What time are all the buses from Kunming to Shangri-La? I've heard there're some daytime buses and night buses.
And from which Kunming bus station do they leave?

Non-stop? I guess there are some but not too many, and that would be quite a grueling trek. I think most buses go to either Dali or Lijiang first and from there you'd jump on the next one. If you haven't been to either I'd recommend going to Dali first, stay a couple of days, then go to Lijiang and stay there for a couple of days and finally take off to Shangrila.

I've already been to Dali or Lijiang, and at that time at didn't have enough time to stop by Shangri-La.
So yes, I'm looking for direct buses that go from Kunming to Shangri-La.
Anyone else has some information?

i don't know of a direct bus, sorry. i assume you've searched online and in this forum specifically. there are websites in chinese where you could find this information or maybe you could just call the bus station. have you considered a flight... would cut out the long trek via dali / lijiang. alternatively, the overnioght train to lijiang gets you in at around 6am, giving you plenty of time to find a bus to shangri-la.

A friend of mine has taken the overnight bus from Kunming to Shangri-La many times, and I believe this would be the only direct one, but he's left town now and I don't know which station it leaves from. I would guess the west one. So if you don't mind sleeper buses, that might be a good option for you. It's certainly the cheapest way to get there.

Just how useful is it to use the opportunistic marketing term 'Shangri-La' when making enquiries about, or booking rail, bus, and aircraft tickets to Dali, Lijiang, Zhongdian ? Particularly when flying you could end up in any one of the many 'Shangri-La' in China, dozens in Asia and hundreds around the world. Of course WE all know the 'one' up 'there' is the REAL one (yawn) but an ambitious agent could take you for a ride. And you'd deserve it.

There is at least one daytime bus daily, leaving the western station 西部汽车客运站 at 9am, arriving some 10-11 hours later. I have been on this bus once, and even with the bus being pretty good it was quite a tiring ride, but then it is one of the longest journeys in the province. The bus makes stops for toilet and lunch, but does not waste any time by pulling into Dali or Lijiang.
There is also about a dozen sleeper busses going overnight, but beware of thieves. (A friend of mine reported that his bag had been tampered with, but nothing stolen on this journey overnight.)
Alternative option, as mentioned before: sleeper train to Lijiang and bus from there.

hi, there, i am from shangri-la and always take buses home or to kunming, so i know a lot about the buses. there are many buses a day to shangri-la, you can get the ticket in western bus station. there are both daytime bus and night bus, but there are more night buses than daytime buses, and i would say this is the best senson visiting shangri-la, cause it snows in winter and the wind there is a little bit strong, the price is aroud 210, hope you can enjoy yourself in shangri-la.

All of the public buses to Xiang Ge Li La 香格里拉 leave from the Xi Bu Ke Yun Zhan 西部客运站.

There is a 9am bus as previously mentioned, and there are several night buses generally leaving between 5pm and 830pm. They all arrive at approximately the same time, so I would recommend the 830pm bus if you can get it.

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Shangri-la, Yunnan P.R. China