There is an old Chinese saying: The scenery in Guilin is the best in the world. But the scenery in YangShuo is even better than Guilin.
Yangshuo is 4 hours by boat and 1 hour by bus from Guilin. The famous Li river connects the two cities. The surrounding countryside is incredibly beautiful and peaceful. The landscape along the Li river is sometimes referred as the 100 li (50 km) of pictorial painting. It is dotted with Karst peaks and the Li river winds its way around them.
Yangshuo is located in GuangXi province and very close to Vietnam; It is a perfect place for weekend getaway for Chinese and the last stop in China before heading for Southeast Asia for international travelers. Many travelers find Yangshuo a worthy escape from the evils of the modern world.
Yangshuo is a laid back small town. Yet, the local tourism is surprisingly well developed with excellent choice for hotels, restaurant, and cafes. Most of the commercial activities are concentrated in a short street called the West Street.
We went for a visit to Guilin and Yangshuo during the national holiday. We flew off from GuangZhou to Guilin and spend the first night in Guilin. We then took the Li river tour, a 4 hour boat ride upstream from Guilin to YangShuo. The tour traveled through some of the most pictorial water ways along the Li river. It is definite a highlight from the whole Yangshuo experience.
We booked the Macro Polo hotel which is in the center of the West Street. The National Day holiday (golden travel week) brought many tourists. The price for our room was significantly inflated. We paid some serious money for the room which offers the best view in the West street. The West street is bustling with backpackers, travel groups and globetrotters. The noise of the disco downstairs lasted well into the late night.
We moved to the Morning Breeze hostel the second day. It is a nice little guest house on the edge of the city. It offers quite retreat, friendly staff and free bike rent. We stayed in the hostel for the next three days. We had to pay over 200RMB/night for a room that normally should cost no more than 80RMB. We spend one day in the ShiWaiTaoYuan or Shangri-La, a small village 20 km out sided the city. We also watched the night show of impression. ShanJie Liu, directed by the renowned Chinese director ZhangYiMou.
The best way to experience YangShuo is on a bike. We took bikes from our hostel and rode to the country side. It was truly an unforgettable experience. We rode on a less known track and went through some remote villages. The villagers and their cows, the local ethnic buildings are mixed with the lush vegetations in the mountains, the endless rice fields, and the tranquil rivers. The distant local folk song just added more flavor and left us an ever lasting impression.
Yangshuo is filled with restaurants which offer variety of food. We had a very good western style dinner in the Red Star café. We liked the place so much that we went back the second morning for breakfast. We also had a Chinese dinner in Ms. Xie’s restaurant. We tasted the renowned dish “Beer Fish”. The fish is supposedly a fresh catch from the Li river and cooked using beer as ingredient. Like most of the Chinese restaurants in China, we are really happy with the food. We also tried the famous (recommended by the Lonely planet) MeiYou 没有 restaurant. We are not impressed. Like any of the “famous” restaurant, MeiYou was over priced and the service is less impressive. We saw many international travelers noticeably the large tour groups. I would not recommend MeiYou restaurant even it boasts famous visitors such as the Head Coach for the Chinese national football team.
Yangshuo offers interesting history, stunning natural landscape, good infrastructure, country side living, and numerous outdoor activities. It should be on everyone’s destination list in China besides such places as Beijing, Xian and Shanghai.
Recommend itinerary:
Day 1: Arrive in Guilin either by airplane or by train and take the two river four lake night tour which starts every 15 minutes after 700pm.
Day 2: Take the boat tour from Guilin to YangShuo at 10am. You can book the tour ticket in any of the travel agents in Guilin. The travel agent will try to sell you the other scenic spots in Yangshuo as a whole package. The total ticket price should be around 300 RMB includes the entrance tickets to most of the senic sports in Yangshuo.
Day 3. Take a bike tour in the country side. You can hire a local guide to ride with you and the cost for his or her service is around 30 RMB/day or less. Watch the Impression. ShanJie Liu night show is you are into such shows.
Day 4: Take a bus to the ShiWaiTaoYuan, or Shangri-La. It is 20 km away from the center of the city and is connected to YangShuo by bus. A 40 minutes bus ride takes you directly to the entrance. A total of 2 hours in the park is sufficient.
Day 5: Have an easy morning by touring the Yangshuo city if you are looking for some souvenirs to bring back home. In the afternoon, take a bus back to Guilin. From there, you can continue to your next destinations.
The West Sreet at night
The caves
Impression ShanJie Liu night show
Impression ShanJie Liu night show
Li River tour
The Night Horse Mountain
The bamboo rafting is still a common on the Li River
