Living the Chinese Dream in Yangshuo

When you close your eyes and think of typical Chinese landscapes, what do you imagine? Now, add a few Instagram filters, flowers, butterflies, and you are there: Yangshuo, Guanxi province in China.

I’m not kidding, this is my absolute favorite place in China, and it is better than a dream. Before my trip, a friend advised me: “rent a scooter, you won’t know where to look, because you will be amazed by every sight”. Yep, that happened. After this chat, I decided to stay for a week and I wish I had even more time there.

The Yangshuo scenery is picture-perfect. It is surrounded by high karst mountains and the Li river is a place where you can go bamboo rafting, swimming, fishing or just chilling. There are horizontal rice fields and farmers as far as your eyes can see. Historically, the county has been a tourist spot for a long time, so people are comfortable with foreigners, some speak English and it is easy to navigate. At the same time, it isn’t crowded and overwhelming like what you can imagine a resort to be. It’s very natural and wild, and at the same time you wonder: how can EVERYTHING be so adorable?

I set my eyes on Coco Garden Hotel, near Yangshuo city. It’s 5 minutes away by car or scooter, or 20 minutes with a bicycle. The room I requested had a balcony and a view of the verdant mountains and of the swimming pool. If it reminds you of my article about this Avatar Mountains hotel, it’s actually similar, because it’s 100% my taste and dangerously becoming my expectation. It has air-conditioning. Even if it was the summer break, the hotel wasn’t crowded, so we had the pool to ourselves many times, and I even got to fly my drone. (Happy girl). The whole area, by the way, is drone-friendly. I recommend getting the free continental breakfast, but depending on your room it could be free or 3USD per day. You can choose between three menus that all involve eggs, toasts, butter and jam, fruits, chocolate pancakes, and you can choose between orange juice, coffee or tea. After this you won’t be hungry for lunch haha.

The staff is ADORABLE. The host speaks fluent English, and she will be in touch with you via texts so if there is anything you need, I am sure that she will go above and beyond to help you. It’s definitely one of the best services I’ve ever had at a hotel. They kept giving us water even though we would have been happy to pay for it. They also gave me some fancy caramel syrup to put in my cheap French beer to drink by the pool. Just the nicest people, the very kind you hope to see again someday.

You can rent a bike for 1 dollar a day nearby (she can show you where) and explore the riverbanks, the rice fields, the dams, nearby villages etc. If you go at certain times (like during the spectacular golden hour or sunset), you will see tourists doing photoshoots (weirdly reminded me of the lavender fields in Valensole, in Southern France).

If you get closer to the city, you will see a delicious Thai restaurant called Pica Pica. Among other things, they make great mango sticky rice with ice-cream, spring rolls, and coffee.

The Yangshuo city itself is worth seeing, but I wouldn’t stay there. It’s fun for a couple of days when you want to get some Western food. We went to a pizza place that we discovered later had a sister restaurant in “Guilin” as well.

West street and its surrounding outside mall are cute but I wouldn’t say that you MUST go check it out. More like a cozy place to go to if you crave Starbucks, Melrose-style street art, or feel homesick.

During your stay in Yangshuo, here are a couple of day trips that you can take (accessible by bus or taxi):

In Guilin, you can pass the two famous Sun and Moon pagodas (日月双塔售票处) on your way to Elephant Trunk Hill (象山景区). You can pay and go up the pagodas, but we chose to admire them from a distance when walking around the Shan Lake, where locals play card or board games. The pagodas are also called the silver and gold pagodas because of their colors when they get lit up at night.

Elephant Trunk Hill is located in a park that costs around 10 dollars to access. There are other attractions there, but it is very touristy so if you skip them, you’ll live. That reminds me, there are birds that are attached to sticks so that tourists can take photos with them. Please don’t do that, it’s sad. The place has enough natural beauty, so you won’t miss anything I promise ♡. Legend has it that the god of the sky, on his trip to Guilin, brought his elephant along. At such a spectacular sight, the elephant refused to leave and stayed there for eternity.

Xingping Ancient Town: The landscape that’s portrayed on the 20 Yuan banknote is located near the river in this scenic village. From there, you can also climb the Lao Zhei Mountain to get a stunning view of the thriving hills and the river. It takes about an hour to reach the top.

Silver Cave and Reed Flute Cave: Illuminated caves with rainbow-colored stalagmites and stalactites, it’s like walking around a natural museum by night.

Moon Hill: a hill with a naturally carved hole in the middle. It’s perfect for hikes and rock climbing. You can reach the top where you’ll have a panoramic view of the surrounding, or use the path to walk right under the arch.

Li River: 4-hour boat cruises from Guilin to Yangshuo are available, as well as bamboo rafting for more adventurous souls.

The Mountain of Splendid Hues in the North of Guilin: It has layers of multiple rock colors. It might be worth a shot, but I haven’t had time to check this one out.