, L)

Today, your Xishuangbanna Tour starts with the best of the best highlights of this region!

After breakfast, drive about 30km (0.5~1 h) to Dai Minority Park in Olives Dam. Being the Only Dai Culture Zone and the Soul of Xishuangbanna, Dai Minority Park will introduce you everything of the major inhabitants - Dai Minority People, including their languages, belief systems, dress styles, customs and traditions… Your tour starts from Manchun Buddhist Temple with a long history of 1,400 years. Join worshipers who come to make offerings in return for good luck and learn about Dai’s spiritual beliefs while enjoying murals and sacred statues. And then you will stroll some of the five Dai villages, which are the best-preserved ones in the whole China, to know how the local’s really live on a daily basis. Most significantly, you will experience the extreme pleasure of being the part of fantastic water fights during their daily Water-splashing Festival held at the Water Splashing Square. Treat the visitors by your side a splash or two with your buckets or water guns! If you prefer, rent a typical Die minority suit to dress yourself up like locals!

Notes: 1) Water-splashing Festival in Xishuangbanna, similar to Thailand, is an annual celebration marking the start of the New Year and will be officially held during the 13th day to 15th day of April. However, the water celebrations at Dai Minority Park will be available every day, with one held in the late morning and two in the early afternoon. 2) Take a zip-lock or a small waterproof bag to keep your valuables (like a change of clothes) dry during the water fight.

Then drive to Manting Park, Xishuangbanna’s most famous landmark and the former royal garden of the Dai kingdom. As legend says, the Dai Princess once visited the park and her soul attracted much by its beautiful scenery, hence Manting Park is also called Chunhuan Park by Dai locals, which means “Garden of the Soul”. In this complex with a history of 1,300 years, you will be able to relive the splendor and pageantry of the past in every Buddhist statue, towering spire, vacant monastery and beautifully designed lake. And you will find the best examples of Dai Buddhist architecture in the park - the Jingzhen Octagonal Pavilion and Manfeilong White Tower.

As you walk further to the back gate of Manting Park, awe-inspiring golden monasteries of Zongfosi Temple will leap to your eyes one after one. Zongfosi Temple isn’t your usual Buddhist temple, indeed, it was once an exclusive temple of Dai Kings in history. And it has long been the vital heart of Xishuangbanna Buddhist worship, ranking higher than all other temples in Xishuangbanna. The temple worships more than 25 states of Buddhas, including a remarkable 2.5-meter-high golden statue of Sakyamuni Buddha. More than 80 monks now study here. As you approach those mystical monasteries, you will hear tranquil sounds of their chanting.

After the day tour, you will be transferred back to your hotel at Jinghong downtown. This evening is free for you to explore at leisure.

Optional night activity: feast your eyes to appreciate a wonderful Dai Ethnic Show Night on Lancang Mekong River at Manting Park (usually performs for 3.5 hours during 18:30~21:30) and then enjoy happy dancing at the Bonfire Party there.

Day 3 Wild Elephant Valley - Jinuo Ethnic Village (B, L)

Today, get ready to date with the great giants - elephants and to visit the Jinuo Minority Village.

Your exciting morning starts with an invitation to visit the only sanctuary of wild elephants in China - Wild Elephant Valley, where inhabit about 300 elephants. Drive about 30km (0.5-1h), you will be at the south gate of the valley. Skip the small theme gardens near the entrance, you will seize the time to catch a cable car to find the wild elephants first, because they prefer to show up in the early morning (except the midnight). The cable car ride takes about 35 minutes and will take you to the best observation platform by the river deep in the jungle where you are most likely to see them. And then your tour continues with a lush jungle trekking for a descent. Immerse yourself in this adventurous tropical forest trekking experience with opportunities meeting wild elephants coming toward you or playing at the nearby bushes. About half an hour later, you will pass by the Museum of the Asian Elephant. Step into this first elephant museum in China to learn the origin evolution and protection of these giant creatures. Then continue your way back to the Butterfly Garden, Bainiao Garden (Hundred Birds Garden), Monkey Park and Python Park near the entrance to greet more adorable tropical animals.

