Yulong Xue Shan, as it’s known in Chinese, is very scenic and one of the area’s premier tourist attractions; it has also become quite expensive to visit, so be prepared. The Park actually contains a series of peaks, the most famous being the iconic Shanzidou which can be seen from Lijiang City itself. You can go by quasi-public minibus, by taxi, by private car engaged for the day, or on a tour. Before the more detailed information, let’s get a summary of fees (as of November 2011) right out front:
--Transportation to the park: cheapest is public minibus #7 one-way at RMB 15, taxi one-way is about RMB 100, private car/driver waiting for you RMB several hundred+, and tour bus included in overall price.
--Park Entry Fee: RMB 105.
--Old Town Preservation Fee: RMB 80 (show receipt if you already purchased and you won’t be hit for this again)
--Cable Car Fee for High Peak/Glacier (Ganhaizi then up mountain): RMB 160 round trip
--Cable Car Fee for either Cloud Meadow (Yunshanping) or Yak Meadow (Maoniuping) or Blue Moon Valley (Lanyue); RMB 60 round trip
--Shuttle Ecobus Fee (now required to get from Visitors Center to Cable Car staging): RMB 20 round trip.
--Impressions Lijiang Show Fee: RMB 190 regular seating, RMB 260 VIP.

So, somebody who wants to come and head up to the most popular venue, the high mountain, would have into this venture RMB 105 + 160 + 20 + transport at a minimum. Plus OTPF RMB 80 unless previously obtained.

Regardless of transport method, all vehicles will be stopped at the Park entrance gate and attendants will come around to collect the Park Entry Fee and (if you can’t produce your OTPF receipt), that one as well. After monies have been collected and tickets issued to you, your transportation will continue on a few km, to the parking lots for the various Visitors Centers. This is where it gets confusing. If you are on a tour or using a private driver that knows what your plans are, they’ll take you to the right lot for your destination. If on minibus #7 or a self-engaged taxi, you’ll need to tell them where you want off as follows:
--For Impressions Lijiang Show, get off at first lot (Parking Lot #3). If you already have shuttle bus/cable car tickets (obtained from an agent in advance) for Cloud Meadow or Yak Meadow, also get off here. If you follow the lot around to where it turns into path, you’ll see the amphitheater for the show, the ticket booth for show tickets, and also the support buildings for queueing for the Cloud and Yak Meadow shuttles.
--For the high Peak/Glacier with advance tickets, and for all shuttle/cable car tickets to be purchased on the spot, get off at the second entry. Ticketing booth for real-time sales will be just on your right inside the entrance. The building at the back with the totem-pole looking thing on the top is the Visitor Center/queuing area for shuttles for the main Peak (the expensive one). For just-purchased shuttle/cable car tickets for Cloud/Yak Meadow, use the road/path that curves to the right of the totem pole building to get around back to those staging areas. For just-purchased shuttle/cable car tickets for Blue Moon Valley, when facing the totem pole building, to your left is a small non-public parking lot—cross it to the other end and follow a path to the next entry/parking area. Just across from the path outlet is a busy doorway into another building complex that contains a ton of restaurants. Elbow your way all the way to the other end and the queuing area for Blue Moon shuttles will be there, as will another large parking lot.

This is the current set-up, and to me seemed a bit of an unnecessarily convoluted organization, especially for independent foreign travelers. However, most gate or booth staff can point you in the right direction, non-Chinese speakers should have handy the place they want to end up in Chinese characters.

There is plenty of information on the internet about the various areas within JDSM Park, so readers can delve deeply on their own. In general though;
--Ganhaizi Grassland/Glacier/High Peak is the most popular and most expensive to visit, but has some stupendous views. The cable car will take you to a point where you still have some uphill walking to do if you want. Altitude is nearly 4500 meters, and some people have trouble with this. Oxygen canisters are available for sale should you need it. It will be cold and you will need a heavy coat, even if the temperature in Lijiang and in the base of the mountain/staging area is comfortable. Coats are available for rent, useful if you are coming during non-winter months and wouldn't normally be traveling with your own coat.

--Cloud Meadow is very popular and can get really crowded with big Chinese tour groups. 3200 meters and some hiking available.
--Yak Meadow is farther away—shuttle buses take as much as 25-30 minutes longer to get there, but this makes it the least crowded of the feature areas, and also the best for hiking if you have the time. 3650 meters.
--Blue Moon Valley is getting more popular, has a series of very blue lakes and some decent hikes available.

