The UNESCO-listed Naxi ethnic capital at 2,400 metres — where the cobbled lanes of Dayan Old Town, the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain backdrop, and a small cluster of world-class resort restaurants (Amandayan, Banyan Tree) make this one of China's most atmospheric dining destinations.
The best restaurants in Lijiang for 2026 are led by Man Yi Xuan at Amandayan. Runners-up by editorial rank: Bai Yun at Banyan Tree Lijiang, Master of Lijiang, Ashun's Kitchen, N's Kitchen.
Lijiang is a dining city shaped almost entirely by the overlap of three things: the Naxi ethnic-minority cuisine (distinctive within Yunnan Province), the UNESCO-protected Dayan Old Town that is the city's tourist centre, and a small but very high-end cluster of resort restaurants — Amandayan and Banyan Tree Lijiang in particular — that bring the Aman/Banyan Tree service standard to the 2,400-metre Yunnan plateau. The combination has produced a dining scene that operates at two very distinct price points with relatively little in the middle: the Old Town's tea houses and Naxi restaurants (CNY 50–150 per person) and the resort flagships (CNY 400–1,000 per person), with few restaurants occupying the mid-market space.
The Naxi cuisine itself is one of the more distinctive ethnic-minority food traditions in China. The cuisine draws on the cold-mountain agricultural base (mushrooms, wild vegetables, yak and horse meat, cured hams) and is marked by the use of local ingredients that rarely appear outside Yunnan — particularly the dried-flat breads called baba, the fermented tofu called jidou, the wild matsutake and morel mushrooms that are in season July–September, and a distinctive sweet-sour preparation of smoked river fish. The tea culture is also distinctive: Lijiang sits at the head of the Tea-Horse Road, and pu-erh tea is the regional staple, served with almost every meal.
Altitude (2,400 metres) is significant but less aggressive than Lhasa; most visitors require only a half-day of acclimatisation. The Old Town itself is fully pedestrianised — no cars enter — so dining there means walking, often through narrow cobbled lanes that are confusing even with GPS. Restaurants in Dayan Old Town cluster on the main lane streets (Sifang Square, Wuyi Street, Xinyi Street) and in the smaller lanes radiating from them. The resort restaurants are outside the Old Town (Amandayan is 20 minutes by taxi, on Lion Hill adjacent to the Old Town; Banyan Tree is further out at Shuhe Village).
Dayan Old Town is the traditional dining centre — cobbled lanes, canal-side tea houses, Naxi restaurants — with Sifang Square at its heart. Lion Hill overlooks the Old Town and hosts Amandayan. Shuhe Village, 6 km northwest, is the smaller and quieter old-town alternative and hosts Banyan Tree Lijiang. The Xinhua Street area, between the Old Town and the modern city, has the chain restaurants and the tourist-market dining halls.
Resort restaurants require reservations 2–3 days ahead; Old Town restaurants accept walk-ins. Dayan Old Town requires a CNY 50 maintenance fee ticket that is checked at entry points. Most restaurants accept WeChat Pay and Alipay; credit cards are accepted only at resort restaurants.
For a broader view of the region, see our full cities index and our editorial scoring methodology. The Dining Journal covers long-form guides to each of the seven occasions our directory is built around.