City guide · Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region
Karst peaks rising straight out of a green river, rice terraces carved into mountainsides, and the best bowl of noodles you'll eat in China.
Reviewed by our Beijing team Updated 2026-10-10
The short version
City guide
Photographs from the coast, and what other travellers wrote afterwards.
Outside the crowded Yangshuo sights, deeper into the mountains, in villages most people never bother with, I found exactly the kind of solitude I was looking for. In the empty hills you can walk freely on the roads, lie down on the slopes, drift in the water. And yes — you can swim naked.
Bluephantoms, 'Going Forward — Skinny-Dipping in the Yangshuo Landscape'
Mention Guilin and everyone pictures those ink-wash mountains, the Li River like a green silk ribbon, peaks like jade hairpins. Heaven spoiled Guilin, gave it scenery like a painting, and the people here have been living off that inheritance for generations.
August初七, 'Four Days Through Guilin and Yangshuo'
You have seen the landscape before, on the back of a 20-yuan note, in ink-wash paintings, in the background of a dozen films. What the pictures never prepare you for is the scale: limestone towers hundreds of metres high, packed shoulder to shoulder along both banks, their bases swallowed by mist while the river slides past in a green so opaque it looks solid. The Li River between Guilin and Yangshuo is 83km of exactly this, and four and a half hours on a boat is the slowest, and best, way to take it in.
Guilin city itself is a workaday southern Chinese city of about 5 million that happens to have been built around a karst landscape instead of flattening it. Elephant Trunk Hill sits at the junction of two rivers inside the city limits; Fubo Hill blocks the Li and forces it into a back eddy; the 306 steps up Solitary Beauty Peak put the whole town at your feet. You can knock off the city's headline sights in a day, then move on to where the scenery really gets serious.
Yangshuo, 65km downstream, is where most travellers end up staying longer than planned. The town is small enough to cross on foot, the countryside starts about two minutes from the main street, and the roads through the paddies and along the Yulong River are flat, quiet and made for bicycles. Twenty-eight ethnic minorities live in the Guilin region — Zhuang, Miao, Yao and Dong among them — and in the villages around Longsheng their wooden stilt houses and terraced fields are still very much lived in, not staged.
Guilin
Seven things that are worth rearranging a day for.
Highlights
The stretch from Yangdi to Xingping is the part everybody means when they say 'Guilin scenery'. Cruise boats run the full 83km from Guilin to Yangshuo in about 4.5 hours (departures 09:30 and 10:00 daily), but the smarter move is a bamboo raft on the 22km Yangdi–Xingping section for CNY 95–120 — you get Nine Horse Painting Hill, Yellow Cloth Reflection and the exact view printed on the CNY 20 note. Bring a 20-yuan bill to photograph against the real thing.
Prince Jingjiang's Wangcheng sits dead centre of Guilin, and the phrase 'Guilin's scenery is the finest under heaven' was first carved into a cliff right here. Walking the old city walls costs nothing; the full scenic area — Solitary Beauty Peak, the palace, the Guangxi imperial examination hall — is CNY 130 and takes about 90 minutes. Climb the 306 steps to the summit for the only rooftop view of the whole city, 07:30–17:30.
Guilin's Two Rivers and Four Lakes circuit is famous for its night cruises — CNY 190 adult, CNY 125 child — but the boat is the tourist option. Locals just walk the Rong and Shan lakes after dinner, when the Sun and Moon Pagodas light up over the water. It costs nothing, takes an hour, and shows you why people here are in no hurry.
The 8km road south from Yangshuo toward Gaotian, ending at Moon Hill, is the single best half-day on two wheels in China. Rent a bike in town for CNY 10 (ordinary) or CNY 20 (mountain bike) and ride out through the karst. March fills the roadside with rapeseed flowers. En route: Camel Crossing the River, the Big Banyan Tree Park (CNY 20), Julongtan Park (CNY 68) and Moon Hill Park (CNY 15).
Roughly 99.99% of the shops outside Guangxi calling themselves 'Guilin rice noodles' are not. A bowl here costs about CNY 3.5 and locals eat it for breakfast — round noodles for the dry braised version, flat cut noodles in soup. The whole thing lives or dies on the shop's own luoshuo brine, which is why no two shops taste alike. Try Shiji Rice Noodle House (opposite the side gate of Weixiaotang, Jiefang West Road) or the local chain Chongshan.
Itinerary
The full spread — city landmarks, the famous river section, and a day on a bike in Yangshuo. This is the route to take if it's your first time and you want the hits without rushing.
Start with the classic 'three hills, two caves' circuit — Elephant Trunk Hill, Fubo Hill, Diecai Hill, Reed Flute Cave and Seven Star Cave. Everything except Reed Flute Cave sits within walking distance of each other. Enter at Seven Star Park, then follow Binjiang Road south past Elephant Trunk, Fubo and Diecai. Lunch on street snacks on Zhengyang Street, then spend the afternoon at Wangcheng and Solitary Beauty Peak. In the evening, walk rather than cruise the Two Rivers and Four Lakes — the Rong and Shan lake banks are where Guilin unwinds after work.
