Guilin is famous for limestone hills landscapes & traditional Chinese villages. Guilin is located in southern china and it is a popular destination for professional photographers. It is a perfect place to experience sunrise and sunset on the background of limestone hills and beautiful rivers. October to March is probably the best time to visit Guilin and you should definitely avoid July, August and September because it rains heavily during this season. I visited Guilin for 4 days during Christmas holidays. December is a good time to visit Guilin because it is not a peak season and you can get cheaper accommodation during this time. The weather is cold during December and the temperature stays between 5 degree to 20 degree. I took High speed train from Shenzhen North station and reached Guilin North station within 3 hours. The direct train service from Shenzhen to Guilin is usually sold out in advance. If you can’t get ticket for the direct train then you can always reach Guilin from Shenzhen with a stop-over In Guangzhou. I took bike taxi from Guilin North station and it took me 30 minutes to reach Guilin city from the station. Guilin city is provincial city but it has really good infrastructure and transport facility.
Day 1 Guilin
Folded Brocade Hill (Diecai Hill)–My hostel receptionist provided me with details about all the major scenic spots around Guilin. I was completely sorted for the day after receiving the local map and the bus route number for different tourist spots near Guilin. I wanted to explore Guilin by foot thats why i skipped the bus ride and decided to walk towards Diecai hill. It was a long 30 minutes walk from my hostel to the entrance of Diecai Hill.
Diecai Hill scenic area is located besides Li Jiang river and the area consists of park, temples and number of small hills. I climbed the stairs to the top of the hill and it took me about 30 minutes. The view of the city on the landscape of limestone hills and Li river was beautiful. It was little foggy during afternoon and the visibility was not that great. The compound also consists of other small hills and the view from those hills are similar to the views from Diecai hill. Overall it was a great scenic place and i will strongly recommend everyone to visit the place during your trip to Guilin.
Elephant Trunk hill – Elephant Trunk hill is the symbol of Guilin city. The Elephant trunk scenic area consists of Yunfeng temple, Puxian pagoda, water moon cave and love island. You need to pay entrance fee in order to enter the scenic area. Elephant Trunk scenic area is situated at the center of Guilin and it is a popular tourist destination among foreigners and locals. It was late when i arrived at the scenic area so i decided to directly proceed towards the viewpoint of the Elephant Trunk hill. I felt that the hill had a strong resemblance to elephant drinking water. The area was crowded with tourists and photographers trying to capture the best shots of the Elephant Trunk hill. I paid only 10 CNY for a nice photo of myself acting as a Cormorant Fisherman.
Guilin 2 Rivers 4 Lakes Scenic Area–2 Rivers 4 Lakes Scenic area must be visited during night. I walked on the trail situated around the lake and the view of the pagodas from the the walking trail was beautiful. The scenic area features two pagodas named as Sun and Moon pagoda. The lakes are surrounded by trees and plants. The beautiful walking trail which surrounds the lake features rock formations and bridges. The walking trail is lit with multi-colored lights and it was a great way to cover the entire scenic area. I strongly recommend to skip the boat tour around the lake because you get to see similar views of the surrounding from the boat and the ticket price for the boat trip is usually over expensive.
Guilin Night Market – Guilin Night market is located at Zhengyang Pedestrian Street.The street is located just adjacent to 2 Rivers 4 Lakes scenic area. The street is famous for Jewelry, Handicrafts, Painting and Clothing stores. Entire Night market is separated into vertical and horizontal layouts. I tried some local snacks and grilled food for the dinner. The food items were reasonably priced and it was delicious. The street features some authentic Chinese restaurants for the people interested in fine dining experience.
Day 2 Li River Cruise & Yangshuo
LI River cruise- On the second day of my trip I booked for Bamboo Raft Li river cruise from my hostel at Guilin.The price of the tour was 220 CNY and the tour involved drop off service at Yangshuo town. I was picked up from my hostel at 7.30 am and the bus ride from Guilin to the pier took us about 30 minutes. Each bamboo raft was carrying only 4 passengers and this is a must do activity during your trip to Guilin. Bamboo raft is probably the most authentic way to enjoy the scenery of Li river and the surrounding limestone hills. The boat ride covers the most beautiful part of Li river and the total duration of the ride was around 1 hour. Alternatively you can also choose bigger boat for 4 hours long cruise from Guilin to Yangshuo. The price of the 4 hours cruise is 450 yuan and it includes lunch. I didn’t opt for 4 hour cruise because the bamboo raft ride covers the best part of Li River and the scenery becomes repetitive after sometime. Our bamboo raft ride ended at a pier near Xingping town. Xingping town is a very small town but it becomes really crowded during peak tourist season. The landscape near Xingping town pier is featured in 20 CNY note and it is a popular place among tourists. The weather was fantastic and i thoroughly enjoyed the Bamboo Raft cruise from Yangdi to Xingping town.
Shangrila Scenic Area – My boat tour from Yangdi to Xingping town ended at around 1 pm. Our tour operator offered us a trip to Shangrila scenic area with an additional cost of 100 CNY. I decided to visit Shangrila scenic area because i had no other plans for the day. It took us about 1 hour to reach Shangrila scenic area from Xingping town. We immediately boarded a wooden boat after reaching the scenic area. Lotus pond, peach trees. Yangzi cave and rain bridge were the main attraction of the boat trip. The boat passed through some minority villages and you can see Zhuang people playing reed pipes and dancing during the boat trip. The view of the limestone hills was not that great from the scenic area and our boat docked at Dong village after the trip. I tried some sweet rice wine from the village and i felt it was too sweat. We visited Flower Hall, Drum Hall & Love tower during our visit to Dong village. Yuanming Villa was our last stop of the trip to Shangrila scenic area and the architecture of the villa was inspired from Suzhou garden and North Guangxi residence. We started our return journey at around 5 pm and our tour bus dropped us at our hostel in Yangshuo at around 6 pm.
