Private Journey to Ethnic Villages

After the morning hotel pick-up, your guide and the driver will escort you on as 2-hour private car ride to Longsheng. Today is all for the Dragon’s Backbone Rice Terraces, and our sightseeing will start from its gateway, the Golden Bamboo Zhuang Village. To adapt to the humid climate and protect against wild animals and insects, the local Zhuang people had ingeniously built their three-tiered stilt houses that cling to the mountainside. The middle level is primarily used for daily life, while the other two levels serve as storage and shelter for poultry. Strolling among these ‘sky pavilions’, you may encounter women wearing exquisitely embroidered white tops, black trousers, and pink headscarves.

Next, we’ll visit the Huangluo Yao Village. The Yao tribe’s ancestors here believed that the soul resided in the hair, prompting women to maintain incredibly long hair that surpassed their own height. The hair-care secret just lies in glutinous rice from the terraced fields! After soaking and thoroughly washing the rice, the beneficial Vitamin B in it dissolves completely, strengthening the hair’s resilience and luster. Even an 80-year-old lady has only a few white hairs. Maybe try this method at home to save your creeping-back hairline!Savor an authentic farmhouse lunch featuring local specialties before zooming in on the rice terraces. Layer upon layer, they stretch from the valley floor to the misty summits of the rolling hills, a landscape patiently carved by the local Yao and Zhuang people since the 13th century. Following your guide to hike through a maze of trails to the elevated Nine Dragons and Five Tigers Viewing Platform, you’ll witness nine dragon-like ridges encircling five hills, which showcase a dynamic beauty when shrouded by mist. To the west, the Seven Stars Chase the Moon Viewing Platform unfurls more vibrantly with abundant vegetation and corps. With the relatively cold mountain climate, rice is cultivated once a year, taking six months from planting to harvest. You may experience seasonal farming practices with the help of your guide.

Afterwards, continue your private trip to Sanjiang County, another typical ethnic minority region for the Dong people. We’ll arrive in 1.5 to 2 hours, and your guide will assist you with hotel check-in.

Meals: Western buffet breakfast, Lunch
Accommodation: Jingxiang Hotel, Sanjiang (4 stars)

After the morning meet-up, your guide will accompany you to discover China’s largest group of Dong ethnic villages. Nestled at the foot of mountains and surrounded by rivers, the Dong villages feature well-preserved stilt houses, where daily life unfolds amid a landscape threaded with covered bridges. Sheltering the villagers, these bridges are also called Wind and Rain Bridges. Seen from afar, a series of interconnected bridge towers with upturned eaves are said to be designed to ward off the river dragon king and protect the villages, while the interior of the bridges is decorated with murals depicting customs and farming scenes. Taking a moment on the benches, you’ll find the real local life: the elderly sharing stories and lovebirds dating, rather than hurried footsteps to make a living.During the visit, your eyes will be drawn to the distinctive attire of the Dong people: dark blue or black tops paired with pleated skirts and trousers, adorned with red and peach embroidery. If your visit coincides with a local festival, you may witness Dong women adorned in heirloom silver ornaments, from necklaces, combs, to crowns, weighing up to 4.5 kg (10 Ib)!

We’ll also admire their iconic Drum Tower, which serves as a Dong village’s political and spiritual center, as locals hold that ‘home is where the Drum Tower is’. Once a signal for alarms during emergencies, it now stands as a symbol of community gatherings, where villagers sit around the hearth to discuss important matters and clear the air.

At the end of the day, your guide and the driver will escort you on a 3.5-hour drive back to Guilin and check into your hotel.

