Flight to Zhangjiajie. Meet your driver (without guide) and transfer to the 3* South Mountain View Boutique Hotel located near the river and the city center, with many restaurants nearby.

Choose one of the two options (if you want to do both, you will need to stay an extra day. Please contact us for pricing):

Option A:  Zhangjiajie National Park (Golden Whip Stream and Glass Bridge) (B)

After breakfast, continue visiting Zhangjiajie Park. Hike along the scenic Golden Whip Stream Trail (5.8 km) clinging to cliffs and gorges, with a view of the rock peaks from below. Then transfer to the Grand Canyon and the glass bridge. Cross the bridge and walk down into the canyon (landscapes less impressive than the day before, and with lots of tourists on the bridge). Meet the driver and spend the night in Wulingyuan.

Option B with overnight stay at a mountain lodge + Yangjiajie:

Day 2: At the end of the day, you can watch the sunset when all the tourists have descended the mountain from 5:00 p.m. onwards. Spend the night in a guest house or small hotel near Tianzi (basic comfort, there are no approved hotels at the top of the mountains). You can leave your large luggage at the bottom with the driver or at the hotel. Lunch and dinner are not included. Spend the night at Home Inn Tianzi.

Day 3: Wulingyuan – National Park (breakfast included)At dawn, short walk to the “Arranging Battles” platform, famous for its sunrises in the mist, then transfer to the YangJiajie area. Visit the hamlets of Wulong and Tianbo, accessible via narrow passages between the gorges. Impressive descent from Yangjiajie to the bottom of the park by cable car. Shuttle bus and walk through the forest to Huangshi Village. In the afternoon, continue on foot along the scenic Golden Whip Stream Trail (5.8 km), winding between the rocky peaks (flat, it is also possible to do a round trip if you wish to walk less). Meet the driver and spend the night in Wulingyuan.

This morning, departure for the Zuolong Gorge, less visited by Chinese tour groups. Two-hour hike on winding, steep paths between the gorge’s crevices, dotted with small waterfalls and rickety footbridges. Lunch is available in the Miao village at the top of the mountain at a villager’s house. Return to your vehicle and continue to the old town of Fenghuang, center of the Miao ethnic minority (if you do not wish to hike, the Zuolong Gorge can be replaced by a visit to the Miao village of Dehang +100RMB/person). Explore Fenghuang. Optional wooden boat ride on the river (included). In the evening, you can dine in one of the picturesque stilt restaurants overlooking the illuminated Tuo River.

Overnight stay at the Riverside Homestay Jiāng Jing Hotel (at the foot of the river with balcony, breakfast included, served in a nearby café), or in a superior category on the heights of the old town overlooking the river at the Wang Jiang Reclusive Boutique Inn, room with balcony (+250RMB/room).

Hongjiang / Mt Fanjiang / Southern Great Wall.

The most courageous can get up early to see the old town without the tourists. Lose yourself in the city’s many narrow streets. Transfer by private vehicle to Huaihua Station to catch the high-speed train departing from Huaihua at 10:34 a.m., arriving at Guiyang North at 12:24 p.m., then take the high-speed train from the same station to Congjiang (1:32 p.m.-3:09 p.m.). You will be met by your driver (without a guide) at Congjiang station and transferred together to the small village of Danian, located in the heart of the mountains in the “Miao Country,” a region that has long remained isolated. Check in at the Miao Country visitor center and get your first glimpse of the activities of the Couleurs de Chine association. This association helps children from ethnic minorities by financing their education. Overnight stay in Danian (standard comfort).

Or optional + 1 day: see PDF.

Today, hike through the high mountains and villages, where ancient traditions still thrive and the traditional way of life has changed little. The walking tour along the terraced rice fields provides a concrete insight into the reality of the work and life of the Miao and Dong farmers. You will witness rural work depending on the season (rice transplanting, handicrafts: embroidery, weaving, dyeing, basketry, transporting wood in the mountains). Depending on the day of the week and the dates, you can also join the children as they leave school and accompany them along small paths through the fields to their hamlet or village. All this can be discussed on site with the organizers. Overnight stay at the Danian Inn.

Return to Danian in the morning with other possible visits. Lunch then transfer by private vehicle to Zhaoxing, a beautiful village populated by Dong people and crisscrossed by small canals and streams. Welcome by your English-speaking guide and discovery of the many traditional buildings and superb wooden architecture for which the Dong people are renowned: Dong Opera Theaters, the five Drum Towers built by each of the village’s five clans, and the splendid Wind and Rain Bridges. In the narrow streets and between the canals, artisans are busy at work: basket weavers, weavers, and more. Overnight stay in Zhaoxing in a traditional-style wooden house (good comfort), the Indigo Lodge.

