The turquoise water of Blue Moon Valley beneath the snow peaks of Jade Dragon Snow Mountain, Lijiang
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Yunnan · Southwest China

South of the Clouds

Fairways at three thousand metres, a glacier above the green — and a corner of China that feels like another country.

Ideal Length
5–7 nights
or 4 as part of a longer journey
Golf
3–4 rounds
Spring City's two courses + Jade Dragon
Best Season
Year-round
eternal spring in Kunming · Mar–Nov in Lijiang
Pairs With
Hainan · Beijing
direct flights from Kunming and Lijiang
The Journey

China, south of the clouds.

Yúnnán means "south of the clouds," and the province keeps the promise of the name. Up on its high plateau the light is thin and golden, camellias bloom through December, and the land climbs from rice terraces through pine forest to the first white shoulders of the Himalaya. No region of China feels less like the China you imagined — and none rewards the journey more.

The route runs from Kunming, the City of Eternal Spring, north along the old Tea Horse Road to Lijiang, where the grey-tile rooftops of the Naxi old town crowd beneath Jade Dragon Snow Mountain. Beyond it the road keeps rising — to gorges, lamaseries and the highland plain they renamed Shangri-La. Markets here sell wild matsutake; tea is poured the way it has been for a thousand years.

And the golf is unlike anywhere else in the game. Spring City's two courses rank among Asia's very best, laid over a highland lake at 2,000 metres. At Jade Dragon, you play the world's longest championship course beneath a 5,500-metre glacier — where the air is thin enough that the ball flies ten percent farther, and you'll need it.

The Golf

Golf at altitude.

Yunnan's two great venues hold World Top 100 and Asia Top 50 rankings between them — highland golf in thin, clear air, with scenery no other golf destination can answer.

An aerial view of Spring City's forested fairways running down to Yangzong Lake at golden hour A green of the Lake Course perched above Yangzong Lake, wildflowers in the foreground Spring blossoms lining a bunkered fairway on the Mountain Course at Spring City A sculpted bunker curling along the lakeshore at Spring City, mountains across the water A tree-lined fairway of the Lake Course descending toward Yangzong Lake A green of the Lake Course jutting toward the silver water of Yangzong Lake
World Top 100
Yangzong Lake · Kunming

Spring City Golf & Lake Resort

Asia's most complete golf resort: two courses ranked among the continent's finest, draped over hills above a highland lake at 2,000 metres. Robert Trent Jones Jr's Lake Course tumbles toward the water through forests of eucalyptus and pine — a World Top 100 fixture — while Jack Nicklaus' Mountain Course climbs the ridgeline above it, all elevation change and long views. The eternal-spring climate means both play beautifully in any month of the year.

Designers
Jack Nicklaus · Robert Trent Jones Jr
Setting
Lakeside highland, 2,000 m
Best season
Year-round
Pair with
Kunming's old quarters, the Stone Forest — then Lijiang by air
A fairway at Jade Dragon Snow Mountain Golf Club running toward the cloud-wrapped peaks of the massif Golden winter grasses framing a fairway beneath the snow range at Jade Dragon A green and its bunkers set in the high valley beneath Jade Dragon Snow Mountain White-sand bunkers guarding a green in the thin air at Jade Dragon Morning light breaking over the fairways beneath Jade Dragon Snow Mountain
Golf at 3,100 m
Lijiang · Yulong

Jade Dragon Snow Mountain

The most dramatic setting in golf. At 3,100 metres in the Himalayan foothills, Jade Dragon stretches to 8,548 yards — the longest championship course in the world — yet the thin air carries your ball ten percent farther, and you will want every metre of it. Above the fairways the 5,500-metre glacier of the snow mountain fills the sky; around them, pine forest and Naxi villages. A round here is simply unrepeatable anywhere else.

Designer
Neil Haworth / Nelson & Haworth
Setting
Himalayan foothills, 3,100 m
Claim to fame
The world's longest course — 8,548 yards
Best season
Mar–Nov

The classic shape is two rounds at Spring City and one beneath the snow mountain — Lijiang is 45 minutes from Kunming by air. Keen golfers add a second round at Jade Dragon; the morning light on the glacier argues for it.

Journeys Featuring Yunnan

Where Yunnan fits in a journey.