Notes: It is said that wild elephants prefer to show up at the mid-night most, and then the early morning or at nightfall. However, there is no fixed time. So sometimes you may miss the chances to see them.

This afternoon you will say goodbye to the animals and jungles and then be escorted to Jinuo Ethnic Village, which is inhabited by the 56th group in China called Jinuo Ethnic Group. A lively Jinuo Ethnic Show awaits you. You’ll enjoy the show while trying some typical food of them.

After the day tour, you will be transferred back to your hotel at Jinghong downtown. This evening is free for you to explore at leisure.

Optional night activity: hit the busy Gaozhuang Night Market (or Jiangbian Night Market on the other side of the Lancang River) to savor fresh tropical fruits, sample tasty Dai snacks and shop lovely souvenirs without overspending.

Day 4 Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden - Xishuangbanna Departure (B)

A Xishuangbanna tour is not complete without a visit to Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden! On the last morning after breakfast, its time to meet with China’s best tropical flavor at Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden!

Drive outside the city for about 62km and 1 hour, you will arrive at Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, the largest and most beautiful botanical garden in China with the largest collection of flowers and plants. This vast area is consisted of three parts, and today, you will visit the most beautiful West Area. Kick off your visit with a sightseeing battery car to lush patches of flora, with stops at every garden for short trips. You will lose track of time getting up close to the various collections of palms, Orchids, ferns, bonsais, lotus, bamboo... You will also hit a small museum to learn tropical forest species and culture of this region.

Your Xishuangbanna tour ends after the visiting of the garden. Your guide will escort you to the airport for your flight to next destination or home.

Notes: Most of the highlights of this vast garden gather at its West Area, while some visitors also like trekking its East Area and Green Stone Forest Area, which are more primitive. If you have 3.5~4 hours more left in Xishuangbanna, you can try a forest trekking there.

The quotation for this trip is from $588 Per Person

1. This price is for one person, based on a group of 2 adults sharing one standard double-bed room in 4-star hotel and traveling with our private tour in low seasons.
2. This price is subject to change according your traveling season, group size, hotel class, change of activities in your itinerary and possible fluctuation of currency exchange rate. If you want a lower price, you can get more people to join you, or use economy class hotels.
3. This price is only valid to March 31, 2025.
4. Reference exchange rate of USD 1=RMB 7.00. The final quote is based on current exchange rate. It may change according to the currency fluctuation, while the RMB quotation will be remained the same.

How Our Teams Serve you at China Discovery

"Highest Standards of Quality and Honesty" is the core value of each specialized team at China Discovery.

Eveyone in our company is working hard for only one goal, which is to ensure the highest level of service, luxury, and attention to detail from the minute you begin planning your trip, to the day you return home.

1-on-1 Travel Consultant

Our travel consultants are professional, experienced and responsible, helping you from the very beginning to the end of your China trip!

After sending us an inquiry, one of our travel consultants will get back to you within 0.5~23.5 hrs. In the next few days, he/she will be working closely with you to formulate a customized tour plan, as well as providing professional suggestions based on your travel interests, time, and budget.

Beside, he/she will keep in contact with you during your entire tour in China, continually checking if everything is going well as planned.

We're working at Chengdu Bamboo International Tours, local based in Chengdu.

Local Tour Guides

Our local guide in every destination is not only very friendly, enthusiastic but also very informative and knowledgeable.

Once you arrive in the destination, the patient and punctual guides will pick you up and take you to get under skin of the city at your own pace. By in-depth discovery and explanation, they’ll show you more about the history, culture, customs and authentic local life. Throughout the journey, they're not only expert guides who take care of all the details but also fellow travelers who are dedicated to help you explore in comfort and style.

Our guides are passionate about what they do, and it shows all the way!

