5 Days Panorama Guilin and Sanjiang Experience

Day 1

Arrival GuilinArrive in Guilin, a small city with great natural beauty of south China. Be met at the airport and transferred to your hotel. Free at leisure for the rest of the day.
Meals: No meals
Accommodation: In Guilin

Guilin is world-famous for its serene landscape, Karst limestone formations, mist-covered hills and bamboo groves. It is home to more than ten ethnic groups, including Han, Zhuang, Miao, Yao, Hui and Dong. On the way from the airport to your hotel, you will see dozens of pretty hills everywhere in the city of Guilin. It is a city of hills and green trees and boasts one of the most photographed areas of China.

Day 2

Guilin    Yangshuo    Guilin
The highlight of today's sightseeing is a leisurely Li River Cruise downstream to Yangshuo. Meandering through valleys, bamboo groves and mysterious Karst rock formations, the cruise will affords you a glimpse of a life far removed from the concrete jungle. After the tour, be transferred back to Guilin, on the way, you can take a short visit to Reed Flute Cave, which is commonly praised as Nature's Grand Art Palace.
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch
Accommodation: In Guilin

In the morning, be driven to Pier for your Li River Cruise. A double-decker river boat is waiting for you. The landscape from Guilin to Yangshuo is truly a masterpiece of nature. The crystal waters, straight-out-of-a-painting mountains, peaceful farm fields, hard-working-but- ever-smiling fishermen and wandering water buffaloes inspire poetic musings of Guilin’s charming life. Under the blue sky, your river boat transports you in an unending daydream.

After cruising for about four and a half hours, the one-thousand-year-old Yangshuo Town comes into sight. Yangshuo is a small oriental but Western-influenced town with a history of 1000 years.

Reed Flute Cave is named for the special reeds, used for making flute instruments that grow near the cave entrance. The caves are a feast for the eyes. The natural beauty of a profusion of stalactites and stalagmites, stele, stone pillars, stone curtains and stone flowers creating an infinite variety of extraordinary scenes, creatively illuminated, is bound to evoke gasps of admiration. It is fitting then, that Reed Flute Cave is commonly praised as Nature's Grand Art Palace.

Day 3

Guilin    Longsheng
In the morning, you will take about 2.5hours driving to Longsheng (90km), for your today’s highlight tour to Longji Rice Terrace and Ping'an Zhuang Village. Stay overnight in Longsheng to appreciate the quiet and peaceful atmosphere there.
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch
Accommodation: In Longsheng

Longji Rice Terraces are reached from Guilin by mountain roads amid spectacular scenery. With a history of more than 700 years, the area is still being used for growing premium quality rice by Yao and Zhuang villagers. The rice terraces are built into the hillsides and look like great steps cut into the slopes as they wind around the mountainsides. This ingenious construction makes best use of the scarce arable land and water resources in the mountainous area.

The Rice Terraces are much prettier after the rain, as the morning fog is clearing or while rice is being harvested. If you like to paint or photograph dramatic, beautiful landscapes, this would be a superb destination in which to practice your art; or come here anyway just to look, gaze in awe, and take it all in; it’s a Guilin must-see!

Ping'an is a Zhuang minority village high up in the mountains at Longji. The village is only accessible by foot, and from across the valley, the visitor has a first impression of entering another land as the buildings, clustered around the hillside, are all two story wooden structures resembling a European Alpine village. This is the traditional Zhuang style house and among them there are excellent guest houses that can cater to all your practical needs. Ping’an is surrounded by beautiful terraced rice fields. From a distance, the terraces look like contour lines on a topographical map, texturing the ridges, mountainsides and valleys. It is a charming environment that will have the most demanding photographer constantly busy and wearing a slightly demented grin.

Day 4

Longsheng    Sanjiang
After breakfast, you can continue your ethical trip today westwards to Sanjiang (65km), the connecting point of Guangxi, Guizhou and Hunan. Spend the rest time perusing cleverly designed Chengyang Wind and Rain Bridge and visit the ancient villages of Ma’an, Yanzhai and Guandong. For lunch, you can taste the special Dong Oil Tea Banquet.
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch
Accommodation: In Sanjiang

There is not only beautiful landscape and countryside, well protected ecological scene, but also profound national culture and folk custom in Sanjiang. As one of the five Dong minority autonomous counties in China, Sanjiang has the largest population of the Dong people. Therefore, Sanjiang boasts the Dong people distinctive architecture - the Wind and Rain Bridge and the drum tower.

Chengyang Wind and Rain Bridge, spanning the Linxi River of Sanjiang County, is the reason most visitor come to Sanjiang. Built in 1916, it is 64.4 meters long (73.43 yards), 3.4 metes wide (3.72 yards) and 10.6 meters high (34.78 feet). It is an amazing piece of architecture built without use of fasteners of any kind. The bridge was constructed with wood and stones with the wooden-paved surface and railings on both sides. On the bridge, there are five tower-like kiosks with horns and eaves which resemble the flapping wings of birds.

Day 5

Sanjiang    Guilin, Departure
Be transferred back to Guilin directly from Sanjiang for your flight to next destination.
Meals: Breakfast

Service End