Naxi Courtyard Interwoven with Light and Shadow
Night Stay at Boxinyunshe: A Dreamy Courtyard in the Flickering Lights of Lijiang Old Town🏮
🌙 When the last glow of the sunset disappears behind Jade Dragon Snow Mountain, Lijiang Old Town begins a magnificent transformation. This time, I discovered a hidden gem of a guesthouse—Boxinyunshe, the perfect spot to enjoy the ancient town’s night view!
Naxi Courtyard Interwoven with Light and Shadow
💫 Stepping into Boxinyunshe feels like entering a dream woven with light and shadow. The bluestone path is illuminated by warm lantern light, and the pool in the courtyard reflects the paper lanterns hanging from the eaves. The shimmering water makes the entire courtyard seem to float above the starlight. The most stunning feature is the exquisite lighting design here, which abandons harsh main lights in favor of hidden light strips, table lamps, and wall lamps to create a richly layered light and shadow effect.
🐟 The pool is like a fairy’s spilled glass mirror, perfectly “copy-pasting” Lijiang’s blue sky and white clouds into the water! Lanterns and buildings are reflected on the surface, fish swim leisurely beneath, and every shot feels like a cinematic masterpiece. Occasionally, playful birds skim the water, creating ripples that turn the reflected sky and clouds into glowing jelly.
Perfect Night View Photo Spots
📸 At Boxinyunshe, every corner is a fantastic photo spot:
· By the courtyard pool: The water reflects lanterns and buildings, making every shot atmospheric. Stand under the round arch by the pool and use the doorway as a natural frame to capture the “Sky City” and “Water Illusion” in one click!
· On the second-floor carved railing: From here, you can overlook the entire courtyard’s night scene, with carved window lattices casting mottled shadows under the lights.
· Rooftop viewing platform: The moment you step onto the rooftop, the entire old town’s roofs spread out before you, with black tiles arranged like fish scales, dotted with orange lights resembling a starry sky on earth.
· Book bar area: Wooden beams, bookshelves, and warm lights create a gentle scene. Sit here, brew a pot of Dianhong tea, and feel time slowly flow.
👗 Highly recommend wearing a light-colored long dress or Hanfu, which matches the blue and white gradient background like milk tea with pearls~ Taking photos here to share on social media will instantly earn you compliments like “Did you go study in a fairyland?”
Ethnic Costume Photo Experience
👑 We specially rented ethnic costumes outside to shoot inside the guesthouse. Boxinyunshe inherits the characteristics of Naxi residences, with Dongba pillars, a Dongba exhibition hall, and Dongba calligraphy and paintings in the courtyard that attract visitors. The ancient architecture’s flying eaves and upturned corners, the fragrant flowers filling the courtyard, and the scenic views at every step all exude Naxi ethnic charm, perfectly blending with our ethnic costumes.
💡 Lijiang also offers professional ethnic costume photography services, where you can choose traditional Naxi, Tibetan, and other costumes. Under the guidance of professional photographers, you can capture unforgettable images in the old town or at the foot of the snow mountain. However, at a guesthouse like Boxinyunshe, which naturally exudes a fairy-like aura, every casual shot is a masterpiece!
Best Time to Experience the Night View
🕐 It’s recommended to return to the guesthouse at dusk to enjoy the sky woven with orange and golden-purple hues as the sun sets, along with the warm glow bathing the guesthouse. The guesthouse lights usually turn on at dusk and off around 10 PM, so plan your viewing time accordingly.
🌇 Arriving at dusk is especially magical—the sunset paints the clouds in peach oolong colors, and when the lanterns light up, the water instantly becomes a “double sky” — the upper half is a live sunset, the lower half a light show!
Lijiang Travel Tips
🚶 Exploring the Old Town: Follow the local advice to “enter downstream, exit upstream” when touring the old town to avoid getting lost. Sifang Street is the heart of the old town, preserving buildings from years ago. Three water channels flow through the street, carrying crystal-clear snowmelt from the mountains.
🍵 Bar Experience: From Boxinyunshe, you can easily walk to the bar area near Sifang Street. Recommended bars include Sakura House, a classic quiet bar; Da Bing’s Little House, a literary gathering spot; and Bamboo Book Bar, where you can listen to folk songs while enjoying the old town’s night view.
🏔️ Nearby Attractions:
· Jade Dragon Snow Mountain: Take the cable car to Glacier Park (4,680 meters elevation), then visit Blue Moon Valley for stunning snow mountain reflections.
· Baisha Ancient Town: A Naxi indigenous living area, quieter and less commercialized than Shuhe.
· Lugu Lake: Plan 2 days and 1 night to experience cycling around the lake, pig trough boat sunrise viewing, and Mosuo bonfire parties.
Accommodation Insights
🏡 Boxinyunshe consists of five courtyards and a small Naxi courtyard, covering over 3,000 square meters! Yet, it only has 32 master bedrooms, each over 50 square meters, offering an extremely comfortable stay.
💡 If you can’t book Boxinyunshe, you can also choose other Naxi-style guesthouses within the old town or accommodations in Baisha/Shuhe, which are better suited for travelers seeking tranquility.
The night at Boxinyunshe is not only a visual feast but also a spiritual cleansing. Here, night is not the end of the day but the beginning of another existence—at the flickering lights, meet your original self.