New Year Pilgrimage: Yubeng Mountain Circuit

Table of Contents

The disaster-filled year 2020 required proper blessings. Completed the Meili inner circuit in 3 days - Sacred Waterfall, Sacred Lake, Ice Lake.

Preface: As the saying goes: “If not going to paradise, go to Yubeng.” Going to Yubeng usually means heading for the Meili Snow Mountain circuit. My good brother Hai-ge and I planned to take advantage of the Christmas-New Year holiday to go to Yubeng for mountain pilgrimage blessings, also to train our physical fitness. It was a very memorable journey.

Itinerary
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There are many Meili Yubeng circuit guides online, but the itinerary sections are written terribly. However, I completely understand - I’m also really lazy about writing such things. But since I promised someone to write a travel journal as reference, I’ll write it properly.

Personally, I think such mature travel routes don’t need much advance planning. I basically decide tomorrow’s itinerary just one or two days ahead. This free-spirited approach is more flexible - just need to control overall timing. Usually the trekking portion takes 3-5 days, transportation 1-2 days, roughly planned according to fitness and major transportation.

Question 1: Where is Yubeng?

Yubeng is a village, specifically located in Yubeng Village, Deqin County, Diqing Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan Province, China. Incidentally, Zhongdian County in Diqing Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture has a widely known name - Shangri-La. Yubeng sits at the foot of Meili Snow Mountain, namely Kawagebo - one of the four sacred mountains in Tibetan Buddhism, a paradise-like small village.

Question 2: Why go to Yubeng?

Going to Yubeng Village mainly for circling Meili Snow Mountain, praying for blessings and accumulating merit, seeing Kawagebo at the mountain’s base, experiencing the pure folk customs of this paradise.

Those not wanting mountain trekking usually go to Feilai Temple to view the snow mountains.

Question 3: Yubeng Major Transportation

Kunming, Lijiang, and Shangri-La all have airports. Naturally closer is better, but closer means more expensive and harder to buy tickets, so decide based on your situation. From Kunming heading northwest: Kunming - Dali - Lijiang - Shangri-La.

Going to Yubeng basically departs from Shangri-La; other landing locations require getting to Shangri-La first. Our winter New Year Beijing-Lijiang flight was only 200 yuan, so we bought Lijiang tickets. Coming back I was in a hurry, so bought Shangri-La return tickets.

If two people both have licenses, recommend finding a local rental company for a car - 600 yuan for a week plus a tank of gas. Much more convenient, economical and worry-free than buses.

Question 4: Yubeng Local Transportation

Yubeng has two entrances/exits: Xidang and Ninong, not far from each other (about 30 minutes drive).

Getting to Xidang and Ninong has two options: departing from Deqin County town or from Feilai Temple. Feilai Temple is usually for people who want to see Meili Snow Mountain but don’t want to trek - you can directly see the Meili Snow Mountain panorama, very beautiful. Also has tourist buses.

Getting to the county town and Feilai Temple is usually by bus, but I recommend renting a car yourself - most convenient. After all, later finding charter cars, sharing rides, looking for transport is troublesome as hell; having your own car is so convenient. Just use navigation - leave whenever you want, why study a bunch of timetables?

Xidang Hot Springs is the Yubeng entrance with ticket booth - 50 yuan entrance fee. Has parking lot, free parking. From Xidang to Yubeng there’s a “Mingyong Road,” actually just a dirt road, but private cars aren’t allowed - must take locals’ off-road vehicles or walk in yourself, about 3 hours walking. I walked, but this route has average scenery and too much dust from vehicles. If I came again, I’d definitely take a vehicle in.

Ninong Canyon is the classic exit, walking out from Yubeng Village takes about 3 hours. No choice but to walk out, though it’s all downhill so quite easy. Coming out of Ninong Canyon is Ninong Village - usually arrange with villagers for transport back to the starting point Xidang Hot Springs parking lot.

Xidang is farther from county town (80 minutes), Ninong closer (40 minutes), about 40 minutes drive between the two locations.

