Kunming is fast emerging as a new hotspot for inbound tourism to China. According to latest data, Kunming welcomed 952,100 foreign visitors in the first three quarters of 2025—nearly matching the full-year total for 2024, marking a 47.7% year-on-year increase on a comparable basis. The city also generated US$1.04 billion in international tourism revenue during the same period.

Behind these impressive figures lies Kunming’s creative reinvention of its cultural and tourism industries—an innovative mix of traditional Yunnan opera and modern coffee culture, where century-old theatres coexist with chic cafés in the same neighborhood; and where the Dounan Flower Market and iconic black-headed gulls of Cuihu Lake have become vibrant symbols of the city’s ecological tourism appeal.

A City of Many Facets: Experiencing Kunming’s Aesthetic of Everyday Life

As foreign travelers’ itineraries grow richer, Kunming reveals its multi-dimensional charm. From traditional arts to modern leisure, from natural beauty to urban creativity, the city offers visitors a deeply immersive and authentic experience.

Feeling the pulse of culture through the sound of opera: In the courtyards of Kunming’s Old Street, tourists try on traditional costumes and mimic the gestures of Yunnan opera performers. Through observing, then imitating its lilting melodies and refined movements, they discover that drama can be the most vivid cultural language—a new way to understand Kunming.

Facial Expressions in Dian Opera. Photo by Hu Pinghua 

Tasting the rhythm of a “slow life” through coffee: At coffee estates around the city, guests trace the entire journey “from red berries to roasted beans.” As world-class Yunnan coffee releases its aroma from a hand-brewed pot, the essence of Kunming—relaxed yet cosmopolitan—comes to life in an experience that’s literally savored.

Sharing the romance of spring with flowers and seagulls: In Dounan, Asia’s largest fresh-cut flower market, visitors marvel at blooms sold by the kilo and taste local flower pastries. And by Cuihu’s winter shores, the sight of flocks of white seagulls mingling with residents offers a poetic glimpse of harmony between city and nature. Even the air, they say, “smells of flowers and freedom.”

A Floral Spectacle: Kunming’s 50-Metre 3D Blossom Wall Becomes a Hot Spot

If flowers are Kunming’s daily rhythm, the city’s new 50-metre 3D flower wall is where romance blossoms to new heights. The flower wall, roughly three metres high, takes its inspiration from the legend of Dianchi Lake. Its designer wove the region’s natural beauty and folklore together using more than 20 varieties of flowers—including bougainvillea, chrysanthemum and kalanchoe—quite literally “planting” cultural heritage into the wall itself.

From afar, the mural resembles a spilled painter’s palette; up close, it reveals a wealth of finely rendered detail. Bronze-era motifs leap from the surface in sculpted relief, such as the bull-and-tiger patterns that evoke the might and mystery of Yunnan’s ancient bronze civilization. The mythical creatures of Jinma Biji, assembled from clusters of bright bougainvillea, shimmer in the sunlight with a sense of motion and vitality.  

The entire composition is richly layered and vividly colored—a living canvas that seems to breathe. This effect is made possible by an innovative blend of steel frame, spray painting, and live floral installation, transforming a plain concrete wall into a dynamic dialogue between nature and art. Whether visitors come to take photos or simply admire it in passing, this floral mural tells a story of Kunming’s ecological grace and boundless creativity.

A Nighttime Marvel: Cuihu Boardwalk Lights Up the City’s Poetic Side

When night falls, Kunming doesn’t fade; it glows anew. The elevated boardwalk at Cuihu now shines with soft amber light, offering a fresh experience of the city by night.  

The softly curving ribbons of illumination reflect on the lake, creating a dreamlike interplay of light and water. Locals who stroll beneath the canopy of lamps praise the transformation: “It’s even more serene and graceful than by day.” Whether for a peaceful walk or a photo-worthy moment, visitors find a rare blend of quiet poetry and urban vitality along its shimmering paths.

From the haunting arias of Yunnan opera in the early morning to the aroma of coffee in the afternoon; from the surprises beneath the 50-metre flower wall by day to the glimmering lakeside boardwalk by night—Kunming doesn't need to boast; its beauty speaks for itself. It simply fills every journey and cultural experience with sincerity, every moment with warmth, and every traveler’s memory with the unmistakable beauty of the City of Eternal Spring.