Yangshuo travel guide: Yulong River, Xingping and where to stay
Stay two nights for an arrival block and a full Yulong countryside day; add a third for a separate Xingping visit. Choose a lower-Yulong bed for river mornings, town for easier meals and road transfers, or Xingping when its Li River bend and a Yangshuo-station exit are the priority.
Choose the Yangshuo experiences that earn your time
Give the Yulong and Xingping separate landscape blocks. The town fills an evening; the upper-valley village and bridge are extensions when you want slower countryside time. The following allowances are editorial, including pauses; road travel from your base is extra.
1. Jima riverbank walk · 骥马遇龙河步道 — Close river views, a waterwheel and fields, with a length you can choose. Central Yulong · 45–90 min for a short out-and-back; 2–3 h for the longer walk.
2. Shui E Di lower-Yulong raft · 水厄底漂游 — A shorter one-way raft with four weir descents, beside the lower-valley peaks. Lower Yulong · Allow 2–3 h for the local outing, including boarding and pickup.
3. Jiuxian village and Jinlong Bridge · 旧县 / 金龙桥 — Older village lanes, ancestral architecture and an optional longer river approach. Upper Yulong · 1–2 h in the village, or a 4–5 h upper-valley outing.
6. Fuli Bridge · 富里桥 — A stone arch and upstream fields, with an optional same-pier river loop. Upper Yulong · Allow 1–2 h for the bridge area; longer with a raft.
For one full day: protect #1 and choose #2 if rafting suits everyone. For two: add #4; #5 is optional if another boat adds something beyond the long cruise. For village / bridge interest: use #3 or #6 in place of another river ticket. #7 is the easy town evening.
Two or three nights, and what goes together
Two nights leave one complete sightseeing day after a boat, rail or airport arrival. Choose Yulong as that day, or stay in Xingping if the Li River and the station are your main reason to come. Three nights leave two complete days: one for Yulong and one for Xingping, usually from the same bed. A later arrival and an early exit shorten the usable time; nights alone tell you little.
#1 → #2 → a lower-valley meal · 4–6 h locally: combine walking and one shorter raft without a second cross-county trip. Both the raft start and Gongnong Bridge landing need road or signed walking connections.
#3 → #6 · most of a day with road legs: pair Jiuxian’s older lanes with the upper river’s stone bridge. Use a driver for the links; buying a one-way Jinlong raft changes the collection point.
#4 → optional #5 · half to a full day: walk Xingping, then add one local water product if it is operating and worth the cost. Return to your original bed or move luggage to a booked Xingping bed before an early station departure.
Any local block → #7 · an evening: town dinner fits after the river outing if you still have a return car. The countryside loses its convenience once spontaneous late-night rides become part of every evening.
With only one night, pick the landscape nearest your arrival and exit. After a long Guilin cruise, a town evening and one short lower-Yulong visit may fit a later departure; drop Xingping. For an early KWL flight or Guilin-city train, move the final bed to Guilin or arrange a direct transfer with a pickup time that protects airport / station processing.
Choose your base and a real hotel door
Default for the countryside: lower Yulong. You wake beside the landscape and can walk before day-trip traffic. Town is the practical alternative for meals and road connections. Xingping earns a stay when its river bend or the railway exit is more important than the Yulong. These are three different locations within Yangshuo county.
Orientation only, without a distance scale. Xingping–town and upper–lower Yulong connections use roads; this sketch supplies no through footpath.
Lower Yulong: Yangshuo Mountain Retreat · 阳朔胜地
Choose this for the river at your door and a slower morning. The property’s location page places it inside the Ten-Mile Gallery area beside the Yulong, around a 15-minute hotel-car ride from town. Meals and evening trips require more planning than a central bed.
Driver’s door: 阳朔胜地 / 胜地酒店（阳朔十里画廊遇龙河店）· 高田镇凤楼村委王公山脚. The Amap entrance supplies the Chinese navigation name; reception: +86 773 877 7091.
