For the last three articles, I've been solving other people's travel puzzles. A family of four to Japan. A couple in Waikiki. A solo loop through the Dolomites.
This time, the assignment was different: same 200,000 points, same $2,000, same Thanksgiving-week window... but the trip is whatever I'd book for myself.
Easy. I'm going to China.
China is my happy place. I've been almost 20 times, I've visited nearly every province, and I've spent more time in China over the last 12 months than at my own home.
Specifically, we're going to Yunnan province, in China's mountainous southwest.
Here's why:
It's incredibly unique, and a short amount of time goes a long way there. I want travel that challenges me and feeds me food I can't pronounce yet.
And, most relevant for this series: points and money go absurdly far in China. The kind of luxury hotel that costs 50,000 points a night in North America or Europe costs 5,000 there.
But the biggest reason is one every other article in this series ran into headfirst:
Nobody is fighting over award space.
Japan, Hawaii, and Italy all had the same core problem. It's peak travel week, and everyone with a points balance is chasing the same seats to the same places on the same days.
Mainland China? Wide open, cheap, and easy. You'll see.
The ground rules
Same deal as the other three articles: 200,000 points, $2,000 cash, up to three cards, and the whole trip inside the November Thanksgiving week travel window. I'm required to start from the West Coast, and chose Los Angeles.
My three points sources: a Citi card earning ThankYou points, the Chase Sapphire Reserve®, and any Bilt card.
Across the Pacific for 27k each way
The backbone of the trip is Cathay Pacific, round trip from Los Angeles to Hong Kong, at 27,000 Asia Miles each way in economy.
Here's the outbound on November 20. 👇
And the return on the 29th. 👇
That's 54,000 miles round trip across the Pacific during Thanksgiving week.
And Asia Miles is one of the friendliest currencies in the game: you can transfer from American Express, Capital One, Citi, and Bilt. Chase is the only major program that doesn’t have it.
I'm using ThankYou points, and there's a specific reason for that… which you’ll see later.
Now, the catch: The taxes and fees are $502 round trip. 😬
That's pretty steep, and it's mostly because Cathay just raised fuel surcharges this month in response to the Iran War and resulting oil crisis.
These should come back down over time. Even at $502, the total cost of getting across the Pacific and back is hard to argue with.
And here's the best part: award space is wide open.
Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle... every single day that week. If you have extra PTO, you can shift this entire trip in either direction and book the same flights whenever you want.
Getting into Yunnan
From Hong Kong, it's a quick evening hop to Kunming, the gateway to Yunnan, on China Eastern for $177.
Here’s a quick booking tip that will save you real money for the rest of your life: book flights, hotels, and trains within China through Trip.com.
It's the one site with access to the cheapest fares on Chinese airlines, and portals will charge you at least double for the same seats. It's also how you'll book China's trains, which are fast, easy, and shockingly pleasant.
Kunming: the city of eternal spring
Kunming sits at altitude near the Tropic of Cancer, which translates to perfect weather basically year-round. After a long travel day, this is where we slow down: two nights of great food, old walking streets, and relaxing parks.
The home base is the Grand Hyatt Kunming, a legitimate luxury tower in the heart of the city, for 6,000 World of Hyatt points a night. 👇
Two nights will cost 12,000 points, transferred from the Sapphire Reserve.
That's what a Category 1 airport hotel costs in the U.S. This is what I mean about points going further here.
The $20 train to Dali
From Kunming, we take the train to Dali. There are over 100 daily departures on this route, so "availability" is not a word you'll need. Expect to pay somewhere between $17 and $23. 👇
Let’s call it $20.
Dali, my favorite place in China
Dali is a hipster town on the shore of the enormous Erhai Lake, where finance bros go after they quit their Shanghai jobs to live simply and open a cafe or something.
Walking around, it feels more like Vancouver than any other Chinese city I've been to.
And there's no better place to stare at that lake than the brand-new Hotel Indigo Dali Erhai, at 17,500 IHG points a night. I stayed there last year and it was lovely.
Here's where a familiar friend shows up: the 100% transfer bonus from Chase to IHG One Rewards, which I've leveraged in every single one of these trip articles.
