Kunming to Dali: by Train, Bus & Flight

The Spring City Kunming and the ideal holiday resort Dali has built complete traffic network for the free access between the two major tourist destinations for you. With a straight line distance of about 260km, travelers could go from Kunming to Dali or from Dali to Kunming easily by the fast flights, budget high speed trains and the convenient buses for your Kunming travel with Dali.

Top Recommended Kunming Dali Tour:

▶ 4 Days Kunming & Dali Highlights Tour by High Speed Train

▶ 6 Days Yunnan Essence Tour (Kunming / Dali / Lijiang)

Kunming to Dali

Kunming Dali Transportation Map

How to Get from Kunming to Dali

Actually, no matter transfer from Kunming to Dali, or from Dali to Kunming, you could go by bullet train, air or coach according to your needs. Check the detailed time schedule, duration, prices and other practical information at below for your reference.

Kunming to Dali by Bullet Train

Travel from Kunming to Dali by bullet trains is a comfortable, convenient and time-saving way for toursits. There are over 20 D trains every day from Kunming to Dali and nearly same number in reverse. The trains depart from Kunming Railway Station (昆明站) to Dali Railway Station (大理站) from the early morning hours to the late night around 06:30-21:30. Since the whole bullet train traveling needs only about 2 to 3 hours, it's really a great way of transportation for your travel between Kunming and Dali.

To save you from the troublesome train tickets booking and tour planning, you can travel with us. We China Discovery, with rich experiences in ranging Yunnan tours for our customers, can design the tour according to your own preference and provide you the best travel experiences. If you need any help, please feel free to contact us, our experienced travel consultants are more than willing to help!

Kunming Dali Bullet Trains Real-time Schedules:

Kunming Railway Station

Location: No. 1, Beijing Road, Guandu District, Kunming, Yunnan (昆明市官渡区北京路1号-昆明火车站)

Kunming Railway Station is located very close to the city center, so you could arrive there by a local taxi for about 10-20 minutes with a distance of about 3 minutes. Besides, you could take the Metro Line 2 there directly to the station. If you go to the station from Kunming Cuihu Lake, it needs about 30 minutes by car.

Kunming South Railway Station

Location: Xiangyuan Street, Chenggong District of Kunming City (昆明市呈贡区祥园街 – 昆明南站)

Kunming South Station is located in the prosperous area with convenient transportation, especially metro system, so it is very easy to transfer from there to most popular tourist places in this city. And the Metro Line 1 is available there. Usually, to the city center and Green Lake, it usually takes about 1.5 hours by Metro Line 1 and Line 5. And to the Western Hill, it will take about 1.5-2 hours in total.

Dali Railway Station

Location: No. 261, Weishan Road, Xincheng District, Dali, Yunnan (大理市新城区巍山路261号-大理火车站)

Dali Railway Station is also situated in the downtown area. After your arrival there, you could get in a taxi to the city center for about 15-20 minutes with a distance of about 3 kilometers or take the local bus for about 20-30 minutes. If you want to transfer to Dali Old Town directly from there, you could choose the tourist bus there for about 1 hour & 40 minutes. And if you go by taxi, it will take about 40-50 minutes with a distance of about 18 kilometers.

Kunming Railway Station

Kunming Railway Station

Dali Railway Station

Dali Railway Station

Kunming to Dali by Flight

At present, there are about 2 daily flights between Kunming to Dali, and travelers could take the plane from Kunming Changshui Airport to Dali Huangcaoba Airport for only about 45-55 minutes. Two flights one departures in the morning around 8:00, one departures in the afternoon around 18:30. Check more about Kunming and Dali travel guide to desgin your Kunming Dali tour.

>> Check more about Kunming Travel Guide

>> Check more about Dali Travel Guide

Kunming Changshui International Airport:

Location: Changshui Village, Guandu District, Kunming, Yunnan (云南省昆明市官渡区长水村-昆明长水国际机场)

It is the largest and most frequently used airport in Yunnan province, which is about 23km from the city downtown area. To arrive there, you could take the local Airport Shuttle Bus Line 1 or Line 2 from the city downtown, and the buses start about every 20 minutes. Besides, taking a taxi, you could spend about 50 minutes with a driving distance of about 27.5km there.

>> Check more about Kunming Transportation

Dali Huangcaoba Airport:

Location: Jichang Road, Dali, Yunnan (云南省大理市机场路-大理黄草坝机场)

Dali airport is about 11km to Dali downtown and about 16km to Dali Old Town Tourist Area. to get to Xiaguan (下关) (the downtown area), you could get on an airport shuttle buse that departs every 20 minutes during about 03:00-23:59 and run for about 20 minutes, and also, you could take a taxi there for about 35-45 minutes with a driving distance of about 15-18 kilometers; to reach Dali Old Town, the airport shuttle bus departs every 1 hour during about 07:00-23:59 and takes about 40 minutes, and if you want to take a taxi, it needs about 1 hour with a driving distance of about 30 kilometers.

>> Check more about Dali Transportation

Kunming Changshui Airport

Kunming Changshui Airport

Kunming to Dali by Bus

It sings in the local folk song named Yunnan eighteen strange points, “the trains are not faster than buses in Yunnan”. Before the finished building of high-speed railway, taking a bus from Kunming to Dali or from Dali to Kunming is the most common transport way for local people, it takes only about 4 hours, and there are many distance coaches departing from Kunming West Bus Terminal from the early morning to the late afternoon to different stations in Dali City, and from Dali to Kunming for tourists free choice. Even nowadays, there are still many local people choose to travel in this way. Let’s take a look at the bus schedule between Kunming and Dali at below for your reference.