Bus from Guilin to the Yangdi junction, then the shuttle into Yangdi village, then a bamboo raft down to Xingping — or walk it in 5–6 hours, which is the better choice if your legs are willing. Alternatively take a full cruise boat from Guilin straight to Yangshuo. Afternoon: whitewater rafting at Longjing River (CNY 150, about 90 minutes). Sleep in Xingping or Yangshuo. Tip: Longjing River runs a limited number of rafting sessions per day and fewer in low-water season — call ahead to confirm which departures are running. The road from Xingping to Longjing River is rough and takes about 30 minutes, plus time to change clothes at the far end, so build that in if you plan to eat in Xingping first.
Morning on the Yulong River — the bamboo raft here is gentler than the Li and the田园 scenery is arguably prettier. Rafts take two people and cost CNY 120–240 depending on how far you go; fares are negotiated on the spot. Afternoon: rent a bike in Yangshuo and ride the Ten-Mile Gallery out toward Moon Hill and back. Dinner is Yangshuo beer fish, then West Street, and if you want the big production, Impression Liu Sanjie at 20:00 (CNY 188–680, 70 minutes). Climbers should carve out time on Yangshuo's limestone — beginner sessions near Butterfly Spring on the Ten-Mile Gallery run about CNY 120 an hour including gear and instructor.
Same length, half the checklist. Built around the Li River, a raft, and long meals — for people who'd rather watch the karst than tick it off.
Skip the cave circuit and do the city on foot. Wangcheng and the old walls in the morning — the walls are free, and the quiet inside them is the point. Walk south along the Li River past Elephant Trunk Hill; you can see it perfectly well from Binjiang Road without paying the CNY 75 gate. Continue to the Sun and Moon Pagodas, then the Rong and Shan lakes. Evening: Guilin porridge city on Shanhu North Road, open 24 hours, about CNY 30 a head — it's what every taxi driver recommends when you ask where to eat late.
Take the bus to Yangdi and raft the 22km精华 stretch to Xingping instead of the 4.5-hour cruise. Departures from Yangdi early mean you can be in Xingping by late morning. Spend the afternoon in Xingping's old town — the Ming and Qing lanes, the old bridge, the ferry crossing — and stay the night in a family guesthouse. Buses from Yangshuo to Xingping run every 15 minutes, cost CNY 7 and take about 45 minutes.
Raft or cycle the Yulong River valley in the morning — cycle from Yangshuo upstream to Yulong Bridge in about an hour, or take a motorcycle for about CNY 40 and 30 minutes. Lunch at Laogen Farmhouse near the Yulong River in Jiuxian village; they send a car to the raft dock to collect guests. Order the honey osmanthus tea, braised chicken and braised tofu — roughly CNY 50 a head. Back to Yangshuo for beer fish and a slow evening on West Street.
Sights
The one thing you cannot skip
The 22km between Yangdi and Xingping is the精华 of the 83km Guilin–Yangshuo run, and the section most people picture when they picture Guilin. Bamboo rafts downstream cost CNY 95–120 depending on season. You'll pass Nine Horse Painting Hill, Yellow Cloth Reflection and the bend printed on the back of the CNY 20 note. The landscape changes hour to hour with the weather — brilliant and hard-edged in sun, mist-wrapped and half-erased in rain, and both are worth seeing.
Tip Buy the ticket a day ahead and bring cash for the raft — you're not getting a card reader on a bamboo float. High-water season (April–November) prices are higher than December–March.
History in the middle of town
Prince Jingjiang's palace, built under the Ming, still has its walls and gates intact, and the surrounding lanes are quiet in a way the rest of central Guilin isn't. The line 'Guilin's scenery is the finest under heaven' was carved into the rock here — this is where the cliché was born. Solitary Beauty Peak, the 306-step climb, gives you the only full panorama of the city from inside it.
Tip The inner lanes between the walls are free and almost empty in the late afternoon. Do the paid area first, then wander the lanes when the light goes gold.
The cave to pick if you only do one
Six kilometres northwest of the centre on the Peach Blossom River, Reed Flute is the showpiece of Guilin's limestone caves and the one every visiting head of state gets taken to. Inside it's a walk-through cathedral of stalactites built up over hundreds of thousands of years — the lighting is theatrical and unashamedly so. It's a 40-minute visit, which is exactly right.
Tip Skip Seven Star Cave if you're short on time — Reed Flute is the better of the two, and the 'three hills, two caves' combo ticket for Seven Star Park runs CNY 75 park-only, CNY 60 cave-only, CNY 135 combined.
The gentler river, and the better raft
Yulong runs through the countryside southwest of Yangshuo, and the scenery here is farmland rather than gorge — flat paddies, green banks, farmers working, rafts drifting past. Some people prefer it to the Li. The bamboo raft takes two people and is poled, not motorised, so it's quiet. Fares are negotiated on the spot and split by distance: roughly CNY 120–240.
Tip Cycle rather than raft if you have the legs — the valley road is flat, and you'll see more of the villages than you do from the water.
Stay the night, don't just pass through
Twenty-five kilometres northeast of Yangshuo, Xingping sits right where the Li River swings through its big bend, and it's the most intact old town in the area — old bridges, an old ferry crossing, an old pavilion, an old opera stage, old trees, and lanes that still run narrow and deep the way they were built. Most tour groups pass through in an hour. You shouldn't.
Tip The 20-yuan-note viewpoint is a short walk from town. Go at sunrise, when the river is still and the rafts haven't started.
