Yubeng Village Guide: Hiking Through A Secluded Paradise

China is a country with many beautiful scenic areas. A friend and I recently came back from a two-week trip to Yunnan. We spent four days trekking the beautiful mountain range of Meili, specifically the fairy-tale-like Yubeng Village.

If you’re not so much into hiking, two weeks is sufficient time to tour the popular spots in Yunnan province. While I have not done this yet, there are plenty of resources that have inspired me to lay out the possible itinerary. I might explore this topic in the future.

Not a lot has been written in English about the hikes or guides in Yubeng. Growing up a Singaporean kid has its perks. I grew up learning Chinese and English. For my DIY trip, I relied on several sites originating from China for itineraries and recommendations. The Chinese in China blog a lot about their hikes and gear.

So here’s a blog post about my experience in Yubeng Village to contribute to the non-Chinese-speaking community!

I visited Yubeng Village in April 2019. This post contains affiliate links that cost nothing to you but supports my blog. It may also be updated periodically.

Introduction to Yubeng

Yubeng Village, surrounded by mountains on all sides, is located within the Yubeng Scenic Area 雨崩景区境 of Diqing Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture 迪庆藏族自治州 in Yunnan Province 云南省. The village sits at an elevation of 3000 m.

Two dirt roads connect Yubeng to the outside world: one from Xidang 西当 and the other from Ninong 尼农. The road from Xidang is shorter and steeper, requiring hiking or riding a mule uphill for 12 km, over a 3700 m mountain pass. But what you’ll get – at least after the mountain pass – are panoramic views of the mountain range. Ninong is less interesting when compared to the village, as it goes by the top of a canyon with not much greenery – somewhat similar to my hikes in the Stok Kangri region.

Yubeng Village is subdivided into the Upper Village and Lower Village. Staying in either village does not matter for the expedition, but from what I gathered from the villagers there, the Upper Village served better food.

To add to your list of why you must visit Yubeng Village: it is described by hikers in China as “地球上最后一片世外桃源” the last paradise on Earth, and “神山圣水下的世外之地” a secluded place beneath the sacred mountain and holy water. I wholeheartedly agree that Yubeng Village is indeed a paradise for hikers “徒步者的天堂”, with the best wilderness experience.

For all my non-Chinese speaking friends, come prepared with some sort of translator on your smartphone.

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Best Time to Visit Yubeng

I despise the cold weather. I could mostly handle the heat, but anything less than 10 °C makes me want to curl up and hide under thick blankets. Fast forward to 2020, and the same goes when I was in New Zealand for my Working Holiday.

But if you would like to immerse yourself in a snowy landscape, then be prepared to layer yourself. Yubeng is exceptionally beautiful during the transition period of winter and early spring when I visited.

• May-August: Lush greenery, lots of rain, fast-flowing rivers, muddy roads
• August – September: Peak blooming season. A firework of bright colours
• October – November: Golden Mountains. Meili Snow Mountains are at their prime beauty
• December – February: Heavy snow. Possibility of road closure due to snow

But having a snowy and dry landscape also meant a weak waterfall at the Sacred Waterfall, and a possibly snow-covered lake at the Glacial Lake.

Organise your visit to Yubeng such that it does not coincide with any long holidays in China, such as the Golden Week. That is when the local hikers are out on vacation.

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Accommodation in Yubeng

There’s no need to book in advance unless you are travelling during peak season. Both the upper and lower villages have plenty of guesthouses, but the quality varies. My buddy and I stayed in a room of rustic wooden lodging for 60 RMB each and were the only handful of lodgers for our entire stay during April. Our room had four single beds.

Our beds had electrically warmed blankets, which made waking up a chore. Most importantly, our lodge had hot showers. I am not sure about the other accommodations, but ours, managed by a young Tibetan who also happened to be the cook, served delicious and affordable meals. Hikers living in other guesthouses like to crowd his eatery during dinner.

