Private Yunnan & Sichuan Journeys,
Built From Deep Local Roots.
Drafted in Yunnan with the boutique hotels and guides we know personally. Curated experiences you can't book yourself. A 10-day trip from A$4,200 per person — one of one, never templated.
Explore Our DestinationsFour ways into a Boutique China trip
One private trip can be drawn through any of these four lenses — the ones that catch your eye most, in the proportions that fit your group.
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Tongle — the Lisu polyphonic village
Tongle (同乐) is a mountain village in Weixi county where Lisu families still sing the four-part choral polyphony that UNESCO lists as intangible cultural heritage.
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Shaxi — the Tea Horse Road market town
Shaxi (沙溪) is the last surviving caravan stop on the Tea Horse Road — a Ming-era market town frozen at the moment when mule trains still carried Pu'er tea north into Tibet.
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Jingmai — the UNESCO Bulang tea forest
Jingmai Mountain in Pu'er was inscribed as UNESCO World Heritage in 2023 for a 1,000-year-old Bulang tea-forest cultivation system — shade-grown tea trees living in symbiosis with the surrounding old-growth forest.
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Heshun — the Tea Horse Road merchant town
Heshun (和顺) is the caravan-merchant heritage town near Tengchong — six centuries of Han Chinese traders returning from Burma left courtyard architecture, a Museum of Overseas Chinese (one of the best small-town museums in Yunnan), and lotus ponds threaded through stone lanes.
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Weishan — Bai-Yi Nanzhao origins
Weishan (巍山) is the original capital of the 8th-century Nanzhao Kingdom that became Dali — quieter than Dali Old Town, less restored, with daily Yi-and-Bai market life still happening on the street.
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Wuli — the Tea Horse Road cliff trail
Wuli (五里) is a Lisu-Nu hamlet on the Salween River in Nujiang, sitting beneath the cliff section of the Tea Horse Road most travellers don't know exists.
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Lugu Lake — the Mosuo matrilineal world
Lugu Lake sits on the Yunnan-Sichuan border at 2,690 m, home to the Mosuo (摩梭) — China's last surviving matrilineal society and one of only a handful left in the world, where children are raised by maternal relatives and women hold property and household authority.
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Baisha — Naxi Dongba culture
Baisha (白沙) is the Naxi mother-town below Jade Dragon Snow Mountain — the original Naxi capital before the kingdom moved to Lijiang Old Town, now a quiet village of Dongba shamans, wall-painted temples, and timber courtyards.
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Meili North Slope Trek
Eight days on Kawagarbo's quieter north flank — Ciding Pass at 4,770 m, the Yunnan–Tibet border ridge, glacial cirques and yak pastures the Yubeng south-side trail never sees.
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Haba Black Sea High-Altitude Trek
2D1N high-altitude trek to Black Sea — the glacial tarn at 4,100 m on the slopes of Haba Snow Mountain in northwest Yunnan.
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Changping–Bipeng Traverse
Mount Siguniang's classic 4-day valley crossing — Changping Valley's autumn larches and Tibetan stupas, the 4,668 m Muluozi Pass, and the descent into Bipeng Valley's turquoise mirror lakes.
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Genie South Route
Litang's sacred Genie Massif (6,204 m / 格聂神山) — the beginner-friendly south route around western Sichuan's most-rated trekking landscape.
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Yubeng Trek
Three days into Yubeng (雨崩) — the remote Tibetan village reachable only on foot, sitting under the sacred face of Kawagarbo (Meili Snow Mountain).
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Niru Valley Hike
Three days in Niru (尼汝) — the hidden alpine valley above Shangri-La that hardly any international travellers reach.
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Abujicuo Day Hike
A single day above Shangri-La to the turquoise alpine lake of Abujicuo (阿布吉措) at 4,220 m — prayer flags strung above glacial water, a rocky moraine summit, and one of the highest tarns you can reach on foot in northwest Yunnan without a multi-day trek.
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Gaoligongshan Day Hike
A day on Gaoligongshan (高黎贡山) — the UNESCO biosphere reserve on the Yunnan–Myanmar frontier — walked on the Ming-era flagstones of the Ancient Southern Silk Road.
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Cangshan Day Hike
A day on the Jade Belt Cloud Path (玉带云游路) — Cang Mountain's near-level paved walkway at the 2,600 m contour, with Erhai Lake spread a kilometre below for the whole 11.5 km.
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Baihua Ridge — Tengchong's montane hides
High-elevation hides above Tengchong (Baihua Ridge / Bailianhua Ridge) for the montane species: Mrs Gould's Sunbird on foxglove blooms, Red-tailed Laughingthrush, Scimitar Babblers, Yellow-cheeked Tit.
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Yingjiang Hornbill Valley — the hornbill cluster
Yingjiang county's 55+ hide network is the most documented hornbill habitat in mainland China — confirmed breeding records for Great Hornbill and Wreathed Hornbill, plus a strong resident Oriental Pied population.
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Mangshi (Dehong) — the mid-storey hides
The central Mangshi hide cluster for mid-storey and ground species: Blue-tailed Bee-eater, Silver-eared Mesia, Black-headed Sibia, Hodgson's Frogmouth at dusk.
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Beihai Wetland — kingfishers & winter waterfowl
Tengchong's Beihai is Yunnan's only floating peat-bog wetland — kingfishers year-round (White-throated, Stork-billed), and from November to early March migratory waterfowl flocks come in by the thousand.
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Forest passerines — liocichlas, tits & flycatchers
Beyond the headline hornbills sits Dehong's true depth — the mid-storey passerine layer that rewards patient hide work.
