Most visitors to Lijiang see only Dayan, the large old town at the foot of Lion Hill, and it is genuinely impressive and genuinely crowded. Shuhe, four kilometres to the north-west, is the older of the two settlements and was the market town on the Tea Horse Road where caravans stopped before Lijiang. It was listed as a World Heritage site together with Dayan and Baisha, and it has the same Naxi architecture - timber frames, grey tile roofs, cobbled lanes, stone bridges and a network of canals - on a smaller scale with far fewer people in it.
What is there
The old town clusters around a small square with a stage, a market area and a temple, with the Qinglong River running through it and several old stone bridges crossing the water. The lanes are lined with courtyard houses, some converted into guesthouses, teahouses, cafes and craft shops, and there are workshops making silver, leather, embroidered cloth and Naxi-style painted woodwork. Because the town is small, it takes about an hour to walk the whole of it slowly, and the surrounding fields and the road towards Baisha can be added as a longer walk or cycle.
Why it is worth staying
Shuhe is a comfortable base for Lijiang. Guesthouses are cheaper than in Dayan, the streets are quiet after dark, and the cafés along the canal are used by long-stay visitors working on laptops over tea. The nightlife is mild - a few bars with live guitar rather than the amplified bar quarter of Dayan - and mornings are genuinely peaceful, with farmers bringing vegetables into the square and the mountains visible at the end of the lanes. Getting into Dayan takes fifteen minutes by taxi or half an hour on foot.
Practical notes
Shuhe is at about 2,400 metres, so the first day is best kept short while you adjust. The best seasons are spring and autumn; midsummer is the rainy period and the lanes can be slick, and winter days are clear but cold at night. Bring shoes with grip for the polished cobbles. There is a small admission charge at some entrances depending on the season and the ticket system in force, so check locally, and note that the ticket for the wider Lijiang heritage area has changed several times in recent years.
