Guilin, Longsheng And Yangshuo – Best 3 Day Itinerary

Share on facebook
Share on linkedin
Share on pinterest

You’ve seen the temples, city fortresses, and futuristic buildings. But you cannot leave China without visiting its scenic natural beauty. The awe-inspiring misty mountain views, gorgeous rice terraces, and a river through the karst peaks. Welcome to your dream place. You can even find it on the back of the 20 yuan banknote. It feels like you are in a completely different world. And this is exactly what we want you to feel  as well with this most complete 3 day Guilin itinerary. 

Check the ultimate 3 week China travel itinerary

3 day Guilin itinerary

The area of Guilin includes Longsheng, Guilin, Xingping, and Yangshuo town, among the most known. Due to Guilin city having a central position around them, it’s best to make it your base for exploring the surrounding area. If the area is so big, what can you do with just 3 days in Guilin? In this 3 day Guilin itinerary, we share how to combine the best of the best. We also share some extra tips if you wish to prolong your stay. 

Day 1: Longji Itinerary – the Rice terraces

Dragon’s Backbone Rice Terraces, as translated in English, are situated around 100 km from Guilin. You can find spectacular rice terraces views and learn about two Chinese ethnic minorities that farm this area, the Zhuang and the Yao people. Each minority group belongs to a different village, Zhuang to Ping’an village and Yao to Dazhai village. The terraced fields were built around 650 years ago. Depending on the season of your visit, you can catch a different colouring. Most people decide to visit only one of them and so did we. We chose Ping’an as the larger of both.

There is no better way to explore it than walking among the fields up to ‘Nine Dragons and 5 Tigers’ scenic view spot. This way you can also get the best photos. On the way downhill, you can stop in one of the traditional wooden houses. They feature a dining deck with amazing views of the valley. We’ve seen rice terraces already, but the ones in Longsheng are a must thing to do around Guilin and you should reserve at least one day in your Guilin itinerary. 

Traditional hair performance

After visiting the terraces, you can stop in the Huangluo Yao Village at the bottom of Zhuang Village. Along the banks of the Jinsha River, you can find houses built with pine wood. The tribe is famous for the long hairs of Yao women, which listed them as the world’s longest hair village. The show’s performance tells the visitors a story of how they take care of their hair. The hair is sacred and only a husband can see it. The average hair length is 2,3 meters and in excellent health condition, which prevents the hair from turning grey as they get old. The reason is their disciplined beauty regime, including daily hair cleansing in the river and using unique shampoo made of fermented rice water. The way a woman wears her hair indicated her status. An unmarried woman needs to cover her hair with a scarf, a married woman without children has two braids and a married woman with children has her hair wrap on the top of the head like a bun. 

How to get from Guilin to Longsheng Rice Terraces?

We booked a guided tour, but you can also take a bus that you can book via your accommodation. Getting the public bus can be tricky if you don’t speak or understand Mandarin. You need to catch several ones and it can be quite difficult as we explained it the previous itineraries. Missing the last bus available also means you will be stuck in the mountains so double check the timetable. 

Day 2: Yangshou Itinerary

Start your day early and head southwards to explore the natural beauty of the Guangxi province. It takes about an hour drive from Guilin by car. 

Regardless if you walk around, bicycle or climb the mountains, make sure to soak up the beautiful scenery of this area.

For the second day of this Guilin itinerary, we booked a private tour. The group tours were not available as we were visiting Guilin and the region during the National Holidays.

Xianggong Mountain

Xianggong Mountain is the highest scenery spot offering a fantastic view of the karst landscape and the river making its way among hills. You will find this view familiar from many postcards of this region or the Li River. The hike is steep but short, with handrails and viewing platforms along the way. The hike up the hill is steep but short, only about 15 minutes to reach it. 

The Travel Momento insider tip: From the lighting perspective, the best time to come is either before sunrise or in the afternoon. 

Bamboo rafting along the Yulong River

What is the best way to enjoy the spectacular scenery of the Karst mountains than sitting on a bamboo raft enjoying a 40-50 minutes ride. It was the highlight of our tour around Yangshuo and one of the most popular things to do in this area. Each bamboo raft can hold up to a maximum of two passengers and is slowly pushed along the river by a man with a bamboo pole. You can sit back and enjoy the rustic river scene.

