The Li River cruise
83 km from Guilin down to Yangshuo, past Xingping and the view on the ¥20 note. Take the 09:00 boat and sit on the upper deck.
Guilin · Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region
Guilin Travel Guide 2026 | Li River, Guangxi | JoyoTour
Guilin sits in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, where the Li River runs between karst peaks down to Yangshuo — rice paddies, cormorant fishermen and the Dragon's Backbone terraces. Private Guilin tours from US$189 a day.
The short version
Guilin is in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, and it gives you the landscape Chinese painting was invented to describe: limestone karst peaks rising straight out of rice paddies along the Li River. The 83 km cruise down to Yangshuo is the core experience, and two to three days covers it without rushing. Stay in Yangshuo rather than Guilin: that is where the karst stands closest to your window.
- Guilin is in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, in China's karst belt.
- The Li River cruise to Yangshuo covers 83 km and takes about four hours.
- The Dragon's Backbone rice terraces are 2 hours north and best in May and September.
- Guilin Liangjiang (KWL) connects domestically and seasonally to Southeast Asia.
- Guangzhou is 2h 30m away by rail; Nanning, the regional capital, 2h 30m south.
The place itself
What Guilin is actually like
Two hundred and seventy million years of dissolving limestone produced this: cones of rock 100 to 300 m high standing in flat green fields, each one hollow, each one a separate island of jungle. Chinese painters spent a thousand years trying to get them right, and the ¥20 note still carries one.
Guilin city itself is unremarkable, and that surprises people. The reason to come is the river — the 83 km run down to Yangshuo passes the best of the karst in about four hours, arriving in a town that has been on the backpacker route since the 1980s and still works better than it should.
Guangxi also happens to be the most ethnically mixed region in southern China. Zhuang, Yao, Miao and Dong villages sit in the hills above the rice terraces, and a market day in a place like Ping'an is a genuinely different China from anything on the eastern seaboard.
Destination — click to open the guide
Province or autonomous region
Provincial capital
Major river
Pins are plotted from real latitude and longitude on a 5° graticule. This is a schematic orientation diagram, not a political map — no boundaries are drawn.
What not to miss — Guilin
Yangshuo and the Yulong River
Bamboo-raft floats down a quieter tributary, then cycling through the villages behind the town. The karst is closer here than anywhere.
Dragon's Backbone rice terraces
Longji, two hours north — 800 m of stair-stepped paddies cut by Zhuang and Yao families. May floods them; September turns them gold.
Elephant Trunk Hill
The rock that gives Guilin its postcard: an arch dissolving into the river that reads, from the right angle, as an elephant drinking.
Reed Flute Cave
A 240 m limestone cavern of stalactites and coloured lighting — touristy, and genuinely spectacular geology.
Cormorant fishing at Xingping
A staged sunset performance by an elderly fisherman with trained birds. Kitsch, and worth every yuan.
China tours that include this stop — Guilin
China Highlights Express
The essential first-time itinerary: imperial Beijing, the Terracotta Army in Xi'an and futuristic Shanghai, linked by high-speed rail.
★★★★★4.9 218 reviews
From US$1,290 US$1,490/per person
Family China Discovery
Twelve days built for children: panda mornings, dumpling classes, a Great Wall toboggan, karst rivers and no 5 a.m. wake-ups.
★★★★★4.9 97 reviews
From US$1,980/per person
View tourGrand China Odyssey
Five regions, one journey: imperial north, panda country, the karst rivers of Guilin and the skyline of Shanghai, with Hangzhou's West Lake.
★★★★★4.8 132 reviews
From US$2,580/per person
View tourDay tours from here — Guilin
Guilin
Li River Cruise Private Day Tour
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
View tour
Guilin
Yangshuo Cycling & Countryside Day Tour
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
View tour
Guilin
Longji Rice Terraces Private Day Tour
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
View tourGetting there and away
Guilin Liangjiang International (KWL) handles domestic services from Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu and Xi'an, plus regional routes to Southeast Asia that run mostly on a seasonal schedule.
High-speed rail is the comfortable option: 2h 30m from Guangzhou South, 3h from Changsha, and about 10h from Shanghai with a change.
The high-speed station at Xingping is 30 minutes from Guilin and close to Yangshuo, so you can base yourself in Yangshuo and skip the city entirely.