Food
The city's breakfast, and the reason locals are grumpy about the versions sold abroad — roughly 99.99% of the "Guilin noodle" shops elsewhere are not the real thing. You get a bowl of round rice noodles with braised meat, fried soybeans, pickled beans and a ladle of the shop's own master stock (luoshui), then add your own broth at the table. A bowl costs about 3.5 yuan. Order it dry first (lucai fen), drink the broth after. The locals' picks are Chongshan and Liuboniang; tourists crowd Shiji across from the Xiaoxiaotang side door on Jiefang West Road.
Yangshuo's signature dish and the one thing everyone orders on Xijie. A whole fish braised in beer with tomato, green pepper and chili, served in a pan big enough for two. Waiters push jiangu fish because it is expensive — insiders will tell you the carp tastes better and gets buried because it costs less. Expect a fresh, faintly sweet, chili-warm sauce you will want to pour over rice. Xie Dajie and Dashi Fu are the chain names; locals go to Lao Tang Da Pai Dang at 13 Jiangjun Road.
A banquet classic: slabs of pork belly and Lipu taro — the famously starchy taro grown south of Guilin — layered and steamed with fermented bean curd until both go soft. Golden outside, melting inside, and the taro cuts the grease so effectively you can keep going. On the menu at most mid-range Guilin restaurants; about 45–65 yuan per person for a full meal.
A night-market staple you will find at street stalls and in restaurants at every price level. You pick off the little cap, suck the meat and broth out, and chase it with the spicy, sour, faintly herbal soup. Messy, cheap, and the best thing to eat standing up at 10pm.
Not brewed but "beaten" — old tea leaves fried with oil until fragrant, then boiled with salt and usually ginger. It is thick, bitter-ish and spicy at the back of the throat, and Gongcheng people drink it with breakfast, some households three meals a day. An acquired taste and a genuine one. Pair it with a bowl of rice noodles and you have eaten like a local.
Where to eat
Guilin home cooking
The most reliable introduction to Guilin cuisine at a fair price — the locals' answer when you ask where to eat without being fleeced. The room is packed with too many tables, so it gets loud when full; book a private room if you want to talk. Order the barrel-smoked chicken, the Li River shrimp, and the sticky-rice pork ribs.
Cantonese-style, local favourite
One of the busiest restaurants in the city, and the roast goose is the reason — Cantonese-style, crisp-skinned and rich. The candied taro pulls long sugar threads and the durian pastries and goose-liver "phoenix eye" sell out most nights, so go early if you want them.
Open 24 hours
Ask any taxi driver in Guilin where to eat late and you will be sent here. Open around the clock, which makes it the obvious landing spot if your train or flight gets in after 9pm — and it is a solid choice in daylight too. Congee is the headline but the wok dishes hold their own.
By the Yulong River
Finish a Yulong River bamboo raft and this is where to eat — the restaurant sends a car to meet you at the dock, so you do not have to figure out transport with wet feet. Rural, breezy, and the honey osmanthus tea, braised chicken and braised tofu are all worth the detour. A good way to end a cycling or rafting day.
Where to stay
Best location for sightseeing
Wedged between the Prince's City and the Li River, in the dead centre of town. One minute on foot to the river, one minute to the Jingjiang Prince's City scenic area, five minutes to Zhengyang pedestrian street, and under ten minutes to Elephant Trunk Hill, Fubo Hill, Diecai Hill and the Two Rivers and Four Lakes walk. If your priority is doing Guilin on foot, this is the address.
The city's state guesthouse
A courtyard complex on the west shore of Rong Lake, facing the ancient South Gate and a thousand-year-old banyan across the water. This is where Guilin puts up visiting dignitaries, which tells you what the setting is like — quiet, green and central, with the lake walk on your doorstep. Book a lake-facing room if you can.
One minute from West Street
A small themed guesthouse a single minute's walk from Xijie, which means you can drink on the strip and still sleep. They run the usual Yangshuo tourism desk — rafting tickets, bike hire, advice — and the courtyard is set up for doing nothing at all, which is half the point of Yangshuo.
Getting around
Guilin Liangjiang International Airport sits 28 km from downtown and runs 60-plus domestic and international routes, reaching over 30 Chinese cities plus Hong Kong and Macao, with overseas service to Fukuoka, Jeju, Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur. The airport bus leaves the CAAC building (Anxinzhou) every 30 minutes from 6:30 to 21:00 for CNY 20, and buses from the airport keep running until the last flight lands. A taxi runs about CNY 80 and usually won't use the meter — after 21:00 you can often split one for CNY 20 per person.
Guilin has two stations: Guilin Station (known locally as the South Station) and Guilin North. Most trains stop only at the South Station, which is convenient for both hotels and sights. The line links north to the Beijing–Guangzhou trunk and south to the Guizhou–Guangxi and Zhicheng–Liuzhou arteries, with direct trains to most major Chinese cities. Take bus 10, 11, 16, 22, 99 or sightseeing line 1 to the South Station; bus 1 connects Guilin North to downtown, and buses 1, 99 and 100 run directly between the two stations.
Guilin's main bus terminal at 65 Zhongshan South Road, one stop from the railway station, sells tickets to Hunan, Guangdong and the rest of Guangxi, plus coaches to 12 surrounding counties including Yangshuo, Xing'an and Longsheng. The Qintan terminal (31 Cuizhu Road) handles Longsheng and Yongfu services. Guilin to Yangshuo: the main terminal runs air-conditioned express coaches every 20 minutes from 6:30 to 20:30, taking 80 minutes for CNY 22. Avoid the cars leaving the railway station car park — they circle for passengers and theft is common on them.