With the bonus, two nights costs 17,500 Ultimate Rewards points total. And even without it, you'll see by the end that the budget had room for both nights at full price anyway.
Now, what to do in Dali.
Hike the cloud forest trail. It climbs past 10,000 feet through cliff walks and misty forest, with none of the crowds that swarm China's famous scenic areas. It's dreamy, and I love it.
Back down the mountain, head to the Three Pagodas scenic area, which is stunning. There are also wild foxes that hang out there. They're very cute.
End the night in Dali Ancient City with a beer at the Monkey Bar.
Nobody else will be there except the owners, who will grill tofu on a smoky little grill inside the bar and offer you an endless supply of cigarettes. I spent a few hours there drinking with them and listening to Tool before stumbling back to my hotel.
I cannot promise your night will go exactly like that. But I can't promise it won't. 🤷🏼♂️
Business class costs $35 now
The next morning, grab a Luckin Coffee and get on the train to Lijiang.
You can sleep off the Monkey Bar in business class, which looks like this:
It also costs a grand total of $35.
Yup. That's why we love China.
Lijiang for less than $2
Lijiang is the most famous corner of Yunnan, and it earns it. The entire old city is a UNESCO World Heritage site, and you can spend hours getting lost in the maze of the ancient town.
You can also sleep right in the heart of it, at a brand-new Mercure. 👇
Here's where the Bilt card gets its moment, with the same Accor math from my Dolomites hotel in the Italy article: Accor points wipe €40 off your bill per 2,000 points, and Bilt transfers at 3:2.
The two-night total, with taxes, is €121.48.
Transfer 9,000 Bilt points into 6,000 Accor points, knock €120 off the bill, and pay the remaining €1.48 out of pocket.
Two nights in a UNESCO old town for 9,000 points and about $2? Sounds pretty darn good to me.
While you're in Lijiang: go see Jade Dragon Snow Mountain, which does not look real in person. And catch Impression Lijiang, an outdoor performance with hundreds of performers and the actual mountain as the backdrop.
The flight out, and why I picked ThankYou points
Getting from Lijiang back to Hong Kong on November 27 is the one expensive flight inside China, at around $242 cash.
Thankfully, Air France/KLM Flying Blue prices that same China Eastern route at just 13,500 miles.
And remember how I said there was a reason we've been using Citi ThankYou points? Right now there's a 20% transfer bonus from ThankYou points to Flying Blue.
That drops the real cost to 11,250 ThankYou points, plus $41.90 in taxes. 👇
One currency covering both the Cathay long-haul and the Flying Blue hop, with a transfer bonus on top. That's why it pays to have a stash of ThankYou points.
Two nights in Hong Kong to finish up
Before recrossing the Pacific, we finish with two nights at the Hyatt Centric Victoria Harbour, one of my go-to hotels in Hong Kong, at 12,000 Hyatt points a night on our dates. 👇
That's 24,000 more points from the Sapphire Reserve®, and two days is enough time to hike up to Victoria Peak and eat a couple of great dinners in Tsim Sha Tsui.
Dinner recommendation: La Vache. There's one thing on the menu, steak and duck fat fries, and my mouth is watering as I type this sentence.
Then it's the 12:35 p.m. Cathay flight home, which lands in Los Angeles at 9:15 a.m. on Sunday morning.
The damage
Points: 54,000 (ThankYou → Cathay) + 11,250 (ThankYou → Flying Blue) + 36,000 (Ultimate Rewards → Hyatt, Kunming and Hong Kong) + 17,500 (Ultimate Rewards → IHG) + 9,000 (Bilt → Accor) = 127,750
Cash: $502 (Cathay taxes) + $177 (Hong Kong–Kunming) + $20 (train to Dali) + $35 (business class train) + $2 (Mercure balance) + $41.90 (Flying Blue taxes) = $778
Bottom Line
As you can see, I spent nearly 1/3 of the cash budget and have more than 70,000 points left from the points budget…
That leftover cash covers every meal, every attraction ticket, every Luckin run, and the entire Impression Lijiang show, with room to spare. Or bank it all and you're already a third of the way to the next trip.
That’s why I travel to places like this. You don’t need 200k points and $2,000 to have an amazing luxurious trip. One credit card offer and a few hundred bucks can take care of the whole thing.