Local Drivers & Vehicle

Using our private transfer service makes you comfortable, relaxed and worry free all the way!

Our private service includes licensed drivers with many years’ driving experience and air-conditioned, non-smoking, clean and well-maintained cars/vans. Drivers are local, polite, friendly and helpful, taking you to your tourist sites, hotels, airport/train stations in safety. All kinds of vehicle are offered, and yours depends on the size of your group. Usually, we offer sedan cars, SUVs, business vans (MPV) and different types of buses, all with extra space for your luggage.

Our private transfer service guarantees you the highest comfort!

Comfortable & Homelike Hotels

In each destination, you’ll enjoy a comfortable stay in a great location!

The hotels we choose are based on star rating, great locations, well-equipped facilities, cozy bed, high quality service and guests’ feedbacks. Choices are a lot ranging from luxury 5 star, comfortable 4 star to budget 3 star. You could decide where to stay to best suit for your budget and likes. Generally, the hotels have both Western and Chinese breakfast with a wide choices.

If you have already got an ideal hotel, please feel free to tell our travel consultants and they'll book the hotel for you.

Have good sleep in our well-selected hotels in all the destinations of China.

Meals & Dining

We can satisfy all the dietary requirements no matter you want Chinese local food, western food, vegetarian food or muslin food.

The restaurants we will take you for lunch or dinner are all designated tourist restaurants approved by local tourist administration bureau. They have very good sanitary conditions and the food is prepared fresh and clean.

There will be some meals excluded in your itinerary as you like, and your private guide will be delighted to give you some suggestions and take you to the local restaurants to taste like Beijing Roast Duck, Xian Dumpling Dinner, Sichuan Hotpot, etc., if you are interested in local food tasting.

All the dining options will satisfy your stomach!

Check What our delighted customers are saying about our services

Hi Rita,

The best experience ever!!!! I fell in love.

I received your lovely card and cute gifts, thank you so much.

Done it! As always it’s my pleasure to hire your company services, see you in the next adventure.

Emmy

Emmy‚ Mexico, December 15, 2024

Hi Rita,

Please kindly see the feedback below.

We are a family of 7. This private tour package definitely met our expectations! Both tour guides (Chengdu- MAY & Chongqing-DAVID) provided us a very good service, both friendly and very flexible despite the change in our tour schedules. They were also very responsible and ensured our safety, meals and transports were well taken care of, especially since we have elderly and kids in our group. Both tour guides are very fluent in English too so it is very convenient for some of the non-chinese speakers in our group.

We will look for the same tour agent again in our next trip to China!

Best Regards,

Victoria

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Victoria‚ Singapore, December 14, 2024

Hi Shirley,

Thanks for the tour, and the itinerary that you planned for us was very comprehensive and detailed. We enjoyed it very much. The tour guide was also very friendly and experienced. He followed your itinerary closely and brought us to all the sites and explained in detail. He also recommended and brought us to enjoy some of the local cuisines during lunch.

Overall, we are impressed by the excellent service, reliability and quality that yourself, the tour guide and the driver has provided us. We would like to visit China again and we will not hesitate to engage your services again. Thank you!

Regards

Chun How

Chun How‚ Singapore, December 14, 2024

Hi Shirley,

I'm writing to provide some feedback on our recent Xian and Beijing trip that you put together for us.

We travel a lot, in the past year to Japan, New Zealand, China, Turkey, Africa, China, and finally this Xian/Beijing trip. I bring this up to highlight that we deal with a lot of travel professionals. You are easily the best travel professional we have dealt with through all of those trips. My wife, who happens to be Chinese asked me to make sure to keep your contact information for future China trips, with the intention of replacing the China based agent her brother usually uses for our trips.

Please let your manager know that we would probably not have used your company if not for you. Bamboo Travel is new to us and in a foreign country, so we had doubts as to what to expect. Your service was excellent from start to finish which really gave us confidence in your company. We had a little bit of an unusual itinerary and some constraints related to our other China travel prior to this tour. You were able to work through all of our issues with fast responses to our questions.

