Kunming enjoys a pleasant climate and does its best to live up to its title of "the City of Eternal Spring". Whenever you are planning to go, the temperature is always pleasant. With its convenient transport links in and out of the city, Kunming welcomes and sees off tens of thousands of tourists every day.

Kunming is the focal point of Yunnan minority culture. Some 26 ethnic minorities such as Han, Yi, Bai, Miao, Dai, Hani and more inhabit the region. Each group has its own featured festivals such as the Torch festival of Yi people, the Golden Temple Fair and so on. The hugely successful 1999 International Horticultural Exposition enhanced Kunming's influence in the world resulting in a snowball effect upon tourism as more and more foreigners come to discover this enchanting part of China.

Its alluring highland scenery, bewitching karst landform, varied and exotic habitats and customs and places of historical interest can be found at major scenic spots such as Dianchi Lake, Stone Forest, the Village of Ethnic Culture,Grand View Pavilion, etc.

Kunming has more than one hundred star rated hotels and a variety of a thousand or so guest houses. These provide tourists a wide choice of somewhere to relax after whole day's tour.

Kunming is also renowned for many delicious local dishes; the most famous ones are Across Bridge Rice Noodle and Xuanwei Ham. You can enjoy them both at local famous restaurants or the night market. In the night markets you will find many pubs, bars and cafes that serve good quality meals.

Dian Lake
Dian Lake, the sixth largest freshwater lake in China, also known as Kunming Lake or Kunming Pond, was formed by the subsidence of a fault zone. It is a highland lake, much treasured both in the light of Kunming's perennial spring weather and the splendid scenic beauty of the Lake District. Surrounded by hills and crisscrossed by streams, the lake basin is spread with thousands of acres of fertile fields reaching as far as the eye can see. The lake and the area around the lake are regarded as the center of Kunming's attractions. Around the lake are a fair number of interesting tourist attractions, such as several smaller parks, resorts and the Yunnan Nationalities Village. The lake is located 10 km from the city and covers a total area of 198 square kilometers. The Lake covers a vast area in Southwest Kunming; the beauty of the lake can be appreciated from Daguan Tower.

Grand View Park
Known for the Grant View Tower built here in 1690, the Park provides the most beautiful views of Lake Dian. Today the Park includes a nursery with potted plants, children's playground, rowing boats and a pavilion where you can overlook Lake Dian. The view from Grand View Tower has inspired many Chinese poets. Their poems can be found inscribed in and around the Hall. The couplets of 180 words written by Sun Ran are the most famous. He was a poverty-stricken intellectual in Kunming during the reign of Emperor Qian Long in the Qing dynasty. His couplets describe the beauty of Kunming and the history of Yunnan.

Green Lake Park
Green Lake Park is one of the most picturesque parks in downtown Kunming. It is located on the west side of the Wuhua Mountain .Two long dikes divide the lake into four parts. The entire Green Lake Park is green world, with willow trees swaying gently on the dikes, and the surface of park covered all over with lotus plants. All year round the park is venue of one sort of exhibition or another, and with its snug seclusion. Around the park, there are also many excellent bars and restaurants. Since the park is the only one that stays open until 10PM, it is an ideal place for enjoying some Kunming nightlife. In winter and spring, Kunming residents flock to Green Lake Park to feed red-beaked gulls. There are tens of thousands of them that have descended upon the lake. This lovable scene, in which man, birds and nature mingle in such harmony, has kept occurring over the last ten years. The love of the Kunming people for wildlife has added to the charms of the City of Spring.

Zheng He Park
Zheng He Park is located in Kunyang, Jinning County, and 60 kilometers south of Kunming. The park, built in 1980, covers an area of 250 hectares. It is a memorial garden built in commemoration of Zheng He, the great navigator of the Ming Dynasty. Entering the park, there are relief sculptures on both sides of the gate called "the Seven Navigations to the West by Zheng He." Standing firmly in the front of the ship, the imposing figure of Zheng He is leading a large fleet to the West. The sculptures depict the life of Zheng He and his outstanding achievements. There is Zheng He Memorial Hall that covers an area of 1, 600 square meters. Various information and material about his navigation are on display in the hall. There is also the Zheng He Memorial Pavilion, the tomb of Ma Hazhi (Zheng He's father), as well as the tombs of revolutionary martyrs.