Room to compare: the operator lists a Superior Twin Terrace on the ground floor and a Family Terrace Bunk Bed Suite with a queen room plus an adjoining bunk room. These give a specific choice for separate beds or a family; step-free access, occupancy and a dated rate still belong in the actual booking.
Complete arrival: ask reception to collect from KWL, the exact Guilin station, 阳朔站 or the named town coach stop and to name the driver meeting point. Its pickup page describes station parking collection and a ride from the Yangshuo bus station. Let the hotel arrange the last scenic-area road leg. Pre-arrival or post-checkout bag storage has no published promise here: obtain the collection deadline and overnight / valuables terms before building a walk around stored bags.
Town-side road base: Fairfield by Marriott Yangshuo · 阳朔万豪万枫酒店
Choose this for a conventional hotel and a town-side road departure. It is an outer-town base rather than a room above West Street: use a taxi for an evening in the pedestrian core.
Room to compare: Marriott’s property page identifies Standard King / 标准大床房 and Standard Twin / 标准双床房. Use the latter for separate beds, then reserve the occupancy and rate for your party.
Complete arrival: an airport coach ends at 阳朔县汽车客运服务站, also published at 千古情大道2号. Match the service-station arrival to the hotel’s separate entrance with reception before wheeling bags along the road. From rail or a river pier, arrange a taxi to the named hotel door. Late staffed passport processing and storage before arrival / after departure require the property’s reply; retain bags for a direct transfer if storage remains unresolved.
Choose this for old-town walking and an easier position for 阳朔站. Accor places it in Xingping old town and describes around a 15-minute drive to the station. Yulong then becomes a separate road excursion.
Room to compare: Accor lists Standard King / 标准房大床 and Standard Twin / 标准房双床. Select the actual bed configuration, party occupancy and cancellation rate.
Complete arrival: travel from 阳朔站 to the hotel by a reserved taxi / hotel-arranged car. On departure, collect luggage here and ride back to 阳朔站, rather than boarding a bus toward Yangshuo town. Huazhu lists luggage storage; it supplies no blanket permission for bags before a stay, overnight or after a late collection. Obtain those conditions and staffed late passport check-in directly from the booked property.
Property and room information is desk research; no stay was tested. For a foreign passport, send the actual guests and arrival time to the property; use the hotel registration guide if the front desk cannot process the document. Keep the door and contact offline in the arrival card.
Book the constraints before the add-ons
Set the exact exit and last bed. Read whether the ticket says 阳朔站, 桂林站, 桂林北站, 桂林西站 or KWL, then reserve the full hotel-to-hub transfer.
Reserve the right base and room. Agree on the Chinese door, late arrival, original-passport processing and any luggage handover before a water or walking block.
Select one named water product, if wanted. Use the pier contacts below for the actual child’s measured height, age, health / mobility needs and foreign-passport ticket route, then obtain a price and cancellation rule for the whole party.
Reserve both road ends. A one-way raft has a different collection point. A Xingping excursion needs a return to the hotel, a station journey or a booked Xingping bed.
Children and raft limits: the Yulong operator’s Longcun-pier terms ban children below 1 metre, require an adult with children at or above 1 metre, and exclude travellers aged 70 or above, pregnant travellers, some heart / blood-pressure conditions and limited mobility. These are Longcun’s published terms, rather than a rule proven for every pier. For the selected Shui E Di, Jinlong or Fuli product, obtain acceptance from that pier before paying. A no-weir four-person raft changes the ride, not the requirement for passenger approval. Keep #1, #3 or #4 as the land-based choice when rafting is unsuitable.
Arrive at the hotel, then leave from the right hub
With bags, a reserved door-to-door car is the simplest transfer to a Yulong village or after a late arrival. For public transport, buy the dated departure first and complete its final hotel leg. The following time allowances are planning estimates, unless attributed to an operator; prices for private cars belong to your written quote.
KWL · Guilin Liangjiang International Airport · 桂林两江国际机场
The airport’s direct coach page lists a 90-minute coach trip at CNY 60 per person to 阳朔县汽车客运服务站（阳朔镇千古情大道2号）, with ticketing beside T2 arrivals door 6 and boarding outside it. The “桂林机场” mini-program’s 机场巴士 section sells the day’s actual departure. Add waiting and your hotel leg; allow roughly 2–3 hours door-to-door as a planning buffer.
