Three days, and the middle one is a boat. Guilin city is an evening; Yangshuo and the Yulong River are the other two days; the famous street in the middle of Yangshuo is the one thing here that could be anywhere. Rent an electric bike when you get there — the roads out to the river are where taxis stop being useful.
At a glance
- Day 1Elephant Trunk Hill → the riverside → the noodle shops
- Day 2Mopanshan pier → the Li River → Yangshuo → a sunset hill
- Day 3Yulong River raft → the Ten-Mile Gallery by bike → out
Day 1
An evening in Guilin, and a ticket bought in advance
Elephant Trunk Hill → the riverside → the noodle shops
Drop the bags near the station and walk or scoot to Elephant Trunk Hill — an hour is enough, in at gate three and out at gate two, and it is the picture from every Chinese schoolbook. The twin pagodas a few hundred metres on are worth exactly the look they take, and better lit after dark. Eat Guilin rice noodles, which cost about as much as the bus. Then book tomorrow's boat before bed: the morning sailings sell out and the afternoon ones waste the light.
Day 2
Four hours of karst, at walking pace
Mopanshan pier → the Li River → Yangshuo → a sunset hill
The boat leaves Mopanshan around nine and reaches Yangshuo in the early afternoon, passing the stretch printed on the twenty-yuan note about two hours in. There is a bus that does the same journey by road in a fraction of the time, and it is the wrong choice: the river is the reason to be here and you would only have to come back out to it. Check in, eat, and take a car out to one of the viewpoints for sunset — the peaks stacked into haze do not need the sun to actually set to be worth the trip.
Day 3
The other river, the shallow one
Yulong River raft → the Ten-Mile Gallery by bike → out
The Yulong is the small river, and the bamboo rafts on it are the thing people remember longer than the big boat. Go early from the Yuhe Bridge pier. Rent an electric bike for about ¥20 to get there and to ride the Ten-Mile Gallery road afterwards — the local transport is poor and a taxi is worse. Then a shared car to the airport, which is an hour and a half from Yangshuo; your guesthouse will arrange it and it leaves from the door.
Eat like you mean it
- Guilin rice noodlesBreakfast, lunch and the thing to eat on arrival. A few yuan a bowl.
- Yangshuo beer fishRiver fish cooked in beer with peppers — the dish Yangshuo is for.
- Stuffed Li River snailsShells packed with minced pork and mint. Order them once.
- Lipu taro with braised porkTaro and pork belly stacked in a dome, a banquet dish that turns up everywhere here.
- Gongcheng oil teaSavoury, bitter and served with bowls of puffed rice. An acquired thing, acquired quickly.
- Guilin's three treasuresSanhua liquor, chilli sauce and fermented beancurd — the shelf every shop has.
Where to stay
- Yangshuo townTwo of the three nights belong here. Cheap and central.
- Yulong River · Ten-Mile GalleryGuesthouses in the fields, for the version of this trip with nothing in it.
- XingpingThe quieter river town upstream, if you have a fourth day.
- Guilin city centreThe first night only, near the station.
Before you go
- Book the Li River boat the night before and take a morning sailing. The road version of the same journey misses the point of the trip.
- Rent an electric bike in Yangshuo. The roads out to the Yulong are where taxis stop being any use.
- West Street is the one skippable thing here — a shopping street that could be in any city in China.
- The rice terraces at Longji are a separate trip, not an afternoon: two hours out and two hours back.
- May and June flood the terraces and swell the rivers, which is beautiful and also the wettest time to be on a raft.
One honest thing — Book the Li River boat the night before; the morning departures from Mopanshan are the ones worth having. Yangshuo's West Street is the part to skip, not the part to plan around.
