Giddy-up! Here’s the Best Way to See China’s Tea Horse Road

IF THE ROAD TO SHANGRI-LA sounds magical, that’s because it is. But getting there—in Yunnan province’s very northern reaches, at an altitude of 3,160 meters—hasn’t exactly been the easiest trip to make. Distance, logistics, and a lack of facilities even for Chinese-speaking visitors have made the journey a challenging one. That is, until the arrival of LUX* Tea Horse Road. 

A collection of eight boutique hotels, LUX* Tea Horse Road carves a path from north to south across Yunnan along the fabled trading route. Each hotel is deeply anchored in its own community, but they work together to create a seamless trip for travelers. With the logistics taken care of and an itinerary packed with stops I picked myself, I knew that this was going to be the trip of a lifetime.  

I landed in Lijiang, one of the major trading cities on the Southern Silk Road and was whisked off to LUX* Lijiang in the heart of the Old Town. It was here that I was given my first taste of the rich and varied produce of the region. Over the next few days, I’d learn that the warm valleys and high altitudes of Yunnan meant that the region produces fresh figs, locally grown quinoa, and of course the historic commodity, pu’er tea. Flavorful meats like cured Yunnan ham, air-dried yak meat, free-range chicken and succulent lamb were on the menu. Heady, fragrant mushroom varieties included morel, porcini and matsutake. Yunnan black truffles also made regular appearances on my table.  

On my first morning in Lijiang, I visited the huge market in the middle of the old town to see some of these ingredients firsthand. I ate rose-petal yogurt, milky pancakes and sugar apples, while the resort’s chef swept up forest greens, blood sausage and a variety of pickles for me to try at lunch. At my request, he also made me some delectable stuffed tripe.  

Unsurprisingly for anyone who knows me, food was a central part of this trip. Even when I was hiking in the Baima Mountain Nature Reserve, a bubbling hot pot was waiting for me in a wooden mountaintop refuge. Outside of Shangri-La, I stopped at an organic farm open only to LUX* guests and instead of getting a cooking class, the farmer turned the tables on me and asked me to cook something with her ingredients. (I made her a Thai-style spicy stir-fried pumpkin with scrambled eggs.) 

Later that day I stopped at Zaxee Winery for an exclusive tasting with the winemaker Mr Quan. These are some of the top-rated wines in the area and are produced in such small batches that they are virtually impossible to find, inside or outside of China. He’s been experimenting with amphorae and the results are stunning. At least I was able to bring home a bottle of prize-winning ice wine from Yunyi Pabala, a complex dessert wine.  

Each LUX* Tea Horse Road property has its own specialties. At Lashi Lake hotel, I ate the famous “crossing the bridge” noodles, served in a broth coated in a delicious slick of chicken fat designed to keep the soup hot longer. In Benzilan, the hotel organized an outdoor market for guests to sample sweet and savory treats, including several varieties of bean jelly that are eaten cold as a salad or freshly fried.  

It was here that I also had the privilege of meeting Mr Gu, one of the last people who remembers traveling on horseback with caravans laden with tea, spices and Chinese medicinal herbs through the Himalayas. The journey from Lijiang to India would take 10 months, and the extreme landscape and weather meant the trip was fraught with danger. “Pee in sub-zero temperatures,” he said, “And you’ll die”, speaking through my Tibetan guide. Mr. Gu now runs a museum in Lijiang devoted to the history of the perilous caravan trade.  

Learning about the rich culture of the region was also a huge part of this trip. In addition to Mr. Gu’s caravan stories, I got an introduction to Naxi culture in Baisha Old Town, where the mural museum explains the importance of the ethnic group to the region’s history before the transition to Buddhism and Taoism. This is also where I saw embroidery so exquisite that the threads look like black ink brushstrokes on parchment and met a young printmaker who is preserving the ancient craft of hand-carving wood blocks to print on handmade paper.  

I was also dazzled by the variety of landscapes. I took a cable car to survey Yulong Snow Mountain and stopped in the dramatic Tiger Leaping Gorge. The post–hot pot stroll in Baima was a leisurely two-hour descent where I didn’t see another soul until I met my van at the foot of the mountain.

Each of the eight LUX* Tea Horse Road hotels, guesthouses and retreats are modern and comfortable yet packed with traditional local art and design. The scale (the smallest has six rooms while the largest has just 30) means that service is personal and attentive. In addition to talented in-house chefs, each stop offers three activities that are unique to the location. My room in Shangri-La looked right out over the old town and the majestic Songzanlin Temple. Spoiler alert: this isn’t the mythical Shangri-La from the classic novel Lost Horizons by James Hilton. The town formerly known as Zhongdian officially took the name in 2001. 

You decide if you want to spend a couple days hiking, visit a town, farm or tea plantation, or if you just want to rest for the night before heading to your next destination. There’s so much choice I’d happily revisit LUX* Tea Horse Road to create another Yunnan adventure.  

BOOK YOUR STAY AT LUX* TEA HOURSE ROAD VIA AGODA.COM

Depending on your itinerary, Lijiang and Shangri-La have the best flight options, often via domestic connections. The nine LUX* Tea Horse Road properties (there is another one set to open soon) can be booked in any combination with any or all of the optional activities at each stop. LUX* has suggested itineraries from three to 10 days that are customizable. T+L’s writer spent eight days on the Tea Horse Road and flew directly from Bangkok to Lijiang.  

Lux* Tea Horse Road. Rates depend on the personalized itinerary; for example an trip most similar to the one described in this story, of nine days, eight nights, and five hotels all-inclusive, full-board, with guide, activities and transfers, is US$3,788 per person/US$3,288 for children under 12.

Images courtesy of LUX* Resorts & Hotels.

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