There were a few sore thumb houses mixed in with the rustic wooden dorms. You’ll know it when you see them – huge glass panels and floorings, hanging swings, and swimming pools. Designs that should have remained outside the valley.

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Wifi Connection

We did not buy a SIM card or data package for our entire trip. Back in 2019, the guesthouse we stayed in had weak wifi which grew weaker in the evening when lots of diners were using it. I reckon wifi speed should be better now with the breakneck technological advances in China.

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Getting To Yubeng

To get to Yubeng, you have to be in the nearest town – Feilaisi. Most travellers stay in Feilaisi for a night before taking the morning bus to Xidang. We began our journey from Shangri La.

From Shangri La

We took the first bus at 9.20 AM from Shangri La to Deqin. The journey took us 4 hours and cost 62 RMB each.

From Deqin

Immediately at Deqin, we found a handful of strangers heading the same way as us. Four of us grouped ourselves into a cab to Feilaisi for 10 RMB each.

From Feilaisi

There’s no particular need to book a hotel in advance for Feilaisi during the non-peak season. We just walked into several hotels and asked for their rates. One particular host took us on a tour around her hotel and gave us a good price. We went with her and she introduced us to another driver who took us to Xidang with four others the next day.

The ride to Xidang was long and bumpy and cost us 30 RMB each. As for the room, it was 140 RMB on the highest floor with an unblocked visage of the Meili mountains. 140 RMB felt very affordable when other hotels were quoting us 240 RMB.

Sharing a taxi, or pingche in Chinese is a common, affordable and comfortable way to travel and make new friends in China. You can easily pingche by asking your hosts for help.

Knowing your ABCs in Mandarin helps a lot too, though people are generally helpful, and even more so if you try to swing a few more Chinese phrases around.

If you find planning the transport tedious, know that you could now book a week-long hiking tour to Yubeng Village from Lijiang that pretty much covers everything I’ve written here, sans the DIY work. The price isn’t too far off as well, so it’s worth checking out.

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The Hike

Hiking in Yubeng was like walking into a Chinese painting. The protected valley with bluish-green mountains covered in mist was so peaceful and quiet. Even the villagers look like pixies and fairies.

• Day 0: Travel to Deqin (德钦县), followed by FeiLaiSi (飞来寺)
• Day 1: Travel to Xidang (西当), Hike to Upper Yubeng (雨崩) (13 km, 6 h, ↑ 1,070 m, ↓ 610 m)
• Day 2: Hike to and back Glacial Lake (冰湖) (13.8 km, 9 h, ↑↓ 920 m)
• Day 3: Hike to and back Sacred Waterfall (神瀑) (15.5 km, 7.30 h, ↑↓ 1,550 m)
• Day 4: Hike out from Yubeng to Ninong (尼农), travel to the next destination (14.3 km, 4 h, ↑ 80 m, ↓ 1,120 m)

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Day 1: From Xidang to Upper Yubeng

Dancing Roads to Xidang from Feilaisi

We shared a taxi with four other passengers from Feilaisi to Xidang for 30 RMB each. After 50 mins of a bumpy unpaved potholed-ridden mountain road, we reached Xidang.

The van stopped at a ticket booth for passengers to buy their tickets to the Yubeng Scenic Area. Keep the ticket with you at all times as they would be checked again in the village. The ticket cost 60 RMB and included 50 K RMB coverage insurance for accidents within the Meili Xueshan National Park.

Steep Ascent and Lunch 

From Xidang, it was a torturous ascent for about three hours. You might be able to find someone with a mule to carry you up, but I suspect a jeep might be able to go up as well since the road was wide.

An altitude of 3500 m, a 10 kg bag, and a steep gradient makes for an especially tiring exercise.

We started hiking at 10.30 AM and had our lunch at 12.30 PM in a hut that sold only cup noodles and butter yak tea.

Cup noodles in China taste delicious. Or maybe it was the hunger and altitude at play. The meal cost 20 RMB for a serving of noodles and tea.

