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Photo by CEphoto, Uwe Aranas, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Best time to visit Dali
China · East Asia
All twelve months scored on daily temperature, rainfall, humidity and holiday crowding.
The year in Dali
Tap a month for its page
- JanJDali in January: good
- FebFDali in February: good
- MarMDali in March: sweet spot
- AprADali in April: good, busy
- MayMDali in May: sweet spot
- JunJDali in June: good
- JulJDali in July: avoid
- AugADali in August: avoid
- SepSDali in September: good
- OctODali in October: good
- NovNDali in November: good
- DecDDali in December: good
- Sweet spot
- Good
- OK
- Avoid
- Busy
Plan this trip
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Flights
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Where to stay
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Luxury
Things to do
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Travel insurance
Check whether your bank card or home insurance already covers this trip.
If the trip needs a visa, the travel agent or visa centre usually sells the cover it asks for.
Mobile data (eSIM)
Your own plan's EU roaming may already cover this.
Renting a pocket Wi-Fi is the other common way to stay connected.
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Month by month
No fare history for this route yet, so this ranking is climate and crowds only — the price column will fill in as the scanner collects.
| Month | Max °C | Rain days | Humidity | Sun h/day | Verdict | Why |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 14° | 2d | 67% | 9.7h | good | 14C max, 2 rainy days |
| Feb | 17° | 2d | 59% | 10.3h | good | 17C max, 2 rainy days |
| Mar | 20° | 2d | 57% | 10.6h | sweet spot | 20C max, 2 rainy days |
| Apr | 23° | 3d | 58% | 11.0h | goodbusy | busier than usual |
| May | 24° | 5d | 63% | 10.9h | sweet spot | 24C max, 5 rainy days |
| Jun | 25° | 9d | 74% | 10.2h | good | 25C max, 9 rainy days |
| Jul | 24° | 17d | 81% | 9.0h | avoid | monsoon: 17 rainy days, 220mm |
| Aug | 23° | 20d | 83% | 9.3h | avoid | monsoon: 20 rainy days, 263mm |
| Sep | 22° | 13d | 82% | 9.9h | good | 22C max, 13 rainy days |
| Oct | 20° | 9d | 81% | 9.3h | good | 20C max, 9 rainy days |
| Nov | 18° | 3d | 74% | 9.6h | good | 18C max, 3 rainy days |
| Dec | 15° | 1d | 71% | 9.6h | good | 15C max, 1 rainy day |
Rain days are the days with at least 1 mm of rain, as a weather station counts them.
Weather read at the old town, by Erhai Lake, 12 km from the city centre: ten years of ERA5 and ERA5-Land reanalysis, through Open-Meteo's open data.
A busy month is a crowded one, not a bad one — usually it is crowded because the weather is good. It is flagged rather than scored down, and crowds alone never make a month “avoid”: that is reserved for weather worth skipping.
How busy it gets
Then and now
Dali's June days now average 24.9°C, 2.2°C warmer than in 1981–1990. 10 of 12 months are clearly warmer.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1981–90 | 13.4° | 15.1° | 18.5° | 21.1° | 23.8° | 22.7° | 21.9° | 22.2° | 20.5° | 18.8° | 15.8° | 13.0° |
| 2017–26 | 14.4° | 16.7° | 20.1° | 22.7° | 24.4° | 24.9° | 23.7° | 23.2° | 22.5° | 20.2° | 17.6° | 15.1° |
| Change | +1.0° | +1.6° | +1.6° | +1.6° | +0.5° | +2.2° | +1.8° | +1.0° | +2.0° | +1.4° | +1.8° | +2.1° |
The average daily high, month by month, for the nearest ERA5 grid cell. Bold is a clear change; grey is within the ordinary spread between years. Every destination, ranked.
Getting there
How far Dali is, and what it costs, depends on where you set off from — the months above do not.
- from Kolkata
- from Bangkok
- from Hong Kong
- from Ho Chi Minh City
- from Taipei
- from Delhi
- from Hyderabad
- from Manila
Open in Rome2rio for every way from to Dali, flying or not.
Before you go
Type A and C and I plugs at 220 V. Drives on the right. The currency is the Renminbi. No UK Foreign Office advice against travel. Global Affairs Canada: Exercise a high degree of caution (with regional advisories). US State Department: Level 2: Exercise Increased Caution. Everything for China: cost of living, languages, emergency numbers and health.
Being there
On arrival
- Paying — Most payments are made by phone with Alipay or WeChat Pay: link a Visa, Mastercard or other foreign card to either app, then scan the shop's QR code. Many hotels and larger shops take foreign cards, but many places do not, so carry some yuan in case the apps fail you.
- UPI, for visitors from India — Not accepted for paying here; bring a card that works abroad.
- Tipping — Not expected in most restaurants and hotels, or in taxis; bars and cafeterias in hotels, and some other restaurants and bars, may add a 10-15% service charge.
Getting around Dali
- Apps — Rides: DiDi, Amap. Maps: Amap, Baidu Maps, Apple Maps. Messages: WeChat. Google and WhatsApp are blocked in mainland China, as are Facebook, YouTube and X; WeChat, Alipay and DiDi all work in English.
