Traveling to Dali with the two kids, a one-day parent-child trip around the Erhai Lake, a practical and detailed guide

First of all, I want to honestly say that the Dali Tour around the Erhai Lake is really not a trip around the Erhai Lake as we imagined. We actually circled the Erhai Lake in a clockwise direction. The road ahead is far away from the Erhai Lake. Look The kind that doesn't go to Erhai Lake. The driver also said that because of the need to protect Erhai Lake, the road next to Erhai Lake is not allowed to get out of the way. Basically, drive to the back of the double corridor (the five-pointed star in the picture). The route behind is the real route around Erhai Lake. You can see The kind of detour to Erhai Lake.

Because when we were visiting Dali in 2019, we also rented a car to go around the Erhai Lake. In my impression, although there were some sections far away from the Erhai Lake during that time, it didn’t seem to be as many as this time. I don’t know if I remembered it correctly.

Secondly, many relatively tall buildings have been built in the section around Erhai Lake starting from Shuanglang. This is different from 19 years ago, when there were not so many new houses, and the sight was super good and the feeling was good; although this time, although it is detoured We drove towards Erhai Lake, but the view was sometimes blocked. I confirmed with the driver and he said it was indeed a new one.

Thirdly, because we saw many beautiful scenic spots on the Internet, we told the driver that we wanted to go there, but in fact it was not consistent with what was shown on the Internet. For example, the driver at Ma Jiuyi said that there was a huge traffic jam and it was not worth spending so much. It’s time to go; Haitang Park is closed; Internet celebrity S road is actually just a detour. If you don’t make a special trip to take photos, you don’t need to go. So, there is a bit of a gap between reality and the Internet.

Without further ado, let’s start our journey!

Our route: Xiaguan—Longkan Ancient Ferry—Xizhou Ancient Town—Zhoucheng Jinhua Tie Dye Factory—Shuanglang Ancient Town—Wase Wharf—Xiao Putuo—Xiaguan

• Longkan Ancient Ferry

As soon as we arrived at Longkan Ancient Ferry, we were greeted by the blue sky, white clouds, green water and green mountains, which was really amazing! The blue sky looks like a fairy tale, and the white clouds are so beautiful! The weather was particularly nice that day, which added a lot of help to the beautiful scenery!

This is a great place to view the Erhai Lake, and many people take wedding photos here. The children were very interested in throwing stones into the water and watching the ducks!

Tips:

1. No tickets

2. The car arrived at the parking lot. The parking lot is still some distance away from the Longgian Ancient Ferry. We took a tricycle from the parking lot to the Longgian Ancient Ferry, which cost 15 yuan one way.

• Xizhou Ancient Town

Our second stop was Xizhou Ancient Town. Since we were three adults with four children, in order to save energy, we joined a group.

The first stop was to the Yan Family Courtyard. The tour guide took us to visit the Yan Family Courtyard. The tour guide explained it in quite detail. The impression of this stop is pretty good.

After the tour, at Sifang Street, the tour guide only gave us more than 30 minutes to eat and stroll around. After we finished eating Xizhou Baba, we checked the time. It was almost time to gather, and we had no time to stroll around.

The second stop on the itinerary was to take a look at the Cheng family’s old house. Actually, I just walked past the door and took a look at the exterior.

The last stop of the itinerary was to visit a Bai family and experience the local lifestyle. After arriving, I realized that I was going to a tea seller to sell tea.

Therefore, the final feeling is that although I have been to Xizhou Ancient Town, it seems to be a lonely place and I have no overall impression. It is recommended to travel freely.

Tips:

There is no admission fee for Xizhou Ancient Town. If you join a tour, it is 45 yuan/person. If you do not join a tour, the admission fee for the Cheng Family Courtyard is 25 yuan/person.

• Zhoucheng Jinhua Tie Dye Factory

Zhoucheng Jinhua Tie-Dye Factory is located near Xizhou Ancient Town. This tie-dye factory is not only a dyeing workshop, but also a small museum, displaying a lot of knowledge, culture, and exhibits about tie-dying.

Children can take their own hands here and experience how to make tie-dye. Cost: 60 yuan for a small square scarf, 120 yuan for a large scarf (I forgot about it), you can also dye T-shirts, pants, etc. by yourself.

Do it yourself, first move the needle along the outline, then use a thread to tie the small area together, wrap it tightly with the thread, and then dye it. If the tied part is not dyed, it will still be white, and the other parts will be dyed. became blue.

• Shuanglang Ancient Town

Next we went to Shuanglang Ancient Town.

Shuanglang Ancient Town is a very beautiful ancient town located in the northeast of Dali City. It is surrounded by mountains on three sides and faces the sea on one side. It is a typical Bai fishing village. The ancient town is surrounded by mountains and water, with beautiful scenery. Shuanglang Ancient Town is known as the "No. 1 Town of Cang'er Scenic Spots" because of the combination of water and sky, green mountains and lakes. Dancer Yang Liping's Sun Palace and Moon Palace are located in Shuanglang Ancient Town.

 

Because we spent a lot of time on our previous trip, it was already 3pm when we arrived at Shuanglang Ancient Town, and we didn’t have time to stroll around slowly and carefully, so we walked slowly from the north gate to the south gate and ate some on the way. Snacks, play in the water and sand by the Erhai Lake.

The road from Shuanglang Ancient Town back to Dali City really goes around the Erhai Lake. We saw a suitable place to park on the way, so we asked the driver to stop and let us take a look at the scenery and take pictures.

The sun shines through the clouds, covering Cangshan Mountain and shooting towards Erhai Lake. It’s so beautiful!

Later, we parked at Luwo Mountain. We originally wanted to go, but from Luwo Mountain we had to take a trail down to Erhai Lake. The trail was made by people themselves, and it looked very difficult to walk on. It's fine for adults to walk, but it's a challenge for my 4-year-old brother, so we decided not to go.

• Dig Color Pier

Nowadays, the Quase Pier Pier is not open to the public for safety reasons, so we went to a gravel beach next to the pier. There were many people playing here, and many children went into the water.

The children were very excited when they saw the water, so let them play with the water and sand here.

• Xiaoputuo

In the Erhai Lake, Little Putuo Island can be said to be a veritable pocket island. According to legend, Guanyin Bodhisattva dropped a sea-calming seal on the sea here, which later became an island to calm wind and waves and protect fishermen. Therefore, the fishermen built a Guanyin Pavilion on the island to worship Guanyin Bodhisattva and turn the island into a small island. It's called Xiaoputuo Mountain.

It was too late when we went there. If we had gone early, we could have taken a boat to this island. But I personally feel that if you don’t want to say goodbye, you don’t have to go, because you can see to the naked eye that this island is really mini.

When we were approaching the city, I originally wanted to visit Ideal State, which is known as the Santorini of Dali and is currently a relatively popular place for internet celebrities to check in. However, firstly, it was quite late, and secondly, I was really tired. So I didn’t go.

Even so, it was already past 8:30 pm when we returned to Xiaguan. A fulfilling and busy day’s journey is over~

Finally, let’s talk about our experience:

First, it is best to plan the places you want to go to first, and other points can be adjusted according to the actual situation on the way; second, it is best to roughly plan the time to visit each scenic spot, so that the entire trip will be smooth. Time control will be better; third, pay attention to sun protection.