Weather:

When is the best time to tour Guilin?

April to October is Guilin recommended travel time for sufficient sunny days, greener hill and clearer river water during this time.

Summer temperature of Guilin can reach as high as over 37ºC. Better bring handy summer stuffs like sun cream, sun glasses, hat, mosquito repellent, etc to protect you from the melting heat in Guilin during May to October.

When is the best time to view the Longji Rice Terraces?

The view differs in different season over the year. Overall, the spring irrigation time and autumn harvest time are the best time for viewing terrace field.

Every late May and early June is the time of terrace field irrigation and the irrigated fields look like layers of bright mirrors.

When it comes to the late July and the early August, a green sea of paddy rice lures you deeply.

And the terrace filed greets you with the golden blankets of the ripe rice in the late September and early October.

Snowed terrace field in winter is also awesome.

What's more, on the Chinese lunar June 6, ethnic Yao minority there hold a big sing and dance party which is quite interesting and a good chance to know more about local ethnic customs.

Transportation:

How can I go to Yangshuo from Guilin?

• Option 1: Transfer to Yangshuo in the Guilin railway station square for the bus that departs every 15 minutes and the ticket fare for the 1.5 hour journey is CNY15.
• Option 2: Take a taxi to Yangshuo at around CNY150.
• Option 3: Take the Li-river cruise to Yangshuo, please refer to "How can we take the Li-river cruise?" to get further information.

How can I go to Longji to see the rice terraces from Guilin city?

Longji rice terrace field is located at Ping'an village of Longsheng. You need to take a bus to Longsheng at the Guilin Bus Station, and then transfer to another minibus at Longsheng to Longji parking lot. The time schedule and bus fee for your reference as follows.

Time table of direct bus to Longsheng from Guilin Bus Station:

6:50 7:30 8:10 8:50 9:30 10:10 10:50 11:25 12:00 12:30 13:00 13:30 14:00 14:30 15:00 15:30 16:00 16:30 17:00 17:40 18:20 19:00

Driving time and bus fee: 2.5 hours and CNY27/person

Time table for mini bus to Ping'an of Longji from Longsheng

• Longsheng – Ping'an: 7:30 9:20 11:00 13:00 15:00 17:00
• Ping'an – Longsheng: 7:30 9:00 11:00 13:00 15:00 17:00 18:00

Driving time and bus fee: 1 hour and CNY7/person

Shopping:

Is there any local specialty we can buy in Guilin? Where can I find them?

Guilin boasts of quite a lot of local specialties as its rich scenery like various fruits (pomelo, orange, ginkgo, fructus momordicae, Lipu taro and persimmon, handicrafts, ethnic ornaments as well as jewelry and Chinese calligraphy and paintings. Among them, Guilin three treasures (Three Flower Wine, Chili Sauce and Preserved Tofu) are Guilin most noted gifts.

Guilin Zhengyang Pedestrian Street near the Central Square offers tourists an excellent place to purchase various local handicrafts and ethnic ornaments like Guilin embroidery, paper umbrella, jade carving craft, wood and bamboo carving crafts as well as calligraphy and paintings.

The night market in the city center along Shizhi Street (7:30pm to 11:00pm) is also worthy a night wandering. A wide range of small items like the horn combs, embroidery, cheap jewelry, etc. can be found here. Please remember to bargain hard thought the quoted price of the stuffs are already cheap enough.

Cuisine:

Is there any don't-miss cuisine in Guilin?

Guilin rice noodle is a way of life in Guilin and the rice noodle eateries can be seen everywhere in Guilin city. There is rice noodle banquet of different tastes at some big restaurants.

Gongcheng Oil Tea is a special dish of Dong and Yao people. A bowl of hot bitter tea is drunk with different snack dishes like fried rice popcorn, fried bean or fried sweet potato noodle. Most Guilin people like it so much that they even have it for breakfast or late night snack.

Duck Soup with Gingko, Lipu Taro with Braised Pork, Water Chestnut Fried with Chicken Ball, Nun Vegetarian Noodles, Lingchuan Dog Meat, Yangshuo Beer Fish, Guilin Pickled Vegetable, etc. are among the local favors.

Tips:

In Dong minority custom, the guest is expected to finish two bowls of oil tea for two always means that the Blessings come in pairs. If you don't want to have a refill after that, pass both chopsticks and bowls to the host. If not, only deliver the bowl means "more, please."

In Yao minority custom, the guest should drink for at least three bowls of oil tea. The chopsticks for the tea snacks s will not served until you start to drink the third bowl of tea.

Festivals:

Is there any special local festival in Guilin?

Yes. Guilin administers 12 counties including Yangshuo, Gongcheng, Longsheng, Xing'an, etc. Several popular festivals are listed in Guilin area as below.

Guilin Landscape Tourist Festival is annually held by Guilin government during October to December in Guilin city. During the festival days, new tourist routes are introduced with the theme of natural landscape, folk customs, history and culture. Meanwhile, various artistic performances and firework are also presented to all tourists and citizens.

Gongcheng Peach Blossom Festival is held in late February or early March and lasts for a months in Gongcheng which is 2 hours driving away from Guilin city. People appreciate the blossom sea, sip peach blossom wine and Gongcheng delicious specialties in the festival. Young single people also seize this festival to immerse themselves in the romantic flowers, wishing to boost their year-round love luck. The Chinese believe that Peach flowers could enhance a person's romantic relationship.

Red Cloth Festival, a festival of Red Yao minority, is held on lunar March 15th in Longsheng county which is 3 hours driving away from Guilin city. On the festival day, Red Yao minority people dress up and carry their own local products to the market. Many interesting traditional activities are carried out on this day like folk song singing, long drum dance, long hair contest, village beauty contest and physical activities.

Sightseeing:

How can we take the Li River cruise?

Usually tourists will buy the Li River cruise ticket through Guilin city travel agency at CNY285/person (tourist season price, a light lunch included) and at CNY245/person (off-season price, a light lunch included). Tourists can also buy the cruise ticket at the Guilin Water Transportation Center on Binjiang Road.

The non-stop Li-river boats depart from Zhujiang Wharf (or Yangdi Wharf in off season) at around 9:00am, and arrive at Yangshuo Wharf at around 2:00pm. There are not boats from Yangshuo to back to Guilin. Tourists who buy ticket by themselves need to go to Zhujiang Wharf by taxi at about CNY70.