Written by Natalia |
The most famous proverb for Guilin is “Guilin’s scenery is the best under heaven”, attracting numerous of tourists at home and abroad to explore its charm. To appreciate the natural beauty of the city, you can not miss its unique karst landscapes, Li River, and rice terraces. Also, the characteristic abundant ethnic culture is worthy experiencing. But to enjoy a perfect trip, just knowing what to see is not sufficient, tourists are also supposed to know things not to do in Guilin. Now follow this article to learn more about it.
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- Guilin Do’s and Don’ts for First-Time Travelers
- Don’t Miss the Best Scenery – Join a Li River Cruise
- Don’t Stick Only to Touristy Spots – Explore the Countryside
- Don’t Expect Western-Style Nightlife – Enjoy Guilin-Style Evenings
- Don’t Rush Through – Slow Travel Works Best in Guilin
- Don’t Assume Every Street Food Is Safe – Be Selective
- Don’t Forget Local Culture – Engage With Traditions
- Don’t Travel Blind – Prepare for Seasonal Weather
- Don’t Fear Language Barriers
- Logistics Don’ts: Avoid Scams & Hassles
- Essential Guilin Travel Tip
- FAQs about Guilin Travel
- Plan a Guilin Tour with Us
Guilin Do’s and Don’ts for First-Time Travelers
Guilin is rich in natural beauty and diverse ethnic cultures. To ensure a smooth trip, it is helpful for first-time visitors to be aware of local customs and practical tips. Then what can you do in Guilin travel? Tourists can immerse yourself in the natural beauty, taste local cuisines, and experience ethnic cultures.
Meanwhile, attach importance to the following things not do in Guilin: do not over schedule, do not miss countryside, do not miss unique night life, do not forget checking weather and do not fear language barrier, etc. In addition, when travelling in ethnic villages, do not take photos of ritual activities or local people before getting permission and when traveling to temples, wear appropriate dressings like long sleeved clothes.
Below are the detailed information and practical tips for your reference.
Don’t Miss the Best Scenery – Join a Li River Cruise
Listed as the world-class geological heritage in 2024, the karst landform in Guilin is characterized by the coexistence of conical peak forests and tower-shaped peak clusters karst. Through thousand years of corrosion, it has formed the landscape of “green mountains, clear waters, strange caves and beautiful rocks”. So one of the top things not to do in Guilin is that do not miss the karst landform.
The most famous scenic spots of karst landform are on both sides of Li River, so joining in a Li River cruise has been one of the most popular sightseeing projects in Guilin. Renowned as “Art Corridor on the Water”, the cruise route covers 80% essence sections of Li River from Guilin to Yangshuo. The journey travels through 60 kilometers and will take about 4 hours. Along the way, tourists can appreciate the karst wonders of Hundred Mile Gallery, Elephant Trunk Hill, Nine-Horse Fresco Hill, Yellow Cloth Shoal, and the scenery of Xingping Ancient Town. In the four and five star cruise, you can also taste oil tea and watch Liu Sanjie duet singing and ethnic dance performance.
Recommended tour:
3 Days Guilin Tour with Li River Cruise & Longji Terrace
Don’t Stick Only to Touristy Spots – Explore the Countryside
Except the hot scenic spots in Guilin, the village exploration is also very popular among travelers during Yangshuo tour, where you can have an in-depth experience of more authentic rural life. Usually, tourists prefer to take a walk or ride a electrocar to travel around. Along the ecological corridor of Yulong River, you can enjoy both tranquil rural scenery and karst peak forests. Also, there are ancient architectures and residences of Qing Dynasty. This relaxing tour will leave you feeling completely rejuvenated.
Another famous unique landscape in Guilin is rice terraces. Jinkeng Zhuang Village boasts the largest terrace fields and the viewing platform there offers a splendid panoramic view. To avoid crowded tourists, Pingan Village and Guzhuang Village are recommended, here you can not only watch the rice terraces, but also explore the nearby villages of ethnic minorities to feel their culture.
Recommended tours:
3 Days Yangshuo Tour: Countryside Cycling & Leisure Hiking
4 Days Guilin Highlights Tour with Li River Cruise & Yangshuo Cycling
Don’t Expect Western-Style Nightlife – Enjoy Guilin-Style Evenings
West Street in Yangshuo is the most famous area for night life in Guilin. With a history over 1,400 years, it used to be an ancient post road in Tang and Song Dynasty. Now, the street integrates the elements of both Chinese and Western styles, so you can see not only traditional Chinese architectures and snack bar, but also western bars and restaurants. Besides, Zhengyang Pedestrian Street and East and West Alley in the city center of Guilin are top places to taste local snacks. So do not forget to explore the night markets in Guilin to taste characteristic local dishes, like beer fish, stuffed field nails, rice noodles and osmanthus cake, etc.
