Hi Everyone,
My wife and I are traveling with our 1.5 old son to the far east for a few months. We've heard excellent things about Kunming and being the foodies we are (with an emphasis on jiaoze), we're planning a stay in China/Yunnan/Kunming for about a month starting mid/late january. We hope to get around as much as we can, mainly including local markets, rural villages and outdoor activites. We'd be happy for any input you would like to share, including travel tips, where to stay, activities suitable for a child etc. Due to the fact we're traveling with our kid, our main concerns are the travels between cities and activites that he'll be up for, so we might focus all our time in Kunming or wander about, depending also on what you guys can enlighten me about :)
Thanks for all the help!

Well the weathers probably good for a toddler about late January from my previous years experience. Not to hot (can't say the same for food) nor to cold, just in the goldie locks zone ;) Usually about late teens in Celsius.

Travelling during Chinese New Year?
You may want to rethink that one.

Hi Napoleon, why is that? Wouldn't it be a good/fun/interesting/once in a life time experience to participate in these festivities? And if we're on the subject, do you have any recommendations what to do in Kunming for the Chinese New Year?
Thanks

@hyaari: "good/fun/interesting/once in a life time experience to participate in these festivities?" Traditionally, festivities center on going home, traveling, to be with family. Unless you have family in Kunming you will be lonely. Most businesses and eateries close as well as raise prices.

Traveling is a challenge: hard to get tickets, crowds, pushing and shoving and delays. Hard to book hotels and cost goes up 5 to 10 times normal prices.

All tourist venues are filled with Chinese who will extend no quarter to you.

Many of us that live here either have some place to go and stay or just hang out at home. GoKunming will publish close dates for many expat popular businesses.

You posting here and asking for help tells me you are in no way prepared to deal with Spring Festival.

BTW, what is "jiaoze?" I think you mean jiaozi, 饺子. While 饺子 is common in Kunming it isn't what a foodie would be looking for in Kunming.

Spring Festival is also not a good time for sleep. Even with ear plugs I can't sleep through the all-night exploding rockets!

I live here and have a 1.5 year old daughter. We took her through Europe about 6 months ago and she enjoyed parks, gardens and new foods. Translating that to Kunming, try the mountains nearby (eg. Xishan, Bamboo temple, Changchongshan, the mountain that divides northeast and northwest Kunming), the larger parks (eg. I highly recommend Tanhuasi Gongyuan or Tanhua Temple Park in the east of Kunming). I can recommend the Muslim Jiaozi place on the north side of Hongshan Nan Lu near Dianmian Da Dao for two versions of beef dumplings... might go have some now, actually! Feel free to send me a message... www.gokunming.com/en/users/pm_compose/?to_id=11838

foodies who like jiaozi - like foodies who like pasties.

Yeah, it's primarily a family get-together holiday, though the fireworks all over town on the eve of Day 1 can be fun, if you're into it, though I'm not sure a young kid is in a position to go out in the streets etc. during that time. And you can probably find a dragon dance/show.

Then before Day 1 transportation is a mess between cities, and after it also plus raised prices for hotel rooms, etc. In Kunming itself, many local shops close for 5 days or a week.

As mentioned above, Chinese will go home, making travelling anywhere a problem and more expensive.

Its a family holiday, look at it this way, would you recommend someone visiting Europe at Christmas? Probably not as nothing is open and everyone is with their families.

Its not the experience you think it is. Sure, they'll let a fair few fireworks off, but you can buy fireworks back home, no?