Kunming: free tickets, paid transfers

This notice took effect 1 OCTOBER 2026 — 16 days before this research date — so it is the current rule, not a legacy price. The ¥130 has been the price since the 2018 reduction, but the re-publication matters: the free/half-price lists were restated in the Sept 2026 notice, so treat that as the authoritative wording. FOREIGN-VISITOR RULES — the discount list is Chinese-document-only in every case: 离休证, 军人证, 学生证, 身份证. There is NO passport-based age discount here (unlike Laoshan in Qingdao). A foreign adult pays ¥130; a foreign 8-year-old pays ¥65 only if the on-site desk accepts a passport as proof of age — do not promise it. The one genuinely portable rule is height: under 1.2 m is free regardless of nationality. ⚠️ ALSO NOTE: 石林 runs locality-boundary reciprocity deals — residents of Shilin Yi Autonomous County and Luliang County travel free on each other's sites from 5 May 2026 to 4 May 2027, and 2026 gaokao leavers enter free with their exam admission ticket — but NOT on Spring Festival, May Day or National Day. None of these apply to foreign passport holders. ⚠️ HOURS CONFLICT: the administration's own notice says 07:30–18:00 with 18:00 as last entry, and the operator's live sight pages repeat 07:30–18:00; several OTA guides publish 08:00–17:30 with a 17:00 last entry. Use the official 07:30–18:00 and tell readers to be inside by 16:00 regardless. Optional extras: electronic guide ¥30, human guide ¥160 per group. Getting there: high-speed rail Kunming South → Shilin West in about 20–24 minutes (roughly ¥18 second class), then bus 99 (¥10) or a ¥20–30 taxi; the direct coach from Kunming East Bus Station takes about 1.5 hours.

This is a DISTRICT GOVERNMENT price publication — the strongest tier of source for this city and the one that settles the Longmen price (¥30, with ¥15 student and ¥30-era free-at-60 rules) beyond argument. FOREIGN-VISITOR RULES: the free list is again Chinese-document-based (军人证, 残疾证, 三属证件), but the 60+ free rule here is stated as '60周岁(含)以上老年人' without naming a specific certificate, and the 6–18 half-price rule says '凭身份证或学生证' — so a passport is a weaker claim at Longmen than at Laoshan. Budget full ¥30 and treat any discount as a bonus, not a plan. ⚠️ THE STRANGEST SEASON BOUNDARY IN THIS BATCH: the Kunming municipal government's cross-lake cable-car + Longmen combo ticket is priced with an off-peak window of ONLY JUNE AND SEPTEMBER each year (combo A, round trip: ¥150 peak / ¥120 off-peak; combo B, one-way: ¥122.50 peak / ¥102.50 off-peak, with online discounts of ¥15 off). Every other month — including October, right now — is officially 'peak'. This is a genuine trap: a reader who assumes autumn is shoulder season will be wrong, and a reader who assumes June is high season will also be wrong. ⚠️ TRANSPORT IS THE REAL COST: the mountain is closed to private cars on the tourist road, so the ¥12.50 shuttle each way is effectively compulsory, and the cross-Dianchi cable car from Haigeng is about ¥60 one way (roughly ¥100 return) with a separate inner cable car at about ¥40. A realistic all-in visit is ¥30 + ¥25 + ¥60 = ¥115 or more. Sunset is the point of this mountain, but the cable car stops running well before dark — check the '昆明西山风景区' account before committing to a sunset plan.

Two independent official sources, one of them the municipal government itself, both stating the park remains free — this is the cleanest 'free' fact in the Kunming file. ⚠️ CONFLICT RESOLVED: at least one OTA strategy page still lists 海埂公园 at ¥10 with under-14s free. That is outdated — Yunnan Daily's Sept 2026 retrospective states plainly that the park 'officially opened free to the public in 2015, ending decades of paid operation'. Write free, and note the upgrade works: the Haigeng Park / Dianchi greenway renovation started 26 August 2026 and will run in fenced sections, so parts of the park may be behind hoarding at any given time; Haigeng Dam, Haohong Wetland and the un-fenced areas stay open throughout. FOREIGN-VISITOR RULES: nothing to check — no document, no ticket, no app. This makes it the single best first stop in Kunming for a foreign visitor who has not yet sorted out a Chinese phone number or payment app. SEASON TRAP — THE INVERSE OF EVERYTHING ELSE IN THIS FILE: the gull season (roughly Nov–Mar) is the busiest, windiest and most photogenic time on the dam, and it is also when the light is worst and the bird-food touts charge ¥10 a packet (supermarket toast is ¥2–3). Bring your own bread. The greenway links Haigeng Dam, the Western Hills, Haigeng Park, the Yunnan Ethnic Village, the wetlands and Haiyan village, so a free half-day on the lake can be stitched to the paid sights without a taxi.