Yunnan

The terraces around dozens of outlying villages have their own special characteristics, often changing with the daylight. Bilingual maps are available at many hotels in town. Bear in mind that the terraces are at their most extraordinary in winter when they are flooded with water, which the light bounces off in spectacular fashion. Avoid visiting at Chinese public holidays, when prices for minibuses go sky-high (¥600 and more per day).

A combined ¥70 ticket gets you access to the Duoyishu, Bada, and Laohuzui terraces.

The principal reason to visit Deqin is the chance to hike to the foot of Kawa Karpo. The main destination is Yubeng (雨崩, Yǔbēng) village, from where you can make day hikes to mountain meadows, the Ice Lake and the fabulous Sacred Waterfall.

The five-to-six-hour (10km) trek to Yubeng starts at the Xidang Hot Spring (西当温泉, Xīdāng Wēnquán), about 6km uphill past Xidang village. You'll pay the ¥55 entry fee for Yubeng here if you haven't already. Jeeps (¥200 per person, one hour) make the trip from the hot spring to Yubeng – they use the same road as hikers and don't slow down to pass, so remain vigilant if you're on foot.

While it is possible to overnight at simple guesthouses in Xidang (from ¥30), it's actually more efficient to overnight in Feilaisi, from which shared vans will deposit you directly at the hot spring. The drive from Feilaisi to Xidang takes 1½ hours.

Yubeng consists of two sections. You first arrive in ‘Upper Yubeng’, which contains more guesthouses, then the trail continues another 1km to ‘Lower Yubeng’. Booking ahead at peak periods is a good idea, but in other seasons the abundance of rooms here rarely get full. Dorms beds in Upper Yubeng are available from ¥40 and private rooms start at ¥120. Of special note is the Interval Time Guesthouse, which has knowledgable staff and decent food. Lower Yubeng is slightly cheaper (from ¥35 for dorm beds, or ¥120 for private rooms) with the Mystic Waterfall Lodge of similar quality to other options but in the nicest location right at the bottom of the village. Guides in the village cost around ¥200 per day. Supplies (food and water) are pricey in Yubeng, so stock up in Feilaisi.

From Yubeng village there are loads of trekking possibilities, though only the two main hikes are signposted. It’s a five- to six-hour round-trip (11.6km) on foot or horseback (¥250) to the Ice Lake (冰湖; Bīng Hú) from Upper Yubeng, passing through rhododendron and pine forests and through the nearly-pristine Xiaonong mountain pasture – site of the base camp for ill-fated Japanese climbing expeditions in 1991 and 1996.

From Lower Yubeng a 10.8km trail leads up to the Sacred Waterfall (神瀑; Shénpù), roughly a four- to five-hour round-trip, along a gentler slope through another beautiful forested valley. Another small lake sits high in the mountains here (around 4350m), but it's inaccessible while snow remains and even in ideal conditions you'll need a guide and a very early start.

Leaving the village, many travellers hike 14km to Nínóng (尼农) village by the Mekong River, a two- to four-hour downhill trek that includes a lovely one-hour section along a rocky path with steep drops down to the river below – if you are prone to vertigo, head back to Xidang instead. Vans run to Deqin and Feilaisi from Ninong for ¥30 per person or ¥200 for the whole van. If you are stuck, walk 6km to Xidang, where there's more transport.

Other options for hiking in the region include the legendary Kawa Karpo kora, a 12-day pilgrim circumambulation of Meili Snow Mountain. However, half of it is in the Tibetan Autonomous Region, so you’ll need a permit to do it, and you’ll definitely need a guide.

In existence for over 1150 years, the anachronistic hamlet of Nuodeng (诺邓, Nuòdèng) has one of the highest concentrations of Bai in Yunnan and some of the best preserved buildings in the entire province. The area has managed to maintain traditional village life, with ponies and donkeys clomping up the steep flagstone streets past traditional mudbrick buildings with ornate gates, many of which date back to the Ming and Qing dynasties.

It's finally starting to hit the radar of both domestic and foreign tourists, but for now Nuodeng is still very peaceful and a delightful place to kick back for a while.

The tiny hamlet of Shaxi (沙溪, Shāxī) is an evocative throwback to the days of the Tea Horse Road – you can almost hear the clippety-clop of horses’ hooves and shouts of traders. It is by far the best preserved of the caravan oasis towns from the era – and the only one with a functioning market, held on Fridays, when Bai and Yi villagers converge on the town to trade in goods and livestock.

The village’s courtyards, wooden houses and narrow, winding streets make it a popular location for period Chinese movies and TV shows, and there are plenty of domestic day trippers visiting from Dali. However, this is still a wonderfully relaxed place where you can spend the night sitting by the river under a canopy of stars and listening to the frogs croaking in the rice paddies.

The main reason to come to the Nujiang Valley is to visit isolated, friendly Bingzhongluo (丙中洛, Bǐngzhōngluò), a farming village set in a beautiful, wide and fertile bowl and populated primarily by Tibetan and Nu. Just 35km south of Tibet and close to Myanmar, it’s a great base for hikes into the surrounding mountains and valleys.

The area is at its most beautiful in spring and early autumn. Don’t think about coming in the winter, as even in the drier seasons the road is regularly closed by landslides.

Jianshui (建水, Jiànshuǐ) is a charming town of old buildings surrounded by a much larger modern city. The architecture is constantly being ‘facelifted’, but still retains much of its distinct character, and the locals, who are a mix of Han, Hui and Yi, are friendly.

Straddling a remote stretch of the Yunnan–Sichuan border, Lugu Lake (泸沽湖, Lúgū Hú) is an absolutely idyllic place, even with growing numbers of domestic tourists. Your first sight of the 50-sq-km body of water, surrounded by lushly forested slopes, will take your breath away – as will the 2690m elevation. Upon entering the area you'll be expected to purchase a ¥70 ticket.