Lijiang as a base -- logistics question

Hello -- we're flying into Lijiang and arriving around 8pm on our first day, Sept 4. We plan to go by taxi to our hotel, where I've tentatively booked for 4 nights, checking out the 8th. We fly out of Kunming on the 16th and I have tentatively booked DIG-KHG on the 13th for two days in Kunming. Overall, for our 12 nights, we'd like to see Lijiang, Shangri La but also to Dali and surrounding areas (Shaxi, Xizhouzhen) to escape the tourist crush. I have the option to fly out of Shangri La, Dali, or possibly Lijiang. As it is, it looks like we will have to backtrack regardless of which way we go (remember we start in Lijiang), so which backtrack would be best? The 13th is a fall holiday too which is why I booked the flight. Thanks in advance.