City buses cost CNY 1 (CNY 2 on the 99 air-conditioned, sightseeing line 1 and suburban routes) and cover almost every downtown sight, running roughly 6:30 to 22:00. Free shuttle buses link the 4A sights: buy your ticket at any designated window and ride between them every 15 minutes, stopping three minutes at each gate, with a guide on board. First departures are 8:15 at Seven Star Park and 9:15 at Reed Flute Cave; last are 16:20 and 17:20. Taxis start at CNY 7 for 2 km plus a CNY 1 fuel surcharge by day, or CNY 7.8 plus fuel at night. Bikes cost about CNY 20 a day in Guilin, and in Yangshuo CNY 10 for an ordinary bike or CNY 20 for a mountain bike.
Shopping
Guilin's famous trio is chilli sauce, fermented bean curd and Sanhua rice wine. The chilli paste has been made here for more than 300 years from fresh red chillies, fermented black beans and garlic; the bean curd comes in pale yellow cubes with a jelly-like skin and a smell that fills a room; the Sanhua wine is a rice-aroma spirit distilled three times, clear as water with a honeyed scent and a soft, sweet finish. Buy all three in one box at the ground floor of Weixiaotang on Cross Street.
Luoguo (monk fruit) is the local sweetener you'll see dried in every market, sold alongside osmanthus tea, Longji tea, ginkgo nuts, Shatian pomelo, summer oranges, kumquat, persimmon cakes, chestnuts and Lipu taro. The osmanthus crop is what makes the city smell like a bakery every October, and osmanthus tea is the lightest thing to pack.
Fuzhu — dried tofu skin rolled into brittle golden sticks — stores for months, cooks in minutes and works fried, braised, stewed or stir-fried. It's cheap, light and the one local food souvenir that won't leak in your suitcase.
Beyond food, look for Gui embroidery, combs, oil-paper umbrellas and hand-painted folding screens. Zheng Yang Pedestrian Street runs 666 metres through the city centre and is where locals shop for specialties; the West City Road night market spreads across Xicheng, Jiaotong, Lingui and Baiguo lanes with crafts, calligraphers painting fans and shirts on the spot, and street snacks. In Yangshuo, buy persimmon cakes and Lüji pine-flower candy — the Lüji workshop by the banyan tree at the bus station is the best-known, made entirely by hand on site.
Practical
Prices, schedules and opening hours in Guilin change with the season — always confirm the day before, especially for Li River cruises and Longjing River rafting, which sell out and adjust departures by water level. For a stress-free version of this itinerary, see our Guilin tour packages and private tour options.
| When to go | April to October is the best window — green hills, full rivers and rafting weather. Summer (July–August) is the hottest, sometimes above 40°C. The two weeks after the 15th day of the fourth lunar month flood the Longji terraces to mirror-like perfection. On Mid-Autumn night, Elephant Trunk Hill frames two moons — one in the sky, one in the Li River. |
|---|---|
| Money | Guilin is cheap. A bowl of proper rice noodles costs CNY 3.5, a fast-food meal about CNY 7, and street snacks are pocket change. Two-bedroom flats rent for CNY 600–800. Tourist goods are the exception — they are priced for visitors, so bargain. |
| Language | Guilin dialect descends from southern Mandarin and was once the official 'southern official speech' of the imperial exams, so most Chinese speakers understand it. English is thin outside hotels and big agencies; download a translation app and keep your hotel's name in Chinese. |
| Safety | The city is safe, but it is a heavily touristed one. Be wary of overly enthusiastic people introducing sights on the street — touts and 'travel gunmen' are a real nuisance. Pickpockets work the railway and bus stations, and some travel information posted online is simply wrong. Keep your bag in front of you. |
| Taxis | Meters are used for cars flagged on the street, but taxis waiting at stations, bus terminals and hotel doors usually refuse the meter. If a driver recommends a restaurant, check the menu and prices before sitting down — disputes at bill time are common. |
| Hospitals and emergencies | Guilin Medical University Affiliated Hospital, 15 Lequn Rd, tel 0773-2823244. Guilin People's Hospital, 12 Wenming Rd, tel 0773-2810816. Nanxishan Hospital, 46 Chongxin Rd, tel 0773-3859057. Tourism complaints and enquiries: 0773-2800318. City police: 0773-5856360. |
| Rafting and cave timing | Longjing River rafting opens only a limited number of departures each day and cuts them further in low-water season — call the scenic area the day before to confirm which runs are open and at what time. The road from Xingping to Longjing River is rough and takes about 30 minutes, so allow time to change clothes before you launch. Li River tickets must be bought at least one day ahead, from your hotel's tour desk, a Guilin travel agency, or a tourist information centre. Boats leave at 9:30 and 10:00 daily and the trip runs about 4.5 hours. |
Background
Guilin sits at 25°N, 110°E, in the far northeast of Guangxi, on a plain of soft limestone that rain has been dissolving for millions of years. The result is the karst you came for: tower-like peaks rising straight out of flat farmland, and rivers that thread between them. The name dates to 214 BC, when Qin Shi Huang conquered the south and set up a commandery called Guilin — "forest of osmanthus." The city itself has been continuously inhabited for over 2,000 years, and by the Song dynasty it was the political and cultural capital of the southwest. It stayed Guangxi's capital until 1950.