Another attractive night life choice is watching cormorant fishing shows, which is an intangible cultural heritage in Guangxi. Both Xingping Ancient Town and the Guihu Lake area offer regular performances, where you can see the cormorants diving to catch fish. Combining bamboo raft, fishing lights with mountain song duets, it creates a stunning visual effect at night.
To appreciate the night landscapes, a night cruise of Two Rivers and Four Lakes is highly recommended. During the cruise, you will pass by Sun and Moon Twin Towers, Ancient Banyan Tree, Wooden Dragon Pagoda, and Crystal Glass Bridge. The light shows and the reflections of architectures on the water from an illusion interwoven with light and shadow, making tourists fell like tracing back to ancient Guilin.
Recommended tours:
2 Days Guilin Sightseeing Tour
5 Days Guilin Food and Sightseeing Tour
Don’t Rush Through – Slow Travel Works Best in Guilin
Due to the tourist attractions in Guilin are scattered, so traveling between the scenic spots is time-consuming. And Guilin is famous for natural scenery, while to appreciate the most beautiful landscapes, time and lights are important factors. Beside, the local ethnic culture is characteristic and worthy experiencing. So in general, one day is completely not enough to cover the essence.
And the charm of Guilin is its slower pace of life. So it is usually recommended to spend at least 2 – 3 days, and 4 – 5 days are suitable for an in-depth tour. In the first day, tourists can visit Elephant Trunk Hill and enjoy night scenery in downtown area. Then take a cruise to Yangshuo and spend 2 days there experiencing the tranquil rural life. On the last day, pay a visit to Longji Rice Terraces and feel the local ethnic culture.
Related reading: Stay in Guilin or Yangshuo?
Don’t Assume Every Street Food Is Safe – Be Selective
As a tourist city, Guilin boasts an extremely rich food culture, ranging from staple foods to snacks and local specialties. And the most representative is undoubtedly rice noodles, which is renowned for smooth and chewy texture and unique broth. You can enjoy with rich gravy or in a soup. Other must-dry delicacies are beer fish, oil tea, etc. Water Chestnut Cake, Steamed Rice Cake, Lipu Taro Pork Belly and Stuffed Field Snails are also famous local snacks and dishes.
But remember to taste the delicious food in the normal night markets and local restaurants, and avoid street foods in roadside stalls, because the sanitary condition in these stalls can not be guaranteed. Laogongjiang Rice Noodles, Chunji Roast Duck, Xinguichu Restaurant, Panji Restaurant, Jiangxiaochu Beer Fish, and Guoji Oil Tea are the restaurants the locals prefer. As for night markets, Shijiayuan night market, Zhengyang Pedestrian Street and East and West Alley are recommended.
Related reading: Top 12 Famous Guilin Foods
Don’t Forget Local Culture – Engage With Traditions
Guilin is the habitations for several ethnic minorities with Zhuang, Yao, Miao and Dong are major ones. Their culture and customs are quite different from Han nationality. So to learn about the local culture, visiting an ethnic village and experiencing their daily life have been popular things to do in Guilin among tourists.
When touring Longji Rice Terrace, hike to the nearby Pingan Zhuang Village to watch the dance and sing performance of Zhuang nationality, view traditional wooden stilted houses, experience unique clothing and taste the five-color glutinous rice. Huangluo Yao Village is famous as “Long Hair Village”, where you will see almost all women having hair over one meter long. Except traditional sing and dance shows, there is an unique long hair show, where the locals display the length and beauty of their impressive long hair. You can also buy the embroidery products there.
Recommended tour:
9 Day Guizhou and Guilin In-depth Tour with Ethnic Villages
Don’t Travel Blind – Prepare for Seasonal Weather
Another important thing not do in Guilin tour is that do not forget to check weather, since it will influence your travel experience greatly. The weather in four seasons in Guilin is quite distinct. And the best time to visit Guilin is April – May and September – October, when the temperature is moderate and the scenic areas are at the most beautiful moment.
While summer is hot and rainy, the average temperature is above 35℃and rainstorm and typhoon are frequent. And winter is cold with occasional freezing rain. So in these two periods, avoid rainy and flood seasons without planning and indoor scenic areas can be first choices.
Don’t Fear Language Barriers
During Guilin tour, you do not have to worry about language barriers. As a hot tourism city, all the main scenic areas are equipped with English tour maps and multilingual explanation machines and staffs can handle basic English inquiries. Especially in Yangshuo West Street, it has formed an unique English-speaking community environment because thousands of foreign tourists gather here every year. The bar clerks and even local elders can communicate in simple English. And almost all shop signs are bilingual. Besides, at high-end hotels and restaurant, there are English menu and service available.