Yangshuo Night market– Yangshuo night market is a popular tourist destination in Yangshuo. The night market is located near Xijie Pedestrian Street close to Pantao main road. The night market is famous for Chinese handicrafts, Chinese tea shops, street food & souvenir shops. The night market is usually crowded from 7 pm till 10 pm. The night market is situated around a small lake and the entire place is usually lit with multi-coloured lights at night.
Impression San Jie Liu show– After reaching my hostel I booked for Impression San Jie Liu show. The show is performed on the biggest natural theatre of the world. At CNY 190 the cost of the ticket might seem little expensive but it was completely worth it. I had a pickup from our hostel around 7 pm and the show was at 7.30 pm. The show consists of around 600 performers and it is watched by 3000 spectators everyday. The theme of the show is based on the daily lives of local people living in the area. The performers of the show are mostly local people and they have day jobs. The illuminated Karst mountains on the background was looking fantastic throughout the show. The lightning of the show was brilliant and they used floating stage very effectively for the entire duration of the show. I loved the pace of the show and there was hardly any time for break. The choreographer of the show is Zhang Yi Mou who directed the opening ceremony of Beijing Olympics. The theatre is located very close to Yangshuo town. The show was a unique experience for me and it shouldn’t be missed at all cost.
Day 3 Exploring viewpoints near Yangshuo town
Yangshuo is famous among photographers for beautiful scenery during sunrise and sunset. The sunrise and sunset photos from the viewpoints near Yangshuo town have been widely used for the tourism promotion of Guilin & Yangshuo. The viewpoints near Yangshuo are Xianggong Mountain, Laozhaishan Mountain, Wuzhi Mountain and the famous TV tower hike near Yangshuo town. Apart from the TV tower hike all other viewpoints are located far from Yangshuo town and you need to hire a cab in order to reach there. Some of these viewpoints are included as a day tour package from Yangshuo town.
Xianggong Mountain-I met two friends at my hostel and we decided to share a cab to Xianggong Mountain viewpoint and Wuzhi hill viewpoint. Xianggong Mountain is a famous tourist destination because you get great views of sunrise over a valley of limestone hills and Li River. During winter season it might get little foggy during morning time and you might not get the best views of sunrise so we decided to start our journey by around 10 am. We reached the base of the Xianggong mountain after 1 hour drive. The hike from the entrance till the observation deck takes about 30 minutes and you need to purchase the tickets at the entrance. The path was well laid out with with lots of stairs. The entire observation deck was separated into three layered platform for different viewing angle. It was a clear day and the view from the observation deck was simply stunning. The place was not that crowded and there was enough space for everyone to click their perfect picture. Boat cruise along the Li river is a popular tourist activity and we were able to spot number of tour boats along the river. I will strongly recommend to visit the observation deck during your tour to Yangshuo.
Wuzhi Hill- It took us around 1 hour to reach Wuzhi hill from Xianggong mountain. Wuzhi hill is not that touristy compared to Xianggong mountain. The roads for the last part of the trip was not in good condition and we could only see only small villages near the mountain. It took us 15 minutes to reach the observation deck and it was completely empty. We saw amazing views of limestone hills, streams, villages and crop fields from the observation deck. Entire landscape can be captured with a better camera with higher pixel size. It is a popular place for photographers and the photo is featured multiple times in different tourism campaigns. We had the entire observation deck to ourselves and we took tons of pictures from the observation deck.
Yangshuo TV Tower Hike- We returned to our hostel from Wuzhi hill at around 4 pm. Our hostel receptionist recommended us to do the famous TV tower hike for the amazing sunset views. I got some help regarding the direction from our hostel receptionist but it was little tricky to get to the starting point of the hike. I followed Pantao road and turned left after Yangshuo Rural Cooperative bank ATM. I got completely lost after the turn and asked some local people about the trail. I followed a narrow and uphill road pointed out by a local and eventually managed to reach the starting point of the hike. I felt that i started the hike little late because i saw most of the hikers were returning from the hike and there was no other hiker who was starting the hike at that point of time.I followed the trail for an hour and decided to turn back because it was winter season and it started to get dark really quickly. The scenery from the hiking trail was amazing and I was little disappointed because i couldn’t reach the top of the mountain.
I started my return journey from Yangshuo early morning and i reached Hong Kong at around 8 pm. I took bus from Yangshuo town to Yangshuo railway station and the total journey took about 30 minutes. I took a short train ride from Yangshuo station and reached Guilin North station in 30 minutes. There are direct trains available from Yangshuo station to Guangzhou station but most tickets are sold out in advance. My journey from Guilin North to Shenzhen North station included an hour long stop over at Guangzhou station because I couldn’t get direct train tickets from Guilin North to Shenzhen North. Overall i really enjoyed my 3 days trip to Guilin and Yangshuo. The tourist site features some of the most unique landscapes in the world and it shouldn’t be missed during your trip to China.
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