Walk the old town and you are walking through that history: the Ming walls and gates of the Prince of Jingjiang's palace, the 306 steps up Solitary Beauty Peak, the 2,000-plus stone inscriptions carved into cliff faces by poets and officials who came, wrote, and left. Chen Yi, a marshal of the People's Liberation Army, wrote the line locals still quote: "I would rather be a Guilin person than an immortal." Immortals, he meant, have no everyday life — Guilin has both the scenery and the rice noodles.
Guilin's climate is humid subtropical: mild, wet, plenty of rain, long summers, short winters. July and August push past 30°C and occasionally 40°C; January and February hover near freezing, though snow is rare. The rain is concentrated from April to October, which is also the best window to visit — the water is high, the hills are green, and the rivers actually look like the postcards.
That matters because the Li River is not a fixed attraction. In the dry season the cruise route shortens and boats depart from different docks; in the wet season you get the misty, ink-wash version everyone photographs. Longji's terraces are flooded and mirror-bright from mid-May (about two weeks after the 15th day of the fourth lunar month), green through summer, and gold in late September and October. Time your trip to the season and you get a completely different Guilin.
Further reading
dir. John Curran, from the novel by W. Somerset Maugham
Maugham's 1925 novel is set partly in a cholera-stricken Chinese river town, and the film version was shot in Guangxi — the Li River gorge, the bamboo rafts and the karst peaks all appear. Watch it on the plane and you will recognise the scenery from the window of the bus to Yangdi.
W. Somerset Maugham; Simon Winchester
Maugham for the colonial-era mood of river travel; Winchester for the modern context. His account of following the Yangtze from its mouth to its source includes a long, curious chapter on the geology of southern China's karst, which explains why Guilin's hills look the way they do.
dir. Zhang Yimou, Wang Chaoge and Fan Yue
The show that invented the "real-scenery performance" — 600 performers, twelve karst peaks lit as the backdrop, and the Li River itself as the stage floor. Some visitors find it over-produced and too commercial for a quiet river town; others call it the best 70 minutes of their trip. Tickets run CNY 188 (standard), 320 (VIP) or 680 (presidential box), every night at 8pm, 70 minutes, at the Li River Landscape Theatre in Yangshuo. Decide for yourself — but book a day ahead, it sells out.
The questions visitors ask us most about Guilin, answered plainly.
Prices and practical details are reviewed every month by our Beijing team and updated the day a rule changes.
April to October is the best window — the hills are green and the river runs full. Summer (July–August) is hot, sometimes above 35°C, but it's the season for river rafting. September and October are ideal: warm days, clear water, and the Longji terraces turning gold. Winter sits around 0–10°C, often misty, and the terraces are bare.
The easiest way is a direct bus from Guilin Main Bus Station (6:30–20:30, every 20 minutes, 80 minutes, CNY 22). Or take the 4.5-hour Li River cruise and arrive by boat. Avoid the buses that leave from the train station car park — they cost CNY 20 but stop constantly to pick up passengers and theft is a known problem on that route.
Yes, if you take it once and take the standard class rather than the deluxe. The scenery between Yangdi and Xingping is the reason you came, and the boat is the most comfortable way to see all of it. If your budget is tight, skip the full 83km cruise and instead do the 22km Yangdi–Xingping stretch by bamboo raft (CNY 95–120) — that's the section that actually matters.
At least one day ahead, and further ahead in the Golden Week holidays. Tickets are sold through hotel tour desks, Guilin travel agencies, and tourist information centres. Standard boats leave from Mopanshan Pier; deluxe and luxury boats leave from Zhujiang Pier; all arrive at Yangshuo's Longtoushan Pier.
Three days covers the essentials: one day for Guilin city and the Two Rivers and Four Lakes, one day for the Li River and Xingping, one day for Yangshuo's Yulong River and the Ten-Mile Gallery by bike. Add a fourth day for the Longji Rice Terraces and a fifth if you want to slow down, try rock climbing, or hike the full Yangdi–Xingping river path.
No — day-to-day costs are low. A bowl of rice noodles is CNY 3.5, a fast meal about CNY 7, and street snacks are cheaper still. Tourist attractions and boat tickets are where the money goes: the Li River cruise, the 130-yuan Solitary Beauty Peak and Prince City combo, and the 90-yuan Reed Flute Cave add up fast.
Plan this trip
The same places, with a driver, an English-speaking guide and the tickets already bought.
Twelve days built for children: panda mornings, dumpling classes, a Great Wall toboggan, karst rivers and no 5 a.m. wake-ups.
From US$1,980/per person
View tourFive regions, one journey: imperial north, panda country, the karst rivers of Guilin and the skyline of Shanghai, with Hangzhou's West Lake.
From US$2,580/per person
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Guilin
Four hours downstream through the karst towers to Yangshuo, then the countryside by road on the way back. The classic Guangxi day.
From US$139/per person
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Guilin
Flat paved lanes between the towers, a bamboo raft on the Yulong River, and cormorant fishing at dusk. Guangxi at ground level.
From US$129/per person
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Guilin
Terraces cut by hand over 650 years and still farmed, in the mountains two and a half hours north-west of Guilin.
