Dali Five Elements Hostel

Rooms and decor

We close our Dali Old Town list with the greenest, cheapest place we found — Dali Five Elements Hostel, where rooms start at just $20 a night and real reviews land at 8.8. The building is a converted two-story Bai-style house that has been open over 4 years. The rooms themselves are simple and honest for the price, which is the point. The common room is painted in easy, soft colors, the walls hung with photos left behind by earlier travelers, and there is an old bookshelf stacked with English and Chinese guidebooks, a Yunnan edition of Lonely Planet, and board games.

Food and amenities

Around the building grow bamboo, Chinese olive trees, camellias and small banana plants, and a long wooden table in the courtyard is set for communal meals. At night, string lights make the garden glow. Free drinks run all day — pu'er tea, chrysanthemum tea and water. The owner is in his early 30s, has traveled across Asia, and speaks fluent English, which sets the friendly tone of the whole place.

Location and getting there

The hostel sits at the foot of Cangshan, the symbol mountain of Dali with its 19 peaks. Cross one street and you are in the Old Town: it is just 3 minutes on foot to the West Gate, 10 minutes to Renmin Road / the Foreigner Street, and 12 minutes to Fuxing Road. The Cangshan Cableway is a 15-minute bus ride away, so hiking or mountain biking on the mountain is easy. You can rent an e-bike out front for ¥40-50 a day and ride around Erhai Lake all afternoon. The location score of 8.9 and the value score of 9.2 both ring true.

Things to know before booking

What earned Five Elements its spot is not the rooms — they are genuinely basic — but the atmosphere. Every evening in the garden courtyard, travelers from different countries sit eating noodles, sipping beer and trading stories from the road; we picked up new friends from Germany and Malaysia on the first night and walked Renmin Road with them until midnight. The owner runs a free Old Town walking tour every morning at 9am and arranges friendly-priced trips up Cangshan. Be clear-eyed, though: this is a hostel, not a hotel, the rooms are plain, and beds fill fast in high season, so book ahead.

Our take

Dali Five Elements Hostel is best for backpackers and solo travelers, roughly age 20 to 35, who want to meet people from around the world. In the $20-46 range it is the best pick in Dali for the chill, budget, adventure-minded crowd. We end the list with something warm and within reach for any budget — and who knows, a good friendship might just start on a wooden chair under the bamboo in this hostel's garden.