Overview
The upper trail through the Tiger Leaping Gorge is one of the great short treks in Asia: two long days on a path cut into the side of a gorge where the Yangtze drops 3,900 metres in 16 kilometres, with the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain on one side and Haba on the other.
Most of the route is well defined and walked daily by local Naxi farmers, but it is a serious mountain walk. The 28 Bends — a switchback climb of roughly 500 vertical metres on day two — is the crux, and it takes most people 90 minutes to two hours. Above it the trail traverses open slopes with the full length of the gorge in view, and the descent to the road at Tina's is long and steep on loose scree.
The reward is the guesthouses: simple family operations perched on the mountainside with terraces facing the snow peaks, where you eat what the family eats and sleep under heavy quilts. There is no road access to most of them. Everything you eat and drink has been carried up.
This is a guided trek with a support vehicle at both ends, and your guide carries a first-aid kit and knows the route in all conditions.
- The full upper trail from Qiaotou to Tina's via the 28 Bends
- The 28 Bends switchback climb with the gorge opening beneath you
- Naxi guesthouses on the mountainside, reachable only on foot
- Sunrise on the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain from the trail
- Waterfall section where the path crosses a cascade in a narrow side gorge
- Descent to the river at Tina's and the Middle Gorge rapids
Itinerary
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1 Lijiang to Qiaotou, Trek to Naxi Guesthouse
Lunch, Dinner Mountain guesthouse (basic)08:00 - Departure: A two-hour drive from Lijiang to Qiaotou, the village at the southern entrance to the gorge where the trail begins.
10:30 - The trailhead: We register, pay the maintenance fee, and start walking. The path climbs through Naxi farmland, past apple trees and maize, and soon the gorge opens below you — the Jinsha River a white thread 500 metres down, the Haba range rising opposite.
12:30 - Lunch: At a small guesthouse on the trail, with a terrace over the river.
14:00 - Afternoon walk: The trail traverses along the slope with occasional short climbs, crossing a couple of seasonal watercourses. There is one exposed section where the path narrows, but it is not technically difficult in dry conditions.
16:30 - Naxi Family Guesthouse: Settle in. These are family-run operations built on the mountainside, with a courtyard, a terrace facing the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain, and no road. Water comes from a spring; the vegetables were grown below; the meat was carried up.
18:30 - Dinner: Simple, generous and cooked on a wood stove — usually stir-fried vegetables, potato, cured pork and rice, with the option of a beer that has been carried up by horse.
Important: The guesthouses have shared bathrooms and limited hot water. Blankets are thick and it gets cold at night. This is part of the deal.
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2 The 28 Bends & the High Traverse
Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner Mountain guesthouse (basic)07:00 - Breakfast with the sun coming up on the Jade Dragon. This is the best hour on the mountain.
08:00 - The 28 Bends: The crux of the trek. A series of 28 switchbacks climbing roughly 500 vertical metres in under two kilometres — the trail was rerouted after the original path was washed out, and the new one goes straight up. There is no way around it and no point rushing it. Most people take between 90 minutes and two hours, and there are two rest stalls on the way up where local women sell water, fruit and a certain amount of encouragement.
10:30 - The summit of the bends: You come out onto a shoulder with the whole length of the gorge in view, the Jade Dragon's thirteen peaks ahead of you and Haba's scree slopes across the valley. It is worth the climb.
11:00 - The high traverse: The path now runs along the upper slopes, sometimes through pine forest, sometimes across open pasture, with the river far below. This is the most consistently spectacular section of the trek, and the easiest walking of the day.
13:00 - Lunch: At the Halfway Guesthouse, which has the best terrace on the mountain and is a well-earned stop.
14:30 - Waterfall section: A short descent into a side gorge where the trail crosses beneath a cascade — in high water the spray soaks you, and it is the wettest 20 minutes of the trek.
16:30 - Tina's Guesthouse: Arrival, dinner and rest. Tina's has been run by the same family for more than twenty years and has the most reliable hot water on the route.
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3 Middle Gorge, Ascent & Return to Lijiang
Breakfast, Lunch Not included07:30 - Breakfast and the descent to the river.
08:30 - Down to the Jinsha: A steep path drops from Tina's to the river — around 600 metres of descent on loose rock, taking roughly an hour, with a chain section near the bottom where a local family charges a small fee for maintaining it.
09:30 - Middle Gorge: At the bottom, the river comes through a channel so narrow that the water is forced over boulders in a genuine whitewater rapid. The tiger of the legend is supposed to have leapt the river here, using the rock that sits in the middle of the current. There is a small platform above the water where the force of it is something you feel through your feet.
11:00 - The ascent: Back up to Tina's — the same 600 metres, and considerably harder going up. Around 90 minutes. Horses are sometimes available for this section.
12:30 - Lunch at Tina's.
14:00 - Departure: Transfer back to Lijiang, around two and a half hours. Arrival around 16:30, or directly onward to the airport or station if you are travelling the same evening.
Important: This is a serious trek. A reasonable level of fitness is required, and good boots with ankle support matter more than anything else you pack. The route is not recommended in heavy rain, when the scree sections become dangerous.
Gallery
What's included
- 2 nights in mountain guesthouses (basic, shared facilities, blankets provided)
- Daily breakfast, 2 lunches and 2 dinners on the mountain
- English-speaking trekking guide throughout
- Private transfer Lijiang-Qiaotou and Tina's-Lijiang
- Tiger Leaping Gorge entrance fee and trail maintenance fee
- Luggage transfer between guesthouses where road access allows
- Trekking poles, rain ponchos and a group first-aid kit
- Trail snacks and drinking water
Not included
- Flights and trains to and from Lijiang
- Travel insurance — must cover mountain trekking and helicopter rescue
- Tips for guide, driver and guesthouse porters
- Personal expenses and alcohol on the mountain
- Porter service for your main pack (available, around USD 25-35 per day)
- Hot showers where charged separately by guesthouses
