Guilin Photography | 6-Day 5-Night Guilin + Longji Rice Terraces + Xingping Ancient Town + Yangshuo Essence Photography Tour (Yulong River Bamboo Raft + Li River Fishing Lights)

Welcome to Guilin. Our guide will meet you at the airport/train station exit and take you to a hotel in downtown Guilin for check-in. If it is still early and you want to look around, you may refer to the free-time suggestions below or ask your guide for travel advice. Free-time suggestions 1. Elephant Trunk Hill: Elephant Trunk Hill is one of Guilin's landmark attractions, located at the confluence of Taohua River and Li River in Guilin. It is named because the mountain shape resembles a giant elephant standing by the river with its trunk stretched out to drink the sweet spring water of the Li River. It is a typical representative of Guilin's landscape. 2. Two Rivers and Four Lakes cruise: The Two Rivers and Four Lakes are an important part of Guilin's landscape beauty, and a cruise on the Two Rivers and Four Lakes is the best way to enjoy Guilin's landscape-city night views. You can tour the core scenic belt of Guilin and experience a city-ring water system comparable to Venice, lasting about 1–1.5 hours. Suggested ways to arrive 1. By plane: Guilin Liangjiang International Airport (KWL) has many direct domestic routes, such as Beijing, Shanghai, Xi'an, Chengdu, Chongqing, Hangzhou, etc., making transportation extremely convenient. 2. By train: Guilin has 3 train stations. You can take high-speed rail to Guilin from cities such as Changsha (2.5–3h), Hong Kong (4h), Chengdu (5.5–6h), Chongqing (4.5–5h), Guangzhou (3h), and Zhangjiajie (7h).

This morning, you will drive about 77 km (2 hours) from Guilin to the Longji Rice Terraces Scenic Area. The Longji Rice Terraces (Longsheng Rice Terraces) are one of the ten most beautiful rice terraces in the world, with a long history of about two thousand years, and are known as the birthplace of the world's rice terraces. They consist of three parts: the Jinkeng Dazhai Red Yao Rice Terraces, the Ping'an Zhuang Rice Terraces, and the Longji Ancient Zhuang Village Rice Terraces. After arriving at the scenic area, first visit Huangluo Yao Village, known as the "No. 1 Long Hair Village in the World." Huangluo Yao Village is a Yao village among the Thirteen Villages of Longji, inhabited entirely by Red Yao people. The women here have a traditional custom of growing long hair, which can reach up to 2.72 meters, once breaking the Guinness World Record. Here you can watch local ethnic folk performances (45 minutes, optional), such as mountain songs, long hair performances, long stick dances, and umbrella dances, and also learn about the history and traditional way of life of the Red Yao people, such as spinning and weaving. If interested, you can also talk with locals about how to care for long hair and how to make rice-water shampoo. Afterward, head to a local restaurant for lunch, where you can taste local specialties such as rice wine, bamboo tube rice, bamboo tube chicken, and cured meat. In the afternoon, you will visit the Jinkeng Dazhai Red Yao Rice Terraces, the largest, highest-altitude, and most magnificent part of the Longji Rice Terraces. You can hike through the terraces and immerse yourself in their beauty, and also climb to Jinfo Peak to overlook and photograph the panoramic view of the Jinkeng Rice Terraces and admire the splendid sights of "Eagle Spreading Wings" and "Golden Thread Hanging Gourd." After sightseeing, take the cable car down the mountain and return to Dazhai Village for accommodation. Tips for Visiting Jinkeng Rice Terraces 1) From the Dazhai parking lot to Jinfo Peak, you can choose to hike (1.5 hours) or take the cable car (20 minutes). 2) Hiking difficulty at Jinkeng Rice Terraces: moderate. If you want to save energy, you can choose a round-trip cable car. Photography Tips for Longji Rice Terraces 1) From mid-April to early June is the irrigation period for the terraces, when you can photograph the beautiful scenery of terraces like mirrors reflecting blue sky, white clouds, and mountains. 2) May and June are the rice transplanting season. Visiting at this time, you can see busy farming activities and also experience the fun of transplanting rice. If the timing is right and you encounter the Combing Seedling Festival, you can also feel the folk festival atmosphere of ethnic minorities. 3) In July and August, the rice seedlings in the terraces are lush and green, presenting a verdant and vibrant scene. 4) From mid-September to mid-October is the rice harvest period, when the rice fields present a golden scene. 5) From November to March of the following year is the terrace maintenance period. Although the terraces do not have oil-painting-like colors at this time, they show a purer and more tranquil beauty. If it snows, you can also enjoy the beautiful scenery of snow covering the terraces. 6) From March to April is rapeseed flower season. Some areas of the terraces are planted with rapeseed flowers, and you can enjoy the beautiful rapeseed flower scenery.

