Serica Journeys Day journeys in China
South China · 桂林 · 阳朔

Guilin & Yangshuo

The karst landscape on the back of the twenty-yuan note.

Typical day
8–11 hours
Party size
1–6 guests
Guiding
English
Pick-up
Guilin and Yangshuo hotels

The limestone towers along the Li River are the most reproduced landscape in China, and they still hold up. The difficulty is that the standard cruise puts four hundred people on one deck for four hours, and the countryside beyond Yangshuo — which is the better half — gets an hour at the end.

We invert it. Shorter time on the water, longer on the ground between the peaks, where the villages and the river crossings are.

Journeys

2 private day journeys in Guilin & Yangshuo.

Prices are quoted per party once we know your dates and numbers. Every itinerary below can be adjusted — they are how we run the day by default, not a fixed menu.

Li River karst, Yangshuo
Li River karst, Yangshuo
10 hours Private departureEnglish guide

The Li River and the Yangshuo Countryside

Li River cruise · Yangshuo · Yulong River · Village lanes

Itinerary
08:00
Pick-up. Transfer to the cruise pier.
09:30
Down the Li River — roughly four hours through the tower karst.
13:30
Arrive Yangshuo. Lunch off the main street.
15:00
Yulong River bamboo raft, and the countryside lanes.
17:00
Return to Guilin, about ninety minutes.
18:30
Back at your hotel.
Highlights
  • The Li River between Guilin and Yangshuo, on the reserved upper deck
  • The twenty-yuan view, from where the note was actually drawn
  • Bamboo raft on the quieter Yulong, away from the main river traffic
  • Backroads and villages rather than West Street's souvenir strip
Included
  • Private vehicle and driver
  • English-speaking guide
  • Li River cruise, upper deck
  • Bamboo raft
  • Lunch
  • Bottled water
Not included
  • Evening light show tickets
  • Personal spending
  • Gratuities

Know before you go. River level governs the cruise. In low water the departure moves downstream and the route shortens — that is a river decision, not ours, and we will tell you as soon as we know.

10 hours Private departureEnglish guide

The Longji Rice Terraces

Ping'an or Dazhai terraces · Zhuang and Yao villages

Itinerary
08:00
Pick-up. North-west into the hills, about two hours.
10:15
Cable car or walk up to the first viewpoint.
11:30
Walk the terrace paths between viewpoints.
13:00
Village lunch — bamboo rice, local greens.
14:30
Second viewpoint, then down.
16:00
Return to Guilin.
18:00
Back at your hotel.
Highlights
  • Terraces cut into the mountain from the Yuan dynasty onward, still farmed
  • Two viewpoints, walked between rather than driven to
  • A Zhuang village where the houses are still timber and still lived in
  • Lunch cooked in bamboo, in the village
Included
  • Private vehicle and driver
  • English-speaking guide
  • Scenic area entry
  • Village lunch
  • Bottled water
Not included
  • Cable car
  • Personal spending
  • Gratuities

Know before you go. The terraces change completely with the season — flooded and mirrored in spring, green in summer, gold before the October harvest. Tell us what you are hoping to see.

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