Wenlin Street and the surrounding lanes northwest of Cuihu Park form the unofficial expatriate and student quarter of Kunming — a low-rise pocket of cafés, bars, restaurants, second-hand bookshops, and Yunnan craft outlets, wedged between Yunnan University and Yunnan Normal University. It is the most cosmopolitan corner of the city and the easiest place for a foreign visitor to spend an evening.
The area is informally known as Wenhua Xiang ("Culture Alley"). The cafés and bars cluster on the side streets off Wenlin proper — Wenhua Xiang itself, Wenlin Jie's two-block pedestrianised middle stretch — and tend to stay open late. It is the natural base for a first night in Kunming.