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Hornbill flight sessions — the Yingjiang dawn moments
The hornbill hides aren't passive: flock arrivals trigger 3–5 minutes of dramatic action — birds calling, landing on the bare display trees, hammering fruit, taking off again.
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Tengchong Family Adventure
Four days through Tengchong's volcanic heart with elderly relatives and children alike — sunrise hot-air ballooning over the craters, geothermal egg-cooking at Rehai, Heshun's heritage lanes, and winter waterfowl on Beihai wetland.
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Xishuangbanna Family Adventure
Where family trips actually become stories worth telling — hand-feeding wild elephants in Mengyang Valley, rainforest canopy walks 70 m above the treetops, Dai-village dress-up afternoons.
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Dali Family Fairytale
Dali's countryside reads like a real-life fairytale — a Swiss-Alps aesthetic with a local Bai twist.
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Chengdu Family Adventures
Pandas at first light, Bronze Age bronzes from a civilisation no one can quite explain, lantern-lit teahouse evenings, snow-peak valleys three hours west, and a 2,000-year-old cypress road.
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Where would you like to wander?
A starting point per region — every itinerary is built from scratch, shaped around your rhythm, interests, and the places only locals know.
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Peaks & Retreats: The Yunnan Trilogy
Twelve to sixteen days through the UNESCO Three Parallel Rivers heartland — Cang Mountain and Erhai in Dali, Tiger Leaping Gorge from Lijiang, and Songzanlin Monastery in Shangri-La.
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Soulful Side of Yunnan
Dali, Tengchong, and Mangshi — three towns most Yunnan itineraries skip one of. Bai heritage courtyards, Tengchong's volcanic hot springs, and a Dai town near the Myanmar border that feels closer to Southeast Asia than to Han China.
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Jingmai Tea Tasting Tour
Five days deep in Yunnan's UNESCO tea mountains — Nannuo's ancient tea forests with Hani harvesters, hands-on Pu'er cake-making at Bolian's tea manor, and the Bulang fire-pit roasted-tea ritual at a five-suite Mangjing heritage retreat.
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China's Last Frontier: Northwest Yunnan Loop
Twelve days through northwest Yunnan's frontier corridor — Erhai's quiet east shore, Jade Dragon glacier light, Kawagarbo at Feilai Si dawn, then deep into Nujiang: Catholic Lisu villages, the Wuli Tea Horse cliff trail, and the Salween's turquoise U-bends most travellers never see.
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Gentle Summer in Yunnan
Wild elephants in Xishuangbanna, then three days on UNESCO-listed Jingmai Mountain among ancient tea trees and Blang villages. Eight to twelve days — built for families, works equally well without them.
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Siguniang & Bipeng Valley
Four-day private alpine escape from Chengdu — Bipeng Valley's autumn larches and mirror lakes, Siguniang's four-sisters peaks and Tibetan high meadows.
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Chengdu & Jiuzhai Valley
Giant Pandas at the Chengdu Research Base, then three days in the alpine lakes of Siguniang or Jiuzhai Valley. City culture first, mountain silence after.
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Sacred Peaks of West Sichuan
Three 6,000m+ sacred peaks on one arc — Gongga's Lenggacuo dawn, Mt Genie's hidden south, and Daocheng Yading's three protector deities. A private adventure for travellers who want the photograph no one else has.
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Chongqing & Chengdu: Two Rivers, Two Tables
A 5–6 day private tour weighted toward Chongqing — neon river cities, UNESCO Wulong Karst, the Longji (Dragon's Backbone) ridge hike above the Yangtze, and two different tables of Sichuan heat. Bookended with a soft Chengdu landing.
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West Sichuan Serendipity on Sky Road
A 10–14 day private road trip from Chengdu into the Tibetan highlands — Bipenggou, Litang, Daocheng Yading, and Lugu Lake. Monastery access, high-altitude driving, and genuine permit-required terrain.
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How we compare
Boutique China vs the rest
| Boutique China | Most operators |
|---|---|
| Southwest China specialists | All of China, plus everywhere else |
| Private parties, 2–8 travellers | Coach tours, mixed strangers |
| Boutique hotels + private guides | Chain hotels + group guides |
| Built around your rhythm | Fixed packaged itinerary |
| From A$4,200 pp · 8–14 days | From A$3,200 pp · 10-day packaged |
From your first note to your final flight
Designed by people who have walked the routes. Every Boutique China trip is drafted by hand, then refined with you by call until it's the trip you actually want — never a template.
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Tell us what matters
A short call or note. Where you're heading, who's travelling, the kind of trip you keep daydreaming about. We listen first, pitch nothing.
You speak to someone who's actually been there — never a form.
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We design your route
Within three working days, a one-of-one itinerary lands in your inbox — properties, pacing, the moments worth flying for. Costed line by line.
Every stay scouted in person. Every guide vetted.
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Refine over a call
We talk it through. Move days, swap stays, sharpen the brief until it's the trip you actually want — not the one a template assumes you want.
No templates, no upsells, no hidden margins.
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Land in China
From the moment you clear the airport, your private guide and a 12/7 concierge handle the rest. You travel; we handle the friction.
WhatsApp goes to a real human on our team — usually within minutes.
What Travellers Say
Four of us with completely different ideas of a good holiday — we weren't sure one trip could satisfy all of us. It did. We went from Chongqing's backstreets to the high country of West Sichuan, and every day looked nothing like the last. The logistics were invisible, which is exactly what you want. We're already talking about the next one.
Your Gateway to Southwest China
Tailored experiences from local roots.