---
node: dest_guilin
type: destination
slug: guilin
title: "Guilin"
lead: "Guilin is famous for the karst landscape of jagged limestone peaks that rise from the plains and river of northern Guangxi. A cruise down the Li River past these misty pinnacles is one of China's classic journeys."
published: 2026-08-10
updated: 2026-08-10
image_file: guilin.jpg
image_source: "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:1_li_jiang_guilin_yangshuo_2011.jpg"
image_author: "chensiyuan"
image_license: "CC BY-SA 4.0"
---

## Overview

The scenery around Guilin, with its clustered towers of grey limestone worn into fantastic shapes, has been painted and praised in China for centuries and appears on the twenty-yuan note. The city itself is a pleasant base on the Li River, but the draw is the countryside downstream toward Yangshuo, where the peaks crowd the water and the rice fields. It is warm and often misty, and the karst is best seen slowly, by boat, bike or raft.

## Highlights

The Li River cruise from Guilin to Yangshuo drifts for hours past the most famous of the peaks, mirrored in the water. Around Yangshuo, bikes and bamboo rafts reach villages and the Yulong River, and the Longji rice terraces climb the hills a couple of hours north. In the city, Elephant Trunk Hill and the Reed Flute Cave give quick tastes of the same limestone country.