Tips for a Visit to Putatso

Putatso National Park is located in the center of Three Parallel Rivers Protected Areas in Northwest Yunan Provice, consisting of Bitahai Natural Reserve, Shudu Lake Area in Red Mountaion district of the Three Parallel Rivers World Natural Heritage Area. Putatso National Park is the 1st national park in China, combining environmental protection, ecological and cultural tourism, environmental education and community benefit functions. It provide sightseeing opportunity to domestic and foreign tourists under the premise of protecting the nation and the world natural and cultural heritage.



Putatso Ntional Park is mainly composed of four sections. They are Shudu Lake, Bitahai Lake, Militang and Luorong Village, in which Shudu Lake and Bitahai Lake are two highland lakes. Militang is a highland pasture. Luorong Village is designed as the main shopping area in the whole scenic area. The scenic shuttle buses run between the 4 spots every day. Tourists could get on or off at the fixed stops at any time. In addition, Bitahai Lake is one of the holy lakds in local Tibetans. The Tibetans turn the wheel of scripture in a clockwise. Therefore, When tourists travel in Putatso National Park, they need to visit each spots also in a clockwise, like Shudu Lake, Militang, Bitahai Lake.

It will takes about 4-6 hours to visit all the spots in Putatso National Park. Generally speaking, tourists will take a scenic shuttle bus to visit the park. The entrance fee is CNY190 per person, inclunding admission and shuttle bus fare. If you are a student in China and hold your student ID, the admission can be halved. But the privilege is not valid for shuttle bus, although you hold a domestic student ID.

If you go into the park from Bitahai Lake Entrance (called South Line), the entrance is CNY30 per person, but it is only valid for Bitahai Lake Area. In this, you will not be allowed to visit further to Shuduhu Lake and other part of the National Park. If you enter the park from Bitahai Lake entrance, it is farther from the downtown of Shangri-la. Therefore, the transfer fee is higher. Therefore, we do not suggest you only visit Bitahai Lake.
 

Transportation

1.It takes about 40 minutes driving from downtown of Shangri-la to the parking lot of Putatso National Park. Road condition is good.

2.There are three ways of transportation

Rent a car
The most convenient and time-saving way.

By taxi
It takes about CNY50 per way per taxi. However, it is not that easy find taxi back to downtown after tour. If you decide to take taxi, it is better to write the taxi driver’s phone number. In case you can not find a taxi back, you could call to him to pick you up.

By local bus
There are buese between the downtown of Shangri-la and Putatso (Shuangqiao). The problem is that the time and shuttle are not fixed. If you are not familiar with it, you might miss the bus. The bus on this route is just for local villages’s convenience.

Note: Please do not hope to take a long-distance bus because the bus from Shangri-la to White Water Terrace or Luoji visa Putatso is not wiling to carry short-distance passenger.