Kunming Things to Do

Other than the Daguan Pavilion in Daguan Park, there are other pavilions and halls within the park. Most of these pavilions were built during the Qing Dynasty in the reign of Kangxi (an emperor of Qing Dynasty). Pavilions like Chengbi Hall, Cuigeng Hall, Yongyue Pavilion, Mumeng Pavilion are among other pavilions built during that time.

These buildings are being used as small museums to display local art pieces, photographs, articles that were used in agriculture of local farmers.

It is nice to explore these small museums and at the same time looking into the old architecture building of Kunming.

The Daguan Pavilion is also known as "Jinhuapu" (近华浦). The Pavilion is located east of the main entrance of the Duguan Park. The Pavilion is facing the beautiful garden lake of the park. It is three storey pavilion. You can go up to the third floor to enjoy the lake view.

At the beginning of Ming Dynasty, Mu Ying, a governor of the time, built this garden lake known as " Western Garden".

In the reign of Qianlong, an emperor of Qing Dynasty, Sun Ranwen, a civilian poet, composed a long couplet of 180 characters, which was praised as " the First Long Couplet in the World" in this pavilion. That is the reason this Pavilion came to fame for the Long Couplet.

In Chinese: 大观楼， da guan lou

Daguan Park was caught my attention due to its connectivity to the Dian Chi Lake. It is located north of Dian Chi Lake and you can take a boat here to West Hill. Unfortunately, I came in here around 15:00 and it started to rain, so I gave up the idea visiting the West Hill.

The park is huge to cover within a hour or two if you wish to walk around the bay area of the lake. It is a beautiful park with bridges and pavilions. You could see the seagulls in this park too. The landscape garden is not bad too easpecially conjuction with the Chinese New Year Light Festival during winter.

I would recommend visit here during early of the day and take a boat to visit the West Hill.

Admission: RMB 20

In Chinese: da guan gong yuan, 大观公园

Xisi Pagoda was originally known as Huiguang Temple Pagoda (惠光寺塔) located on Dongsi Street. It was built between 823 to 859 period. It is named Xisi Pagoda in 1856 after the restoration of the current pagoda due to an earthquake. It is a sister pagoda of Dongsi Pagoda.

You can't enter the pagoda but it has a beautiful park surround the pagoda that enjoyed by the locals. You will be able to see beautiful tangerine trees in the park.

In Chinese: xi si da, 西寺塔

Jinle Tower is located between the Dongsi Pagoda and Xisi Pagoda on Sima Alley. You will be amazed this ancient gate tower remains standing in the middle of modern Kunming. It was one of the ancient gate towers with walls that connect with the Daguan Pavilion back in the ancient Kunming. The wall had been disappeared, unlike the one I had seen at Xi'an.

Jinle Tower is not an official attraction of Kunming, but it is worth visiting for its marvelous building structure. Currently, it is a commercial center of a cafe, jade store or maybe a bar.

In Chinese: Jin le lou, 近乐楼

The Dongsi Pagoda or the East Pagoda is located south of Jinbi Square, need to walk around 10 minutes south on the Shulin Street to see this old pagoda.

It was originally built between 823-859. It was named Chang Le Si (常乐寺). During the earthquake in the year 1883, the pagoda was damaged and rebuilt to the existing building during the Qing Dynasty.

It has Tang Dynasty architectural designed. It has 13 levels of square dimensional structure with the height of 40.57 meters.

It is one of the rear remaining structures you could see in Kuniming.

In Chinese: 东寺塔， dong si ta

These three landmark archways in Kunming are located between Dongfeng West Pendestrian walk and Zhengyi Road. You will not miss them if you follow my recommendation to visit these streets. They are Jinma archway（金马）, Biji archway（碧鸡) and Zhong’ai （忠爱）archway.

Zhong'ai Archway is being the most memorable landmark for the city as it has the longest history. It was built during the Yuan Dynasty (1271 to 1368) to commemorate King Xianyang's achievement in bringing the people to agriculture and build and divert Jinzhi River to the fields. With his leadership, the farmers have irrigated more than 10,000 mu of fields.

I found Zhengyi Road rather interesting street to do shopping and dinning. This part of town has older buildings that were restored to the mall or office building with retails like boutiques and cafes. You could walk from the Confucian Temple on the north to the southern part streets with more shops and cafes. This road will eventually meet the Dongfeng West Road, where the modern shopping district are. Further south is the Zhongai Archway.

During winter, it is beautiful to walk on this street as all the leaves have fallen and the lanterns reminded us the Lunar Chinese New Year is coming soon!

I come here to have my lunch and dinner at the Cantonese restaurant.

Bus route: 132, 119, 125, 133, 187

In Chinese: Zhengyi Road, 正义路

Yuantong Temple is situated on the southern slope of Yuantong Hill, northern part of the city center, walking distance from the Green Lake Park.

