Last July, we decided to go on a 3-day week-end in the famous city of Guilin, the romantic Chinese town. After un epic trip to Shenzhen via HK MTR (our hotel claimed he didn’t have our booking and was fully booked when we arrived at midnight, staff barely spoke English etc.), 3 hours of train and 1 hour of taxi who get lost multiple times, we arrived in Yangshuo.

However, we had the time first to stop at Guilin in the ‘Reed Flute Cave’: beautiful and quite big caves, with an impressive set of lights.

Reed Flute Cave (7/10): 1 Ludi Rd, Xiufeng Qu, Guilin Shi

Moon Hill from our hotel, with a whole in its center

Everybody must have told you: Yangshuo is far better than Guilin so we planned our 3 whole days in this city. One of my colleague recommended us this small but lovely hotel in Yangshuo. After the epic and warm trip, this was just heaven to us! I definitely recommend it: very clean, comfortable, Chinese style and eco-friendly with a nice terrace and a view on the ‘Moon Hill’ – especially enjoyable with a fresh beer or gin tonic at #sunset hour.

Yangshuo Village Inn (9/10): No. 26 Moon Hill Village, Gaotian Town, Yangshuo County

Famous cakes preparation

Seafood is renowned and you can taste several specialties in the main street (West Street / Xi Jie) of the city. Get here at night to wander all night long, pick food specialties (grilled lobster and the famous cakes), get some cocktails and simply enjoy to wander through the busy night market.

On our beautiful Saturday, we rented a fancy electrical motorbike to visit the neighborhood, get lost in the rice fields, ride by the Li river headed-up until the ‘Shangri-La’ county part. Almost ran out battery in the middle of nowhere with anybody to help us nor speak English. It started pouring we had to finish by foot but it was an amazing day.

We also been to see the famous Night dancing show ‘Impression Sanjie Liu‘ performing in a natural environment among the hills and using the Li River as its stage. Honestly, we didn’t really enjoy the show – performed in Mandarin so we didn’t understand the story – and even if it was beautiful, it was really long and we didn’t get into it.

Impression Sanjie Liu (6/10): Lijiang Shanshui Theater, Yangshuo County

—

Tip 1: We didn’t have the opportunity nor the time to see Cormorant fishing but it definitely should be something worth trying.

Tip 2: Mini cruise on the river are common but getting busier and busier, hence losing the charm of the place. I would not recommend to do one but rather cycling or biking (electrical one) by the river.