Only Kunming and Shanghai have direct flights to Lijiang Airport (LJG) all year round. When tourism season, Beijing, Guangzhou, Chengdu, Chongqing, and other big cities might have scheduled flights via Kunming to Lijiang, but it is not year round and the flights take more time. Ask your local airline or travel agency for flight information.   

If you intend to use long-distance buses, two cities have buses to Lijian -- Kunming and PanZhiHua (攀枝花). The buses will take eight to night hours to get to Lijiang from Kunming if the road condition is good. There are several bus stations In Kunming  NanYao(南窑) (booking Tel : 0871- 3553576), West Point (booking Tel : 0871-5326258), the Pan center (booking Tel : 0871-3510617). Make sure you get your tickets early. Don’t recommend taking bus from PanZhiHua (攀枝花), the road condition is generally not as good and takes longer to get to LiJian.