Thorn Tree travel forum

2 weeks in Yunnan

Help!
We are planning to go to Yunnan and Sichun province for 2 weeks. We would like to see some Tibeten culture as well as the beautiful scenery of Yunnan province.

There is so much info on the threads about Lijiang, Dali, Zhongdian and Deqen that we are very confused.

Our plan is to take a train from Beijing to Kunming. After that we are lost as to where to go. We would like to end up back in Chengdu for a couple of days.

So, the questions are:
1. Is it worth going to Deqen to see Tibeten culture or can we see it along the way to Zhongdian?
2. Can we go from Zhongdian to Chengdu by train/bus or do we have to go to Chengdu via another route?
3. How many days would you suggest staying in each place? We do have a Chinese student with us so the language is no problem. We won't be doing a lot of difficult hiking but a little is ok.
4. Anywhere else in that area that is a must to see?

We are most interested in the scenery, culture and atmosphere of the towns. We would be staying in hostels or in hotels around the 200 yuan a night range. Any suggestions about accommodation would also be appreciated.

We will probably have more questions later but this should be a start. Thank you for any assistance you can give us.