This morning, you can get up early and head to Xishan Shaoyue, the highest point of the Longji Jinkeng Rice Terraces, to photograph the stunning sunrise formed by the morning glow, mist, mountain forests, and rice terraces together. This is also the best spot for photographing mirror-like rice terraces. In addition, you can rent a traditional Yao costume and walk into the rice terraces to take a set of very memorable travel photos. After photographing, return to the Dazhai parking lot and drive via Cuiping to Xingping Town (150 km, 3 hours). Along the way, visit 【Cuiping Five Finger Mountain】. This is a holy place for viewing and photographing the world natural heritage Grape Peak Forest, and a must-visit place for landscape enthusiasts to photograph pastoral scenery. Photographic works from here have appeared many times in CNN magazine, Xinhua News Agency, People's Daily, and various materials promoting the beauty of Yangshuo. (Tip: It is best to arrive at Cuiping Mountain before 5 p.m. so you can enjoy the beautiful sunset scenery of Cuiping Mountain.)

Early this morning, you can get up early and climb Xianggong Mountain (about 15 minutes) to enjoy and photograph the magnificent sunrise. 【Xianggong Mountain】 is located on the west bank of the Li River, between Huangbu Beach and Nine Horses Mural Hill. It is the best place to photograph the first bend of the Li River, and you can also overlook the beautiful karst mountains, pastoral dwellings, and picturesque landscape. Afterward, drive to the Yulong River bamboo raft boarding point. On the way, you will pass 【Fuli Bridge】, located upstream of the Yulong River and about 500 years old. Stop briefly here to photograph the beautiful scene formed by the ancient bridge and Guilin's magnificent karst mountains. Then begin the classic 【Yulong River bamboo raft】 drifting journey, experience the fun of riding a man-powered bamboo raft over the dams, and relax on the raft while enjoying the beautiful landscape along the way. In the afternoon, visit 【Xingping Ancient Town】, which has a long history of more than 1,700 years. You can stroll along the stone-slab roads in the ancient town, admire ancient streets, bridges, opera stages, and other antique buildings, and feel the rich atmosphere of ancient town life. Then go to the shooting location of the background image on China's 20-yuan RMB note to photograph the most famous Li River fishing fire scenery.

This morning, you will go to Xingping Pier to take a cruise (about 80 minutes) and enjoy the beautiful scenery of Nine Horses Mural Hill, Yellow Cloth Shoal sunrise, and Li River cormorant fishing. [Nine Horses Mural Hill] is one of the famous landscapes of the Li River. The nine peaks resemble nine steeds, some standing or lying, some raising their heads and neighing, some galloping with hooves lifted, and the scenery is extremely spectacular. [Yellow Cloth Shoal], located not far south of Nine Horses Mural Hill, has the most charming reflection and sunrise scenery. In addition, you can also photograph the traditional life scenes of Li River fishermen and their cormorants fishing. In the afternoon, go to [Yangshuo] to enjoy Guilin's most outstanding pastoral landscape. You can choose the following ways to tour: (1) driving plus walking, (2) cycling, (3) riding a motorcycle (additional fee may apply). Whichever way you choose, you can travel along country roads and enjoy the beautiful scenery along the way, including karst mountains, rice fields, villages, and rivers. You may also see scenes of people working in the fields, children playing by the river, and cattle grazing in the fields. Afterward, find the best spot to watch the sunset and photograph the beautiful Yulong River sunset scenery. In the evening, go explore Yangshuo's busiest district - West Street. This is a street perfectly combining Eastern and Western elements and the best place to experience Yangshuo's nightlife. Whether you want to taste some local food or find a small shop, order a drink, relax, and enjoy a rare leisurely time, it can meet your needs. Recommended evening activity (optional): If you are interested in Guangxi's ethnic minority customs, you can watch the outdoor landscape performance directed by the famous director Zhang Yimou, with the Li River landscape as the stage background - Impression Liu Sanjie. The performance lasts 1 hour.

Early this morning, you can go to Yangshuo Bridge to enjoy and photograph the famous sunrise scenery of Zhuobi Peak. This is also one of the best places for photography enthusiasts to capture the beautiful sunrise in Yangshuo. When the red sun slowly rises from behind the peaks, the fiery morning sun, the misty river surface, and the silhouettes of fishermen on bamboo rafts together create a landscape sunrise picture full of Chinese style. After enjoying the sunrise, return to Guilin. On the way, you will pass Tianxin Village. Tianxin Village still maintains the traditional Chinese farming lifestyle of buffalo plowing, rice transplanting and cultivating, and harvesting and threshing. Here you can photograph the classic scene of an old farmer leading a buffalo on Zhuangyuan Bridge in Tianxin Village: from a distance, an old farmer wearing a bamboo hat and straw rain cape drives a buffalo slowly toward the stone arch bridge. When he walks onto the bridge, the beautiful scene is reflected in the water, and the fish and shrimp in the stream respond joyfully. This is the best moment to photograph this pastoral farming scene. After the photo session, continue back to Guilin, and our guide will take you to the airport or train station for your next destination. At this point, this 6-day, 5-night Guilin highlights photography tour will come to an end. If you would like to extend this trip and explore more destinations in China, such as Beijing, Xi'an, Shanghai, Yunnan, Zhangjiajie, Chengdu, Tibet, Xinjiang, etc., you can also contact our customer service to arrange it for you.