Best Landscape and Minority Culture Biking Tour

Upon your arrival at Guilin Liangjiang International Airport, our CET representatives will meet you and accompany you to take our private bus to our hotel in Yangshuo and check in. Enjoy our welcoming dinner, followed by a tour introduction and instruction meeting, at the hotel or somewhere nearby!

In the morning, we take our bus to [Xianggong Hill], where we will get a stunning panoramic view of the Karst mountains. Then we start our hiking from Xianei to Xingping (14km).

We firstly walk through the village and go uphill toward the Li River. The mountain paths are rough and narrow. When you see the Li River, walk downhill and take a right turn, walking along until you arrive at the Quanjiazhou Village. Then a 3-hour walk on the right side of the river will be followed. We will see several famous scenic spots during this part: The Apple Rock, the Xialong Scenery, the Immortal Riding on the Back of the Rooster and the Painted Hill of Nine Horses, etc.

It’s so rewarding to appreciate the beauty of the Li River by hiking. You can stop anywhere you like, spending more time there than the other places. Your view range will be higher and wider than on the boat. You see local people’s life in their villages and fields along, which can sometimes bring you a nostalgic feeling of your childhood with grandparents in the countryside!

After going through Laocuntou village, there comes the Lengshui Ferry. We need to cross the river by ferry boat. A 1-hour long walk on the left bank of the river will lead us to the town of Xingping. We will pass the exact spot where they took a picture and had it printed on the back of the 20-yuan Chinese currency note. Our hiking ends at Xingping Town. After some free time in this ancient town, we will be picked up by our driver with his bus to drive to our hotel in Yangshuo (50 minutes).

Drive (about 50 minutes) to a Shujiabao Village (书家堡村) near Xingping town in the morning. We will bike from Shujiabao Village to Daxu Town on the beautiful roads on the east side of the Li River.

The roads winds its way through the karst cluster mountain areas. Some sections are flat, and some with ups and downs. Mandarin orange orchards, small villages, Tiankengs (sunk craters in the karst topography), subterranean rivers, running creeks, crystal clear lakes will be all the way coming across while biking.

After breakfast, we drive to Wantian town, from where we start today’s biking to Longji Town. Then a bus ride will take us to the famous Longji Rice Terraces.

Wantian town is where the Yijiang River valley meets the Longsheng mountains. So, most of today’s biking roads are mountains with bits of challenges. But the sceneries along are so refreshing and rewarding. All the mountains are densely covered by forests of firs and bamboos, with some minority people’s hamlets here and there. Waterfalls can be kind of surprise after a turn, and offer the water resource of the local flora and fauna.

In the rest time of the day, let’s feast our eyes with the spectacular view of the rice terraces, which enjoy a fame of “a miracle under heaven” and a “a cultural heritage of rice cultivation”. And there are also a lot to learn about the Zhuang minority people’s traditions and customs. Of course, we can not miss their unique and delicious food and beverage.

Today, we hike from Ping’an village to Dazhai village. Then drive to Longsheng county.

We first walk through the village. A zero-distance look at those wooden and mortise-and-tenon structured houses will leave you an unforgettable memory. On the way and at the top of the mountain you will see beautiful contour-map-like terraced rice paddies. You also see Zhuang ladies in their beautiful costumes make their local handcrafts when walking.

From No.1 viewing platform, take a turn to the left, and the path (now a concrete road) will lead us to the direction of Dazhai, a famous Yao people’s village. In about twenty minutes, a jade-green colored reservoir, which grantees the water resource of the villagers and the rice paddies, appears on our left-hand side. Then, an about 2 hour long walk through the pine and fir woods, up and down on the mountains, along the ridge of the rice fields, will lead us to Zhongliu (Middle Six), a Yao village which is considered to be the half way between Ping’an and Dazhai. Right before the village, down to the bottom of the gorge, a running creek with gurgling water is really an ideal place to have a rest.

There are still about 2 hours to go after Zhongliu village. You may get bit tired now. But the breathtaking sceneries will definitely reward you. There are more terraced rice paddies, fir tree woods and elegantly standing bamboos all the way along the path. If lucky enough, you may come across Yao people working in the fields with their buffalo. Their wrinkled but friendly faces, rose-red costumes with the lush-green background will be a perfect picture to illustrate the harmony between human and nature.

There will appear a small village named Tiantou before going down to Dazhai. Tiantou is located on the slope of the mid-level and from here you can have a panoramic view around. Keep going downhill, you will see a valley densely occupied by the black-roofed houses. Here comes Dazhai, the destination of our hiking.

After a break, a bus ride will take us to Longsheng where we stay overnight.

After breakfast, take our private bus from Longsheng to Piaoli town, where we start our biking to Chengyang. Today’s biking is a combination of flat and mountainous roads. We bike all the way through the Dong minority autonomous areas, where we see unique wood houses, wind and rain bridges, drum towers; we hear beautiful chorus and music of their local instruments; we taste their “long-table” banquets.

After a break in Chengyang, we take our bus to Sangjiang for overnight.

A day full of activities awaits.

In the morning, we will walk in and through the Dong villages. Hike around in that area, experience the process of tea picking and tea making.

Located at the juncture of Guangxi, Hunan and Guizhou provinces, Sanjiang is in Sanjiang Dong Autonomous Prefecture with mountains and rivers surrounded. Sanjiang means three rivers, named after the three rivers in the county, Rong River, Xun River and Miao River. Sanjiang are famed with its special and quaint Dong villages where the old custom and tradition still remains. Most of the residents here are Dong people, so the main reason to visit here is to admire the spectacular Dong architecture, the breathtaking natural scenery and the splendid culture of Dong ethnic group.

Drive back to Guilin after our visit. A farewell dinner together with a tour conclusion party is arranged in Shangri-la Hotel.

Free at leisure until you are transferred to the airport for your flight to Shanghai.