Deqin

Deqin is a small city with an 80% Tibetan population, located at an altitude of 3550 meters in the north of Yunnan province in China.

It lies in a small valley adjoining the Mekong River Gorge and the surrounding mountains offer some of the most beautiful scenery and best trekking in all of China. Despite that, the area gets very few visitors due to its altitude and its remote location, the end of the road from Kunming through Dali, Lijiang and Shangri-La. Due to its high altitude, Deqin never really gets hot, the summers are warm with a lot of rain, while the winters are very cold and very dry. Despite the cold, winter is actually the best time for trekking, because it is lack of rain.