Travel Tips for Yangshuo, China

Looking for a travel destination with scenic beauty, cultural offerings, and plenty of fun things to do? Consider Yangshuo, China. Just one look at the atmospheric karst peaks that surround the town and it’s easy to see why Yangshuo is popular with travelers.

Wandering Spaulls, Realtravelers from Cape Town, wrote a great list of travel tips in their blog for people planning a visit to Yangshuo:

“In addition to all the great activities offered by our hostel/B&B, we would strongly recommend the following as a list of must-do’s in Yangshuo:

1. Wandering the two major streets of the town by day and by night: West Street and Chinese Street operate almost all of the major shops in town. By day you can sample the massage offerings, brave the fresh food markets, and rent bikes. By night you can haggle at the night markets (make your opening offer one tenth of theirs and never go higher than one fifth), nibble on local snacks and just soak up the lights and sounds.

2. Attend one of the two nightly performances of the Sanjie Liu “Impression” lightshow: Directed by one of China’s best movie directors (the same one who is heading the Olympic Opening Ceremony show for Beijing 2008) this live show features over 600 locals as performers on the river itself, has been through 109 revisions, boasts 67 design artists, 12 karts mountain peaks all illuminated to music and 1.65 square kilometers of the Li River as its stage! It was the best live show I have ever seen and took 5.5 years to prepare. At 150 Yuan per person including taxi transfer it was worth every cent!

3. Hike up Moon Hill: You can either rent bikes and ride here (about 30 minutes taking it easy) or you can combine this with bamboo rafting (see below) by taking bikes to the Yulong river, rafting to the bridge (with the bikes aboard) and then cycling the last 10 minutes to the hill. Named because of the unusual circular hole through the hill at its top this can be a bit of a sweaty climb up a few hundred stairs but the view is SO worth the effort. Don’t make the mistake of stopping at the top - go behind the crest and walk the last 10 minutes right onto the actual top of the moon - the vista is unbeatable!

4. Try the local food specialities: Yanshuo Mifen (rice noodles in soup) and Beer Fish are important parts of the Yangshuo experience! There are tons of places all over town but our favourite was just before the bridge over the Yulong that leads to Moon Hill.

5. Ride the River - Bamboo style: On both the Li and Yulong Rivers you can find locals willing to pole you up or down the rivers on sturdy bamboo rafts (seats for 2 passengers and room for bikes). Take the time to jump off and swim to cool down, enjoy the awesome and relaxing scenery (you even have an umbrella over you) and plunge down the small “waterfalls” - just try not to get caught by the locals at each waterfall with digicams and printers who snap your face and try to sell you the pics as you pass.

6. Take Some ‘Dirty’ Pics: Very nearby to Moon Hill is the ticket office for the Real Water Cave (beware the many imitations). Your ticket (half price through our hostel/B&B) gets you the 30 minute bus ride to the cave (set high in the hills) and a guide who leads you through the caverns. Rock formations with names like Lotus Flower Seat, Monk Makes Love to Girl, Big Jelly Fish and Gold Hill are all star attractions. Not as touristy as the caves in Guilin and much more fun the BEST part is the large underground mud pool fed by a constant steam of clean mud (oxymoron?). You can strip down to your swimsuit (be warned it will NEVER get totally clean again) and jump in. The mud is dense so you float with ease and can have superb ‘Dirty Pics’ snapped by the locals for a mere 10 Yuan each (or take them of each other for free!) The natural mudslide is also a must (you have showers and change-areas too so no worries there). The underground swimming pools (VERY cold) round out the trip. Be warned, the so-called 80m waterfall is not a real one - just another rock formation.

7. Take a Rural Bike Ride: No trip to Yangshuo is ever complete without a ride out into the surrounding villages and rice paddies. Get lost and find your way back - its all part of the charm and the roads are really quite good and flat.

8. Let off Some Hot Air: For 700 Yuan you can view it all from the air by a silent hot air balloon. We didn’t do this ourselves (too expensive) but had great reports from those who did. Aim for early evening - not so hot and super photography light.”

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For more of Wandering Spaulls’ tips, and to read about their adventures as they circle the globe, check out their travel blog, Around the World in 9 Months - and a Thousand Adventures.

To share your own set of travel tips or a Top 10 list, visit this topic on our Forums or send an email to: carrie-at-realtravel.com.

Useful links:

Yangshuo Travel Guide
China Travel Guide
Yangshuo Travel Blogs
Yangshou Travel Information
Other Realtravelers’ Top 10 Lists