From Kunming to Dali:

FromToFrequencyDurationPrices
(RMB)
Kunming West Bus Terminal
(昆明西部客运站)
Dali Xingsheng Bus Terminal
(大理兴盛汽车客运站)
about 1 bus About 4 Hours 110-200
Dali Express Bus Station
(大理快速汽车客运站)
about 2 buses
Dali
(大理)
about 6 buses
(from 8:30 to 18:00)

 

From Dali to Kunming:

FromToFrequencyDurationPrices
(CNY)
Dali Express Bus Station
(大理快速汽车客运站)
Kunming West Bus Terminal
(昆明西部客运站)
about 2 buses About 4 Hours 160
Kunming Bus Station
(昆明)
about 1 bus
Dali Xingsheng Bus Terminal
(大理兴盛汽车客运站)
Kunming Bus Station
(昆明)
about 5 buses
Dali Old City Bus Terminal
(大理古城客运站)
Kunming West Bus Terminal
(昆明西部客运站)
about 4 buses
Kunming Bus Station
(昆明)
about 5 buses
Dali North Highway Passenger Station
(大理汽车客运北站)
Kunming West Bus Terminal
(昆明西部客运站)
about 4 buses
Kunming Bus Station
(昆明)
about 4 buses
Dali Highway Passenger Station
(大理汽车客运站)
Kunming Bus Station
(昆明)
about 8 buses

(Note: the above information of number of buses, bus stations, time, prices, etc. is only for your reference, since they could be slightly changed according to practical situation. You could contact our professional travel expert for the detailed and newest information of buses between Kunming and Dali.)

Kunming Bus Stations

Kunming West Bus Terminal is situated a little far away from the city downtown, and near Kunming West Railway Station. You could take the local Metro Line 3 to get there for about 40 minutes, or take a taxi for about 30 minutes from and city center.

Kunming Bus Station is located in the downtown, very close to Kunming Railway Station, and you could take local bus for about 30 minutes or a taxi for about 15 minutes with about 3.5km to get the station from the city center. As there are many trains between Kunming and Shilin County, you could get to the Stone Forest by the bullet trains for about 25 minutes followed by another 15 minutes of a local taxi driving.

More detail information about How to Get to the Stone Forest

Dali Bus Stations

All the above stations in Dali are located at the downtown area and close to each other. To get to Dali Old City, you take the local bus for about 1.5 hours, or take a taxi for about 30-40 minutes; to get to the Three Pagodas, it needs about 1.5-2 hours by bus, and about 30-40 minutes by taxi; to get to Cangshan Mountain, it needs about 30 minutes by taxi, and 1.5-2 hours by bus; to get to Erhai Lake, it needs about 40 minutes by taxi. It takes about 4 hours to get to Shaxi Ancient Town by bus transfer and 2.5 hours by private car.

Check more about How to Get to Shaxi Ancient Town From Dali

How to Plan Your Kunming Dali Tour

Visitors usually arrive at Kunming first and have a 4-5 day bullet train tours at Kunming and Dali. Kunming, the capital of Yunnan, flowers perennially in bloom, visitors can spend 2 days here, use 1 day to pay a visit to the bird and flower markets, wandering around Green Lake or hike to the Western Hills to immerse in the beauty of the Spring City. Then take another day to fully appreciate the natural wonder Karst landform - Stone Forest and Jiuxiang Cave in suburbs of Kunming. Dali is a romance city and the ancient capital of Nanzhao Kingdom, needs about 2-3 days to explore. The extraordinary natural scenery of Cangshan Mountain and Erhai Lake, the colorful Bai ethnic culture and ethnic featured activities in Dali Old Town, Xizhou Village and Shaxi Ancient Town are all things you can’t miss.

4 Days Kunming & Dali Highlights Tour by High Speed Train

Furthermore, actually most visitors would continue their trip to Lijiang, another hot destination in Yunnan. The magnificent holy Jade Dragon Snow Mountain, turquoise lakes in Blue Moon Valley, beautiful and diverse landscape of Tiger Leaping Gorge all attracts countless visitors every year. If you have more days, a tour to “Shangri-La” - the world pure land would definitely highlight your trip.

6 Days Yunnan Essence Tour (Kunming / Dali / Lijiang)

8 Days Classic Yunnan Tour (Kunming / Dali / Lijiang / Shangri-La)

If you want to cover all the fantastic destination of Yunnan, arrange 11 days or longer will be great for the in-depth exploration. Highlight your trip by visiting photography paradises - Yunanyang and Dongchuan. Or if you want to enjoy tropical scenery, head south to the tropical kingdom Xishuangbanna or dreamlike land Puzhehei.

11 Days Amazing Yunnan Tour (Kunming / Jianshui / Yuanyang / Dali / Lijiang / Shangri-La)

Check More about How to Plan a Yunnan Tour

Stone Forest Kunming Stone Forest
Dali Dali in Yunnan
Lijiang in Yunnan Lijiang in Yunnan

Worry-free Travel with China Discovery

China Discovery has been the leading online travel agency for over 10 years and we are specialized in offering different tours in diverse Yunnan, including Kunming toursLijiang toursDali toursShangri-La toursYuanyang Rice Terraces tours, Dongchuan Red Land tours, Xishuangbanna tours...

No matter you want to put one simple destination into your trip or cover several destinations together or even extend your Yunnan tours all over China like Beijing, Xian, Guilin, Shanghai, Chengdu, Zhangjiajie, Hong Kong, Guizhou, Tibet, China Discovery can provide you best tour guides and experienced drivers with comfortable private cars in any of the destinations. Our English-speaking tour guide will accompany you all the way, showing you the best traveling route and telling beautiful stories of the colorful Yunnan. The tour can be tailor-made according to your group size, time, physical condition, plan, interests, budget and other special need. Please feel free to contact us if you need any help or customize the tour with free quotation!

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