Walking off the beaten path will open a world of beautiful possibilities - annonymous
Lijiang is known for its UNESCO Heritage Site, the Old Town of Lijiang and its mountains. When you ask someone where they went in Lijiang they will mostly say these two places.
If you re travelling with your dog it might be difficult to take them to such busy places. Well don’t worry there are many off the beaten path places in and around Lijiang that are completely dog friendly and equally as beautiful.
The only downfall is you will need to have your own car or hire a driver for the day as some of these places are fairly remote.
Wenahai Lake 文海村
This area was a bit of a drive, but it was so worth it. We actually went two days in a row. Our first day was raining and it was freezing (even in July). The second day was beautiful and sunny.
You will drive up a mountain and throughout the drive you will be greeted with great scenery! There is also a practicing temple on the way. We stopped for some photos and to let our furry companion out to run around.
Once you get to the top you will see a valley below. There is a village located on the side of the river and it is actually the highest (altitude) village in Lijiang.
You can easily drive around the river, this gives amazing views and awesome picture opportunities. Our car had a sun roof, so I was lucky enough to be able to stick my head out while we were driving around.
When your finished driving around the lake there is a parking lot area. You can park here and let your furry companion run free.
In this area you can purchase some food, coffee, and even a horse ride around the grassland. It seems like most people go to this area for the evening to relax and watch the sunset. Many locals bring collapsable picnic tables and set up on the grassland.
Shuhe Ancient Town
This next one is not overly off the beaten path, but it is a smaller and way less crowded ancient town. Everyone goes to the main ancient town and the lines are insane! They are very strict with scanning in and once inside it is hard to move!
Shuhe Ancient Town is almost identical to the main tourist attraction, just on a smaller scale. We were actually able to walk there from one of our hotels (read more about hotels here). It wasn’t nearly as busy and so many people including shop owners had dogs. We saw dogs of every size here from tiny puppies to large golden retrievers.
The only requirement for the dogs is that you clean up after them and keep them on a leash. If you obey these rules the police and security in the area completely leave you alone.
Longnu Lake (龙女湖)
This area wasn’t as relaxing as the previously mentioned area. It was also a large grassland, but it was more touristic. It seems that the local guesthouses take their customers here.
It is a far drive and some of the roads were not the best. Our poor car definitely went off roading a bit and is not made for that . When we arrived we saw a large impromptu parking lot. We parked and headed to the grassland. It was fairly busy with lots of people offering horse rides across the grassland.
We found a nice tent to sit under and ordered some coffee. It was busy but we did see a quite a few dogs here.
If you continue on past this area there were a few lakes that had no-one. we couldn’t swim here easily but we enjoyed the quiet and Nova got to get her roomies out.
