桂林
The 1,500-year-old karst landscape that defined Chinese ink-wash painting. Li River cruise from Guilin to Yangshuo, Yulong bamboo rafts past Moon Hill, ancient Longji rice terraces, and Zhang Yimou's Impression Liu Sanjie outdoor show. Karst peaks + Li River — the ¥20 banknote landscape. Below are the 19places we've vetted for foreign visitors — explore them on the interactive map above, or open any one for hours, ticket prices, English-service notes, and how to get there.
4-5 hour scenic cruise down 83 km of karst-peak landscape from Guilin to Yangshuo — the single image that defined Chinese landscape painting for 1,500 years.
650-year-old rice terraces carved into mountainsides 2.5 hours NW of Guilin — different appearances by season (water mirror April, green July, gold October).
The chill alternative to Li River — 3-hour drift on bamboo rafts down the Yulong tributary past karst peaks, weirs, and rice paddies.
Guilin's city symbol — a karst hill shaped like an elephant lowering its trunk into the Li River. Entry ¥75 to see up close, or free from the opposite bank.
Guilin's signature breakfast — rice noodles in brown beef gravy with self-serve pickle bar. ¥10-15 per bowl. Essential local food.
Karst peak with a moon-shaped natural arch piercing the rock — climbed for the panoramic view or biked past on the standard Yangshuo loop.
Outdoor evening show on the Li River with 600+ performers + karst peak natural backdrop — directed by Zhang Yimou (2002 Olympics opening director).
30-50km countryside cycle through karst peaks, rice paddies, and Yulong River villages. ¥30-60/day bike rental; the iconic Yangshuo activity.
Yangshuo's main pedestrian street since 1980s backpacker era — bars, cafes, Western food, and live music. 'Foreigner Street' of southern China.
Sunrise viewpoint above the Li River's most-photographed S-bend — 30 min uphill hike from Xingping town, photographers wake at 4 AM for this.
90-minute illuminated night cruise through Guilin city's connected rivers and lakes — passes Sun & Moon Pagodas, Elephant Trunk Hill, and 19 bridges.
Old fishing town beside the Li River — the ¥20 banknote view is taken from a pier here. Quieter overnight alternative to Yangshuo.
240m show cave with 70+ illuminated stalactite chambers — the largest cave open to tourists in Guilin region.
Twin gold (sun) and silver (moon) pagodas rising from Shanhu Lake in central Guilin — connected by underwater tunnel.
73m hill in central Guilin with the best city panorama — 200 steps to the summit + Mingyue Cave with Tang-dynasty Buddha carvings.
Ming-dynasty princely palace in central Guilin — built 20 years before the Forbidden City, encloses Solitary Beauty Peak.
Largest comprehensive park in Guilin — seven karst peaks arranged like the Big Dipper, plus Camel Hill (Bill Clinton spoke here 1998).
65m karst hill rising directly from the Li River — climb for the river view, see 'Returning Pearl Cave' and Tang Buddha carvings.
1,400-year-old banyan tree with a 17m canopy and 28m circumference — featured in the Liu Sanjie movie, central waypoint on the Yangshuo bike loop.
Step-by-step deep dives covering the questions every foreign visitor asks before flying in.
Set up Alipay in China with your own Visa or Mastercard — no Chinese bank needed. Tour Pass vs full Alipay, top-up tricks, daily limits, and where foreign cards still fail (2026).
Plain-English 2026 guide to China's 240-hour visa-free transit (TWOV) — the 55 eligible countries, which 65 ports accept it, the 24 provinces you can roam, what an onward ticket really means, and the mistakes that get tourists turned away.
Honest 2026 guide to staying online in China as a foreign tourist — which apps are blocked, which VPNs still work behind the Great Firewall, and why an international-roaming eSIM is the lower-stress alternative.
Google Maps in China is broken by design — your blue dot lands 500m off, transit fails, no Street View. Here's the 2026 setup with AMap, Apple Maps, and Maps.me offline.
Visa, vaccinations, VPN, Alipay, SIM, banking — the ordered 30-day timeline so you don't show up at the airport unprepared. Tested by hundreds of first-time travelers.
WeChat Pay accepts foreign Visa, Mastercard, Amex since 2024 — but should you use it instead of Alipay? Side-by-side comparison plus 5-minute setup for tourists in China.
Welcome to Guilin — the karst landscape that defines Chinese painting. The 1,500-year-old Li River cruise from Guilin to Yangshuo passes the EXACT scene printed on the ¥20 banknote. Bike past water buffalo through Yangshuo's rice paddies under towering peaks. Raft the Yulong River on bamboo. Watch Zhang Yimou's outdoor light show with 600 performers and 12 actual karst peaks as the stage backdrop.