Best time to visit Yunnan

Best time to visit Yunnan

In the light of several queries concerning our new Vietnam and Yunnan small group tours, we’ll extend our, admittedly limited, best time to visit Yuanyang post to a more general, best time to visit Yunnan post.

First remark is – it’s complicated. China’s Yunnan Province alone is slightly larger than Germany – covering a similar surface area to Norway – and while it doesn’t share the latter’s elongated form, its geography and therefore weather patterns, are highly varied and complex. Most of Yunnan is mountainous but it covers a wide range of climatic regions stretching from the subtropical, forested hills of the far south, along the borders of Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam, to the Tibetan Plateau and foothills of the Himalayas in the northwest. Furthermore, our 16-day tour, Hanoi to Shangri La, obviously begins in Vietnam, adding further weather considerations. Vietnam’s capital lies only very slightly above sea level, a short distance from the South China Sea and of course, Halong Bay, while the final destination of our Vietnam to Tibet Overland tour, Shangri La, is situated at an average of 3,300 metres or, near enough, a round 10,000 feet. (Yes, there is an actual place officially called Shangri La since the Chinese government saw fit to rename the Tibetan town of Zhongdian a few years back. You can now travel there on the Shangri La Expressway and depart from Shangri La International Airport.)

For practical purposes, we’ll break the tour down into half a dozen broadly distinct regions and outline their relevant climatic – and non-climatic factors – before attempting an overall synthesis or conclusion on just what is the best time to visit Yunnan. (This will be our personal opinion only and bear in mind all weather references describe average conditions which may vary from year to year and are certainly not written in stone.) Our South of the Clouds itinerary covers Yunnan only and starts and finishes in the provincial capital Kunming, while both our Red River Valley and Hanoi to Shangri La tours kick off in Hanoi.

Vietnam, Hanoi

For more comprehensive info on Vietnam you can check our corresponding best time to visit Vietnam post but roughly speaking Hanoi’s weather goes from warm and sticky from June to August to cool and damp in December to February. However, Hanoi is just a convenient – and of course fun – starting point and with our itinerary comprising a brief 2-night stay plus a city tour of museums and temples, we’d say local weather conditions aren’t of vital importance. Some travellers may well consider adding a Halong Bay option which is far more weather dependent with spring and autumn generally considered the best options. (Note that Halong Bay has an unpredictable micro-climate and a certain weather risk is present at any time of year.)

Vietnam, Sapa and Bac Ha

In contrast, Sapa’s weather conditions are certainly of more significance since, in our experience, the mountain-top, former French hill-station can get uncomfortably cold in the winter months. (We mean gloves and woolly hat cold so not great for exploring and you may well find yourself asking reception for extra blankets.) The rice terraces will look their best in spring or autumn but those will get more consideration when we come to the World Heritage terraces at Yuanyang. Last but not least for Sapa and our visit to Bac Ha Sunday Market is that cold weather means hill-tribe market goers will be wrapped up warm making less than ideal circumstances for admiring their traditional costumes.

Yuanyang

As mentioned, we did previously write an entire blog post on the best time to visit Yunnan’s Yuanyang District so, suffice to say, the main consideration here is agricultural rather than geographical as ideally everyone would like to see the famous terraces at their best. Weather-wise, while not as high as Sapa, Yuanyang is still atop a mountain range and can get decidedly nippy during winter, particularly if you’re up for a sunrise visit.

Roughly speaking there is the preparing the fields period, planting and growing, harvesting and harvested times of the year. The main one to avoids, when terraces are either filled with mud or stubble, are preparation and post-harvest times respectively. Photographers favour the pre-planting months when water-filled terraces create spectacular reflections at sunrise and sunset although we’d say the ripe, pre-harvest golden fields of September is also a picturesque time. In between planting and ripening, the emerald green rice terraces aren’t too shabby either. That offers several scenic windows throughout the year that we’ll cross reference with additional destinations later.

Kunming

No weather issues in the provincial capital which is known as the ‘City of Eternal Spring’ due to its year-round mild, pleasant temperatures. Coolest months are December to February and the wettest, July and August. While, as is the case with Hanoi, we’d say weather isn’t so crucial for cities, there is a visit to World Heritage Shilin Stone Forest to consider and the spectacular karst scenery, described by UNESCO as ‘superlative’, does look much better with a blue sky backdrop.