Nanzheng Col 3,729 m

Post lunch, we had another hour of ascent to the mountain pass, Nanzheng Col 南争垭口, at 3,729 m. Then it was another hour of pleasant, and at times, steep descent to upper Yubeng at 3,228 m. Along the way, it started to snow, and the weather turned drastically colder.

First Night in Yubeng

We checked into a guesthouse in the busier part of upper Yubeng by 4.30 PM.

As luck would have it, we later found out that this guesthouse served the best food in Yubeng. It was always very busy during dinner time.

Our Tibetan host, who was also the main cook, knew a bit of English and was an animated young man who appeared to be very proud of his guest houses – he owned two – and a restaurant.

His accommodation had running hot water and electric warm beds with thick blankets. Best of all, it cost me just 60 RMB per bed, per night!

The average dinner for two consisting of two plates of vegetables, one plate of vegetables and one plate of meat with rice was around 60 – 90 RMB.

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Day 2: The Glacier Lake 冰湖

After breakfast, which was a bowl of hot noodles soup with eggs and tomatoes for 10 RMB, we left at 8.30 AM for the glacier lake 冰湖.

To Xiaonong Col

This trek may be classified into two parts – to Xiaonong pasture 笑农牧场, and the glacier lake 冰湖.

We followed a path marked by wooden signs and a map near our guesthouse. The path led us across a field with a white stupa and grazing horses and yaks. This was followed by a gated monastery with fluttering prayer flags. Then we disappeared into the forest where the slope steepened through the trees.

The weather in late April was cold and wet and left parts of the trail muddy and covered in snow. 

After two hours of continuous ascent, we reached Xiaonong Col, 3,623 m, with beautiful views of the valley and mountains.

To Xiaonong Pasture

The trek started to get tricky after Xiaonong Col. We had to hike on snow in the forest, which sometimes rose to our knees. If you plan to hike in Yubeng in April, remember to bring a pair of gaiters and snow spikes. 

After about an hour of fighting with the snow, we reached a hut selling fried rice, cup noodles and yak tea for lunch. We were in Xiaonong pasture 笑农牧场.

The Last Push to the Lake

There are two paths to the glacier lake – either through a forest covered thickly in snow, or over boulders by the river.

We picked the rocky road, which took us another hour to the top of the valley overseeing the glacier lake.

Unfortunately for us, a series of avalanches in the area had engulfed the lake in snow. A group of hikers with us had guides who advised against going down to the covered lake. Anyone might trigger more avalanches.

Return to Yubeng

We chose to hike back to Xiaonong pasture via the forest route and regretted it for the first half of the section as we were without snow spikes. I fell at least twice as the descent was steep and slippery.

It was almost dark by the time we returned to our guesthouse. What’s for dinner? Most delicious high-altitude food!

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Day 3: The Sacred Waterfall 神瀑

That day began as a miserably wet and cold morning.

Into a Mossy Forest

We had a steep descent towards lower Yubeng village, followed by the crossing of a ‘Cold Hell Bridge’ 寒冰地狱桥 with a ferocious roaring river beneath. 

Thereafter, we passed an artificial pond in a vast landscape with several horses. Look out for the wooden map with signs leading you to the falls. We followed the signs and entered a beautiful forest with mossy rocks and strange-looking plants.

The rain fell unabated.

The group we trailed the day before came towards us as they had given up on the falls. Some looked so sad from being drenched under the persistent rain. 

We slogged on, oblivious to the pelting rain, and reached the end of the forest where the mud path broke into the snow. 

Trekking on Snow

Halfway through the snowy terrain, the sky cleared. Yay!

But the weather in high altitudes is temperamental. It soon grew too warm, and we had to peel off our layers.

We passed by a rock inscribed in Tibetan characters with multiple colourful prayer flags haphazardly strewn around it. It was 2 PM by the time we reached the waterfall. What’s for food? Snicker bars.

The Sacred Waterfall

We were anticipating something grand, but the waterfall was but a small trickle. 