Question 5: Yubeng Trekking Routes

Yubeng has 5 walkable route segments: 1 and 5 are mountain entry/exit, 2, 3, 4 are routes within the mountains.

Routes 2, 3, 4 all start from Yubeng Village, so order can be freely adjusted. Sacred Lake (4) is usually the Tibetan pilgrimage route, slightly higher elevation, regular tourists don’t usually take it. (Marked 4700m, actually measured 4400m, ascending from 3000m)

Yubeng Village is split in two: Upper Yubeng Village and Lower Yubeng Village, separated by a river, both villages can see each other. Upper Yubeng to Lower Yubeng is 20 minutes walking downhill. Lower Yubeng to Upper Yubeng is 30 minutes walking uphill. Upper Yubeng is closer to entrance and Ice Lake. Lower Yubeng is closer to exit, Sacred Waterfall and Sacred Lake.

Route	Starting Point	Length	Time	Road Condition	Recommendation
1-Xidang Entry	Xidang Hot Springs	10km	3h	Semi-finished dirt road	Recommend taking vehicle, don’t walk
2-Ice Lake	Upper Yubeng Village	13.2km	3h	Dirt mountain road	Classic route, moderate difficulty
3-Sacred Waterfall	Lower Yubeng Village	12km	4h	Paved stone path	Classic route, moderate difficulty, nice scenery
4-Sacred Lake	Lower Yubeng Village	11km	8h	Non-standard, needs guide	Winter needs crampons, somewhat difficult
5-Ninong Canyon	Lower Yubeng Village	14km	3h	Half concrete half dirt road	Nice scenery, all downhill, along cliffs

Usual travel arrangement is 4 days 3 nights:

Enter mountains one day, stay Upper Yubeng Village (1)
Upper Yubeng Village walk Ice Lake route, stay Lower Yubeng Village (2)
Lower Yubeng Village walk Sacred Waterfall route, stay Lower Yubeng Village (3)
Lower Yubeng Village exit via Ninong Canyon (5)

We took the beast approach, adding Sacred Lake, compressing 5 days into 3 days 2 nights, completing everything in one go. Specific approach:

Morning enter mountains, afternoon do Sacred Waterfall, evening stay Lower Yubeng (1, 3)
Sacred Lake day trip, still stay Lower Yubeng (4)
Morning walk Ice Lake, afternoon exit via Ninong (2, 5)

D1 Lijiang-Diqing-Deqin
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Morning flight from Beijing to Lijiang, rented a car right at the airport, 600 yuan for a week. Since last year’s epic journey, when I can self-drive I absolutely don’t take transport.

Incidentally, normally by bus it’s: Lijiang to Shangri-La buses every 30 minutes, 11:25 -> 16:30 taking 5 hours, from Lijiang Sanyi Airport to Shangri-La Bus Station, then catching the 16:30 last bus from Shangri-La Bus Station to Feilai Temple.

Noon 12:00 fully prepared and departed, from Lijiang Sanyi International Airport straight to Feilai Temple. If we couldn’t make it before dark, we’d stay in Deqin County town.

We followed National Highway 214 from Lijiang to Shangri-La. Because until 12-31, the Lijiang-Shangri-La expressway just officially opened, journey about three hours, Shangri-La to Feilai Temple also about 3 hours, but considering eating, drinking, and photo stops along the way, estimated needing two more hours flexibility time.

Jade Dragon Snow Mountain is right beside Lijiang.

After Shangri-La could see Baima Snow Mountain.

Approaching Deqin County town, sun was already setting.

Along the way, Hai-ge and I took turns driving. Yunnan is quite interesting - except for some cameras in cities, most traffic cameras are just for show. No wonder they say Yunnan drivers are skilled - masters here drive quite boldly, doing 100 on 40-limit roads, taking sharp turns at 80.

Evening arrived Deqin County town, stayed at a Tibetan-style guesthouse, ate hotpot, though honestly due to sudden altitude gain, sleep quality was indeed poor…