The golden fields of Luoping (罗平): things to do

Find out what are some things to do and see in Luoping (罗平), an amazing place in the province of Yunnan in China, and when is the best time to visit it.

Not long ago I wrote a few articles about Dashanbao, an amazing off-the-beaten-path place in Yunnan, Shaxi Old Town and the rice terraces of Yuan Yang.

Great landscapes, Chinese minorities, and some unique wildlife such as the Yunnan Snub-Nosed monkeys are just some of the features of the Yunnan Province (here is my travel guide to Yunnan).

Another place well worth a visit is Luoping 罗平. Just like Dashanbao, you can’t find much info about it, so these are my two cents.

Luoping is a unique place that somehow reminds me of Provence. While Provence is famous for the lavender fields though, Luoping is famous for the rapeseed flowers.

If possible, Luoping is even more beautiful (hope my French friends don’t get upset). The landscape is dotted with hundreds of karst hills and this is what makes this location unique: it’s a real paradise for photographers and for anyone who loves nature.

Another unique place famous for its nice flower fields is Furano in Japan.

Rapeseed flowers are harvested to produce oil, fuel, and honey. What impresses every visitor is the size of the fields. Compared to Luoping, Provence looks like a small garden. But you know, China is a big country so everything is bigger there.

When is the best time to visit Luoping

Luoping is close to Guizhou and Guangxi provinces. If you want to visit Luoping keep in mind that there is a specific time of the year to see the flowers: between the end of February and the beginning of April, just before the Jacaranda Trees start to bloom, in May (check out this article).

To be honest there are no reasons to visit this place any other time of the year. So if you are planning your trip to China and want to include Luoping keep in mind that summer or fall is not the right season to see the canola flowers.

Canola grows in many other places in China and it blossoms at different times of the year depending on location and temperature but the fields in Luoping are the biggest in China. Those in Guizhou are the second largest.

The blooming season is also the busiest for the beekeepers. You’ll see many of them busy working and trying to sell their products.

Most of the time, during the peak season, they live right in the fields. Once the blooming season is over, they move to other places nearby where the bees can find wildflowers.

Before buying their honey ask if you can taste it. If the price is too low (let’s say less than 20 RMB for one jar) the quality is probably not the best.

Another thing you’ll notice while walking along the fields is the warmth of the Chinese people. Don’t be surprised if they will ask you to take some pictures with them: they love meeting foreigners. Just get used to it because it will happen many times.

At first, it’s quite funny but it can get quite annoying after a while, especially when people don’t ask and just take pictures of you without your permission.

If you want to spend a night in Luoping I suggest this hotel since it’s located very close to the entrance of the park.

How to get to Luoping and useful reminders

Getting to Luoping is not difficult. There is a train from Kunming to Luoping (罗平) and also several daily buses from the East Couch Bust Station. Getting to the bus station is easy because it’s one of the stops on the Subway. The bus will take you to the Luoping North Bus Station which is located in Luoping town, about 20 minutes away from the place where there are all the fields.

Get a taxi from Luoping to Golden Chicken Peak (金鸡峰丛). That’s the place where you have to pay for the ticket to enter the fields. If you plan to stay for one night look for a hotel in the village on the other side of the road.

The best view of the landscape is from the top of the hills. Choose one and hike it. Recently the local government built a wooden staircase to get to the top of one of the tallest hills.

Remember that the internet in China is censored so you can’t use Gmail, Youtube, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc. If you really need to use one of those websites you need a VPN. I use ExpressVpn. Here you can find 5 reasons to always use a VPN.

Bring a good camera, several SD cards, and a tripod. You’ll need them. Better if you have a drone because it will allow you to take unique pictures.

Here’s another article that talks about Luoping.

Here you can find more pictures I took in Yunnan and here an interesting post about the last Yunnan Snub-Nosed Monkeys.

Here a post about the Jiuxiang caves in Yunnan and here is an article about the beautiful Shaxi old town.