Atlas of China
Shangri-La to Dali 香格里拉 – 大理
Door to door, the high-speed train comes out ahead: about 3½ hours, counting about 20 minutes to board a train and 2½ hours of airport time for a flight. A standard-class seat is ¥129. The stations are in or near the city centres, which is what tips it.
| Way | Time | Door to door | Fare | A day |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| High-speed trainShangri-La 香格里拉 → Dali 大理 | 3 h 15 minC988, fastest | 3½ hours | ¥129standard class | 512:00–19:02 |
| By road343 km, estimated | 6 h 30 min | 6½ hours |
By train
5 direct high-speed trains a day run from Shangri-La to Dali, between 12:00 and 19:02. The fastest, C988, takes 3 h 15 min, and a standard-class seat is ¥129. Coming back, 3 trains a day, the fastest 3 h 20 min (C987, 07:45 to 11:47).
Shangri-La: Mostly C-series trains from Lijiang (about 1.5 hours) plus a daily D train from Chengdu; Trip.com lists the airport under Diqing. Dali: The station is in Xiaguan; the old town is 20–30 minutes north by taxi.
By air
No nonstop flights.
By road
Roughly 343 km by road and about 6½ hours of driving, estimated from the distance.
Stops on the way
Cities between the two with direct trains from Shangri-La and on to Dali, so the trip can be broken there.
- Lijiang 丽江 120 km from Shangri-La · 1 h 10 min there, 1 h 56 min on
At the other end
Featured places around Dali.
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Dali Old Town & Erhai Lake 大理古城与洱海
Bai courtyards, old stone gates and lakeside bike rides beneath the Cangshan peaks
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Weishan Ancient Town 巍山古城
An unhurried Ming grid town south of Dali, where the Nanzhao kingdom was born
Around Shangri-La in Diqing: Shangri-La & Songzanlin Monastery, Baishuitai.
On the map
Open either city on the illustrated map, or put both in a trip and let the planner lay out the days and the legs between them, with the same tables these numbers come from.
Book
Diqing, with Shangri-La · About Dali · All routes
Trains are every direct train on 2026-10-28 or 2026-11-11 in the 12306 timetable, with standard-class fares; one weekday, so weekend and holiday services differ, and the fastest train may not run every day. Flights are the airlines' schedules for 2026-10-28, plus routes Wikipedia lists for small airports. Drives are routed on OpenStreetMap roads (extract of 2026-10-21) where the pair was routed, else estimated from the distance. Door-to-door times add about 20 minutes to board a train and 2½ hours of airport time to a flight. How to book is in the guide to trains and 12306; the rail times are open data on the data page.