From US$149/per person
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Wuyuan
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China's 'most beautiful countryside' — dozens of white-walled Huizhou villages strung along streams and terraced into the hills, and two weeks a year of gold.
Mount Heng (Hengshan, Hunan)
City guide · 12 tours
The South Great Peak: a pilgrimage mountain of 72 summits where the temples run all the way to the top, and the sunrise over the cloud sea is the whole point.
Huangshan
City guide · 12 tours
Yellow Mountain: 82 granite peaks of twisted pines and grotesque rock, a sea of cloud that changes by the hour, and hot springs at the foot.
Wudang Mountain
City guide · 12 tours
The Taoist first mountain of China — a gilded bronze hall on a 1,612 m summit, temples hung off cliff faces, and the birthplace of tai chi.
Luoyang
City guide · 12 tours
Thirteen dynasties, 100,000 Buddhas carved into a river cliff, China's first Buddhist temple — and a whole city that turns peony-pink every April.
Yuntai Mountain
City guide · 12 tours
A UNESCO geopark in Henan where red-stone gorges squeeze a river to a slot, a 314 m waterfall drops in one plunge, and every path leads to another pool.
Rizhao
City guide · 12 tours
A low-key Shandong beach town where the sun rises straight out of the Yellow Sea, the sand runs 60 km and a seafood dinner costs less than a coffee in Shanghai.
Yantai
City guide · 12 tours
A northern Shandong port of fairy-tale cliffs, wine cellars and long golden beaches — where emperors once hunted the elixir of life and China's wine industry still begins.
Lianyungang
City guide · 12 tours
A working Jiangsu port with a myth in the middle of it — the Flower-Fruit Mountain of Journey to the West, a sea causeway to a big island beach, and some of the cheapest seafood on the coast.
Sanqing Mountain
City guide · 12 tours
A vertical forest of granite pillars in Jiangxi — the Python Out of the Mountain, the Goddess of the East Sea, two cable cars and a cliff-hugging walkway at 1,660 metres.
Tianjin
City guide · 12 tours
Beijing's port city next door — a river of 24 bridges, 2,000 colonial villas, and the best street breakfast in northern China.
Datong
City guide · 12 tours
A frontier capital of carved Buddhas — the Yungang Grottoes, a temple pinned to a cliff, and the oldest wooden tower in China.
Taiyuan
City guide · 12 tours
Shanxi's provincial capital and noodle heartland — the spring of Jinci, two Ming pagodas, and a museum that explains the whole province.
Pingyao
City guide · 12 tours
China's best-preserved ancient walled town — a Ming wall, the first Chinese bank, and two temples of painted clay just outside the gates.
Wutai Mountain
City guide · 12 tours
China's foremost Buddhist mountain — fifty-plus temples in one valley, crowned by five flat-topped peaks up to 3,058 m.
Hulunbuir
City guide · 12 tours
China's finest grassland — a 263,000 km² sweep of steppe, birch forest and border river, best driven with the windows down.
The Forbidden City
City guide · 12 tours
Beijing's 600-year imperial palace — 8,700 rooms behind a 72-hectare wall, and the largest surviving wooden palace complex on earth.
Sanya
City guide · 12 tours
China's only true winter-sun coast — four very different bays, a coral island and a 108 m sea Buddha, all at 18° north.
Haikou
City guide · 12 tours
Hainan's capital is the island's living city — 600-year-old arcade streets, a volcanic village, and a morning-tea-to-midnight food culture.
Beihai
City guide · 12 tours
24 km of fine white sand on one side, a volcanic island of coral and lava on the other — plus a 19th-century arcade old street in between.
Nanning
City guide · 12 tours
Guangxi's green capital is a gateway to Detian Falls, Beihai and Vietnam — and a genuinely excellent food city if you let it slow you down.
Guangxi
City guide · 12 tours
One autonomous region, a dozen landscapes — limestone peaks and rice terraces in the north, a Vietnam border and a warm gulf coast in the south.
Huizhou
City guide · 12 tours
A free West Lake, a Taoist mountain and 200 km of white-sand coast — the Pearl River Delta's most underrated weekend.
Beidaihe
City guide · 12 tours
Northern China's classic beach escape — one sunrise headland, 10 km of calm swimming water, and a bird flyway overhead twice a year.
Shanhaiguan
City guide · 12 tours
The town where the Great Wall stops being a rumour of mountains and walks into the Bohai Sea.
Baiyangdian
City guide · 12 tours
The biggest freshwater lake on the North China Plain — and almost none of it can be reached except by boat.
Qinhuangdao
City guide · 12 tours
126 km of Bohai coast in one municipality — a working port, two famous resorts, and the only desert dunes that meet this sea.
Yesanpo
City guide · 12 tours
Gorge country where the Taihang and Yan ranges collide — 52.5 km of canyon walls, a cave that spits fish, and a river to fall off.
Zhuhai
City guide · 12 tours
The delta's slow city: a 28 km promenade, 146 islands, oysters fattened where the river meets the sea.
Wuyi Mountain
City guide · 12 tours
Nine bends of clear water, red sandstone cliffs, and the tea that made a mountain's name.
Jiuzhaigou
City guide · 12 tours
108 mineral-blue lakes in one 55 km valley — the place that ruins water everywhere else for you.