Town: coach → service station → the booked hotel door by reception-guided walk or taxi. Yulong: coach → arranged hotel-car pickup at that service station → village hotel. Xingping: prefer a quoted direct airport-to-hotel car for fewer changes; the town coach would need another separate road leg northeast.
Back to KWL: hotel → the same service station → dated airport coach → terminal, with the airline’s processing time added. An early flight reverses the choice: position in Guilin / near KWL the preceding evening, or book a direct hotel-to-terminal vehicle with a protected pickup time. A first advertised coach is too late for some early flights.
Yangshuo station · 阳朔站 — the Xingping side
The station is near Xingping, outside its old town, rather than in Yangshuo county town. Mercure’s station transfer description makes Xingping the short final road leg. From station exit, use the signed taxi area or the named driver / parking meeting point; deliver to 榕潭街12号 for that hotel.
Town or Yulong bed: book the longer station-to-hotel road transfer with the actual Chinese door. As a conservative editorial allowance, reserve roughly 60–90 minutes from train arrival to a town / Yulong bed, including collection; this is no fixed car running time. The Li River transport page lists a station–Xingping-pier connector whose departures vary with trains and demand. That connector ends on the Xingping side; reach town or Yulong by a separately arranged onward road journey.
Reverse chain: hotel luggage collection → arranged car to 阳朔站 → railway security / document entry → your booked train. Ask the driver for the departure-time road allowance and add station processing; drop an optional boat if it threatens that pickup. Use passport rail booking for national ticket steps.
Guilin, Guilin North and Guilin West · 桂林站 / 桂林北站 / 桂林西站
These are different city stations. For Yulong or town with luggage, give your lodging the station printed on the ticket, train number and arrival time, and book a car from its exit / named parking meeting point to the hotel door. Allow roughly 1½–2½ hours as an editorial collection-and-road block rather than assuming every station has the same transfer.
For a budget road route, the scenic operator lists Yangshuo / Xingping services from 桂林汽车客运南站, 桂林汽车客运北站 and 琴潭汽车客运站. Choose a dated service with its exact departure and arrival terminal; take a taxi from the rail station to that coach terminal, then a hotel pickup at the Yangshuo end. Its published list supplies no through seat from the railway exit.
Back to a Guilin station: booked hotel door → direct car to the exact 桂林站 / 桂林北站 / 桂林西站 on your ticket → security and train. Choose a final Guilin night for an early departure. Taking a train to 阳朔站 just to reach lower Yulong adds another Xingping-side last leg.
After the one-way Li River cruise · 阳朔龙头山码头
Arrange the issued landing-to-hotel pickup before sailing: land at the named pier → walk to the agreed road-access meeting point → town hotel or Yulong hotel car. The operator lists 803 / 808 at Longtoushan; a bus still needs the final hotel connection. For an Xingping bed, a separate road transfer goes back northeast, so a Yangshuo landing is less convenient than arriving on the station side.
The long-cruise operator’s terms say it has no luggage-storage service. Agree with the seller and hotels on luggage carried / transferred before buying a hotel-change sailing. The Guilin guide owns the actual long-cruise piers, document rules and arrival-day decision.
Visit the valley, town and river in detail
The same numbers lead from each choice to its entry, route and way back. “Time” is an editorial allowance; a water product’s issued slot and operating notice control the actual trip.
1. Jima riverbank walk · 骥马遇龙河步道
This is the best land-based introduction to the Yulong: the river stays close while karst towers rise beyond the fields. Start with a short return walk if heat, a child or limited stamina sets the pace. The operator describes a roughly 5 km line from Jima pier to the Impression reception centre; walking the entire line needs a different pickup.
Hours
Walk in daylight on the open signed path; turn back at a closure or flooded section.
Tickets
Use the public walking route; paid photo attractions, a little train and rafting are separate purchases.