It was originally built during Nanzhao period and named "Pu Tuoluo Remple" has a history of more than 1200 years. It is only named " Yuantong Temple" during Yuanyanyou period (1314 to 1320 A.D). It was reconstructed in the Kangxi Period of the Qing Dynasty.

This is the oldest and most respected temples in Yunnan. The entire complex consists of traditional gates, then old stone bridges that connect between buildings. There is a huge pond right at the center of the complex. The main building has the status of Sakymuni, Amitabha and the Medicine Buddha, all Yuan Dynasty statues. 500 Buddhist Arhats was carved on the walls.

It serves free vegetarian food on the left corner of the main hall during lunch hours.

Bus Route: 85, 92, 95, 100, 101, 119, 235, Z5

Admission: RMB 6

In Chinese: 圆通寺; Yuántōngsì

The Green Lake Park is the biggest park in downtown Kunming with beautiful lake and beautiful landscapes like Chinese pavilions and bridges. It is located north of Zhengyi Road, short walk to the Yuantong Temple from the east gate of the park. I visited the park in the morning and was quite a surprised to see so many birds or the seagulls. Despite the lake is not much different than other city parks in China, but the atmosphere is a unique one. A lot of people, including locals and tourists, saw very excited the present of the seagulls. You can also cruise around the lake with rental boat or just walk around the park enjoying the scenic view of the lake with traditional Chinese pavilion and bridges.

Before Ming Dynasty, the Green Lake was part of the DianChi Lake, which is the largest lake located southwest of the city. At the beginning of Dynasty, the park was well known where the resort was located.

Bus Route: 100, 133, 235, Z5, 139

In Chinese: 翠湖公园, Cuìhú Gōngyuán

Dongfeng West Road is like the Nanjing Road in Shanghai for Kunming. It is much smaller scale, but it is expanding fast. There are several giant shopping malls are under construction in the neighborhood that link to the current metro station, Dongfeng Square Station. From the metro station, you can walk west to reach the center of the area, which link Zhengyi Road (正义路) to the south and you will be able to see Jinbi Square. If you walk further south, you will be able to see South Pagoda and Dongsi Pagoda.

I believe this could be a perfect place to spend your evening with the beautiful neon lighting from commercial sign boards. You could find restaurants from fast food to 5 star luxury restaurants. If you are a shopper for branded goods, you could spend many hours in here. But they are really expensive.

Good place to spend an evening here!

Okay - the village is undeniably touristy, BUT it does provide a pretty unique opportunity to begin to explore the many different minorities that make up China's Yunnan province. More than 25 individual minority groups are represented, with the village helping to keep some ancient traditions alive. The 'villagers' are chosen youth from the relevant minority group.

Each of the nationalities represented has its own mini 'village', with a traditional hut showing the way people traditionally lived. There are also some cultural shows that run at different times throughout the day. With a restaurant, coffee shop, bicycles for hire, souvenir shops and a museum there is plenty to do.

Some of the highlights are the Tibetan village, featuring a beautifully decorated main building, and the Dai village, which features stunning scenery and a rare glimpse into the homes of a group that don't allow strangers into their houses.

It is possible to get to the Village by taxi or bus.

In another journey (in the year 2013) I entered Kunming, in Yunnan, China, coming from Lao Cai, in Vietnam.
That border in Hekou at is very easy and the customs agents are friednly and did not ask me any ticket out of the country or a voucher of a hotel. The Chinese bus station is a little far from downtown Hekou and you have direct buses to Kunming.

Green Lake Park provides a welcome green break from the bustle of the surrounding streets. There are often street artists and other performers giving passersby a free show, along with people relaxing or taking their daily exercise. The tree lined walks and quaint bridges make the park a pretty and relaxing place to spend some time.

Entry is free.

I visited the World Horti-Expo Garden in August 2003 and was very impressed. The Garden was created for an international expo in 1999.

The garden is quite amazing in its contents and selection, and is kept in immaculate condition. It shows the dedication of the Communist leadership to deliver world-class events and sites.

The only bad part is the price. I paid 50 yuan for a student discounted ticket, so the regular price will be between 80 and 100. It is expensive, but in my opinion it is truly worth the price.

The garden has many exhibits, but two worth noting are the international gardens and chinese gardens. There is a park of gardens for about 40 countries - each garden including a building and typical elements of that country's garden. For instance there are Japanese, Thai, Palestinian, and American gardens to name a few. When you walk through this park, it is like a tour of the world as there are buildings typical of the national architecture.

Also there is a park with Chinese gardens, one for each province, including Hongkong and Macau gardens which are interesting because those two gardens have the British and Portugese influence. In the photo here, I am in the Inner Mongolia Province garden, complete with Mongolian script and buildings.

If you don't mind spending the 100 yuan, this is a great thing to visit in Kunming.