DongChuan Red Land (东川红土地)

I am happy to have this opportunity to travel to Kunming international airport with my parent and my sister (total 5 person) by Airasia direct flight from Kuala Lumpur to Kunming, Yunnan at a very low price in this March. I hope that more photography lover and young people can discover this beautiful land.


Our route: Kunming (10 to 20 C)- DongChuan Red Land (10 to 20 C) - Shangrila (-6 to 6 C) - Lijian (6 to 16 C) - Kunming (8 to 21 C) - Kuala Lumpur


D1- Kunming- DongChuan Red Land (stay at DongChuan)
D2- DongChuan - Kunming (stay at near ChangSui airport)
D3- Kunming- Shangrila ( stay in Shangrila)
D4- Shangrila
D5- Shangrila- Lijiang (stay at Lijiang)
D6- Lijiang
D7- Lijiang- Kunming (stay at Kunming)
D8- Kunming

DongChuan Red Land (东川红土地)

We booked a private trip driver to fetch us at Kunming airport. We bought a China mobile at the airport and contacted the driver.  We took 3 hours from airport to DongChuan Red Land. The road is pretty good now and the driver used shortcut. We pack some fast food in the airport and have it when reached at 10pm. The hostel also offer us if we want to order some local oriental food for dinner.


The next day morning, the driver brought us to have some sunrise photography at 6.45am. It took 20 minutes from our hostel to the spot at Da Ma Ken (打马坎). This amazing land woke up after the sunrise. Glaring red land, green vegetable plot, unique shape and beautiful figure are set off by the blue sky, white cloud and capricious light, which is the whole dream-like picture is just like the colourful paintings, making us feel dizzy. However, March is not the most beautiful session we went. According to the driver, the best photography period is May, September and November. The land is so colorful and there were not that many tourists as normally in China. That is also probably the reason why they are still not charging money for this. Do go before it gets too popular, overcrowded and pricy.

Sunrise at Da Ma Ken (打马坎), then other places like Le Pu Au (乐谱凹)、Qi Cai Bo (七彩坡), Shen Shu (神树), Jin Xu Tian Yuen (锦绣田园), Luo Xia Gou (落霞沟), Luo Shi Wan (螺丝弯). The driver is a very nice local people, will stop at many places to let you take a good photography. For those who goes there for photography, he knows better place to take a good photography.


We took a break at 10am to 3.30pm and have a local oriental cook for brunch at hostel. 6 dishes and rice for 5 person at 147RMB. Unfortunately we not able to see sunset because it was cloudy on that day. So we leave this land and back to Kunming at 6.45pm and stay at nearby airport, Tian Rui Hotel because we will depart to Shangrila on next day morning 7.20am.


Private Trip Driver Contact: (car rental plus driver)
Master Her (何师傅) - a very friendly and helpful local. Knows best places to take photo.
13398855287 (China mobile) or
0086 13398855287 ( if call from Malaysia mobile)


Private Trip by Master Her (何师傅) in March (low session):
Kunming airport direct to DongChuan red land- 560 RMB per way (7 seats Atos MPV)
1 Day Tour - 260 RMB (we gave him an extra tip 50RMB since he is so helpful)
Hostel 1 night- 120 RMB for 2 single bed (got 24 hours hot water without breakfast and air-cond), the driver will arrange his hostel for you.
Entrance fees: Free .




Airport Hotel before go Shangrila: Tian Rui Hotel ( 8 minutes drive to airport)
(this hotel provide free airport shuttle the next morning at 5.30am, but the cleanliness of the bathroom still need to be improved)