Traveling Through Yunnan with My Little Furball: A Meticulously Crafted 2025 May Day Road Trip Guide to Puzhehei, Maitreya, and Kunming

Travel is never just about seeing the sights. It’s the memories we leave for the future—warm moments that our gray-haired selves, and even future generations, can touch. Two years ago, I took my little furball, “Rongrong,” to Yangshuo. Every trip after that, I had to leave her at my mom’s place. Each time I saw the videos and photos my mom sent, my heart felt empty. So we made a decision: this time, we had to bring her along for a spontaneous long-distance road trip—destination: Yunnan.

Yunnan, known as “the land south of the colorful clouds,” is rich in tourist resources and blessed with pleasant weather. It’s a paradise for family trips and romantic getaways. What surprised me even more was how pet-friendly Yunnan is. No matter which city we visited, we easily found hotels and restaurants that allowed pets, and locals were exceptionally kind to the little ones. If you’re a pet lover, Yunnan is absolutely worth bringing your furry kid along. And during the May Day holiday, Kunming is adorned with romantic purple jacaranda blossoms.

From our home base in Zhongshan to Yunnan, it’s over 1,000 kilometers. To avoid traffic jams and fatigue, we carefully planned our route. Using the Chinese AI tool DeepSeek, it recommended Puzhehei, Maitreya (Mile), and Mengzi. Considering Kunming might be overcrowded during May Day, the AI didn’t recommend it. But my partner, Da L, insisted on seeing the jacaranda in Kunming, so we dropped Mengzi and rerouted to Kunming. To perfectly dodge congestion, we decided to depart before noon on April 30 and return on May 6.

This road trip involved three families. The other two: Freddy and his wife, whom we’d seen cherry blossoms with in Japan earlier this year, along with their Bichon Frise, “Easy”; and my old classmate Bin Shao, his wife, and their little son, “Xiaomi.” For this trip, we stuffed every available inch of our cars: daily necessities for humans and pets, snacks and drinks, clothes and shoes… Before setting off, let’s dive into the route and preparations.

Pre-Trip Preparations: Details Determine a Smooth Journey

Road Trip Route & Charging Strategy

Our itinerary was packed, but everything went smoothly with virtually no traffic jams. Here’s our daily driving log for your reference:

• Day 1 (April 30): Zhongshan → Nanning. About 600 km, with charging stops at Yunfu Luoding, Yulin in Guangxi, and Nanning. Took 7.5 hours.
• Day 2 (May 1): Nanning → Puzhehei. About 623 km, charging at Xinhe and Napo service areas. Took 8.5 hours.
• Day 3 (May 2): Puzhehei → Maitreya (Mile). 144 km, charging at Pingyuanjie service area. Took 3.5 hours.
• Day 4 (May 3): Maitreya → Kunming. 158 km. Took 2.5 hours.
• Day 5 (May 4): Exploring Kunming city (Jiaochang Middle Road, Tiepi Alley, Panlong River, Shangheyuan, etc.).
• Day 6 (May 5): Kunming → Baise. 580 km, charging at Xingyi. Took 7.5 hours.
• Day 7 (May 6): Baise → Zhongshan. 817 km, charging at Tanluo, Hengzhou, Cendong East, and Pingtang service areas. Took 10.5 hours.

Charging Tips: Our three families drove two electric cars (my Tesla Model 3 and Freddy’s Leapmotor C11) and one gas car (Lexus NX200t). The Tesla has a range of about 300+ km, the Leapmotor over 400 km. Service areas in Guangdong and Guangxi don’t have Tesla Superchargers; a few in Yunnan do, but they’re slow. We generally recharged when about 140 km of range remained, and if we encountered a slow charger, we’d decisively move to the next one. Recommended charging stations: Kunming Cishang New Energy Baijilong Supercharging Station (fast, with first-time charging as low as 0.41 yuan/kWh); the Sinopec charger at Hengzhou service area (90 kW, fair price); and the Yuechongxing station at Pingtang service area (over 20 stalls with sunshades). Places to avoid: Yulin Phoenix Square and the Tesla Supercharger at Pingyuanjie service area (only 30 kW); the chargers at Tanluo and Cendong East service areas (painfully slow). Total mileage: 3,192 km. Charging: 461 kWh, costing 610 yuan. Meanwhile, the gas car spent about 1,800 yuan on fuel—electric cars win hands down!

