Travel: Lijiang and Tiger Leaping Gorge

From Kunming fly or take overnight bus to Lijiang. "A Liang" guesthouse in the old city or any other guesthouse in the old city is great. Probably 25-50 RMB per bed.

Have your guesthouse help you arrange travel to Qiaotou, which is the city just outside of the gorge. It is possible to get a van all the way into the gorge. If you go public transportation (30RMB), you might have to get on a bus going to Zhongdian and get off at Qiaotou. Thats a 3 hour ride. The best way is to rent a mian bao che. Those are the small little minivans that you see everywhere. They only take 1.5 hours to Qiaotou and will even take you into the gorge for an extra fee. From Lijiang its probably 30RMB per person, but that was with 5 people. If you are alone I don't know. To go to the middle of the gorge from Qiatou it was 100 RMB for a 45 minute ride.

You can start hiking in Qiaotou, guesthouses are spaced less than a days hike apart so you always have a place to sleep. Should be about 25 per bed. We were there in early April, during the day it was quite warm, maybe a long sleeve shirt for night time.

Get back to Lijiang the same way, in a mian bao che, or go on to Zhongdian. From Lijiang or Zhongdian you can find some people to share a Landcruiser to get into Tibet. I think its 5000 RMB per person from Zhongdian. This should include the permit required. You can also fly from Zhongdian I think.