Kunming · Dali · Lijiang · Shangri-La

Your own car and driver in Yunnan.

We plan your trip day by day around your family — kids, elders, halal food, your pace. You get a private car, a clear price, and a local friend on WhatsApp.

Tell us your dates and group size.
We reply with a day-by-day plan. Or use a form
No group toursNo shopping stopsNo markup on tickets or hotelsHalal-friendly
山水Yunnan is mountains and water. Turn the E and it's a mountain; turn the S and it's water. ES Journey — a journey between mountains and water.
Airport pickup
¥300 per trip
7-seater · 9-seater ¥400
Private car by the day
from ¥580 / day
5-seater in one city · 7-seater from ¥880
Local friend on WhatsApp
¥300 / day
Optional · in English, the whole trip

The price is for the car, not per person — kids don't change it. Fuel, tolls, parking and the driver's meals and hotel are included.

How it works

Plan first. Then a price you can check.

Car prices depend on days, car size and cities. So we never guess — we plan your route, then quote it line by line.

1

Tell us about your trip

Dates, how many of you (kids' ages too), which cities — or "not sure yet". Halal food, a baby, a wheelchair, an easy pace? Tell us.

2

Get a day-by-day plan

We build your trip one day at a time: what to see, how long it takes, where to eat halal, when to take the train instead of the car.

3

Get a clear price

We match the right car and send an itemised quote. A 30% deposit locks your car and dates. The rest is paid on your first car day.

What you pay for

We only charge for the car and our time.

What we charge

  • Your private car and driverFuel, tolls, parking, driver's meals and hotel included
  • Airport and train station transfers
  • Local friend serviceOptional — ¥300 a day
  • Overtime, only if it happensA car day is 9 hours; the first extra hour is free

What you pay directly, at the real price

  • Tickets and activities
  • Trains and flights
  • Hotels
  • Meals and coffee
  • Travel insuranceWe recommend you bring your own

We can book any of these for you — and we never add a markup. No commissions. No shopping stops. What you see in the quote is everything.

Two ways to travel with us

Just the car, or the car plus us.

Option A

Private car

Car + local driver
  • Your own car and driver, on your schedule
  • Day-by-day route planned with you before the trip
  • Airport and station transfers on the plan
  • We're reachable for emergencies

Our drivers are local and don't speak English — once your plan is set, you'll chat with them using a translation app.

Most families choose this
Option B

Private car + local friend

Option A + ¥300 a day
  • Us on WhatsApp, in English, every day of your trip
  • Daily plan and timing sent the night before
  • Halal restaurants picked and booked
  • Tickets and hotels booked for you
  • Food or medicine delivered to your hotel
  • We call in Chinese, handle changes and emergencies

Picture it: 9pm, the kids are hungry and nothing looks right. You message us — we find the place, call them, send you the pin.

Not a guide who talks at you — a local friend who gets things done for you.

A real quote, worked out

Classic Yunnan in 8 days.

2 adults and 2 kids, 7-seater car, outside peak season. This is exactly how we'd price it.

  1. Day 1 Land in Kunming — airport pickup to your hotel
  2. Day 2 High-speed train to Dali · Erhai Lake by car
  3. Day 3 Dali Old Town, Xizhou and the lakeside
  4. Day 4 Dali → Lijiang
  5. Day 5 Jade Dragon Snow Mountain
  6. Day 6 Tiger Leaping Gorge → Shangri-La
  7. Day 7 Pudacuo & Songzanlin Monastery · evening train to Kunming
  8. Day 8 Stone Forest · airport drop-off
Quote breakdown
Private car, Day 2–8 · 7 days × ¥1,180¥8,260
Day 1 airport pickup¥300
Day 2 Kunming station drop-off¥300
Day 7 Kunming station pickup¥300
Option A · Private car¥9,160
Local friend service · 8 days × ¥300¥2,400
Option B · Car + local friend¥11,560

About ¥286 per person per day for A, ¥361 for B. Tickets, trains, hotels and meals are paid directly at the real price.