Pet-Friendly Hotel Recommendations

With pets, hotels are key. After several rounds of screening and phone confirmations, we settled on these:

• Nanning Baiman Hotel: Pet-friendly, no extra cleaning fee. Good location near a large commercial complex. Downside: no dogs allowed in the restaurant. We sat down early and were immediately reminded, so we had to wolf down our meal.
• Puzhehei Lvsuodangran Boutique Hotel: Pet-friendly, no extra cleaning fee. Beautiful countryside views, breakfast allowed with dogs. But cleanliness was so-so: Freddy’s room had dusty tables, and Bin Shao’s room had leftover residue in the toilet. The owner apologized and upgraded their room. From then on, they had a poor impression of Puzhehei.
• Maitreya Fengjing Yihu Hot Spring Hotel: Pet-friendly, well-managed, clean and smart rooms. Nearby Lake Spring Ecological Park and Red River Water Town are great for walks. Downside: limited parking; you’ll need to find a third-party lot.
• Kunming Dianchi Sunac Steigenberger Hotel: Five-star standard, pet-friendly with a 300 yuan cleaning fee. Rich breakfast, with Dianchi Back Sea and a wetland park nearby. We booked a package for 899 yuan, including two nights’ stay, a photoshoot, and an intangible cultural heritage experience. The photoshoot offered 5 free photos; retouching cost 5 yuan each, with no hard sell. Downside: insufficient charging facilities.
• Baise Vienna Hotel: Pet-friendly with a 50 yuan cleaning fee. Clean and tidy, easy parking. Downside: few nearby restaurants and no air conditioning in the hallways.

Dining & Sightseeing Tips

With a tight schedule, we mostly only had dinner each day, relying on snacks or service area food for lunch. We chose restaurants within a 2 km radius. Recommendations: Nanning’s Gui Xiaochu (trendy Guangxi cuisine, visually appealing); Puzhehei’s Yixiangyue·Minzu Shifu (Yi ethnic food, generous lemon chicken portions); Maitreya’s Wild Mushroom Hotpot Yuge Kitchen (the best meal of the trip); Kunming’s Congshuily·Pu’er Ecological Restaurant (sour and spicy flavors, so popular it was full by 4:30 PM). Baise’s Zhuangjiaren·Zhuangjia Cai was the only pet-unfriendly restaurant; we had to plead repeatedly to be allowed in with a pet stroller.

For tickets, most attractions were free. Paid ones included “Three Lives, Three Worlds, Ten Miles of Peach Blossoms” (30 yuan/person) and Dongfengyun (4 yuan cheaper on a certain app). In Puzhehei, renting a three-wheeled e-trike was quoted at 30 yuan/hour; we haggled down to 25 yuan. The flower-viewing bus on Jiaochang Middle Road must be taken early—after 9 AM, the queue stretched to hundreds. The ticket was 25 yuan, including a creative ice cream.

Other Preparations

• Snacks: Bread, fruit, and energy drinks are essential. I recommend taurine drinks; on the return trip, I had an extra-strength version of a certain brand and drove 10.5 hours without fatigue.
• Clothing: Yunnan has big temperature swings between day and night. Short sleeves with a light jacket suffice. UV rays are strong; wear a sun-protection jacket. In Puzhehei, I forgot to wear one while riding the e-trike, and my wrists ended up two-toned. Bring an extra pair of waterproof shoes—on the return trip, rain soaked through my sneakers, but luckily I had backups.
• Electronics: Power banks and a drone are must-haves. Puzhehei has no no-fly zones. At Dongfengyun, though announcements banned drones, some people still flew them; I gave up. In some parts of Kunming, the signal was unstable, and I nearly crashed my drone at Shangheyuan.
• Pet Gear: Bowls, dog food, diapers, leash, wet wipes, stroller… We basically brought half our home’s contents, taking up half the car’s space.