World Flower-Expo Garden
World Horti-Expo Garden is located in the north suburbs of Kunming next to the Golden Temple scenic spot that is just 6 kilometers from the city. Approved by the Bureau International des expositions and the Association of International Horticultural Producers, and registered as an AI-rating international event, the 1999 Kunming International Horticultural Exposition China has been successfully sponsored by the Chinese government from May 1st to October 31, 1999 in Kuming. Although Expo '99 ended in October 1999, the World Horti-Expo Garden now serves as a permanent gardening center in Kunming. The world Horti-Expo garden covers an area of 218 hectares and is consisted of 5 indoor exhibition halls, 6 theme gardens and 34 outdoor gardens of domestic participants, 34 outdoor gardens for foreign countries and international organizational and 9 outdoor exhibition area for the enterprise participants. The World-expo Garden is in perfect harmony with the surrounding mountains, waters and forest, showing that it originates from and return to the nature. It has hosted a large collection of horticultural and gardening works not only from different Chinese provinces and municipalities, but also from all over the world. As an international botanical garden incorporating educational and recreational activities in one location, the Expo '99 has emerged as a significant Kunming landmark.

Yunnan Nationalities Village
The Yunnan Nationalities Village is located on the northeastern shore of Dianchi Lake 6 kilometers south of Kunming, covering about 133.3 hectares. There are 56 nationalities in China and 52 of them live in Yunnan. Among them 26 each has a population of more than 5,000. Each nationality has its particularities in terms of language, religion, and in the ways of conducting themselves in relation to others. Each of the 26 ethnic peoples of Yunnan will have a village built on the premises, and there will also be a square symbolizing unity among various ethnic groups, a theatre for the performance of ethnic songs and dances, a folklore museum of ethnic waxworks. When completed, the Yunnan Ethnic villages will become an epitome of Yunnan as a multi-ethnic province, and an immense garden in south Chinese horticultural and landscaping traditions. Now eight villages have been completed and they were officially opened on February 18, 1992. There are activities that take place such as a welcoming ceremony with performing White Elephants, the Dinosaur Island theme park area, a concert area for ethnic singing and dancing performances, as well as an Asian Elephant show in the Plaza of Ethnic Unity. The "villagers" are all chosen from the youth of the relevant nationalities to act as guides and performers for tourists. The three major villages represent the Dai, the Bai and the Yi nationalities. It is a good place to show visitors to Yunnan the cultural traditions of the ethnic groups in the province.

Jiuxiang scenic spot
Jiuxiang scenic spot is located 90 kilometer from Kunming city. It is a major tourist attraction famous for its limestone caves in Kunming. Here are nearly 100 large and small karst caves, one of the largest cave groups in China. This wonderful spot even has an underground waterfall and a breathtaking gorge. It is dubbed as a cave museum for its complete range and styles. "The Field of the Gods" is one of the cave's main attractions. Water flows down from a hole in the cave here and is split into two at the spot where it falls. Local people liken the two spurts of water to a husband and wife and have crafted a story to describe the sight. Now Diehong qiao scenic area is open to the public. It includes the Yin Cui Xia (Shaded Jade Gorge), Bai Xiang Dong (White Elephant Cave), Shen Nu Gong (Goddess Palace), Wolong Cave (Lying Dragon Cave), Bian Fu Dong (Bat Cave) and Cableway, totaling nearly 6 kilometers in length. It takes about 3 hours to complete the tour.

Kunming City Museum
Smaller than its provincial counterpart, this museum's best exhibit is about the history of the city. Other features include a dinosaur exhibit and a rotating exhibition space that holds anything from history to art exhibitions. There's also a scale-model of the Kunming area documenting archeological sites relating to the illiterate Dian culture that dominated the area sometime approximately around 400BC-100AD.

Black Dragon Pool
Black Dragon Pool is located 13 kilometers (8miles) north of the city proper, northern suburb of Kunming. It is more than 590 years old with a view of the surrounding mountains, which is absolutely inspiring. It is known for four attractions, which include Blue and Black water pools inside the Park, the Plum trees of the Tang Dynasty, the Cypress trees of the Song Dynasty and the Camellia trees of the Ming Dynasty.