Dali Old Town is small enough to get around on foot, and being laid out in a grid format it is relatively easy to navigate. More on Wikivoyage
From the Wikivoyage article on Dali, written by travellers and licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Help
- Emergency — police 110 · ambulance 120 · fire 119. Traffic police are on 122.
TravelCharika is not an emergency service: we cannot call for help or send anyone. Numbers can change; if one fails, ask someone local or your hotel.
Your embassy — : how to reach your embassy or consulate abroad. A guess from your city, : a city is not a passport.
Put together by hand from the sources listed, checked 7 October 2026. Apps, cards and rules change, so check before you rely on one.
Sources (27)
- gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/china/getting-help
- gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/china/safety-and-security
- travel.gc.ca/destinations/china
- auswaertiges-amt.de/de/service/laender/china-node/chinasicherheit-200466
- english.shanghai.gov.cn/en-PaymentsInShanghai/20260920/f22b7e0f606c407e9da9d26b089eac48.html
- english.shanghai.gov.cn/en-PaymentMethods/20240313/6f4e58272f1a4cea9aec59c518915bdf.html
- english.shanghai.gov.cn/en-UsefulApps/20231214/3cac2d8cc7f847da92a72252bae06705.html
- english.shanghai.gov.cn/en-Latest-WhatsNew/20250627/d8f21f2e7d3b45a5b03757e35039b806.html
- english.shanghai.gov.cn/en-Latest-WhatsNew/20250614/a5c7bac93f024324ace770d3275d28b6.html
- english.shanghai.gov.cn/en-CIIE2025Service-Transport/20251017/c6c5ca124ee74e92a37244280c0983b9.html
- english.shanghai.gov.cn/en-Latest-WhatsNew/20240417/0444aa1c2f114f7eb66a0341b603bbbc.html
- english.shanghai.gov.cn/en-Latest-WhatsNew/20250711/8f2fcf3c6b624a56a6b2c0d8152ea2f2.html
- english.shanghai.gov.cn/en-FAQs-LivinginShanghai/20231214/6e73c9e64a174827beeb9b588af1255d.html
- english.beijing.gov.cn/latest/specials/essentialtipsfornewarrivals/transportation/202408/t20240830_3785706.html
- english.beijing.gov.cn/latest/news/202506/t20250616_4114250.html
- english.beijing.gov.cn/contactus/faqs/list/202602/t20260209_4502729.html
- english.beijing.gov.cn/livinginbeijing/transportation/beijingsubway/202409/t20240914_3891497.html
- english.beijing.gov.cn/consuminginbeijing/news/202410/t20241016_3921355.html
- english.visitbeijing.com.cn/article/47ONhboe35K
- apps.apple.com/us/app/didi-china-ride-hailing/id554499054
- apps.apple.com/us/app/amap-global/id461703208
- en.prnasia.com/releases/apac/tencent-announces-2026-second-quarter-results-543788.shtml
- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WeChat
- en.wikivoyage.org/wiki/China
- apple.com/ios/feature-availability
- pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=2286608
- rbidocs.rbi.org.in/rdocs/AnnualReport/PDFs/09PAYMENT290526C6588B796E664822A2BD0DEB6452CAD4.PDF
Dali in pictures
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CEphoto, Uwe Aranas, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
What Dali is like
Dali (大理; Dàlǐ) is a city in Yunnan Province in China famous for its old town and handicrafts. More on Wikivoyage
- Worth seeing
- Foreigner Street (洋人街) In the ancient city of Dali," the road" in the beginning of Yunnan people against Yuan Shikai proclaimed himself Emperor, named after the war of asylum. More on Wikivoyage
- Worth doing
- ClimbDali (大理攀岩), 393 Renmin Road. 20 rock climbing routes have already been bolted (Shuanglang and Binchuan) with potential for hundreds more. More on Wikivoyage
- Getting in
- Buses from Kunming West Bus Station take about 4½ hours and cost around ¥100 for an ordinary bus (as of March 2019) and around ¥130 for an express luxury bus, and will bring you to Xiaguan (Dali New City). More on Wikivoyage
- Staying safe
- There are a few scams and petty crime targeting tourists in Dali. More on Wikivoyage
From the Wikivoyage article on Dali, written by travellers and licensed CC BY-SA 4.0; the full article has far more. The numbers above are measured; this is experience.
Around Dali
Also in China
- Beijing best Apr, May, Jun
- Chengdu best Apr, May, Jun
- Chongqing best Mar, Apr, Jun
- Dalian best Apr, Jun, Jul
- Guilin and Yangshuo best Oct, Nov, Dec
- Hangzhou best Mar, Apr, May
- Harbin best Apr, May, Jun
- Kashgar best Mar, Apr, Jun
- Kunming best Feb, Mar, Apr
- Lhasa best Apr, Jun, Oct
- Lijiang best Mar, Apr, Nov
- Luoyang best Mar, Apr, May
- Nanjing best Mar, Apr, May
- Qingdao best Apr, Jun, Aug
- Quanzhou best Jan, Feb, Nov
- Sanya best Jan, Mar, Apr
- Shanghai best Mar, Jun, Nov
- Shangri-La best Jun, Sep, Nov
- Suzhou best Mar, May, Sep
- Xi'an best Mar, May, Jun
- Xiamen best Sep, Oct, Nov
Nearby
Kind of place
Dali is in China, East Asia. Distances are great-circle, so a short one can still be a long way round.
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