Queueing: Expect queues to get on the shuttle buses that take you from the appropriate visitor center to the actual cable car area. Possibly little or no queues in winter non-holiday periods. To control access in some sort of rational way, visitors buying shuttle/cable car tickets for the feature areas are given time slots for departure from the visitors center. Normally, tour groups will be shepherded through first as their slots are part of their pre-arrangement. But independent travelers will receive a time slot where they can be fitted in, capacity permitting. During busy season, the wait to get on a shuttle bus to the cable cars can be a couple of hours + for an independent. To avoid this, be prepared to get to the Park when it opens (08:00, I think) and get tickets so you can head up to the place of your choice immediately, before the groups arrive. This is less of a problem during winter visits with fewer crowds.

Return Transport: For the independent visitor who took public transport (minibus #7 or taxi) out to the Park, transport back to Lijiang city can be somewhat annoying. First of all, very little shared transport heads back from the park until about 15:00. And taxis are also sparse until then. Lots of people heading back 15:00-17:00. So, if you want or need to return to Lijiang city earlier, you may have to wait awhile to scrape up enough people to share a minibus or taxi, or be willing to pay about RMB 100 to get yourself back with no other passengers. During the lunch period (noon-13:30 pm), drivers are all eating and/or snoozing, so you will see tons of parked minibuses and taxis with nary a driver to be seen. During this time, standing by the side of the main Park road and flagging down any empty taxi, or anything that looks like it might be heading to Lijiang is a strategy that has a 50/50 chance of working with a less-than 20-minute wait.

If you aren’t on a tight budget, and/or have at least 2-3 people to share the cost, I’d recommend saving return transport time and angst and at least hiring a private driver for the day to take you there and pick you up. Preferably while waiting out there, in case your plans require an earlier return to Lijiang than you had originally planned. Imperative to have a mobile phone and have the drivers phone number as well. I’m not normally a tour groupie, but if you can locate a day tour that is going to where you want to go within JDSM Park, it might be worth considering. Based on raw costs identified above, you can calculate if the all-inclusive tour price has enough value-added (and convenience) to make it worthwhile.

Impressions Lijiang

This is an extravaganza produced by Zhang Yimou of cinema and Beijing Olympic Opening Ceremonies fame. It takes place in a purpose-built amphitheater with Shanzidou peak looming in the background above. The cast consists of about 500 male and female members—mostly minorities from the area—who perform a cultural show of various songs and dances. I went to JDSM Park specifically to see this show, and quite enjoyed it even though it is a bit pricey. I would recommend it to others, especially if you have a nice day. The show goes on rain or shine (on a rainy day, rain gear is distributed to the audience as no umbrellas are allowed.) The day I went was stunningly beautiful—not a cloud in the blue sky—and not too cold. The mountain in the background had a good deal of snow on it already, which is a plus for visiting in late fall, winter, or very early spring. My criticisms of the show are not dealbreakers: a) too short; it was not quite 70 minutes and I think the price justifies 90 minutes; b) not enough big musical numbers from the ladies, I thought the various show numbers were a little too male-dominant (though still excellent); c) weaker ending than I expected given Zhang Yimou, I wanted a Big Bang finale.

Tip: There is no need to spring for VIP seating. If you buy the regular seating at RMB 190, then about 20 minutes ahead of show time, enter the amphitheater, you’ll pretty much have your pick of seats. Doing this, I got perfect seats at the center aisle, towards the back of the lower section (good view of entire stage area as well as mountain behind). The amphitheater tends to fill up only within 5 minutes ahead of show start. I tried to purchase a ticket in advance in Lijiang, only to be rebuffed at both hotel and Lijiang tourist information center—they said, just get at the venue. Which I did, no problem about 30 minutes before show time—there is a ticket booth outside the amphitheater. Minibus and private drivers have quasi-shady deals where they can get tickets for about RMB 170 or 180—but origin is suspect and I recommend you avoid this gambit. In busier tourist season, my guess is that one can and should buy tickets to this show in advance, in Lijiang, either directly or through an agent.

Current show times are daily, 09:00, 11:00, and 14:00. But this can change so you must check with hotel or visitor’s information in Lijiang once you arrive in the city. It is logical to combine a trip to the show with a trip to one of the Park’s feature areas—so if you want to do this, go for the 09:00 show and head out early from Lijiang (07:00 for the minibus #7, by 08:00 for private car). Or get to the Park very early at 08:00 opening time to head to Mountain or Meadow, then go for the 14:00 show.

One final and most important piece of advice: If you are in Lijiang City looking at Shanzidou peak and the top is covered with clouds, do not waste your time or money going up the mountain, as you won’t be able to see anything except your immediate surroundings. Even the lower Meadow areas are not optimum when the weather isn’t clear, so skipping the Park that day might be the best plan. The corollary to this is that you should be flexible enough in your day-by-day plans so that if you get a really nice clear day as seen at sunrise, rearrange if you must and use the good day to see this Park.