Kunming guide
Kunming sits at 1,890 m with a plateau climate, which is why it is called the Spring City. The catch is that the sun is stronger and the days swing further than the monthly average suggests.
The dry season runs from late October to April. Days are clear and sunny, typically 17 to 24 C in the city, with cold nights that can drop near 5 C in December and January. This is the best travel window and the reason most itineraries target January to March.
The rainy season runs from May to October. It is not monsoon flooding; it is afternoon rain, often heavy and brief, with temperatures still around 19 to 23 C. It rarely spoils a day, but it does make mountain roads slower and the Stone Forest paths slippery.
Winter gulls arrive at Dianchi from November, and the plateau light in the dry season is the best of the year for photography.
Dali is warmer and drier than Kunming, and the lake keeps winters mild. Lijiang is cooler, around 3 to 5 C lower, and the old town is damp in the evenings. Shangri-La is a different climate entirely: 3,280 m, near freezing at night even in summer, and snow on the peaks in any month.
If you are combining the plateau with the city, do the high-altitude leg after the low-altitude one, and give the plateau a day to acclimatise before driving to a park at 3,500 m.