Day 1: Heading to Nanning, Smooth Sailing

On the morning of April 30, we checked traffic forecasts predicting congestion in the Pearl River Delta after noon. So we decided to break through before then. After breakfast, we set off!

Rongrong had her own seat in the car and was in high spirits. The road was clear. After a little over two hours, we charged at Yunfu Luoding and took the chance to snag a freebie from JD.com—a Luckin latte. The Tesla Supercharger was so fast that we’d barely finished our coffee before it was full. We recharged again in Yulin, Guangxi, and arrived in Nanning around 4 PM. After topping up at a nearby supercharger station, we met for dinner at Gui Xiaochu. The “old friend fish” was quite sour and spicy; the roast duck was a bit dry; the desserts were pretty but average in taste. Still, the ambiance was nice and photo-worthy.

Day 2: The Best Scenery Is on the Road

Early the next day, we continued toward Yunnan. The breakfast at Baiman Hotel was decent, but pets weren’t allowed in the restaurant. We arrived early and were reminded, so we ate quickly. Freddy’s family also brought their dog, so we helped watch them.

After two hours of driving, we used a service area charger for the first time at Xinhe. Accustomed to Tesla Superchargers at 100 kW, the 65 kW here felt slow—only later did we realize there’s no slow like even slower. Once we entered the Nahe Expressway, this “most beautiful highway” lived up to its reputation. The scenery along the way was like a painting, breathtaking even in bad weather. Too bad we couldn’t stop for photos; the beauty didn’t translate through the car window.

After getting off the expressway around 3 PM, we drove a bit more to reach the Puzhehei Scenic Area. The roads were lined with jacaranda trees, but I was driving and couldn’t capture them. Our guesthouse was inside the scenic area, with a view of lotus fields and emerald peaks—a classic karst landscape painting. After checking in, the first thing I did was ask the owner to take me charging—parking was tight, and the charger had extremely low power, plus it was a commercial one at 1.35 yuan/kWh.

In the evening, we walked along the path to Lovers’ Bridge. By the bridge, vendors were selling loquats. Da L was excited but ended up disappointed. Suddenly, music and singing erupted on the bridge—it turned out to be a water-fighting base, where kids shot water guns at passing boats. Our Rongrong was a hit there; passing tourists all stopped to take photos of her.

At dusk, Ceci found a trendy café called “Beiqiu Coffee.” The setting was stunning, facing a lake and tall mountains, with a beautifully shaped tree in the foreground, all bathed in the sunset. We kept taking photos until 7 PM before heading to dinner at Yixiangyue·Minzu Shifu, where we had an authentic Yi ethnic meal. The portions were generous, the flavors reminiscent of Cantonese cuisine, and I even drank a bottle of orange soda I remembered from childhood.

Day 3: The Joy of Little E-Trikes

At dawn, I went for a run along the path while Da L walked the dog. Everyone praised the breakfast rice noodles, and the sweet potatoes and corn were delicious too. Lovers’ Bridge was quiet in the morning, so I took the chance to fly my drone and capture a bird’s-eye view of Puzhehei—clouds reflected on the river, the bridge looking like a fairyland.

