Dali rewards a slow visit. The walled old town is best explored on foot — wandering the grid of stone streets between the four gates, climbing up onto the city wall for the rooftop view, and stopping for tea in one of the old courtyard houses. The Three Pagodas and the Chongsheng Temple complex are the most important historical sights. For nature, the Cangshan range to the west is laced with hiking trails and crossed by a cable car; Erhai Lake to the east is a day's cycling tour or a boat trip away. Around the lake, the Bai villages of Xizhou and Zhoucheng are worth a half-day for their traditional architecture, markets, and indigo tie-dyeing workshops.