Best time to visit — Guilin
| Month | Weather | Crowds | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 18°C / 10°C · clear and mild | Quiet | Best |
| February | 20°C / 12°C · clear and mild | Very busy | Best |
| March | 23°C / 15°C · warm, dry | Moderate | Good |
| April | 27°C / 19°C · warm, dry | Moderate | Good |
| May | 30°C / 23°C · warm, dry | Busy | OK |
| June | 32°C / 26°C · hot, typhoon season | Moderate | OK |
| July | 33°C / 27°C · warm, dry | Busy | Avoid |
| August | 32°C / 26°C · warm, dry | Busy | Avoid |
| September | 30°C / 24°C · hot, typhoon season | Moderate | OK |
| October | 28°C / 21°C · warm, dry | Very busy | Good |
| November | 24°C / 17°C · clear and mild | Quiet | Best |
| December | 19°C / 12°C · clear and mild | Quiet | Best |
How many days do you need?
Three days: one night in Guilin before the cruise, one or two in Yangshuo for the Yulong River and cycling, and a third day for the Dragon's Backbone terraces. Two days works if you drop Longji and take the train straight to Yangshuo.
Plan these days properlyMeet guides who cover this area
Zhangjiajie
Yang Lei
National Tour Guide Certificate, English
★★★★★4.764 reviews
- English
- Mandarin
Yang Lei is the youngest guide on our roster and the one most likely to wake you at 05:20 for a sunrise the forecast nearly missed. He has walked every marked trail in Wulingyuan and three unmarked ones his grandfather showed him. Guests book him for the pillars, but what they remember is the quiet: he knows six viewpoints that tour buses cannot physically reach.
He got us to a viewpoint before sunrise and we stood there alone for forty minutes. Worth the 5am alarm.
Tom B., New Zealand
- Zhangjiajie pillar viewpoints and how the light changes by season
- Multi-day hiking: Golden Whip Stream, Tianzi Mountain and the glass bridge
- Drone regulations and photography permits inside national parks
- Wulingyuan back routes that tour buses cannot reach
Yangshuo, Guangxi
Zhao Min
National Tour Guide Certificate, English
★★★★★4.8118 reviews
- English
- Mandarin
- Cantonese
Zhao Min has cycled the road from Yangshuo to Fuli more than two hundred times and still slows at the same bend. She sets the pace by the slowest rider in the group, never the fastest, and in ten years she has never lost anyone. Off the bike she is a working photographer — her karst landscapes hang in two Guilin cafés — so she tells you where to stand and when to stop fussing with the tripod.
Thirty-two kilometres at the pace of my eleven-year-old, and she never once made her feel slow.
Rachel P., Canada
- Karst cycling: Yangshuo, Fuli and the Li River back roads
- Timing bamboo-raft trips on the Li and Yulong rivers
- Landscape photography: composition, light and tripod positions
- Cormorant fishing and rural market mornings
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Frequently asked questions
Which province is Guilin in?
Guilin is in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region in southern China, on the Li River between Guangzhou and the Vietnamese border. Guangxi's regional capital is Nanning, but almost every visitor arrives through Guilin because that is where the karst scenery and the river cruise are.
How long is the Li River cruise?
About 83 km and roughly four hours, running from Guilin's Zhujiang pier down to Yangshuo. Boats leave mid-morning; the four-star vessels include lunch and an upper deck. The alternative is the shorter Xingping–Yangshuo stretch, which covers the best scenery in 90 minutes.
Should I stay in Guilin or Yangshuo?
Yangshuo, for two nights. Guilin is a transit city with a few caves and a hill; Yangshuo has the karst at your window, the Yulong River bamboo rafts and the cycling. Spend one night in Guilin only if you want the full morning cruise.
When is the best time to visit Guilin?
April to October. May and September are the two standouts: May floods the Longji rice terraces so they mirror the sky, September turns them gold before harvest. July and August are hot, and winter is grey and chilly.
How many days do you need in Guilin?
Three. One night in Guilin before the cruise, a night or two in Yangshuo for rafting and cycling, and a day for the Dragon's Backbone terraces. Two days is possible if you skip Longji and base yourself straight in Yangshuo.
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