Li River (Guilin-Yangshuo Karst)

UNESCO World Heritage Site (South China Karst, Guilin Component 2014); National 5A Tourist Attraction · Yangshuo, Guangxi

The 80-kilometre stretch of the Li River between Guilin and Yangshuo, where thousands of limestone karst peaks rise straight from the rice paddies and the water - the landscape printed on the 20-yuan note and burned into a millennium of Chinese painting. Seen by cruise boat, short ferry, bamboo raft or riverside trail, with the famous bend at Xingping (this pin) as its centrepiece. The peaks are the remains of an ancient seabed dissolved by millions of years of rain. Full cruises from Guilin to Yangshuo take about four hours, and Yangshuo adds cycling through rice paddies, the Yulong River rafts and climbing on the karst itself.

Xingping Town waterfront, Yangshuo County, Yangshuo, Guangxi, China

The river and villages are always open; cruises depart mornings (roughly 9:00-10:30) from the Guilin-area piers, short Xingping boats run through daylight hours, rafts roughly 8:00-17:30 seasonally.

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