Meals: Chinese-style breakfast, Lunch
Accommodation: Guilin Bravo Hotel (4 stars)

★ Li River Cruise: Where Karst Peaks Meet Folk Songs

In the morning, your guide and driver will meet you at your hotel lobby and escort you to the pier for a 4-hour Li River cruise from Guilin to Yangshuo. Gliding through the sparkling waters, you’ll appreciate undulating karst peak forests, with your guide pointing out those iconic formations like Piled Silk Hill, Nine Horses Mural Hill, and Yellow Cloth Shoal. This scenic journey is more than just a visual gallery – it’s also a symphony of folk songs! In the past, local people communicated through songs while fishing, hunting, and cultivating rice to replace obscure and diverse ethnic languages. The most famous local singer is Sanjie Liu, revered as the ‘Singing Goddess’. Her soulful melodies often expressed the poor’s grievances, drawing many villagers to learn. Over time, singing folk songs has become an essential skill for local youths when seeking a life partner, much like preparing for college entrance exams!After having a simple lunch box, we’ll arrive in Yangshuo. Get ashore and visit West Street. Soak up the vibrant atmosphere and browse through eclectic food and handicrafts stalls. Following that, your guide will accompany you to the legendary Xianggong Mountain. Let’s climb to the highest viewing platform, where you can absorb the Li River’s panoramic views glowing in the fading sunlight. For photos with fewer crowds, it’s advisable to walk down to the abandoned pavilion or utilize the angled position with trees and railings to add depth to your shots.

Finally, your guide and driver will escort you to your hotel in Yangshuo.

► Free Time Suggestion (at your own expense): 
Don’t miss the ‘Impression Sanjie Liu’ performance if you want to dive deeper into her stories. Through the ingenious use of lighting, this spectacular open-air night performance transforms the karst peaks into a living, breathing backdrop as the performers bring rural traditions to life. With dance and folk song duets, they recreate scenes of fishing and herding. Two-thirds of the cast are local villagers, which adds authenticity to the performance. Remember to grab a ticket at least three days in advance during the peak season from June to October, and sit in the back row for a panoramic view.

Meals: Western buffet breakfast, Lunch
Accommodation: Amari Yangshuo Hotel (4 stars)

Kick off the day with a vigorous countryside cycling tour! After breakfast, your guide will be waiting for you at your hotel lobby and help you with bike rental. During your pedaling along the Ten-Mile Gallery outside downtown Yangshuo, rice paddies, winding rivers, and karst peaks will unfold like a scrolling painting before your eyes. As summer transitions into autumn, the landscape becomes an artist’s canvas - farmers cultivate rice in different hues to create mosaics of color across the fields. Some patches are shaped to resemble fish leaping from water, while others illustrate phoenixes soaring high. After stopping to witness farmers hard at work, you can explore the Big Banyan Tree Scenic Area. Here, a thousand-year-old banyan tree stretches its canopy like an umbrella, where Sanjie Liu, the beloved Singing Goddess, exchanged vows with her sweetheart, making it a favorite for couples seeking blessings.

Next, let’s connect with Yangshuo’s unparalleled natural beauty on an exhilarating bamboo raft ride along the Yulong River, the longest tributary of the Li River. You can’t stop shouting when passing dams with drops, but no worries: these skilled raftsmen have honed this craft since childhood and relied on it to make a living, accurately steering the pole with the steady precision of a mountain. On average, a raftsman makes 3 or 4 trips each day. Some enterprising ones manage 5 or 6 trips a day from 8:00 AM till dusk, earning CNY 50,000 to 60,000 (USD 7,100-8,600) a year, higher than the national average and considered a good income in the area.

After a 50-minutes raft ride, a short drive will take you to the Silver Cave, which is famous particularly for its cascading stalactites, resembling frozen shooting stars and shining with gloss of silver under the colorful lights.

Finally, your guide and driver will escort you back to your hotel in downtown Yangshuo.

Meals: Western buffet breakfast
Accommodation: Amari Yangshuo Hotel (4 stars)

In the morning, your guide and the driver will pick you up from your hotel lobby and then drive back to Guilin, stopping by the Daxu Ancient Town along the way. Benefiting from the rise of water transport on the Li River, the town had been a trade hub between the 10th and 12th centuries. Strolling by narrow and deep old houses reminiscent of bamboo tubes, you’ll glimpse shops at the front selling trinkets and offering acupuncture service, while the back functions as a home. The elderly locals sipping tea and playing mahjong by the roadside will make you leave the bustling city life behind! 

Your 6 days Guilin tour will conclude with a private escort to Guilin airport or train station. Farewell and have a pleasant trip onward!

Meals: Western buffet breakfast