Yubeng Guide

Upper and Lower Yubeng are twin villages in Deqin County, Diqing Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan. In Chinese they are written 雨崩上村 and 雨崩下村. The two halves sit about twenty minutes' walk apart across a gorge. You come here as a hiking base for the Meili Snow Mountains. Tibetan Buddhists call the range Kawa Karpo. The highest peak, Kawagarbo, stands at 6,740 metres, sacred, and the major peaks have not been summited.

Deqin is the county seat on the highway, at about 3,300 metres. The 2020 count of 54,736 people is for the whole county, not for these hamlets. Feilai Si is the postcard terrace above the valley. The villages are the walk-in overnight. You sleep here for the sacred waterfall, the ice lake, and the base-camp walks under the wall.

One night is only a pass-through. Three to five days from Feilai Si is the stay that fits: a day in, a day out, and a day per sight. A week in the lanes without walking is too much village.

The approach runs from Shangri-La in Yunnan to Deqin by bus, three to six hours depending on the road and the tunnel, then Feilai Si or Deqin to Xidang, then a hike or a vehicle into the village. Older notes quoted ticket and jeep fares from 2020. Those figures age. Confirm locally, and do not treat a 2020 jeep fare as a current price. As of October 2025 the Xidang road was reported closed to traffic and hikers, with the remaining walk from Ninong. Access changes. Check the week you go.

You come for the waterfall day, the ice lake, and a night in the villages. You will not find a county-town hotel strip or a beach. You do not need a car inside the gorge. You do need a plan for Deqin, cash in yuan, and a first day that does not start with a fast climb. Do not start the sacred waterfall the afternoon you arrive.