You also went what I would say was above and beyond expectations. The final example of that is a friend in the US was shipping some things to our hotel in Beijing for me to bring home to her. I contacted you to confirm the hotel name before they shipped the items, expecting I would then have to figure out the shipping details. Your reply not only confirmed the hotel, but you provided the shipping info in both English and Chinese, which saved me the hassle of trying to figure which address to use. Not a huge thing, but it's those small things that add up to a big difference in customer experience.

Thanks again for everything!

Xian:

Our guide was Waldner and we liked him from the start. We were just coming off another tour with another company which had maybe the best tour leader we've ever had. Even though we were always comparing Waldner measured up well. He was great at explaining the history of places we visited as well as answering our cultural questions. The restaurants/food were very good. He and the driver also modified the itinerary somewhat to optimize the driving based on our arrival and departure times and locations. We liked the hotel in Xian. The car (van) was very comfortable. Waldner also helped arrange tickets for a night show for us.

Beijing:

Pickup was great; even though we got in late the guide that picked us up was there and actually met us at the track. Cindy was our guide and we really liked her also. She is very knowledgeable and willing to answer (a lot of) questions. This was my 3rd time in Beijing and it was amazing what a difference having a good guide made. Cindy and the driver also modified the itinerary to optimize the driving. She also helped us book tickets to two shows, one of which was not on your list of optional items (Lao She tea house). Cindy was concerned about us ordering a cab so she stayed at the show to make sure we got back to our hotel ok. The restaurants/food were very good. The hotel was good but not great; for example we had hot water issues every day, and when I went to pick up a package that was shipped to me they just left me to dig through a pretty large pile of packages all addressed in Chinese.

To wrap up, I would rate the overall experience of looking for a trip, picking a company, and traveling 9.5 out of 10. Shirley, your service was 10 out of 10.

See you next trip!

Terry

Terry ‚ USA, December 11, 2024

Dear Rita,

Feedback.

The trip organised by Rita Jiang to Beijing and Xian was very well planned and enjoyable, showing the best of Chinese history, culture, heritage, and enormous progress.

Your 2 guides, Linda Chua and Beryl are very good. Linda went out of her way to take us to Peking Opera at night. The kids were tired, so we did not go to Summer palace and Heavenly temple, and did not go to Xian Pagoda. It was our choice, so its ok. (I have been to all)

The 2 bus drivers were excellent, very careful, disciplined and good temperament and helpful. I could not give a tip to Beryl at Xian station, as I had to rush into toilet inside, and did not know she could not enter the train Station.

The pace was good, but the last day of train from Xian, to hotel (plus late dinner scrabbling in Beijing), then early next morning to airport was too Hectic. However, it was because we had to return on 8.12.24. we wish we could stay longer in Xian, and elsewhere. We could probably have gone to Xian by train, then fly back to Beijing by plane, but one way tickets could cost much more.

Anyway, thank you very much for all your fine arrangements. We all enjoyed the short trip.

For the kids, the major highlights were the Great Wall, Terracotta warriors, Acrobatic show. They will treasure. I will plan more trips for them to China.

Best wishes and warm regards,

Richard

Richard‚ Singapore, December 11, 2024

Check What our customers are saying about us on Tripadvisor.com

excellent assistance, helpfulness and courtesy. My contact 'was Shirley, prepared friendly and punctual. Highly recommended...

Luciano P

"Travel consultant Mr Wonder Wang was so helpful and he planned our trip to Xi’an and Beijing so well. Mr Waldner is an amazing guide. His knowledge and enthusiasm made our tour very memorable..." read more »

Reviewed on December 13, 2024

Luciano P

"excellent assistance, helpfulness and courtesy. My contact 'was Shirley, prepared friendly and punctual. Highly recommended..." read more »

Reviewed on December 13, 2024