The Yulong River or Dragon River in English is a more peaceful alternative to the famous Li River. It offers endless opportunities for biking and hiking. The high season for visiting is from April to October with mostly sunny weather. 

Silver Cave

If you are looking for an example of typical karst topography in China, look no further than the Silver Cave. The largest karst cave goes through 12 peaks and has three areas – the ground level, the main hall and the upper level. You can admire stalagmites and stalactites of all shapes and sizes. Some of them, mainly the new ones, shine in silvery colour on the light giving the cave its name. The highlight is a multicoloured lake that reflects the surroundings. We assure you will look at it from all direction and still have a problem believing it’s real. Due to the size of the cave, you should plan around an hour to tour it.

West Street

Famous tourist street is located in the heart of the Yangshuo. While you can admire its architecture, the main reason for many to stop is lots of shops and restaurant on both sides. You can literally find anything you want, including Western cafes. We were disappointed by and found the choice too western. Instead we would choose Guilin all over. The area is also known for its great nightlife and therefore mainly attracts young foreigners.

Other things to do in Yangshuo

• Yangdi-Xingping Scenic Area
• Moon Hill
• Guilin Laozhai Mountain
• Dragon Bridge

Day 3: Downtown Guilin Itinerary

On the last day of this 3 day Guilin itinerary, we dedicated to explore the city in which we stayed. You can explore colourful caves such as Reed Flute Cave and Seven Star Park and hike the Elephant Trunk Hill for fantastic city views.

Reed Flute Cave

5 km drive from the Guilin city centre you can visit another cave. Wander through the Palace of Natural Art, as it’s also called, admiring various cave formations lighted in beautiful colours. If you decide to visit the Silver Cave in Yangshuo, you can skip this one as the latter is more impressive. 

Night stroll alongside the river

The best time to stroll around the heart of the city is at night. You cannot miss the Buddhist pagodas shining in silver and gold colour from the dark Shan lake. Connected with the underwater tunnel, the Sun and Moon Towers symbolise the future of Guilin. Their beauty is revealed at night when they lit up and become awe-inspiring sights. 

Further down, you will come across the geological formation supposedly representing an elephant drinking the water from Li River. The Elephant Trunk Hill is one of the most famous things in Guilin. You can go inside to visit the cave or you can climb the hill. We decided to admire it only from the river banks.

Xicheng Pedestrian Street

The street is an excellent night venue that is as big as seven football fields. It has two parts: Traditional Cultural Street and Fashion Style Street. The most famous drink is watermelon juice. You drink it directly from a smaller, fresh watermelon. And be careful, you can drink the seeds with it.

How to get to Guilin?

Guilin is well connected with other cities by international and domestic lines of transport. You can reach it by plane, high-speed train, and local train. We arrived in Guilin by plane (China Southern) from Xi’an as the train from Xi’an takes too long. To depart to Honk Kong, we decided to take a high-speed train.

What is the best time to travel to Guilin?

The best time to visit Guilin and the surrounding area is year-round. July to September are the hottest months and May to June the rainiest ones.

We visited Guilin in October. It was still hot and humid, but not too hard to sruvive. 

How long to stay in Guilin?

We found that 3 days were enough to explore the main highlights of this region. You can see that our 3 day Guilin itinerary covers all the breathtaking and unique places popular in Guilin area. If you are interested in outdoor activities, you can prolong your stay for an additional day or two.

Why should you visit Guilin, Yangshuo or Longji? Is it worth visiting?

Guilin region is home to the most unusual and iconic landscapes in China. The beauty was endorsed by the state itself and placed on the 20 Yuan banknote.

Many people asked us, is it worth visiting Guilin? Absolutely! We can guarantee you will not regret it. The beauty of the scenery people usually don’t connect with China is timeless and magical. No wonder every Chinese wants to come here for a photo-shooting of his/her wedding.

This is why adding Guilin itinerary it to your China trip is a must, regardless if it’s for one or several days. If you can put aside a few days, then this 3 day Guilin itinerary is a great base to explore the Li River’s surroundings.

Decided to visit Guilin area? Let us know in the comment if you were impressed or not. 

If you like it, take a second and pin it. We would really appreciate it 🙂

HELLO THERE

We are two travel passionistas, who are always in the minds of planning their next travel trip and creating memories. Get honest tips and all the details, learn from our mistakes and enjoy our travel guides so you can have the best time!

Our story