I went there on Tomb sweeping day and it was a pleasent surprise. I don't think many of the expats have been there and it's a shame really. The ticket price of 100 kuai is a bit steep,, especially since people born in Yunnan can get in for 30 but you can get legit tickets from the private vendors just outside the entrance for 80 kuai if you feel like haggling. Bus 69 goes there and it is only a 15 min ride from Ren Min Zhong Lu. Line 71 also.

The area is pretty huge and you can easily spend a full day there. The best part was the province gardens area the worst was this touristy feeling you usually don't get in Kunming. It felt like being back in Beijing when someone wanted 120 kuai for a pair of crappy sunglasses. They have a circus performance 2 or 3 times a day and it was ok but apart from that I wouldn't recommend bringing your kids there. After the novelty of the place have worn off they'll be bored to bits.

Nice area for a day out with the girlfriend since Kunming definately is lacking in the romantic-places-to-go department.

Yes i have been there too it's very nice but still can say that "expensive ticket !"

If they made tickets more reasonable for Kunming based expats then I am sure they would see more return visits. Its a common system in Yunnan that locals get much cheaper tickets for tourist attractions. I guess that the government thinks that if people have come all the way to Yunnan they don't have a choice when it comes to high ticket prices,,The three Pagodas is a good example, something that was free a few years ago,,now is quite expensive,,unless you come from the Dali area

woah, you know what i was actually going to go there today but not sure if i can afford 100 kuai now! jees!

I went to the Horti-Expo Gardens yesterday and was totally shocked - this is the worst ripoff I've experienced in China.

I honestly can't believe that these people sleep at night charging 160 RMB to see this completely lame attraction (100 for the expo gardens, 30 for jin dian, 60 for the cable car to jin dian which you must take to get between the two places, combo ticket price 160 RMB...).

I have no idea what the Expo Gardens were like 11 years ago, but apart from some nice flowers at the entrance the place has totally fallen apart. All of the pavilions are in ruins and taken over by downscale jade markets and depressed fuwuyuan selling Chinese trinkets. The International Hall is a pathetic collection of decade-old dioramas and random Chinese products being sold at every country's display (I didn't know that Lamb's Placenta is a specialty American product!). I have the feeling that they've been playing the same cheesy toreador music on a loop in the Spanish pavilion for the past 11 years.

This place is a huge waste of space, a huge waste of water in the middle of a drought (keeping all those acres of grass looking green for a tiny trickle of tourists) and a massive waste of your time and money. Honestly, this was the most depressing place I've been in Kunming.

Jin Dian is nice - go straight there and skip this nonsense.

I agree with birdabroad. And what is even more disturbing is the fact that the same company received now the rights to "develop" the Yuanyang Rice Terraces. There are more examples of places with excessive entrance fees: Puzhehei, Deqin, San Ta Si, Songtsalin Temple in Zhongdian - just to name a few. That is how it works in Yunnan after all, I can live with that. It is just a petty that the local population don't see much of these entrance fees....they seem to disapear....