A Long Weekend in Guilin: Offbeat
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Three days is the honest minimum for the core Guilin-to-Yangshuo route without a Longji terrace day tacked on. Days 1 and 2 keep close to the 2-day version of this trip, a 214 BC canal and an honest night cruise, then the Li River south to a free hilltop view. Day 3 is new: a full day in the Yangshuo countryside instead of rushing back toward Guilin the next morning.
Need more time? The 4-day , 5-day , 6-day and one-week versions of this route add a Longji terrace overnight and further day trips this weekend doesn’t have room for.
Book these before you go:
- Book a Li River cruise : the 4-star option from Zhujiang Pier ends at Xingping, which this plan is built around.
- Browse Yulong River bamboo rafting : the cheaper, smaller-river alternative to a second Li River cruise leg, priced per raft rather than per person.
- Check Yangshuo hotel rates : countryside guesthouses a few kilometers out are quieter than anything on West Street itself.
| Day | Focus | Rough daily cost (RMB) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ling Canal, Two Rivers Four Lakes night cruise | ¥250-350 |
| 2 | Li River cruise, Laozhai Hill, West Street | ¥450-650 |
| 3 | Yulong River cycling, bamboo rafting, Yangshuo countryside | ¥300-500 |
Day 1: A 214 BC Canal Instead of the Hill Circuit
Ling Canal (Lingqu) in Xing’an County, about 90 minutes north of Guilin, is 214 BC construction under Qin Shi Huang, considered the world’s oldest contour canal at 36.4km. A boat tour with entry runs around ¥30 (verify locally). Back in the city by evening, the Two Rivers Four Lakes night cruise (¥210 adult / ¥105 child, Wenchang Bridge 18:45 or Yuren 19:30, about 90 minutes) loops the lit-up old-city waterway past the Sun and Moon Twin Pagodas. Its cormorant-fishing display is staged for photos, not real fishing, worth knowing before you post the shot as candid.
Day 2: The Li River Cruise, Then a Free Hill Most Boats Skip
Book the 4-star cruise (¥360-480, meals included) from Zhujiang Pier, which ends at Xingping rather than further downstream. The route runs Guilin to Yangdi to Xingping, past Nine Horse Fresco Hill and Yellow Cloth Shoal, 3.5-5 hours, one-way downstream only. From the Xingping pier, climb Laozhai Hill, free, about 30 minutes, for the coiling river view most cruise passengers never leave the boat to see. Bus to Yangshuo (roughly every 15 minutes, 30 minutes, ¥15) for the night.
Day 3: The Yangshuo Countryside, Not Just West Street
Rent a bike with real shock absorbers, the surface is rough in stretches, and ride the Ten-Mile Gallery route: Yangshuo to Ten-Mile Gallery to Gongnong Bridge to Moon Hill to Shiwai Taoyuan, roughly 15-20km over 2-3 hours. Moon Hill itself is worth a caveat: a natural limestone arch about 50m high, reachable by around 1,000 steps in 20 minutes, but its current entry price and hours weren’t reliably confirmed this round, so check locally rather than trust an old figure. Climbing routes on the arch, pioneered by American climber Todd Skinner in the 1990s, were banned in 2017 and reopened in 2019 with mandatory annual inspection and climber insurance.
Swap the bike for Yulong River bamboo rafting in the afternoon if the legs need a break, ¥200-320 per raft (not per person, confirm which before booking) for a different, smaller river than the Li River cruise, motorized rafts styled as bamboo rather than the real thing. It combines naturally with the Moon Hill stop since both sit on the same side of Yangshuo. Close the day back on West Street, but aim for a locals-heavy mifen shop over the English-menu spots, and if you order Yangshuo beer fish anywhere tonight, confirm the per-catty (jin, about 500g) price before the fish goes in the pan. That confirmation-before-cooking step is the one beer fish scam worth actually watching for.
Is Three Days Enough Without Longji?
For the city-and-river core, yes. Longji’s rice terraces reward an overnight for sunrise or sunset light, and squeezing that into a three-day trip means cutting either the canal day or the countryside day, which defeats the point of this particular route. Treat Longji as the reason to extend to four days rather than a rushed add-on here.
One concrete tip: if you’re riding the Ten-Mile Gallery route, start before 9am. The road is unticketed and open to traffic, and by late morning it fills with tour vans and other cyclists in a way that changes the whole feel of what’s meant to be the quiet countryside day of this trip.