Tiger Leaping Gorge, high trail. This is where we spend our days off — and where we'll happily send you.

Our guests

Families who've travelled with us.

140+ private trips since March 2026 — families from Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and beyond. Grandparents, toddlers, first trips to China.

More real trips, every week: Instagram TikTok YouTube
Halal in Yunnan

We plan halal food ahead, not on the spot.

Every city on your route gets pre-researched halal restaurants and the nearest mosque, sent to you with the Chinese name and a map pin — so any driver or taxi can find it.

Kunming

Lots of choice

The most options in Yunnan. Mosques and halal restaurants right in the city centre around Shuncheng — Chinese dishes, Dai-style, Middle Eastern, beef noodles.

Dali

Plenty

Mosques by the Old Town's south and west gates, with halal hotpot, noodles and Chinese dishes nearby. More in Xizhou and Weishan.

Lijiang

Plenty

Many halal restaurants around the Old Town, Shuhe and Baisha, a mosque near the Old Town — and a halal restaurant up at Jade Dragon Snow Mountain.

Shangri-La

Fewer — we plan ahead

A handful of halal places in Dukezong Old Town and near Songzanlin Monastery. We plan these meals before you arrive.

We say "pre-researched", not "guaranteed". Restaurants open and close, so we check before we send you — and we'll always tell you honestly when an area has fewer choices.

Eric and Sandy at Meili Snow Mountain, Yunnan
Your local friends in Yunnan

Hi, we're Eric and Sandy.

Eric came to Yunnan in 2012. Apart from 2 years working in Kuala Lumpur, he's been here ever since — a hiker at heart who spends his days off on mountain trails, from Tiger Leaping Gorge to Meili Snow Mountain. Sandy, his wife, is from Thailand.

Friends from Singapore and Malaysia kept asking us the same thing: how do we see Yunnan properly — with the kids, with halal food, without a tour bus?

ES Journey is our answer. A small team based in Kunming plans every trip by hand, works with drivers we know, and stays on WhatsApp with you until you're home.

140+private trips planned
12years living in Yunnan
0shopping stops. Ever.
Questions families ask

Good to know.

Is the price per person? Do kids pay?

The price is for the car, not per head — kids don't change it. We show a per-person number only so you can compare.

Does the driver speak English?

Honestly, no. Our drivers are local and use a translation app. That's exactly why Option B exists: we're on WhatsApp in English for your whole trip.

Is the food 100% halal?

We pre-research halal restaurants in every city and book ahead. We'll always tell you honestly when an area has fewer choices, so you're never guessing on the spot. For halal families, we brief the driver too: no pork in the car.

Can we change the plan during the trip?

Of course — it's your car. Small changes are easy. If a change makes a day much longer or adds a city, we'll tell you the cost before anything happens.

Can you book hotels, trains and tickets?

Yes. You pay the real price — we don't add anything on top.

How do we pay?

A 30% deposit locks your car and dates. The rest is paid by the end of your first car day. We accept Alipay and WeChat Pay — both work with foreign bank cards.

What if we need to cancel?

Cancel 7 days or more before your trip and you get everything back. Inside 7 days, we only keep costs already paid out for you — like the driver hold — and refund the rest, with the breakdown. Flight cancelled, road closed, someone gets sick? Tell us and we'll sort it out fairly; usually that's a full refund. You can change dates once for free within the same season.

Is there a peak-season charge?

During China's Golden Week (1–7 October), summer holidays (July–August) and Chinese New Year, there's ¥200 per car day. It's always shown in the quote.

Get your plan

Tell us your dates. We'll do the rest.

Send us your dates, how many of you, and which cities you have in mind. We'll send back a day-by-day plan and a clear price.

+86 183 1452 6740

Not ready to chat yet? Send us your trip details with a short form — we'll WhatsApp you back.

Scan to chat on WhatsApp
Plan my trip on WhatsApp