Mount Siguniang
City guide · 12 tours
Four snow peaks, three valleys, and the friendliest 5,000 m mountain in China to stand on top of.
Hailuogou
City guide · 12 tours
A glacier that comes down to 2,850 m, hot springs in the forest, and Gongga Shan filling the sky above both.
Daocheng Yading
City guide · 12 tours
Three 6,000 m sacred peaks, glacial lakes at 4,600 m and twenty hours of road — the hardest, highest payoff in Sichuan.
Shunan Bamboo Sea
City guide · 12 tours
Seventy thousand mu of bamboo over twenty-eight hills, a red sandstone corridor under a closed green roof, and a banquet made entirely of bamboo.
Dujiangyan
City guide · 12 tours
Not a monument but a machine: three pieces of engineering with no dam, still doing their job after 2,270 years.
Qingcheng Mountain
City guide · 12 tours
The mountain where Daoism was organised, and the one Chengdu escapes to when the basin turns into an oven.
Qingdao
City guide · 12 tours
Red-tiled roofs, cold beer and a granite mountain that walks straight into the sea — the easiest good time on the Yellow Sea.
Mount Tai
City guide · 12 tours
1,545 metres, 6,290 stone steps and three thousand years of emperors — the one mountain in China that is also a document.
Jinan
City guide · 12 tours
A provincial capital with 700 springs under the pavement — people still queue at the spouts to fill their kettles.
Weihai
City guide · 12 tours
1,000 km of clean coast, a free bathing beach, the island where the Beiyang Fleet died — and thousands of wild swans every winter.
Qufu
City guide · 12 tours
One family, two thousand years of steles, and a ¥150 pass that covers the lot — the easiest serious day trip in Shandong.
Penglai
City guide · 12 tours
China's immortals' coast — a Song-dynasty naval harbour you can walk for free, a mythology nobody ever found, and the ferry to 32 islands.
Changdao
City guide · 12 tours
32 islands, one causeway, a ¥150 land pass, tens of thousands of gulls and nowhere you can drive — the place where everything happens by boat.
Nanjing
City guide · 12 tours
Capital of six dynasties, capital of the Republic, and the city that eats more duck than anywhere else on earth.
Suzhou
City guide · 12 tours
Two thousand five hundred years of canals, sixty surviving gardens, and a city that shuts its gates at half past five.
Zhouzhuang
City guide · 12 tours
Nine hundred years, fourteen bridges, one ticket — and a town that only makes sense before eight in the morning.
Tongli
City guide · 12 tours
Fifteen canals, seven islets, forty-nine bridges — and a town that still gets up at dawn because it lives here.
Wuxi
City guide · 12 tours
Taihu on one side, a Grand Buddha on the next hill, and ribs sweet enough to argue about — the most underrated city on the Yangtze delta.
Yangzhou
City guide · 12 tours
A city built by salt merchants who had more money than restraint — gardens, a narrow lake, and the best breakfast in China.
Zhenjiang
City guide · 12 tours
Three hills, one ferry landing, and an unreasonable share of Chinese literature — the Yangtze city people drive past.
Changzhou
City guide · 12 tours
A 2,500-year-old canal city that built a dinosaur park and refuses to apologise for it.
Wuzhen
City guide · 12 tours
A town that is two towns: the older, quieter East Zone and the lit-up West Zone you sleep inside.
Xitang
City guide · 12 tours
Nine canals, 122 lanes, one long roofed corridor — and a town that still works for a living.
Hangzhou
City guide · 12 tours
A lake in the middle of a city, a tea village in the hills, and two thousand years of getting the mood right.
Xixi Wetland
City guide · 12 tours
Ten square kilometres of marsh inside Hangzhou, and the only way into half of it is a boat.
Ningbo
City guide · 12 tours
A 7,000-year-old port with Asia's oldest private library, a free waterfront 20 years older than Shanghai's, and the best seafood before the islands.
Mount Putuo
City guide · 12 tours
A Buddhist island with no cars, three great temples and a ¥10 lunch that is the point of the place.
Qiandao Lake
City guide · 12 tours
A thousand islands that did not exist sixty years ago, and the cleanest big-lake water in China.
Shaoxing
City guide · 12 tours
Two and a half thousand years of water-town China, and Lu Xun's house is free.
Zhoushan
City guide · 12 tours
1,390 islands, one road bridge in, and a harbour that lands more fish than almost anywhere on earth.
Hengdian
City guide · 12 tours
A backlot the size of a town, where the palaces are copies and the film crews are real.
Yandang Mountain
City guide · 12 tours
A volcano that weathering turned into scenery — 500-odd sights of peak, cave and waterfall across eight scenic areas.
Zhejiang
City guide · 12 tours
One small, mountainous, absurdly rich province that holds a lake, two canal towns, a Buddhist island and a dead volcano.
Hong Kong Outlying Islands
City guide · 12 tours
Two hundred-odd islands, half an hour of ferry from the financial district, and not a car on three of them.
Hong Kong Shopping
City guide · 12 tours
A duty-free port where the tag starts lower, two citywide sale seasons knock a third off, and every mall sits on an MTR exit.
Macao
City guide · 12 tours
Four hundred years of Portuguese streets, a fake Venice under a painted sky, and the best egg tart in Asia.
Urumqi
City guide · 12 tours
The city furthest from the sea, with a snow range on its doorstep and dinner starting at nine.
