5 Days in Puer

Land in the prefecture seat at about 1,300 metres, walk the stone tea-horse road relics at the city's edge, and take the first gongfu lesson of the trip in a Simao teahouse after dark.

1. puer tea horse road

Twenty kilometres north, the caravan hamlet keeps its stone track and century-old inn; Ning'er county town nearby held the Puer prefecture from 1729 — the tea's namesake — with its prefecture gate tower to climb.

1. puer nakoeli station

Thirty kilometres south on Yingpan mountain, the expo garden's ten thousand mu of terraced tea come with a museum, rolling and pressing workshops and rows you pick yourself; the tasting room explains mountain-versus-valley leaf.

1. puer tea expo garden

Thirty-eight kilometres east, the forest park's boardwalks cross subtropical woodland where red pandas and rescued animals live in care enclosures — a green half-day between tea slopes.

1. puer sun river park

North to Mohei, an old salt-and-tea town whose wells and merchant courtyards fed the caravans; return to Puer station for the China-Laos railway — running since December 2021 — south or north.

1. puer mohei old town