Yunnan is the signature chapter of a Golf China route — distinctive enough to anchor a journey, connected enough to extend one. Two of our sample journeys are built around it.

Signature Trip A fairway beneath the snow peaks of Jade Dragon Snow Mountain, Yunnan
10–12 Nights · 5–6 Rounds

Snow Peaks to Tropical Coast

Yunnan + Hainan
Highland fairways and Tea Horse Road culture, then south to Asia's most exclusive golf on a tropical coast.
Tailor This Journey →
The Complete Route An oceanfront golf hole on the cliffs of Shanqin Bay, Hainan
14 Nights / 15 Days · 7–9 Rounds

The Grand China Golf Journey

Beijing + Hangzhou + Yunnan + Hainan
Open in the capital, rise through the clouds of Yunnan, finish on a tropical coast — the complete Golf China.
Tailor This Journey →

Or build Yunnan into your own.

Add Shangri-La or Dali, swap rounds for gorge walks, bring non-golfers — every journey is designed from scratch. Tell us about your party and we'll shape the route around you.

Request a Private Proposal
Signature Experiences

Yunnan, arranged privately.

Built on relationships on the ground, set up for your party alone — never an excursion from a brochure.

Monks in crimson robes walking a sunlit lane at Songzanlin Monastery, Shangri-La
Shangri-La · Yunnan

Dawn prayers at Songzanlin

The hillside lamasery they call the little Potala, before the first visitors arrive — butter tea with the monks as the morning chant begins.

Two travelers walking Lijiang's cobbled lanes at first light with their private guide
Lijiang · Old Town

The old town, privately guided

Lijiang's canals and cobbled lanes in the quiet hours with your own Naxi guide — the lanes, legends and courtyards day-trippers never find.

A wild porcini mushroom growing on the pine-forest floor, Yunnan
Yunnan · Jun–Sep

The wild-mushroom table

Into the pine forests with a master forager to hunt matsutake and porcini — then watch the morning's haul become dinner at a local chef's table.

A tea master in embroidered dress warming tea over a charcoal hearth, surrounded by small bowls of leaves and spices
Lijiang · Yunnan

A traditional tea tasting

Around a charcoal hearth in a Naxi courtyard, a tea master roasts and pours the aged pu'er that once moved down the Tea Horse Road — a thousand years of trade in one cup.

These are a beginning, not a menu — tell us what your party loves and we'll find its Yunnan equivalent.

Where You Stay

Sleep beneath the snow mountain.

Not a tower by the airport road — an address that is part of the journey itself.

Naxi rooftops in Lijiang with Jade Dragon Snow Mountain glowing at sunset
In Lijiang · Naxi Courtyards

The mountain at your window

Our Lijiang favourites are built the Naxi way — the likes of Banyan Tree Lijiang, where grey-tile villas open onto private courtyards and Jade Dragon Snow Mountain fills the window at breakfast. The old town is minutes away; the silence at night is absolute.

For travelers going on to Shangri-La, we arrange highland lodges of the same character — fires lit, oxygen humidified, the lamasery a short walk through the fields.

Terracotta rooftops of the Spring City resort above Yangzong Lake at sunset
At Spring City · Above the Lake

Stay on the resort, steps from the tee

For the Kunming rounds, the move is to stay within Spring City itself — suites and villas on the hillside above Yangzong Lake, where the first tee of the Lake Course is minutes from your door and the evening is a terrace, a drink and the water turning gold below.

Thirty-six holes, no transfers, eternal-spring air: it is the easiest golf stay in China.

Specific hotels, room categories and the level of comfort you choose are set out in your private proposal — every address booked entirely on your behalf.

Extend the Journey

The clouds are one chapter.

Yunnan connects beautifully in both directions — south to the tropics, north to the capital. Two natural next chapters:

An oceanfront golf hole on the cliffs of Shanqin Bay, Hainan
90 min by air

Asia's Most Exclusive Golf

From snow peaks to a tropical coast — Mission Hills, The Dunes and selective Shanqin Bay.

Explore →
The Forbidden City at golden hour, Beijing
3.5 h by air

Imperial China

The Forbidden City, the Great Wall — and golf played in its shadow at Reignwood Pine Valley.

Explore →
Start Planning

Begin your journey south of the clouds.

Tell us a little about your trip and a travel designer will reply within one business day — with no obligation.

Request a Private Proposal