When is the best time to Go: March-April & September-November are fine periods to visit the Honghe Prefecture.

Local Highlights: The New Year Festival of Hani and the Torch Festival of Yi, as well as many other celebrations of ethnic minorities enrich the colorful culture of Honghe Prefecture. Music, musical instrument and catering customs will provide you a window into the lifestyle of the locals. For example, during the New Year in October, the Hani ethnic minority holds an outdoor Long-Street Banquet on lunar October 10. Every family will prepare their dishes to their table and celebrates the festival together the long line of tables. It will be a lot of fun and honorable to be invited to the banquet. People will be hospitable to invite the passersby to participate.

Special Local Products: purple clay wares of Jianshui County, tin handicrafts of Gejiu City, rice cakes of Mengzi County, Hani embroidery of Yuanyang County

How to go: 1. Hekou is a national first-grade port in the southeast end of Honghe bordered by Vietnam. Kunming-Hekou Railway runs through Honghe Prefecture, but it is a narrow-gauge railway. The carriages are narrower than ordinary ones. Traveling by bus will save several hours over making the trip by train.

2. Kunming is about 4 hours' drive to Honghe and 3.5 hours to Jianshui County. Buses to Honghe can be easily found in Yunnan Tourist Passenger Transport Bus Station in Minhang Lu of Kunming. Regular buses serve well among counties and cities of the prefecture. Local villagers, however, would usually thumb lifts from wagon drivers.

3. For self-reliant tourists, renting a vehicle is a better choice while visiting Honghe.