Hello!! I am from HK and is going to travel there alone during CNY. Would like to seek any advice for my trip ? I will have my 5-day trip. I want to go either Dali or "Li zhang ".
I like music, meeting people from around the world, looking for local tradition foods, doing seething epic of course ;)
Please feel free to leave any message on my trip! Thank you so much !
Not the best time of year to travel to tourist areas.
If you stay near Lijiang stay in Shuhe, about 3km outside of the city. The city itself is just so commercial now, full of gift shops and overpriced food. Do a search on here for 'shuhe/shu he'.
There are lots of threads on travel over holiday times on here too.
Dali may be a better bet. But will be busy as hell too.
Weather can be cold. It might be better to head south Yunnan. There are lots of nice places and it is noticeably warmer, and less commercial.
Travel? I would try to pre-book trains. Coaches can be hell, as the traffic is very heavy during holiday week. In fact try to pre book all transport and accommodation.
Me, personally, I never travel during the public holidays. Not anymore.
Are you going to travel in Kunming or Dali or Lijiang? 5 days is not enough for all 3 places. Let me know if you need help setting up your itinerary.
Travel during Chinese New Year here is a disaster - WAY too many tourists everywhere, inflated prices, clogged transportation, etc.
HFCAMPO is right and so is Alien. Spend the five days in exotic Xishuangbanna and take day trips to see the local sights and meet the local and migratory characters in the evenings at Meimei or Mekong Cafes. Food is good, the weather nice and lots of local color.
I was in Jinghong, Xishuangbanna, during Chinese New Year one year. My hotel room was RMB50/night. The holiday period arrived and the rent went to RMB400 overnight. I left town.
I strongly suggest Laos for this time of year.
It's not quite clear what advice OP is looking for.
EDIT: The keywords in OP's post are:
"I am (...) alone"
and
"I like (...) meeting people from around the world"
For how long a period will travel in China be crowded and expensive? I understand the official holiday is Jan 31 - 6 Feb, but I guess people will travel to and from their hometowns before and after these dates.
Those of you who've experienced this before, for how long before and after is it advisable to avoid travelling within China in order to avoid jammed roads and expensive hotels?
I travelled five days before the holiday started and it was terrible. Travelling back on the actual day of Spring Festival (31st Jan this year) there was hardly anybody on the train. Only three people including me in the carriage.
The two weeks before the actual holiday and up to a week after can be hell.
During the holiday lots of tourist traffic.
The low season is immediately after the holiday, talking to one of the hotels in Sanya, that is the cheapest time of year.
