One Day Guilin City Highlight Tours

Li River traverses Guilin from the north to the south and endows the city with outstanding natural landscape. Take your cameras and follow this independent Guilin tour itinerary to attractions that are very worthy of a visit.

The first destination of this Guilin backpacking itinerary is suggested to be the Elephant Trunk Hill Park. Bus 2, 16, 23 and Sightseeing Bus 1 can take you to this park and you need to get off at Xiangshan Gongyuan Stop. Before entering the park, you should buy the cruise ticket of Two Rivers and Four Lakes Cruise for tonight, as the cruise tickets are in great demand and it might be not available in the evening, especially during travel high season. The ticket office is very near the Elephant Trunk Hill Park. You just walk westwards from the bus stop to the southern end of Wenchang Bridge. There are two options, luxury boat for CNY210 and normal boat for CNY185.

After that, head southwards along Minzhu Road to find the entrance of the Elephant Trunk Hill on your east side. The entrance fee is CNY55. As its name indicates, this park is famous for a hill which resembles a giant elephant sucking water from the river. This great scene is regarded as the symbol of Guilin City and has attracted numerous visitors and shutterbugs every year. Visitors can also appreciate the Elephant Trunk Hill in a different way by taking a bamboo raft cruising along the river.

After that, you should go to the Seven Stars Park. Take bus 11 or 10 and get off at Qixing Gongyuan Stop. Or you may take a taxi in a short time at a cost of CNY10 or so. This scenic area got its name because the layout of the seven peaks inside is very similar to the Big Dipper if seen from the air. Among them, Camel Hill is the most distinctive one looking exactly like a camel standing in lush trees. Don't miss the Seven Stars Cave in the park, where visitors can see stalactites in various shapes. The entrance fee for the Park is CNY55 and you still need to pay CNY45 to see the Seven Stars Cave if you desire. 

Next, you are suggested to explore more about this kind of karst landscape in Reed Flute Cave. Comparing to the one-hour bus riding, you may want to take a taxi in about 17 minutes and it costs only around CNY20. With the clever use of light, this cave is more like an underground palace built by gemstones, corals, and emeralds. People also nickname it the Museum of Natural Artworks as you may encounter stalactite columns in the shape of pagodas, primitive forests, veiling, hills... while you're walking towards the depths of the cave. The entrance fee is CNY90.

After that, please take bus no. 3 in front of the gate of Reed Flute Cave and get off at Xicheng Lukou; walk south for around 120 meters (130 yards) and turn east to go along South Ring Road until you reach the Wenchang Bridge; find the dock of the Two Rivers and Four Lakes Cruise near the southern end of the bridge. Or you can take a taxi to the Wenchang Bridge dock directly within 20 minutes. The night cruise usually opens 18:00 - 23:00 in peak season and 19:00 - 21:30 in off season. 

The ship will take you to drift down Li River and Taohua River, as well as Mulong Lake, Guihu Lake, Ronghu Lake, and Shanhu Lake. Pavilions, bridges, hills and trees along the way will be lightened up at night and cast their dazzling reflections on the water. Don't scrimp on pushing the shutter to capture each beautiful scene during the 1.5 hours' cruise. En route, you can also enjoy singing and dancing performance played by locals. 

Disembark at Jiefang Bridge Dock and your one-day independent Guilin tour will come to an end at this point. Please hail a taxi back to your hotel to have a good rest.