Roast my final Yunnan family trip itinerary for August

Itinerary

Family of four (two adults, kids 14 and 10) heading from the UK to China for 16 nights in August. We deliberately chose Yunnan over the more popular Guilin/Chongqing route for the cooler August temperatures, and because we're after the Hangzhou kind of vibe: walkable old towns, lakeside calm, slow pace. We've been to China before and loved it.

The final route:

HKG (2N) → fly to Kunming (3N) → HSR to Dali (3N) → private car to Lijiang (4N) → fly to Shenzhen (2N) → HSR back into HK for departure

What I'd love your take on:

Dali 3N vs Lijiang 4N: is that the right split, or would you flip it? Lijiang gets the extra night for Jade Dragon Snow Mountain plus a slower old town day.

Jade Dragon Snow Mountain with a 10-year-old: is the cable car + Blue Moon Valley combo enough, or is there a better alternative we should consider?

Kunming with 3 nights: Stone Forest day trip worth it with kids, or better spent around Green Lake and the city itself?

Erhai Lake / Xizhou / Zhoucheng with kids: any standouts? We're eyeing the tie-dye workshop in Zhoucheng.

August weather: rain patterns in Yunnan, and how worried should we be about typhoons hitting the HKG and Shenzhen bookends either side?

Anything we're missing that you'd consider unmissable on this route?

Posted Jul 11, 2026, 1:11 PM UTC

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