Kunming day tour with cloisonné coaster making workshop
Make a cloisonné coaster while you explore Kunming's temples, gardens and waterfalls
A private full-day Kunming tour with English-speaking guide, hotel pickup and drop-off, visiting Qiongzhu Temple (home to 500 Arhat clay sculptures), Black Dragon Pool Park's ancient gardens, and Kunming's largest urban artificial waterfall. The tour includes lunch, bottled water and a hands-on cloisonné coaster-making workshop led by a master craftsman, where you design and finish your own copper-wire artwork to take home. Eight hours total. Suitable for all fitness levels.
More experiences you might like
Kunming City Tour: Private Guide, Customizable ItineraryEvery day · 09:00 and 13:30★ 4.67 (3)4h–8hEN · ZHUS$ 44View ›
Kunming Tour: Daguan Pavilion, Yuantong Temple, Green LakeEvery day · 09:00 · All ages★ 5.00 (3)5hENUS$ 160View ›
Kunming Tile Cat Making: Craft Your Own Clay FigureEvery day · 09:00 and 13:304hEN · DE · VI · RU +7US$ 80View ›
Kunming Stone Forest Jiuxiang Private Day Tour: UNESCO KarstEvery day · 08:00 and 08:30 · All ages★ 5.00 (1)8h–9hUS$ 180View › Compare more experiences like this »
Step-by-step itinerary
Kunming cultural and natural highlights
- Hotel pickup at 09:00am
- Visit Bamboo Temple and 500 Arhat statues
- Walk in Black Dragon Pool Park garden
- See Asia’s largest urban artificial waterfall
- Attend cloisonné coaster-making workshop
The experience
How do you fit Kunming's temples, nature and a real craft skill into one day without rushing? This tour builds around the cloisonné workshop, a national intangible cultural heritage craft, so the morning and afternoon stops lead naturally into the hands-on work. Your guide picks you up from your hotel at 9am and takes you first to Qiongzhu Temple, where 500 clay Arhat sculptures carved over centuries fill the halls. The figures are praised as "Oriental Art Treasure" and the scale is the kind of thing that changes how you think about what one place can hold.
From there you walk into Black Dragon Pool Park, a classical garden built around twin ponds (one clear, one muddy) that never mix. The rare ancient trees scattered through it date back to the Tang, Song, Yuan and Ming dynasties, so you are literally walking past a thousand years of growth. The park sits quiet enough that you can actually hear the water and the birds, which matters after the temple crowds. Then you head to the urban park to stand in front of Asia's largest artificial waterfall and walk the bamboo trails along the lake: the kind of place where the light and the water make the photos look better than you expected.
The cloisonné workshop is where the day shifts from watching to making. A master craftsman walks you through the traditional filigree enamel technique: you design your coaster, shape the copper wires, fill in the colors and finish the piece yourself. It takes focus and care, but the result is something you made with your hands in a craft that has been refined for centuries. You take it home as proof you were there and learned something real. Lunch and bottled water are included throughout the day, and the air-conditioned vehicle means you are not sweating between stops.
What’s included
- Hotel pickup and drop-off at 9am.
- private air-conditioned vehicle for the full day.
- English-speaking guide.
- entry to Qiongzhu Temple and Black Dragon Pool Park.
- lunch and bottled water.
- hands-on cloisonné coaster-making workshop with materials and instruction from a master craftsman.
- your finished coaster to take home.
Options for this experience
10 optionsSee 7 more options
Before you book
Prices and times updated 7 days ago
Operated by Travel Around Yunnan
Is this one for you?Book this when you want a private guide steering you through temples, gardens, and a waterfall in one day, plus time in a cloisonné workshop to make something with your hands rather than just photograph it.
Traveler reviews
Top questions
Can children come?
Yes. Ticket types: Child (2 to 11 years); Infant (under 2): free.
What are the 500 Arhat statues at Qiongzhu Temple?
The Arhat sculptures are clay figures carved over centuries and displayed throughout Qiongzhu Temple. They are recognized as "Oriental Art Treasure" for their artistic and historical significance, and seeing all 500 of them in one place is the main reason most visitors come to the temple.
Do I actually make the cloisonné coaster myself, or watch a demonstration?
You make it yourself under the guidance of a master craftsman. You design the coaster, shape the copper wires, fill in the colors and finish the piece, so you leave with an artwork you created using this traditional filigree enamel technique.
How long does the cloisonné workshop take?
The workshop is built into the full eight-hour day, so there is time to learn the technique and complete your coaster without feeling rushed. The exact duration depends on your pace and the complexity of your design, but the guide structures the day so the workshop fits comfortably between the morning temple and garden stops and the afternoon waterfall and park time.
What is Black Dragon Pool Park like?
Black Dragon Pool Park is a classical garden centered on two ponds (one clear water and one muddy water) that flow side by side but never mix. Ancient trees from the Tang, Song, Yuan and Ming dynasties grow throughout the garden, creating a quiet, peaceful space where you can walk and photograph the landscape.
Kunming day tour with cloisonné coaster making workshop
8h · EN · at your hotel
from US$ 178 per person
4.502 reviewsVerified traveler reviews via our booking provider