Time
45–90 min for a short out-and-back; 2–3 h for the longer walk
Address
遇龙河步道（骥马码头起点）· 阳朔县骥马村遇龙河畔
Getting there
Take a hotel car or taxi to 骥马码头; agree on the same pickup for an out-and-back. A distant village hotel needs a road transfer rather than a county-wide map pin.
How to visit
Jima pier → signed bank path → waterwheel / river-and-field views → return along the same open path. For the full line, arrange collection at 印象接待中心 before leaving Jima; use the operator’s exact 印象接待中心 pickup pin.
Choose this as the water add-on to a lower-Yulong stay when you also want time on land. The operator lists 2.48 km and four weirs from Shui E Di to the comprehensive pier beside Gongnong Bridge. The raft crosses small drops; it is a different experience from walking or a flat-water circuit.
Hours
The selected pier issues a boarding slot; obtain its operating slot and water decision through the pier before travelling.
Tickets
Buy the named 水厄底→工农桥综合码头 product through the operator’s 遇龙河 account or pier. The pier hotline is +86 158 0783 6003; obtain the full craft price, occupancy, passport and passenger acceptance before payment.
Time
Allow 2–3 h for the local outing, including boarding and pickup
Address
水厄底码头 · 阳朔县遇龙河水厄底段；下筏：工农桥旁综合码头
Getting there
Arrange a car to 水厄底码头 and a separate collection at 工农桥旁综合码头. Keep luggage at an agreed hotel store or in your prearranged transfer vehicle, rather than bringing it to the raft.
How to visit
Issued pier / slot → document and passenger screening → instructed seating and life jacket → river and four weirs → comprehensive pier → booked ride or open signed bank walk. Use the normal landing as your plan; a hotel’s private jetty requires a specific operator agreement.
Jiuxian rewards slow land time: stone lanes, old houses and the Li family ancestral setting give the landscape a human scale. Choose it when villages interest you, rather than buying several similar river rides. The alternative arrival is the operator’s 6.18 km, nine-weir Jinlong Bridge raft, ending at Jiuxian comprehensive pier.
Hours
Use the village’s public lanes in daylight; individual interiors follow their host’s access. A raft uses its separately issued slot.
Tickets
Walk the public village lanes; meals and private interiors are separate. For the one-way raft, ask 金龙桥码头 at +86 158 0783 6201 for its dated product and passenger rules.
Time
1–2 h in the village, or a 4–5 h upper-valley outing
Address
旧县古村 · 阳朔县白沙镇旧县村；乘筏起点：金龙桥码头（白沙至金宝公路金龙桥右侧）
Getting there
For the land visit, book a taxi or hotel car to 旧县村 and a return from the agreed village road entrance. For the raft, deliver to 金龙桥码头 and collect at 旧县综合码头.
How to visit
Village road entrance → open lanes and visible older houses / ancestral precinct → village meal → same road pickup. With the raft, reach Jiuxian first, then walk the village and collect from the agreed road point; a parked vehicle at Jinlong Bridge needs a separate return.
4. Xingping old town and Li River bank · 兴坪古镇 / 漓江
Xingping gives a wider Li River scene than the intimate Yulong valley. Walk the old-town streets and the open signed riverbank near the piers; the landscape itself is the reason to come. Choose the bank and a meal before adding a paid boat. With a town or Yulong bed, reserve a separate road block and the way back.
Hours
Old-town walking fits daylight and an early evening meal. Follow local riverbank access signs, especially after rain.
Tickets
Public old-town streets and open bank access form the land visit; boat and electric-raft tickets are separate.
Time
2–3 h on land, plus the journey from your base
Address
兴坪古镇（兴坪码头一带）· 阳朔县兴坪镇；沿开放公共岸线看漓江景观
Getting there
From a town / Yulong hotel, take a booked car to 兴坪古镇 / 兴坪码头 and reserve collection there. The scenic operator lists 阳朔802 and a Yangshuo–Xingping passenger service, plus a station–pier connector with dynamically set departures; use its dated departure at the actual stop if choosing public transport.