After breakfast, the owner recommended boat rides and Green Dragon Mountain, but with the dogs, we couldn’t take the boat. So Freddy’s family and I decided to rent e-trikes. I followed the owner to pick up the vehicles, and Xiao Fang helped us tie colorful balloons to the backs—they looked great in photos. These three-wheeled e-trikes were perfect for a family of three, and Rongrong was overjoyed on board. We went to the filming location of “Three Lives, Three Worlds, Ten Miles of Peach Blossoms,” which cost 30 yuan per person. The peach blossoms in the scenic area were fake, and the blooming season had passed, so it wasn’t that impressive. Still, the aerial shots were beautiful.

At noon, we gathered back at the guesthouse, packed up, and prepared to head to Maitreya.

Day 4: Hot Springs and Dongfengyun in Maitreya

From Puzhehei to Maitreya was only 144 km. We charged at Pingyuanjie service area, but the Tesla Supercharger there was only 30 kW—snail’s pace. We arrived at the Fengjing Yihu Hot Spring Hotel in Maitreya around 5 PM. This guesthouse was much more organized than the one in Puzhehei: clean, smart rooms. Bin Shao’s family even got help from the staff carrying their luggage, and from then on, they fell deeply in love with Maitreya.

That evening, we had the best meal of the trip at Wild Mushroom Hotpot Yuge Kitchen. We ordered a 6-8 person mushroom hotpot set, and everyone was thrilled—eating mushrooms in Yunnan is truly a different experience.

Day 5: Kunming’s Purple Romance

We set off from the hotel at 6:20 AM and arrived at Jiaochang Middle Road at 6:50 AM. This is the pinnacle of Kunming’s jacaranda scene—a sea of purple flowers lining the entire street, incredibly romantic. We took photos for over an hour and returned to the hotel for breakfast at 9:15 AM. Then we visited Tiepi Alley, the hi coffee shop by Panlong River, and Shangheyuan. At Shangheyuan, we nearly had a disaster—as soon as the drone landed, my phone overheated and shut down.

At noon, we ate at Congshuily·Pu’er Ecological Restaurant. It opened at 4:30 PM but was already full. The sour and spicy flavors were better than the Yunnan-style meal we’d had before. In the evening, we returned to the hotel to rest, ending a fulfilling day.

Days 6-7: The Return Trip, Through Rain and Wind

On May 5, we left Kunming at noon, charged at Xingyi, and arrived in Baise. The Baise Vienna Hotel was clean and tidy, but there were few restaurants nearby. We had our last dinner at Zhuangjiaren·Zhuangjia Cai—the only pet-unfriendly restaurant of the trip. It wasn’t until after 8 PM that they allowed us in with a pet stroller.

On May 6, we set off from Baise early in the morning, charging at Tanluo, Hengzhou, Cendong East, and Pingtang service areas. The charger at Cendong East was only 20 kW; after a few minutes, I gave up and headed to Pingtang. There, over 20 stalls with sunshades offered 90 kW charging. It was a bit pricier (1.75 yuan/kWh), but just then a torrential rain hit, and the sunshades kept us dry—a world of difference. We arrived home at 7:20 PM, covering 817 km in 10.5 hours.

Conclusion: Take Your Furball—Yunnan Is Worth It

This Yunnan road trip covered 3,192 km in total, smooth all the way with virtually no traffic jams. Yunnan is incredibly pet-friendly—whether hotels, restaurants, or strangers on the street, everyone made us feel welcome. Puzhehei’s countryside, Maitreya’s hot springs, Kunming’s jacaranda—each stop left a unique memory.

A Few Tips: 1. Plan charging in advance: Electric cars save money, but watch out for charger quality. Avoid slow ones. 2. Prioritize pet-friendly options: Call hotels ahead to confirm policies and avoid awkward situations. 3. Protect against sun and rain: Yunnan’s UV is strong, and temperatures vary greatly. Bring extra waterproof shoes. 4. Fly your drone cautiously: Some areas have unstable signals; stay safe.

Take your little furball and head to Yunnan! There, you’ll find purple romance, green countryside, warm sunshine, and memories you and your pet will cherish for a lifetime.