5-Day Guilin & Yangshuo Family Tour: Karst Peaks and the Li River

Afternoon — Arrival in Guilin
Your guide and driver will welcome you at the airport or railway station arrivals hall with a name sign, then transfer you by private vehicle to your hotel. Your guide assists with check-in and offers a brief orientation to Guilin, a city set among dramatic limestone karst peaks on the banks of the Li River. The remainder of the afternoon is free to rest and settle in before the evening highlight.

Evening — Two Rivers and Four Lakes Night Cruise
Embark on a serene boat cruise through Guilin's iconic Two Rivers (the Li River and Peach Blossom River) and Four Lakes (Ronghu, Shanhu, Guihu, and Mulong). Gliding past illuminated pagodas, arched bridges, and cliffs reflected on the still water, you see the city's karst scenery transformed for the night. The route links the lakes and rivers through a series of locks into one continuous scenic waterway. This tranquil journey offers a magical introduction to Guilin's natural and cultural beauty.

Morning — Elephant Trunk Hill
Visit Elephant Trunk Hill, Guilin's emblem, a natural limestone formation resembling an elephant drinking from the Li River. Explore the park's caves, pagodas, and riverside paths, and see the Water Moon Cave where the moon seems to float on the water at night.

Afternoon — Reed Flute Cave
Discover Reed Flute Cave, a luminous underground world of millennial stalactites, stalagmites, and colorful illuminated formations. Highlights include the Crystal Palace chamber and rock shapes named after myths—an otherworldly natural spectacle.

Evening — Transfer to Yangshuo
In the evening, transfer to Yangshuo and check into your hotel. Stroll West Street, a lively mix of cafés, souvenir shops, and street performances blending Chinese and Western atmospheres.

Morning — Yulong River Bamboo Rafting
Glide down the Yulong River on a traditional bamboo raft, surrounded by karst peaks, rice paddies, and grazing water buffalo. This peaceful, less-crowded alternative to the Li River offers intimate rural views.

Afternoon — Countryside Cycling
Cycle through Yangshuo's idyllic countryside, passing villages such as Chaoyang and Jiuxian. Stop at a local farm for a hands-on cooking class to learn Guilin rice noodles or beer fish, immersing in authentic rural flavors.

Evening — Impression Liu Sanjie Show
Watch the open-air “Impression Liu Sanjie,” directed by Zhang Yimou and staged against the Li River's natural backdrop. Over 600 performers use lights, music, and Zhuang ethnic traditions to retell the folk tale of Liu Sanjie, the “Song Fairy.”

Morning — field notebook review and team presentations
The programme closes the way field courses should, with the students doing the talking. Each team has spent the week keeping a field notebook across three contrasting sites — the tower karst around Qifeng, the Longji rice terraces, and the Li River channel and its wetland margin. Teams now present one transect each: what they measured, what they saw change upstream to downstream or uphill to downhill, and where their observations met or contradicted the reading they were set beforehand.

The session is led by the accompanying teacher with the field guide present, and each team takes questions from the others. Notebooks, photographs and sketch maps are handed in as the programme record, and the best judged transect is written up on the final day for the school to keep.

Late morning — West Street and the last hour
Yangshuo's West Street has been the town's market street since the Qing dynasty and is now the place students spend a final hour: local snacks, printed cloth, and the kind of ordinary street life that does not appear in a textbook. It is also the practical last stop for anything the group wants to buy before the airport.

Farewell lunch
Lunch is taken in Yangshuo before the drive north. Beer fish, stuffed river snails and Guangxi rice noodles are the regional dishes to try; the guide orders around allergies and any dietary requirements the group registered at booking.

Afternoon — transfer to Guilin and departure
The drive from Yangshuo to Guilin takes about an hour and a half. Groups flying out are transferred to Guilin Liangjiang International Airport; groups continuing by rail are transferred to Guilin North Railway Station for the high-speed service toward Guangzhou, Guiyang or Changsha. Your guide assists with check-in and stays until the group has cleared.

Meals
Breakfast, Lunch