With a history of over 2000 years, Guilin is a wonderful place for its karst landform with absolutely unique scenery. With enchanting landscape and fresh air on either side of the Li River, it’s very cozy to boat on Li River to appreciate the reflection of green hills with different shapes.
It also makes us comfortable to ride a bike on a countryside lane in Yangshuo. To enjoy the Karst landscape is a feast for eyes. In addition, Guilin has various kinds of food, among which the featured food such as Guilin Rice Noodles(桂林米粉), Yangshuo beer fish(阳朔啤酒鱼), chilli sauce(辣椒酱), cooked Longji chicken in bamboo tubes(龙脊竹筒鸡) and much more is recommended.
As a world-renowned tourist destination, Guilin is a historical and cultural city as well. Between E 109°36′ to 111°29′ and N 24°15′ to 26°23′, it lies in the south of Hunan-Guangxi Corridor(湘桂走廊) at an average altitude of 150 meters with Hunan Province on the north and the northeast, Liuzhou Area on the west and the southwest, Wuzhou and Hezhouon the south and the southeast. Guilin borders on not only Hunan Province, but also Guizhou Province and Guangdong Province.
As a famed city and cultural and transportation centre in Guangxi, and a key tourist destination in China, Guilin is a famous historical and cultural city in China. Guilin lies in the southwest of Nanling Mountains(南岭山系), with the typical Karst landscape. Through weathering erosion for several eras, limestone all over the city makes the unique landscape that thousands of hills stand, Li River runs around the city and caves and stones are in amazing and extraordinary shapes. The saying“The scenery of Guilin is peerless in the world“always spreads around the world. The most iconic sightseeings in Guilin include the Li River(漓江), the Yulong River(遇龙河), the Elephant Trunk Hill(象鼻山), the Yaoshan Hill(尧山), the Reed Flute Cave(芦笛岩), the Crown Cave(冠岩), the Jingjiang Princes’ City of Ming Dynasty(靖江王府), the Ronghu Lake(榕湖), the Shanhu Lake(杉湖) and much more.
The most amazing landscape among the Li River scenery we are always praising lies in Yangshuo. Numerous scenic spots in other counties of Guilin are waiting for you to discover, such as the Longji Rice Terraces in Longsheng(龙胜), the Lingqu Canal(灵渠) originally built in the Qin Dynasty in Xing’an(兴安), Danxia Landform in the Bajiaozhai Village(八角寨) and the Baodingshan Hill Waterfalls(宝鼎山瀑布) in Ziyuan(资源), etc. These spots will bring you more surprises.
Nationalities
There are 28 minorities in Guilin, including Zhuang, Hui, Miao, Yao, Dong ethnic minorities, covering around 8.5‰ of the total population in Guilin.
Safety
Guilin is very safe. Though, because too many people work in tourism in Guilin, you must be careful to avoid unhappy trips when some people introduce all kinds of scenic spots over-enthusiastically to you. There are many thieves in Guilin Railway Station and Guilin Bus Station so you must take good care of your own belongings. Some tourism information on some websites is unauthentic. Please pay attention to those who only pursue their own benefits in tourism without considering visitors’.
The best time for travelling
It’s the best time to travel in Guilin between the middle of April and the early November. With low latitude, Guilin is in subtropical monsoon climate area. Climatic conditions in Guilin are very favourable with mild climate, abundant rainfall, a long frost-free period, adequate sunlight, rich heat, long summer and short winter and four seasons.
The annual average temperature in Guilin is 18.9℃. August is the hottest with the monthly average temperature of 23℃. January is the coldest with the monthly average temperature of15.6℃. The annual frost-free period is 309 days and the annual average rainfall is 1949.5mm. Labour Day-May 1st and the National Day of China-October 1st, the two golden weeks for tourism come between the middle of April and the early November. The two weeks with comfortable climate are the peak season for travelling in Guilin, even around China. Therefore, thousands of tourists always visit Guilin during the two weeks. Thus, the hotel’s booking and the traffic is the busiest. The room rates rises between the two periods as well. It is suggested that you should not pay a visit to Guilin during the two weeks.
You could travel in Guilin during the off-season to enjoy its beauty. The rainy season in Guilin is from April to July. If you would like to appreciate the Li River scenery in smog and the rice terraces in Longsheng with enough water, it is recommended that you visit Guilin between the middle of April and June. And, you’d better set aside one or two days to discover the scenic spots along Li River in case that the Li River is in high tide and navigation is stopped by the relative administrations.
Tour Duration
It’s suggested that you spend 3 – 5 days exploring Guilin.