Lugu Lake sits high in the mountains on the border between Yunnan and Sichuan provinces, about five hours by road from Lijiang. The lake is stunningly beautiful — clear water surrounded by forested mountains — and is home to the Mosuo people, one of the last matrilineal societies in China. Mosuo culture, in which women head the household and inheritance passes through the mother's line, has survived largely intact despite growing outside attention.
The small lakeside villages offer simple accommodation, and the best way to experience the lake is by dugout canoe, paddled by Mosuo boatmen past wooded islands and temple-dotted shores. A Tibetan Buddhist monastery overlooks the lake from a nearby hillside. The road in from Lijiang is winding and partly unpaved, but the isolation is part of the appeal — Lugu Lake still feels a long way from anywhere.