Anyone has any tips and info on traveling from Lijiang to Lugu Lake?

How long does the journey take?
how many buses per day and what time? is there an entrance fee to the Lugu Lake area (and how much)?
how about crossing from Lugu Lake to Sichuan towards Muli, Xichang or Panzihua?
Thanks in advance for your tips and info.

I just returned from a weekend at Lugu lake. It's a bit of a pain to get there because they're fixing the roads, so you need to switch from the big bus to a small bus for the small mountain roads, and then back to a big bus. The whole trip takes around 8 hours—if there are no traffic jams. That said, the scenery is beautiful! The bus from Lijiang costs 100RMB. There are two buses per day at 8:30am and 9am. Once you get to Lugu Lake, there's a 100RMB entrance fee that lets you go anywhere and stay as long as you want.

Unfortunately, I don't know anything about how to continue from Lugu Lake into Sichuan, since I just went back to Lijiang after circling the lake by bicycle. But I hope this is helpful!

I have been to Lugu Lake 6 times in the last 10 years. The road to Lugu is the SHAME of Lijiang. This road has been under construction for more than 10 years and it still is not completed. The earthquake a few years back did not help any. Last time I went 2 years ago the highway from NingLang to Lugu was finally completed but I am not sure if the quake had any effect on this part of the trip.

The bigget problem is the part of the highway from Lijiang Old Town to NingLang.

Thanks Amanda and HFCampo for all the info. It's really helpful!

Amanda - any suggestions for places to stay? I'm doing some advance planning for a trip at the end of the summer, and I'll be traveling with a six-month-old.

We're headed that way this weekend. Is the last bus of the day really at 9am?!

It is a 6 hour drive because of the nasty road. If I remember correctly there may be a 12 noon bus, not sure.

It seems that we're likely to hire a driver. I'll update next week with the cost of that.

I biked from Lijiang to Lugu Lake last month. Text, maps, and pictures are all on my blog:

matthartzell.blogspot.com/[...]

The most direct route from Lijiang to Ninglang is closed for construction of a new 2nd class road (二级公路) and probably will be until 2016. There are three alternate routes:

a) Lijiang to Yongsheng (good 2nd class road), Yongsheng to Ninglang (paved but old, winding, narrow mountain road, very slow), Ninglang to Lugu (new 2nd class road, finished, and fast)

b) Lijiang to Mingyin (鸣因乡), Mingyin to Ahai Dam (阿海水电站), Ahai Dam to Hongqi (红旗镇), Hongqi to Lugu

c) Lijiang to MIngyin, Mingyin to Fengke (奉科乡), cross the Yangzte on the new bridge, Fengke to Yongning (永宁乡), Yongning to Lugu

I did route c) on my bike as it's the most scenic.
It took several days, and I also made out-of-the-way stops at Baoshan Stone City (宝山石头城) and Daju (大具). Each day, I saw a convoy of minivans and public buses heading from Lijiang to Lugu. They would all pass within one hour of each other, which means they must have left Lijiang at about the same time in the morning. There appeared to be many more than two buses. I'd estimate at least ten if not more. But I guess I'm not 100% sure if they were public buses or private tour company vehicles.

We took a white bus (100RMB/person, half price for kids with a seat) and it took 13 freaking hours. Part of that was due to a rockslide that they didn't even start clearing until 8am. We had to change buses twice because the larger bus isn't allowed on the middle portion, so there are big buses that go back and forth on each end, and smaller ones that ferry people across the middle. There is a green bus (that apparently leaves from the same place in Lijiang) that's reported to be 68RMB, and it is smaller. We saw it arrive in Luoshui. We took a van back, leaving at 10:30 (was supposed to be 9am, but you're at the mercy of the driver filling the van) for 100RMB/person (kid was free, and had a seat). We took a bumpier, windier, more scenic route back, but got to Lijiang at about 5:30. So yeah, take the blue vans or the green bus.