How to visit
Old-town lanes → signed public bank near the pier → river-and-karst view → old-town meal → agreed hotel pickup or 阳朔站 transfer. Keep the bank route short enough to reverse. A sold photo platform or a hillside climb is optional, and a closed edge ends the walk.
Xingping riverbank, 15 November 2014. Photo: Michaeljscott93, CC BY-SA 4.0; scaled by Wikimedia Commons, displayed without a crop.
5. A Xingping boat or Yangdi–Xingping raft · 兴坪游船 / 杨堤—兴坪排筏
Buy this when a different viewpoint from the river is worth another water outing. A local fishing-village return boat starts and ends at Xingping. Pure-electric sightseeing rafts serve named Yangdi / Chaobanshan reaches and have their own boarding arrangements. Neither product is the long Guilin-to-Yangshuo highlight cruise.
Hours
Use the issued sailing or boarding time and the route-specific water notice; a public pier listing alone supplies no seat for your date.
Tickets
Use the official 漓江售票处 service channel. The operator’s foreigner ticket line is +86 191 6771 1091. Xingping boats: +86 773 870 1158; Chaobanshan rafts: +86 773 677 9990. Request the named route, passport entry, passenger limits, total charge, shuttle inclusions and refund rule.
Time
Reserve a half-day outing and the road connections
Address
兴坪码头 / 兴坪排筏售票处（接驳朝板山码头）· 阳朔县兴坪镇；杨堤码头 · 阳朔县杨堤乡
Getting there
For an Xingping return boat, reach 兴坪码头. For a Chaobanshan return raft, reach 兴坪排筏售票处 and use the separately specified pier shuttle. For a one-way Yangdi→Chaobanshan ticket, arrange road delivery to 杨堤码头 and collection from the Xingping-side shuttle endpoint.
How to visit
Choose one of the three complete chains below. Keep the ticket’s exact endpoints and collect your luggage before leaving for the station or hotel. If the product is suspended, keep the Xingping land visit and the reserved road return.
Choose this for the old stone arch and countryside, especially when already visiting the upper Yulong. The operator offers both a two-person loop with weirs and a four-person loop without weirs. The latter removes the drops but still has its own passenger and water limits.
Hours
Visit open bridge approaches in daylight; the pier supplies the live rafting slots.
Tickets
Use public approaches for the bridge view. For a raft, name the four-person 富里桥→三岔口 return route or the two-person 富里桥→牛金嵅 return route. Ask the official pier at +86 178 7736 1827 for the dated price and acceptance.
Time
Allow 1–2 h for the bridge area; longer with a raft
Address
富里桥 / 富里桥码头 · 阳朔县白沙镇正方村南侧遇龙河上游
Getting there
Book a road ride to 富里桥码头 and collection from the same place. This is an upper-valley outing, separate from the lower-Yulong hotel / Gongnong Bridge area.
How to visit
Pier-area road access → open stone-bridge approach → arch and field views → same meeting point. If adding a raft, the issued loop returns to Fuli pier: four-person / Sanchakou has no weirs; two-person / Niujinkan crosses them. Keep children with you at the water edge.
West Street mixes old street fabric with restaurants, souvenir shops, cafés and bars. It gives Yangshuo an easy evening rather than another landscape day. Walk it once, then choose a quieter side street if music and crowds overpower the meal. A village stay requires a ride home agreed before dinner.
Hours
The street can be walked independently; individual businesses keep their own hours. Use an earlier meal if returning to the countryside.
Tickets
Walk the public street; food, shopping and performances are separate purchases.
Time
1–2 h for a stroll and meal
Address
阳朔西街（西街口）· 阳朔县阳朔镇西街
Getting there
From a central town hotel, walk to the street; from an outer-town or Yulong hotel, use a taxi or hotel car to 西街口 and arrange the return there. Walk the pedestrian lanes after the vehicle drop-off.
How to visit
West Street entrance → shops / cafés → side-street dinner → return to the same road pickup. Order beer fish with the fish type, whole-fish or weight price, expected total and spice agreed before cooking.
