As a bid to increase tourism, Shangri-La in northwestern Yunnan, formerly called Diqing, was renamed in 2001 after the fictional place in the novel Lost Horizon by James Hilton. A gateway for travelers into Tibet, the town is as close as you can get to experiencing Tibet without actually being there. Six hours drive from Lijiang, Shangri-La is an ideal location to do trips to the nearby Ganden Sumtseling Monastery, Tiger Leaping Gorge, Pudacuo National Park, Napa Lake, Xiagei Hot Springs and Haba Village. 

If you are driving in from Lijiang, the road scales a bare plateau surrounded by mountains before arriving at this is the last major town before the Himalayas.  With the name Shangri-La, the town has much to live up to, perhaps a bit too much. The novel's description of this mythical valley, surrounded by mountains, is one of an earthly Himalayan utopia isolated from the outside world. Some travelers have criticized the town for not being "authentic", saying the newly constructed Tibetan style houses that line the cobbled streets are not as rustic or austere as they are intended to appear. The southern end of town is the place to go for a more dìdào experience among the mazes of cobbled streets in the remnants of the old town. Cafes, bars and hotels prevail at this end of town while the northern area tends to border a jungle of concrete. 

Shangri-La offers a good selection of places to stay—although the Shangri-La hotel chain is still sadly absent—and while the food is mainly typical Chinese fare, you can sit back sipping snow tea while chewing on a chunk of yak meat for a bit of a change of texture.

Archaeological evidence dates human existence in this area back to the Western Zhou Dynasty (1050 - 771 BC). For hundreds of years the area was home to several tribes. During the Han Dynasty (206BC - 220AD) Shangri-La finally made contact with Central China. Today, the town is more Tibetan than Han Chinese with Tibetan architecture, customs and most of the 130,000 population who celebrate New Year according to the Tibetan calendar. As tourism continues to increase, Shangri-La will continue to develop at a rapid rate.

Shangri-La is about 3,300 meters above the sea level. The weather has a tendency to be humid with temperatures varying both at night and during the four seasons. Winters are cold with lots of snow and summers are the rainy season. The best seasons to go are spring and autumn, specifically May to July and September to October. Although visits during Spring Festival are not recommend as temperatures are generally quite low and indoor heating is still somewhat hard to find in Shangri-La.