Optional (without Danian, with two days less): reduction of 1800RMB/person (-230EUR/person)

Today, depart with your guide in a private vehicle to Tang’an for a hike from the village to Zhaoxing, which offers a magnificent view of the entire valley. You may be lucky enough to hear traditional songs celebrating many aspects of daily life among the Dong people (not included). Transfer by vehicle to Congjiang high-speed rail station to take the train to Sanjiang. Meet your private vehicle and driver and depart for Chengyang, a Dong minority village (30-minute drive) renowned for its 78-meter-long Wind and Rain Bridge topped with five elegant towers. Several bridges of the same type can be found in the villages, as well as large drum towers. Shows are sometimes organized by the minorities. Overnight stay in the village center at the Peacock and Dragon Inn.

After breakfast, drive to the beautiful Ping’an region and its terraced rice fields (2.5 hours drive). The Dragon’s Backbone is undoubtedly one of the most beautiful terraced rice fields in all of China. Arrive below the village of Ping’an, which you will reach on foot after a 30-minute walk. Check into your wooden inn. In the afternoon, take a short walk around the Longji rice fields to the various viewpoints (about a 2-hour walk). Accommodation at your wooden inn, the Ridge Inn 3* (comfortable with air conditioning) in Ping’an.

This morning, take a short hike to the old village of Longi, then after lunch, return to your vehicle and drive to the sugar loaf region south of Guilin.

There are two options to choose from (same price):

Option 1: Cuiping 

Continue in the afternoon to Cuiping Hill to watch the sunset from one of the most popular viewpoints among photographers, but still relatively unvisited (20-minute walk uphill). Transfer to Yangshuo and your hotel.

Option 2: Moon Hill and Cave

Visit Silver Cave with its superb rock formations (the cave is equipped with lighting and accessible to young children), then Moon Hill, a large pierced mountain, the natural emblem of Yangshuo (view from below or climb on foot with steps leading to the foot of the arch. It’s a 40-minute walk to the top).

(Note: Silver Cave is beautiful but very popular with Chinese tourists; the cave is often crowded).

Continuation as above: Continue to the village of Yangshuo and ch

After breakfast, depart by vehicle to the superb Xianggong viewpoint. Climb to the top of the panoramic viewpoint for a view of the hills and the Li River site, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Return to the vehicle, which will drop you off 5 km further on at the start of a trail that you will follow on foot through citrus orchards and small hamlets to the village of Xingping (1.5 to 2 hours’ hike). The path offers a beautiful view of the river. You will also visit a small temple nestled on the banks at the entrance to the Snail Cave, where a few monks still live. Cross the river on the local ferry and explore the old street of Xingping, where you can have lunch.

In the afternoon, take a short raft ride on one of the most beautiful stretches of the Li River between Xingping and Nine Horse Hill, passing through small fishing villages, rice fields, and bamboo groves (approximately 45 minutes). It was the landscape of this stretch that inspired the illustration on the Chinese 20RMB banknote.

Return to Xingping village (optional for the more athletic: watch the sunset on Laozhai Hill, see Laozhai video, free admission, 30-40 minutes of steep climbing) then drive to Yangshuo and your hotel.

In the evening, you can attend the “Liu San Jie” sound and light show, based on a very popular Chinese musical, directed by Chinese filmmaker Zhang Yimou. It takes place on the Li River in a beautiful natural setting surrounded by karst mountains (not included in the quote: 300RMB/person for a B2 comfort seat, transfers included). Overnight in Yangshuo.

After breakfast, cycle (or take an electric scooter for an additional fee of 80 RMB/scooter, including for the guide) to the remote Wild Cave, which remains off the tourist trail. The climb takes place in a mountain crevice on steps carved into the rock. Superb view from one end of the cave to the other. Continue cycling along the Yulong River, through sleepy hamlets, rice fields, and fish ponds, to the village of Jiuxian.

Lunch in a beautiful inn housed in an old house (at your expense). Return to Yangshuo after lunch. It will be possible to extend the trip to Dragon Bridge or take a trip on a real bamboo raft, without a motor, propelled by a gondolier on the very bucolic Yulong River (supplement for the raft to be paid on site).

Return to Yangshuo. Transfer to Guilin train station or airport to take the high-speed train or plane to your next destination.

End of our services. Our teams wish you a pleasant journey home or a wonderful rest of your stay!