7 Days in Nujiang

Settle into Liuku at about 800 metres, walk the riverside promenade, and if Lunar New Year is near, look in on the Lisu spring bath gathering at Denggeng, 12 km upstream — villagers have met at these riverside springs for generations.

1. nujiang liuku riverfront
2. nujiang dengeng springs

Three hours up the Beautiful Highway, the Lisu village of Laomudeng sits on a shelf above the river with its hymn-singing church; next door, Zhiluo — prefecture capital until 1974 — keeps its 1970s buildings as a slow-motion lookout over the bend.

1. nujiang laomudeng church
2. nujiang zhiluo

Continue north through Fugong, where the highway viewpoint lines up the Stone Moon, a marble arch pierced through a ridge at about 3,300 metres; overnight in Gongshan town at the valley's narrowest grandeur.

1. nujiang shiyueliang

Forty-five kilometres on, Bingzhongluo spreads at about 1,500 metres beneath 2,000-metre peaks; walk out to the First Bend, then the Tibetan lamasery and Catholic church that face each other across the fields.

1. nujiang first bend
2. nujiang bingzhongluo

The tea-horse trail climbs the cliff to Wuli village, and beyond it Qiunatong's farm terraces mark the last settlement before the Tibet border; return to Bingzhongluo for a second night.

1. nujiang wuli village
2. nujiang qiunatong

From Gongshan the road runs about 80 kilometres through the 6.68-kilometre Dulong tunnel, opened in 2014, into a subtropical valley of terraced fields and hanging waterfalls; the pass has historically closed under snow from December to around May, so confirm it is open before setting out.

1. nujiang dulongjiang

Morning at the township museum on the Dulong people and a walk to the riverside hamlets, then retrace the tunnel road and run the whole Beautiful Highway south — roughly 287 kilometres — to Liuku for departure.

1. nujiang dulongjiang