Villages and Buddhist monuments dot the plains around Ruili, easy enough to explore either by renting a bicycle from the Limin Binguan, or by minibus from the Nanmao Jie depot - just keep repeating the name of your destination and you'll be shepherded to the right vehicle. Ruili Travel Service can also organize private transport for the day, but it tends to be expensive. Most of the destinations below are only of mild interest in themselves, really just excuses to get out into Ruili's attractive countryside. For more about the Dai, see the Xishuangbanna section.

A few sights lie within walking distance. About 5km east along the Mangshi road is the two-hundred-year-old Jiele Jin Ta , a group of seventeen portly Dai pagodas painted gold and said to house several of Buddha's bones. Nearby are some open-air hot springs where you can wash away various ailments. The same distance south takes you past the less expansive Jinya Ta (Golden Duck Pagoda) to the busy bridge over the Shweli River into Burma, though apart from the volume of traffic, there's little to see.

Heading west along the road from Jinya Ta, another 5km brings you to a small bridge with the region's largest Buddhist temple, the nicely decorated Hansha Si , just off to the north. Ten kilometres beyond Hansha Si is the town of JIEXIANG and the splendid Tang-era Leizhuang Xiang , where the low square hall of a nunnery is dominated by a huge central pagoda and four corner towers, all in white. Another fine temple with typical Dai touches, such as "fiery" wooden eave decorations, Denghannong Si , is farther west again, and though the current halls were built only during the Qing dynasty, the site is said to mark where Buddha once stopped to preach. Beyond Denghannong, about 25km in all from Ruili, NONGDAO XIANG is a nice place to spend the evening chatting to locals. There's a hostel (up to ¥30) next to the post office, and the town is surrounded by Dai communities.