Having a plateau monsoon climate at low latitudes, Dali's weather fluctuates each season but with an annual mean temperature ranging from 12 C to 19  C (54 F-66 F). As such, Dali is a favorite tourist destination all year round and spring is usually deemed as the best season to visit Dali. Its rainy season begins in June and lasts till October. The hottest days are in July with average temperatures of 22 C (72 F) while the coldest in January at 8 C (46 F).

• Butterfly Spring
• Cangshan Mountain
• Dali Municipal Museum
• Erhai Lake
• Shibao Shan Rock Carvings
• Three Pagoda
• Xizhou

Stewed Carp Casserole
This dish is commonly served as a main course in Dali. It combines 28 different ingredients and numerous seasonings to create a dish that is both a treat for the taste-buds and nutritious.

Steamed Chicken
This typical Yunnan food is steamed in a pot using tender chicken and a variety of traditional Chinese herbs. This delectable dish is also said to have medicinal qualities.

Three Courses Tea
Tea is the most popular drink among the Bai people. The three servings of bitterness, followed by sweetness and finally an aromatic aftertaste are supposed to act as metaphors as part of a philosophy on life. One of the best places for visitors to sample the tea ceremony for themselves is Yan's Compound in Xizhou Village. Yan's is served by minibuses departing from both Xiaguan and Dali Ancient City. This type of ceremony can also be enjoyed on a number of the cruise ships on the Erhai Lake, and is often accompanied by performances of traditional Bai songs and dances.

Butter Tea
This is a tea traditionally made among the Tibetan communities. It is made from a combination of boiled yak butter mixed with salty tea.

By air
Located between Fengyi Town and Haidong Town, the Dali Airport (DLU) is 12 kilometers (7.5 miles) east of downtown Dali. There are scheduled flights from Dali to Kunming and Xishuangbanna daily taking thirty and fifty minutes respectively. The Dali-Guangzhou flight leaves once a day and takes about three hours. There are also flights to Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou with a forty-minute stop-over in Kunming.

By train
Trains run only between Dali and Kunming. There are five trains daily and travel time is about seven to nine hours. The earliest train leaves from Kunming at about 08:00 and the other four all run at night from 21:00 to 23:00.

Bird Bar
This place is popular in the evening. The owner really knows how to make the bar look like home.
The music suits the atmosphere. It is a good place to make new friends.
Type: bar
Address: No. 22, Ren Min Lu, Dali

Butterfly Dance
The Butterfly Dance was created based on the imagery of BYTHE BUTTERFLY SPRING (an interlude of famous film "Five Golden Flowers"). The Butterfly Dance has absorbed the essence of traditional dance technique of Bai. The dance displays the vitality of girls of Bai by using the skill of personification. The girls are singing and dancing vividly just likes butterfly playing beside the Butterfly Spring. This dreamful scene brings you into the wonderful scenery with mountains and rivers of Dali. Butterfly Dance got Excellence Prize in the Peacock Competition in China on October in 1998 and watched by more than one hundred thousand people in its performance.

Dali Torch Festival
The Yi and Bai communities in and around Dali, in the province of Yunnan, celebrate their annual Torch Festival with spectacular parades. Festival-goers carry towering beacons of fire and throw pine resin at the flames to create tumbling fireballs.
The Yi communities tend to celebrate the Torch festival on the 24th day of the sixth lunar month, followed by the Bai people on the 25th. Dali itself has a predominantly Bai population, so in 2008, the city celebrates the festival on 27 July.

Festival of the Third Month (Sanyue Jie)
Festival of the Third Month (Sanyue Jie) was first held in the Tang era (618-907) in honor of Guanyin, the Goddess of Mercy, which is why it is sometimes called the Guanyin Jie. This Festival - an open-air market which has been organized by the Bai in the west of Dali for more than 1000 years - is held annually on the 15th day of the third month (hence its name) and usually lasts for between five and seven days. Other national minorities, many of whom travel here from far afield, also take part wearing their festive costumes.

Water Splashing Festival
Water Splashing Festival is a once-a-year traditional festival of Dai (from April 13 to 15). It is also called “Lengheshanghan”, the June New Year or Dai Calendar New Year. It is in fact the New Year's Day in Dai calendar, and the New Year starts from June according to the calendar of Dai nationality.
Water Splashing Festival lasts for three days. Activities arranged on the first day include dragon boat, “rocket” shooting, and arts performance. On the second day, people splash water. On the third day, young lads and lasses play the game of “Throwing Bags” and do business.
At the beginning, the well-behaved Dai girls splash water with bamboo leaves or branches while saying words of blessings. When the festival reaches its climax, people splash water to each other with bowls, basins, even barrels. They play happily in the streets. Though wet completely, every one laughs happily. After splashing water, people of different ethnical groups, ages, occupations dance hand in hand in a circle with the accompaniment of gong and elephant-foot drums. Some even drink and dance all night long.