Local return boat: 兴坪码头 → 渔村 → 兴坪码头, the operator’s Xingping fishing-village route. Begin at the boat pier, board with the issued passenger documents, then return to the same town for your meal and road pickup.
Local pure-electric raft: 兴坪排筏售票处 → separately specified shuttle to 朝板山码头 → 九马画山 → 朝板山码头 → shuttle / meeting point → hotel or station car. The published raft route returns to its start; the craft page identifies pure-electric, imitation-bamboo sightseeing rafts.
One-way Yangdi–Xingping-side raft: hotel → 杨堤码头 → 朝板山码头 → issued Xingping-side shuttle / pickup → hotel or booked Xingping bed. The operator also lists 杨堤→马山 and 杨堤→老村头 return products; purchase the exact one you want, since those landings change the road continuation.
Long Guilin highlight cruise: a booked Guilin-area departure pier → 阳朔龙头山码头 → hotel. Choose this for the longer one-way arrival, using the Guilin cruise decision. It has different ports from all three local chains.
A package called “Li River bamboo cruise” needs its actual craft, boarding pier, reach, landing and road legs written on the purchase. Families needing a passenger-specific answer can use the foreigner / pier contacts; a rejected raft booking leaves the open public-bank option at #4.
Eat, evenings and weather alternatives
Town meal: beer fish / 啤酒鱼 is useful as a shared dinner; settle the fish variety, weight-based or whole-fish price, estimated bill, alcohol and chilli before cooking. Rice noodles / 桂林米粉 make a simpler breakfast before a car pickup. For a rural day, plan a village lunch or the lodging’s meal rather than assuming every path has a restaurant. The QR-menu guide handles ordering; state allergies by ingredient.
Pedal cycling: the tourism ministry identifies Ten-Mile Gallery as the scenic road corridor south of town. Choose an out-and-back village-road ride your hotel can describe for current traffic, bicycle access and return. Test brakes, use a helmet and leave a road pickup option. The Jima walking-path source supplies a walking route, rather than permission to cycle its full length. Moon Hill’s arch can be an exterior landscape stop; make a summit climb optional until a current operator gate / path decision is available.
Heat or ordinary showers: shorten #1 to an out-and-back, return for lunch and use #7 later. A bridge photo or second boat can be cut without losing the countryside day.
A raft sells out or passengers are ineligible: keep the open signed Jima path and Jiuxian village meal. Another raft is a new product with its own acceptance, start and pickup.
High water, flood warning or a closed riverbank: leave the water-edge routes. Use a sheltered town meal / shops or indoor time at your lodging; postpone the valley until access reopens. The Li River notices apply to their named routes, while Yulong’s selected pier gives its own decision.
A return bus / connector is missed: use the reserved pickup or have the lodging arrange a car to the exact hotel or station. Shorten the sightseeing before losing the onward ticket.
Luggage or late reception is unresolved: carry bags in a direct transfer to the staffed booked hotel. Start the walk after the bags are accepted; avoid an extra base move built on assumed storage.
Use a daylight return, water and weather protection on land, and the operator’s life-jacket instructions on water. A haze-free view, field colour or calm reflection is a seasonal bonus. Wet stones, riverside closures and lightning are reasons to shorten or move the outside block.
Continue to Guilin or the next city
For a Guilin-city train, airport exit or a Longji extension, finish the Yangshuo block and make the complete road move to your next named bed or hub. The Guilin guide helps choose the city night and river arrival; the Guangxi route page compares the terrace, coast and border branches. Longji is a separate northern road branch, so it replaces a Yangshuo landscape block rather than filling spare hours.
For onward rail, search the actual departure from 阳朔站 or the exact Guilin station in 12306, reserve it, then set your last bed and driver collection. A destination name on the rail ticket determines the station; a hotel’s “Guilin” county listing supplies no station location.
Sources and research boundary
Named route, property and transport sources were read on . Their source pages describe products and places; live departure inventory, water operation, the selected pier’s passport / child acceptance and hotel luggage terms belong to the dated purchase or direct provider reply. Time on land and door-to-door planning buffers are editorial estimates. No raft, bus, hotel, meal or path was field-tested.
