Kunming Travel Forum

I found a website called China Highlights and they say they can get me a private tour/private car/private guide to YuanYang from Kunming (1 day tour) for $359 US. This includes the drive to and from YuanYang, overnight accomodation at the Yunti Hotel, and some meals. Does this sound like a good deal?

i can tell it's expensive. usually,2 days round trip private car will never cost over rmb800-1000. accomodation and some meals abt rmb 300. then private guide will charge you rmb1500 for only 2 days?

Good grief, way too overpriced.
Try to contact the travel desk of Camellia Hotel in Kunming.

You know, I'm staying at the Camellia Hotel and when I emailed them about YuanYang they emailed me back that they couldn't help me. Is the travel desk separate from the reservation desk?? I agree that $359US is a little steep but I didn't mind paying a (somewhat) premium as long as I could get what I wanted. But I don't mind digging deeper for a private tour/private car if I could get more ideas on who to contact? I'm only worried that i'll hit Kunming and won't find anyone to take me.

that is of course tooooooooo expensive, i wrote you an email,pls check, a friend of mine could help.

Hi, we're hoping to do this in a couple of weeks time.
Can I ask what you did in the end? Did you go with the China Highlights tour or another one?

thanks.

I ended up grabbing a bus to YuanYang with a nice young gentleman from North Ireland who could speak decent Mandarin. We did the overnight sleeper bus thing (wow what an experience!!!!) and toured the area all day. We had to literally squat on the floor of the bus for the return trip (another hair-raising experience!!) to get back to Kunming since there were no berths available and they didn't even want to let us on. Looking back on it all, I (a 39 year old adventuress) would have been royally screwed if that young guy hadn't hooked up with me. That place is not easy to maneouver on your own without guides. Having said that, there weren't many tourists around, and very little tourist w/guides. So, if you can get yourself there for under $300US including car, guide, and hotel (1-2 nights), it's definitely worth it. If you plan to go it alone and take your chances, well, then, you really are taking your chances. YOu may get stranded, or there may be floods, the bus could break down, or there may not be space available at that one decent hotel (YunTi). If you need further assistance, just ask. I had the foresight to keep a brochure for the hotel. The YunTi has English speaking staff (although it's a little shaky), and they do offer tours to the rice terraces, if you're interested. That's why I was there. It was lovely! And eye-opening! Remember, it's easy enough to get a bus ticket there but getting a ticket back to YuanYang is much harder to do (the 'bus depot' is a 4foot by 4 foot shack, seriously). The Yunti Hotel staff tried to get us tickets, however we were told they were 'sold out' for each schedule (there's about 4-5 trips back, however you have to really insist you want tickets or you won't be going back...it does get busy for some reason). My pal and I just marched up to the bus we wanted and said 'you're taking us' and got in and sat on the floor. They stalled for 2 hours but finally gave in and took us back to Kunming. Risky, yes. Would I do it again? Not bloody likely, unless I had my own vehicle, good directions, and that nice young man again. I don't know what else a ChinaHIghlights tour would offer you? Maybe for the sake of security, it's better to go with them. If I HAD to do it over again, I would pay for the guide and the YunTi hotel. Just plan for 2-3 days or more, to get your money's worth. Let me know how it turns out! I got some GREAT photos from that excursion! Good Luck!

Thanks for all the info!
We've actually only got two days, so I think we might have to give it a miss.
We don't speak Mandarin and it does sound like a lot of hard work. Prob would have been more keen to attempt it if we had more time.

tks again for replying so soon, we're off in two days time!