5 Best Day Trips from Guilin, China
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Five day trips cover the reason people fly into Guilin at all: karst peaks, the Li River, and rice terraces built into hillsides over centuries. The Li River cruise to Yangshuo is the one nobody skips, Longji’s rice terraces are the one worth an overnight, and Xingping is the cheaper way to see the same river scenery without the cruise ticket. Crown Cave and Daxu round things out for a longer stay. Pick two or three based on how many days you actually have, and see our full Guilin guide for everything in between.
Five day trips at a glance
| Day trip | Distance from Guilin | Travel time | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Li River cruise to Yangshuo | ~28 km to the pier | 3.5-5h, one-way | The essential first day trip |
| Longji Rice Terraces | ~80-100 km | 2-2.5h each way | Terrace scenery, worth an overnight |
| Xingping Ancient Town | ~65 km | ~1.5h by bus | The ¥20-note view, without the cruise price |
| Crown Cave (Guanyan) | ~37 km | 2-3h round trip | An underground river ride, a rainy-day pick |
| Daxu Ancient Town | ~20-23 km | 30min-1.5h by bus | A free half-day, a real old street |
The Li River cruise to Yangshuo, the one everyone does
This is Guilin’s headline day trip, and it earns the reputation. Boats haven’t left from central Guilin in years, both piers sit about 27-28km outside downtown: the 3-star cruise (¥215/adult) departs Mopanshan Pier for Yangshuo’s Longtoushan Pier, while the 4-star option (¥360-480, meals included) departs Zhujiang Pier for Shuidongmen or Xingping Pier. Either way it’s one-way downstream only, roughly 3.5-5 hours, past Nine Horse Fresco Hill and the Yellow Cloth Shoal on the Yangdi-Xingping stretch that does all the postcard work. Book your whole group on one order through the WeChat mini-program “i游漓江” so everyone lands on the same boat, and book a Li River cruise a few days ahead if you’re traveling April-November.
Since the cruise only runs one direction, plan the way back before you leave: the train from Yangshuo to Guilin takes 20-47 minutes (¥25-35), the bus about 1.5 hours (¥27-40). Check departures on the official 12306 site or the English-friendly Trip.com ; both list the same Guilin-Yangshuo trains. If cruise prices feel steep for a short trip, Yulong River bamboo rafting in Yangshuo (¥200-320 per raft, not per person) is a shorter, cheaper stand-in on a different, smaller river, and it pairs well with Moon Hill or a Ten-Mile Gallery bike ride once you’re already there.
Longji Rice Terraces, the one worth staying overnight for
Longji splits into two areas that get compared constantly: Ping’an (Zhuang, about 2 hours from Guilin, an easier 2-hour walking loop) and Dazhai/Jinkeng (Red Yao, about 2.5 hours, a cable car and three named viewpoints, 4-5 hours to see properly). A combined ¥80 ticket covers both areas plus Huangluo Yao Village, though some booking sites quote closer to ¥120, that’s a service markup, confirm the ¥80 gate rate before you pay. As a single day trip, Ping’an alone is realistic; Dazhai rewards the extra half-day. Either way, an overnight is the near-universal recommendation here, since the terraces are built for sunrise and sunset light and a 2+ hour drive each way eats into both. Browse Longji terrace tours if you’d rather not sort out the shuttle from Qintan Coach Station yourself, and withdraw cash before you go, foreign-card ATMs thin out fast once you’re up in the villages (more on that in our Guilin travel tips ).
Terrace color runs on its own calendar: a water-mirror season mid-April through June, green through summer, and a golden harvest window late September to mid-October, right before National Day Golden Week (1-7 Oct 2026) fills every guesthouse in the area.
Xingping Ancient Town, the ¥20-note view without the cruise ticket
Xingping is what a lot of first-timers don’t realize they can do without booking the full Li River cruise. It’s a Ming-dynasty fishing village founded in 1506, and a short walk from its old town gets you to Yellow Cloth Shoal, the actual view printed on the back of the ¥20 note (more angles in our Guilin photo spots guide ), best at sunrise between May and October. Buses run from Guilin’s South Bus Station (~1.5 hours, ¥40) or from Yangshuo (~30 minutes, ¥15, every 15 minutes), so it works as a standalone day trip from either base. Climb Laozhai Hill just outside town, free, about 30 minutes up, for the wide river-bend view without paying for a raft.
Crown Cave and Daxu, an easy half-day combo
Crown Cave (Guanyan), in Caoping Town about 37km south of Guilin, is worth building a rainy day around: a single visit strings together a rail car, an elevator, a tram, and a 1,000-metre underground river boat ride, ¥60 adult/¥30 child, with the rail car an extra ¥40 one-way. Get there via bus 306 to Daxu Town, then transfer to the Caoping line, 2-3 hours total for around ¥6.
Daxu Ancient Town sits on the same route, closer in at 20-23km south of Guilin, and it’s free to enter. Founded in the Northern Song dynasty, over 1,000 years old, its 2.5km bluestone street and the Qing-era Wanshou Bridge are the real thing, not a rebuilt tourist version. Direct buses from Guilin South Bus Station run at 08:20 and 13:00 (30 minutes, ¥10), or take Lingchuan bus 306 from Guilin North (1.5 hours, ¥3). Time it for a market day, dates ending in 2, 5, or 8, to see it busy with locals rather than tour groups.
How many of these should a first Guilin trip include?
Two, realistically, for a standard 3-day Guilin stay: the Li River cruise plus either Longji or Xingping. Stretch to 4-5 days and Longji’s overnight fits comfortably alongside the cruise and Xingping, our 5-day Guilin itinerary walks through exactly how to stack them. Crown Cave and Daxu are the easy additions once you’re past a week.
Longji as a day trip or an overnight, which one?
An overnight, if the schedule allows it. Ping’an’s viewpoints and Dazhai’s three platforms are built for sunrise and sunset light, and the drive alone runs 2-2.5 hours each way. A single day trip works fine for Ping’an, since its shorter loop suits a rushed schedule better than Dazhai’s longer hike and cable car.
One thing to lock down before any of these: book the Li River cruise and a Longji guesthouse as early as you can if your dates land anywhere near Golden Week, 1-7 October or 1-5 May 2026, since both sell out and prices spike well before the day itself.