Guilin and Yangshuo

The scenery around Guilin is the kind that ends up on banknotes and in every second Chinese tourist poster: a wide, slow river winding between steep green limestone towers. It is genuinely as good as that. It is also the most logistically misunderstood stop on a typical China route, because Guilin is where you land but Yangshuo is where you want to sleep.

Three or four days lets you do the river, a day on the water out of Yangshuo, and the rice terraces without rushing any of them.

The cruise goes one way, so use it that way

The four-star Li River cruise runs Guilin to Yangshuo in about four to four and a half hours and does not come back. Take it downstream, get off in Yangshuo with your bags, and stay there. The common mistake is cruising down and returning to Guilin the same evening, which means seeing the best of the region through a bus window in the dark.

Sit on the top deck and pay for the boat and deck you actually want; the cheapest cabin is a different experience from the one in the photographs.

Yangshuo, and how to fill the days

Yangshuo is small enough to walk and easy to cycle. The Yulong River bamboo raft is the gentler, prettier counterpart to the big cruise, and Xianggong Hill is the viewpoint you have already seen a hundred times. West Street is the least interesting part of town — a bar-and-souvenir strip — and also where everyone ends up, which is fine for one evening.

Cycle the back lanes toward the Yulong, eat away from West Street, and keep an afternoon free for nothing in particular. That is the actual pleasure of the place.

The terraces are a separate day

The Longji Rice Terraces sit north of Guilin, not near Yangshuo, and they need a full day with long drives at each end. If you are short on time, choose between the terraces and a second day on the water rather than attempting both.