Karst peaks, rice terraces and the Li River — China’s most photographed landscape.
The limestone towers around Guilin have been painted for a thousand years and they still look unreal in person. Base yourself in Guilin for a night, then move to Yangshuo for two or three, where the countryside is best seen from a bicycle.
Four hours through the peaks that appear on the back of the ¥20 note.
Dragon’s-backbone terraces carved into the hillside by Zhuang and Yao villages over centuries.
Flat lanes between karst towers, water buffalo and rice paddies, with a bamboo raft back.
A 20-minute climb for the classic panorama — worth the 5am alarm at least once.
10 daysBeijing · Xi’an · Guilin & Yangshuo · Shanghai
History in Beijing and Xi’an, then three days among the karst peaks of Guilin and Yangshuo. The most balanced two-week-shortened itinerary we run.