Black Dragon Pool Park (黑龙潭)

Black Dragon Pool Park (黑龙潭, Hēilóngtán) sits barely 1km north of Lijiang Old Town, at the foot of Xiangshan Mountain. It is not a big site — you can walk end to end in 20 minutes — but it delivers the single most famous photograph in Yunnan: Jade Dragon Snow Mountain reflected in a still, spring-fed pool. On a clear winter morning, the water is glass, the mountain glows white against blue sky, and the shot requires zero editing. Come too late and the breeze kills it.

The pool itself is the headwaters of Lijiang's canal system — the same water that gurgles through the Old Town's cobblestone lanes starts here. Two pools sit side by side: one deep and crystalline, one shallow and yellowish, yet the water never mixes. Locals describe the boundary line as a natural Taiji diagram (太极图, Tàijí Tú). Flanking the deep pool is the Black Dragon Palace (黑龙宫, Hēilóng Gōng), a temple to the Dragon King built in 1394 during the Ming Dynasty — modest, atmospheric, and usually empty. Nearby, three ancient trees (三异木, Sān Yì Mù) from the Tang, Song, and Ming dynasties share a single courtyard, a botanical timeline most visitors walk right past.

Entry is free if you already hold an Old Town maintenance fee receipt (¥50 ($7)). Walk from Old Town in 20 minutes; no taxi needed. The Dongba Culture Museum inside the north end is worth a quick look for its Naxi pictographic script collection.