Dali, between the lake and Cangshan

Dali lies on a narrow strip of land between the nineteen peaks of Cangshan and the long blue Erhai Lake, whose name means ear-shaped sea. This was the seat of the Nanzhao kingdom and then of Dali, two states that held out against Tang and Song China for five centuries, and the Three Pagodas of Chongsheng Temple survive from that era: the central one, Qianxun, is a 69-metre tower from the ninth century that has outlasted earthquakes which flattened everything around it, and reflects perfectly in the pool below.

The old town is a low grid of gates, marble-fronted houses and the flagstoned Foreigner Street, but the real pleasure is the lakeshore. Hire an e-bike and follow the paved circuit through Xizhou, where Bai merchant courtyards frame carved wooden screens and street ovens turn out xizhou baba, a flaky flatbread stuffed with rose jam or pork and spring onion. Continue to Zhoucheng, the tie-dye village, where indigo vats and hand-stitched patterns still dry in the courtyards, and to Shuanglang on the quieter eastern shore.

The Bai define the local table: sour and spicy fish soup from Erhai, rushan cow's-milk cheese grilled in fan-shaped sheets, and the ceremonial three-course tea that runs bitter, then sweet, then aftertaste. Above town, a chairlift and the Cangshan cloud-walk trails climb past Zhonghe Temple to alpine meadows and the Seven Dragon Girl Pools. Come in April for the Sanyue Jie fair, held below the mountain since the Tang dynasty, and let Dali set the pace for a longer route through China.