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Air
Take a taxi (RMB 20) 7 km from town to Shangri-La Airport (also called Diqing or Deqen airport). The airport has flights to Kunming (RMB 700, 5 flights daily), Lhasa (RMB 1400), Shenzhen (RMB 1900), Guiyang (RMB 1080), Chengdu (RMB 980) and Guangzhou (RMB 1759). Keep in mind if you plan on flying into Tibet, you will need to have the necessary permits in order to travel. Generally you must be part of an organized group to get into Tibet.
Bus
Flying to Shangri-La is recommended, unless you are truly made of tough stuff and enjoy spending endless hours on a bus. Pack warm clothes and your sense of humor as it can get cold at these high altitudes. Between March and November the roads can become blocked by snow. To get any real distance, you will have to bus hop from Shangri-La to Xiangcheng to Litang to Kangding then finally to Chengdu (this will take 5 -6 days).
From Shangri-La: to Kunming (RMB 146/ 15hrs/ 3 buses daily, 2 sleepers), to Lijiang (RMB 45/ 5 hrs/ hourly from 7 a.m.- 5 p.m.), Xiaguan (45-65 RMB/ 8-10 hrs/ hourly/ 2 sleepers), Deqin (40 RMB/ 6 hrs/ hourly), Xiangcheng (RMB 70/ 8-9 hrs/ once daily at 7:30am), Dongwang (RMB 45/ 7-8 hrs once daily at 7:30 a.m.), Baishuitai (RMB 22/ 4 hrs/ once daily at 7:50 a.m. and Benzilan (RMB 20/ 3 hrs/ daily at 2 p.m.).
Taxi
The starting price is RMB 5 in Shangri-La. The town seat is not big and taxis are not metered by taximeter. Within Shangri-La County the taxi fare is RMB 5. But if you go out of the county, the cost will be higher. For example, the fare is about RMB 15 from the town seat to Shangri-La’s airport. A round trip to White Water Terraces is about RMB 200.
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