But in some traditional markets and rural scenic spots, local people are poor in English, so it is also advised to download a translation app to help you in these situations. With it, you can also have a deeper interaction with locals. Or learn some simple Chinese phrases, which will also be helpful.
Logistics Don’ts: Avoid Scams & Hassles
To ensure you enjoy a pleasant Guilin tour, here are some other things not to do in Guilin for you to pay attention, so that you will not be cheated or engaged in disputes. In aspect of transportation, take the airport bus instead of taxi during the transfer between airport and downtown area, because the cost of taxi is unclear and higher. When calling taxi, avoid unlicensed taxis, choose metered taxis which have company name and service phone number printed on the vehicle body or use on-line hailing service. And do not take tricycle or low-cost car polling nearby hotel and attractions.
As for shopping, don’t buy “antiques” from street vendors, most of them are alloy counterfeits with virtual-high prices and no certificates. It is also not recommended to purchase jades at roadside stalls, since the identification of genuine and fake is difficult. Choose certified stores to buy gifts, jade and specialties and ask for shopping receipts in case of problems.
Essential Guilin Travel Tip
- Choice of tour group: Avoid group tour with unseasonable low price, most of these tours are shopping groups, the guide will force tourists to buy goods during the tour, resulting a bad travel experience.
- Clothing: The road surfaces in the karst caves area are slippery, so remember to wear anti-slip shoes. And the temperature inside the cave is relatively low, thus a thin coat is needed.
- Dining: Do not eat at the food stalls and go to the restaurants the locals prefer. Confirm the price before ordering dishes in the restaurants in West Street.
- Accommodation: Book hotel at least one week in advance in public holidays to avoid high premium and make sure the conditions of the hotel, because some hotels are opened for a long time, so the facilities are old, even not repaired.
- Scenic spot ticket: Hot scenic areas require a reservation on line in advance.
- Rafting: When experience rafting in Lijiang River and Yulong River, choose a legally operated bamboo raft and wear a life jacket.
- Cultural Tips: When traveling in the scenic spot in ethnic minorities, do not take pictures of sacrificial scenes or touch ethnic items at will. And ask for permission before taking photos of locals.
See more essential Guilin travel tips
FAQs about Guilin Travel
Should I travel to Guilin during the low water season?
December to February is the low water season in Guilin, especially in January and February, when some sections of the Lijiang River may dry up and expose beaches, so the water activities experience will be greatly influenced. For example, bamboo rafts may be suspended. And Longji Rice Terrace are bare in winter. But there are some alternative scenic spots, such as Elephant Trunk Hill, Sliver Cave, and Lijiang Eternal Love performance.
Should I give my passport as a deposit for a rented bicycle?
It is strongly not recommended, since passport is very important certificate, if lost, your itinerary will be affected. And usually, rental deposits only require cash or petty deposit of about CNY 100 – 200.
How many days in Guilin is enough?
To include highlights in Guilin, 3 – 4 days will be enough, you can spend one day in Guilin, enjoy a cruise boat in Lijiang River on the second day and spend the third day in Yangshuo. If you plan an in-depth tour, another 2 or 3 days will be needed to cover Longji Rice Terrace, karst cave exploration and ethnic village culture experience.
Which is better Zhangjiajie or Guilin?
The two cities are in different features, if you prefer poetic landscapes and leisure tour, Guilin is better, while if you prefer thrilling adventures and geological wonders, Zhangjiajie is better.
Guilin is featured by the karst landform and Lijiang river, which is as beautiful as a painting. But Zhangjiajie is quite different, it is characterized by sand stone and peak forest, which is perilous and fantastical. In Guiling, the sightseeing projects include taking a boat, cycling and wandering. While in Zhangjiajie, you can experience hiking, cable car and high-altitude challenging projects. So the choice mainly depends on your preference.
Are there a wide variety of Western food options?
Yes, there are plenty of western style restaurants in Guilin, especially in Yangshuo, ranging from budget to high-end.
Should I buy souvenirs from small, roadside shops?
In general, small and roadside shops should be avoided, because the price is usually higher and the quality can not be guaranteed. So choose the culture shops and folk stores to buy cultural and creative products and choose supermarkets to buy food and snacks.
Plan a Guilin Tour with Us
Guilin is famous for spectacular natural scenery and colorful culture of ethnic minorities, making it a hot tourist city in China. You may wonder how to plan a Guilin tour, our travel agency is experienced in planning itineraries according to customers needs. To save your time, we are glad to offer help at any time. We can also arrange a local guide and driver to have a deep explanation of the local culture during the tour. So contact us now to plan your Guilin trip.
