Kunming Hotel Reviews
The blue bird opposite the Harbour Plaza hotel is an excellant restaurant. You can sit and dine on the roof terrace. Kunming is a modern city. For a westerner the main places of interest are the bird market and the temples. One day in Kunming should be sufficient.
Kunming is pleasant and has wonderful weather ("the CIty of Eternal Spring") but has little to see. Kunming is, however, the take-off spot for wonderful places like Lijiang, Dali, and Zhongdian (Shangrila), which is the REAL reason to come to Yunnan.
The traffic in Kunming is very, very bad. However, the trips to both the Stone Forest and the Western Hills are worth the trouble and time.
Be careful at Stone Forest . Don''t let yourself be engaged with minority folkloric dancing groups as they will try to clip you out of 100 RMB. The complaint service of our hotel helped us to get this 100 RMB back
Must have: a very strong bladder : the toilets outside the hotels are ''nightmares''. Try putting your sense of smell to sleep, the olfactory assault will numb your brain. Steel nerves: the driving conditions and traffic are ''scary'', to put it mildly. A clear head, beware of cheats . The sedan chair carriers at JIU XIANG caves claimed I havent paid when I did. Why would he give me change if I hadn''t given him a 100 yuan note? Wanted another 100 yuan. Hinted during the whole trip to give tips. I would have given more if he hadn''t tried to cheat me. Altitude medicine: Kunming is actually on pretty high elevation. May experience headaches or giddiness. Try getting the patches (forgot the name) from the local chinese drug stores to stick on your temples to alleviate headaches.
Kunming has a wonderful climate ("the City of Eternal Spring") and is a pleasant place to visit, although not full of compelling sights. But it is the entry point to Yunnan and its terrific tourist sites (Lijiang, Dali, and Zhongdian), so worth a day or two on the way to these places.
If one does not speak English, Kunming is best with a guide. We also travelled to Dali and LiJiang Mountain area, also to be recommended. Trip is to learn about culture and local practices. Chinese food was very good too.
English is spoken by some staff-Kunming locals not likely to speak anything but Chinese so go armed with destinations in Chinese. Taxis safe and cheap. Restaurants - never had a bad meal and excellent value.
When you go to Kunming, if are looking for good western food, make sure to stop by the Blue Bird Cafe. Their mexican food and ambiance are worth the trip there.
Kunming is charming, of manageable size, and with a great climate. It is also the take-off point for the natural wonders of Yunnan -- Dali, Lijang, and Zhongdian (now called Shangila).
The area aruond the hotel is worth a look, down on the lake there are many restaurants and souvenir shops within 10 minutes walk. The park itself is lovely too, full of art and sculpture and lights and of course seagulls.
I went to tea shop near the hotel. It was nice, but I can''t remember the name.
City life a little hectic with cars, people, bicycles, and buses. Didn''t feel too safe crossing streets. Surrounding areas were very nice. Especailly Shilin(stone forest), outdoor markets, Yunnan Nationalities park.
Kunming is a lovely city if you take the back streets and meander through the colouful markets and stalls. The people were very kind and at no stage did we feel threatened. <BR><BR> The food is very cheap and delicious. The restaurants abound and the choice is good. Kunming also abounds with flowers everywhere, a real delight to the eyes and the senses. <BR><BR> Taxis are cheap. Nobody tried to rip us off at all. Ethnicity is real there. A must.
Taxis in Kunming. (Need directions written in Chinese). Overnight train to Dali not recommended -- not cheap, not very clean, very slow. Yunnan Express coach 100% better (to Dali and Lijiang). In Lijiang we used Mr Tsui of www.tourwestchina.com (website functional around end Jan 03) who spoke excellent English and provided good value, honest service.
We were surprised what a fine and modern city Kunming is. We liked shopping especially in the the big antiques market.
Our first day in China and we only spent a night there so we ate at the hotel which was fine. interesting city to wander round especially the side street markets.
If you cannot speak Chinese, make sure that your travel package to other area than Kunming includes an English guide. And also, check the transportation. (I took a package without English Guide, I was almost squeezed to be in a mini-bus). <br><br> I would like to recommend lake park in Northern part of Kunming. There are many nice Chinese tea houses along the lake. You can relax there at least until midnight.
Kunming is really beautiful with quite few site seeing place aroud. I''m sure that I will visit Kunming again and plan spend a few more days next time.