Dali and Lijiang

Less than 200 kilometres apart, we’ll group the 2 historical, northwestern Yunnanese towns together as they share many common geographical and climatic features. Both lie in valleys surrounded by high mountains – the foothills of the Himalayas indeed – yet still lie short of the Tibetan Plateau proper. Both northern hemisphere towns list July and August as the hottest months and December and January as the coldest although during most years temperatures remain relatively mild throughout. Both are at significant altitudes; c. 2,200 metres for Dali and 2,400 for Lijiang, so variations between daytime and nighttime temperatures can be significant and a jacket or thin fleece may be necessary for evenings and early mornings outside of the summer months. Rains fall mostly in summer,  with any form of precipitation rare from November to April, meaning snow is consequently very rare in the towns themselves. (You will see snow-capped mountains, such as Lijiang’s Jade Dragon Snow Mountain, in the distance.)

Another factor to bear in mind in the case of Dali and Lijiang is that both are very popular with local tourists so, weather aside, it’s good to try and avoid Chinese holiday periods. The main ones are Chinese New Year, (usually falling some time in February) and the week-long October national holiday. The former is more of a go back home to the family than let’s visit Dali stye holiday although it does mean transport is very congested and hotels, restaurants etc will be down to skeleton crews. Any public holiday or bank holiday weekend can get busy although they’re more difficult to avoid. You will have to face one destination or another during weekends on a 16-day tour so certain spots will inevitably be busier than on a week day.

Tiger Leaping Gorge lies a short distance north of Lijiang – it passes the far side of Jade Dragon Mountain that provides the backdrop to Lijiang’s scenic Black Dragon Pool Park – so falls into a similar climate category. However, be warned that the abruptly rising high mountains which line the narrow gorge mean that mornings and evenings may be cooler still as the sun only reaches much of the gorge towards the middle of the day.

Shangri La, Tibet

From Tiger Leaping Gorge, the route rises up the rim of the Tibetan plateau before descending onto the high plains around Zhongdian – Shangri La Town. The town itself is at some 3,300 metres altitude, the surrounding summits go up to 5,000. It can get seriously cold during winter months although fortunately, for locals and visitors, once again the wetter months correspond to the warmest so snow is surprisingly rare. (The only recorded snowball fight on an All Points East tour took place during the month of April but that was at the high pass leading onto the plateau rather than in the town or surrounds itself.)

Nevertheless, October through to March can get decidedly nippy up there so, while an umbrella isn’t necessary, a fleece or warm jacket is definitely recommended.

Having run through the various factors of these disparate zones, we reckon you can see why, ‘when is the best time to visit Yunnan?’ is a tricky question. There are local holidays and crop cycles to consider as well as weather across 1,000 kilometres of terrain. Knowing the destinations it’s then a matter of prioritising said factors and working out which are major drawbacks and which would be minor inconveniences.

We frequently recommend the so-called rainy season for several of our destinations – it’s lush and green with far fewer other visitors – so ideal for busier sites such as Angkor Wat, Chiang Mai or even Luang Prabang but this doesn’t really fit for Yunnan where broader landscapes are essential features.

Dry and cool conditions would be ideal for say Hanoi, Kunming or Lijiang but downright cold ones aren’t so the inclusion of Sapa, Yuanyang and Shangri La preclude winter months. October is a good month to avoid due to the aforementioned, busy Chinese holiday period so we’ve narrowed it down to spring or autumn times, (minus October.) May is generally fine although corresponds to planting season in the rice terraces and, as we’re aiming for two spring departure dates, we’ve opted for March and April instead. For our two autumn departures we’ve settled on September and November. The former may see a lingering shower but is generally fine and mild and the pre-harvest, gold-coloured rice terraces ought to be looking good. An early November departure works well too – terraces will be filling with water and while some nights at altitude may get nippy, winter hasn’t set in yet.

We’re not inventing the wheel here and we’re well aware that our best time to visit Yunnan suggestions correspond to some of the most popular months for overseas visitors but frankly, ‘Western’ visitors are so few and far between in these parts, (with the possible exception of Sapa and Bac Ha), that it’s not a significant consideration. Finally, we’ll also reiterate that we can only base our weather descriptions on typical conditions and, as with much of the planet, climate patterns are increasingly unreliable.