You could call it the misty falls. Because that was what it was – an accumulation of mist from the top merging into droplets.

The Sacred Waterfall may be small during my visit, but it is still a holy cascade. 

We saw a group of Tibetan hikers dressed in attires more suitable for strolling in the neighbourhood, trying to take bottles of water from the trickle. As we retraced our route back to the village, they were off visiting a small cave nearby, presumably holy too.

What’s for dinner? Some deer meat and veggies.

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Day 4: From Yubeng to Ninong 尼农 and Onwards to Shangri-La

Exiting via Ninong

We left Yubeng and descended to the village of Ninong. Nothing spectacular exciting, having spent three full days immersed in peak grandeur.

You could choose to return to Xidang, but that would mean hiking up for the first hour before descending. Besides, walking the same path is boring.

The descent was mostly sheltered in the forest, with the trail running beside a river. After passing through a house and a sheltered platform with benches, we found ourselves walking on a narrow route by the mountainside, where there was a long drop on our right and a narrow drain with gushing water on our left. This was a trail shared with the mules carrying goods in and out of Yubeng.

It did not take long before we saw glimpses of civilization. A short and steep descent later, we were in Ninong. A couple of vans were already waiting at the crossroads.

It took us four hours to reach the village from Yubeng.

From Ninong to Deqin and Shangri La

The price back to Deqin was 150 RMB for the van, and it took about an hour. 

We had planned to reach Deqin in time to catch the last bus back to Shangri La, set to depart at 2.40 PM. However, as luck would have it, the driver managed to find someone – they had a small closely-knitted driver community – who was driving to Shangri La on the same day. Best of all, it cost us 70 RMB each, which was not much different from the 62 RMB for the big bus, but a lot more faster and comfortable.

So instead of rushing for a quick lunch and then the big bus ride back, we had time to reward ourselves with delicious stir-fried minced yak and braised yak with rice in a local eatery recommended by the driver.

The journey back to Shangri La took less than three hours, and we were back by 6 PM.

Along the way, we shared the van with a very expressive Tibetan lady, a comparatively quiet Tibetan monk, and an elderly couple who decided to stop halfway in the middle of nowhere!

The van did not stop at our accommodation but at a roundabout in the new town of Shangri La. We caught the city bus back to our favourite hostel run by a handsome Tibetan couple –  Yi’s Hostel – in Dukezong’s old town.

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Extra: Trek to the Sacred Lake 神湖

There is another challenging day trek for those who would like to stay longer in Yubeng Village.

The trail to Sacred Lake 神湖 is not to be underestimated. 

From what I have read in MaFengWo 马蜂窝, a Chinese travel/ blog app, this 19 km one-way hike is long and difficult to follow.

Most hikers choose to break the journey as a 2D1N trek with their tent or begin their day early for a long day trek.

The Sacred Lake is at 4600 m.

According to the entries I have read, there do not seem to be clear road signs for this trek, and most hikers rely on GPS and downloadable offline maps from the Chinese app LiangBuLu 两步路 which is created solely for hiking.

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Ending

I’m so glad I’ve been to Yubeng! Hiking in Yubeng is a must-do for any trekkers in Yunnan. You will experience hiking in the forest, on muddy terrain, and maybe the snow. Navigating the paths is pretty straightforward, with all the wooden signatures and maps. But having an offline map like Maps.me does wonders too.

It is also very affordable to spend a few days in Yubeng. For us, excluding Feilaisi, our shared accommodation for the entire journey in Yubeng totalled up to 360 RMB. Our food expenses cost less than 500 RMB. The ticket was 60 RMB each. The total cost of transport was around 600 RMB for two. That makes it around 800 RMB or SGD 150 per person for four days in a fairyland. Woah!

There was decent wifi in the guesthouse we stayed at, but I mostly spent my time catching up with other hikers.

Only beautiful mountain scenery and friendly people await you in Yubeng! Next hiking destination in China: maybe Daocheng Yading 稻城亚丁? 😀