7 Days in Liangshan

Arrive by the Chengdu-Kunming railway that opened in 1970 or its 2022 express trains, then an evening loop of the roughly 31-square-kilometre lake at 1,510 metres.

1. liangshan qionghai lake

Climb Lushan, about 2,317 metres, for the 1985 museum documenting Liangshan Yi history and the 1956 social reforms, then the Ming-era Datong gate of the old town.

1. liangshan lushan
2. liangshan yi slavery society museum
3. liangshan xichang old town

Cable car toward the 4,359-metre glacial peak on the Puge side, ice-carved lakes and May-June azaleas, then the clay pinnacles of the Huanglian earth forest some 30 kilometres out.

1. liangshan luoji mountain
2. liangshan huanglian earth forest

Reserve ahead for the centre about 60 kilometres northwest — founded in 1970, first mission 1984, Chang'e-1 lifting off 24 October 2007 — then the old southern-route streets of Lizhou.

1. liangshan satellite launch center
2. liangshan lizhou ancient town

Honest long-transfer note — about 260 kilometres and five hours via Yanyuan County to the 2,690-metre lake that straddles Sichuan's Yanyuan and Yunnan's Ninglang counties; overnight by the Sichuan shore.

1. liangshan lugu lake

The grass-marsh boardwalk over the reeds and a slow lakeside morning — depths reach about 93 metres — then drive back through Yanyuan toward Xichang.

1. liangshan lugu grass marsh

About 180 kilometres south in the prefecture's far corner, Huili's restored gates and lanes and its pomegranate markets — "China's home of the pomegranate" — with a return to Xichang or an onward bus to Panzhihua.

1. liangshan huili ancient city