Lijiang has good bus connections with Dali and Kunming, in Yunnan province. The bus ride from Kunming takes between 9 and 10 hours. From Dali it takes around four hours. There are 3 luxury non-smoking buses every day, and other types of buses. Although there are night buses, I recommend the day ones. The views from the road are great!
The roads to Lijiang from Kunming and Dali are in good condition. They are recently built highways. Nevertheless, because this is a mountainous region, roads are winding, and there are many changes in height .