Hong Kong SAR, China
City guide · 11 tours
A harbour skyline you already know by heart, dim sum trolleys at dawn, and 260 islands an hour from the neon.
Taiwan, China
City guide · 11 tours
Night-market alleys, high-mountain railways, and a coastline that changes character every hundred kilometres.
Qinghai Lake
City guide · 12 tours
A 4,400 sq km inland sea at 3,200 m, ringed by rapeseed gold, prayer flags and the best cycling road in China.
Mount Emei
City guide · 11 tours
A 3,099-metre Buddhist summit you can reach by cable car before lunch — and a mountain full of monkeys that will absolutely rob you.
Beijing
City guide · 11 tours
Six centuries of imperial red walls, a Great Wall you can climb before lunch, and the best roast duck on earth.
Taipei
City guide · 11 tours
A 24-hour bookstore, a night market that never stops sizzling, and a city that apologises when you bump into it.
North Xinjiang
City guide · 11 tours
Alpine lakes the colour of poured enamel, a village of log cabins under birch trees, and the last tear the Atlantic ever sheds.
Lanzhou
City guide · 11 tours
A city split in half by the Yellow River, where beef noodles are a breakfast ritual and the Silk Road still runs through the streets.
Mount Hua
City guide · 11 tours
Five granite peaks, one plank road bolted to a cliff face, and a sunrise that justifies the 2am start.
Dunhuang
City guide · 11 tours
A desert oasis where Buddhist cave art survived a thousand years and a crescent lake refused to dry up.
Gannan
City guide · 11 tours
433 kilometres of the Yellow River's first bend, a 3.5 km prayer-wheel circuit, and Tibetan grasslands almost nobody has commercialised yet.
Sichuan–Tibet Highway
City guide · 11 tours
2,142 kilometres of cliff-edge switchbacks, four of China's most beautiful mountains, and a road the Tibetans walk on their knees.
Kangding
City guide · 11 tours
The town that gave Asia its most famous love song, a 7,556m sacred peak on its doorstep, and the last real Tibetan town before the road climbs to Lhasa.
Lhasa
City guide · 12 tours
A city of prayer wheels and butter lamps at 3,700 metres, where the sun shines 3,000 hours a year and the world's highest palace watches over it all.
Nyingchi
City guide · 11 tours
Tibet's greenest corner — peach blossom valleys, a 7,782 m peak that hides from almost everyone, and the world's deepest canyon.
Namtso
City guide · 11 tours
A 1,920-square-kilometre sheet of impossible blue at 4,718 metres, ringed by snow peaks and prayer flags.
Chongqing
City guide · 12 tours
A vertical city of fog, cable cars and cliff-side stilt houses, where the火锅 never stops boiling and the night skyline outshines Hong Kong.
Qiandongnan
City guide · 11 tours
A thousand Miao households stacked up a mountainside, drum towers and wind-rain bridges in Dong villages, and a 600-year-old Ming garrison town on the road to Guiyang.
Libo
City guide · 11 tours
Emerald rivers threading through karst peaks, a 600-metre forest growing out of a riverbed, and China's largest wild plum grove.
Guiyang
City guide · 11 tours
China's summer capital at 1,100 metres, where the nights run on sour fish soup, street-side barbecue and mahjong that never quite stops.
Zhenyuan
City guide · 11 tours
A 2,000-year-old river town where the Wuyang River carves an S through the mountains and every lane hides a story.
Huangguoshu
City guide · 11 tours
Asia's biggest waterfall, and the only one on earth you can walk behind, above and around — plus 600-year-old Ming dynasty villages a short drive away.
Harbin
City guide · 11 tours
Minus 30 degrees, a frozen river you can walk across, and a cathedral built by Russians who never went home.
Yunnan
City guide · 11 tours
Snow mountains, tropical rainforest, twenty-five minorities and a plate of rice noodles — all in one province.
Shanghai
City guide · 11 tours
A 1920s waterfront of colonial banks facing a science-fiction skyline, soup dumplings you eat with a straw, and 20 million people moving like clockwork.
Zhangjiajie
City guide · 11 tours
Three thousand sandstone pillars straight out of Avatar, a glass skywalk bolted to a cliff, and a cable car that leaves from downtown.
Guangzhou
City guide · 11 tours
A 2,200-year-old trading port where dim sum is a religion, colonial islands sit beside 600-metre towers, and the food never stops.
Shenzhen
City guide · 11 tours
A fishing village that became a megacity in forty years — and it still has 500-year-old banyans, empty beaches and dim sum worth the border crossing.
Chengdu
City guide · 11 tours
A 3,000-year-old city where the schedule is tea, mahjong and hotpot — and the pandas are just the opening act.
Xinjiang
City guide · 11 tours
Snow peaks, grassland, desert and oasis — one-sixth of China, and the longest road you will ever ride.
Xi'an
City guide · 14 tours
Thirteen dynasties of emperors, a terracotta army buried for 2,200 years, and a walled city you can cycle in 100 minutes.
Qinghai
City guide · 11 tours
China's high-altitude blue heart: a salt lake you can walk on, a 3,200-metre sea, and yak butter tea at the roof of the world.
Tibet
City guide · 11 tours
A plateau the size of Western Europe where the sky starts at your feet, prayer flags carry the wind, and the roads run past 8,000-metre peaks.
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