Beijing & Guilin: The Romantic Cities
8-Day Beijing, Guilin and Yangshuo Tour
Combine Beijing's history and culture with the beauty of Guilin and Yangshuo, what better way to spend 8 days in the Middle Kingdom.
Suggested Itinerary
On arrival to Beijing International Airport your private guide and car will be ready and waiting to transfer you to your selected hotel.
If you had one day in Beijing it would have include a visit to today's attractions. Starting at Tiananmen Square and venturing into the Forbidden City, the Treasure Houses, and the Temple of Heaven, you will visit Beijing's most famous and iconic sights.
Ranking as Beijing's top attraction, the Great Wall of China, specifically the Mutianyu section, has become a must see sight for any Beijing tour. This section is the best choice and the most recommended section in many guide books as well as on TripAdvisor. It is beautiful, attracts fewer domestic tourists, and is under two hours from Beijing. It also offers a cable car or chairlift up and even a toboggan ride down.
This morning your driver and guide will ensure you are at the correct terminal on time, ready to fly to Guilin in Guangxi province. Our Guilin guide and car will be waiting to take you to a welcome lunch.
This afternoon you still have time to see Guilin's most famous sights, such as Reed Flute Cave, Fubo Hill, and Elephant Trunk Hill, on the Li River; giving you several perspectives on this charming city. It is no wonder Guilin has featured in so many Chinese classic paintings.
Near Guilin are some of the most beautiful rice terraces in China, named 'The Dragon's Backbone' because of the visual resemblance to the back of the dragon's skin. A rich minority culture can still be found on the terraces, from the 'Longhair Village' to the crafts and fabrics of the Dong people. Visit a local family and try some unique foods, like bamboo stuffed rice or an interesting soup like dish called oil tea.
Good to Know
Photographers and walkers will love this area, minority clothes, wooden houses, interesting hikes and amazing landscape scenery. However if walking is a challenge there is now a cable car in a nearby area and we can customize this tour to visit another village instead.
If you can extend your tour by one day, try a hike from Dazhai to Pingan. Staying the previous night on the top of Dazhai, at the newly built Panorama Hotel, the only hotel in the area, it offers amazing views from the top of the rice terrace.
There is no better way to travel from Guilin to Yangshuo than on a Li River cruise. It has become one of China's most famous cruises, taken by numerous US presidents: China Highlights guided President Clinton, Bill Gates and also NBA stars on this cruise.
You will see Guilin's stunning karst scenery towering out of the surrounding fields, with villages and fields in the foreground. Even today you can see some bamboo rafts punted by cormorant fisherman at times.
Good to Know
The cruise takes about 4 hours; the best scenery is after 1.5 hours to 3 hours. There is a basic buffet lunch served on boat. You might also like to consider a bamboo style motor raft, ask one of our travel advisors for more information.
While on the ride your guide will call in to a local farming family and open up an opportunity to take a peek at what life is like in the countryside. Good to Know
On a hot day it can be tiring, so ask your guide and they can arrange for you to put your bikes on a bamboo raft and be punted home. Let your guide know if you want a route that gives this option.
The afternoon has an opportunity to attend a specialist local school. The setting is amazing, a rooftop classroom with views to the mountains, preceded by a trip to a real local food market. There is no mistaking you're in China! Learn to cook three dishes before enjoying what you've created. If cooking is not your thing we have many other interesting options in Yangshuo, just ask our travel advisors.
You will be transferred back to your Guilin hotel by private car tonight.
Good to Know
Our head office is in Guilin and there is no company that can match our years of experience and local knowledge. Come on in and visit us, we love to meet our clients.
Price includes:
What Our Customers Said
Amazing Beijing
The tour was scheduled perfectly, we had the opportunity to know many places and enjoy local food. Our guide Ivy exceed our expectations. She took care of every detail, taking care of us. I can say that she loves her job. moreJan 2023, Claudia
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Wonderful Experience
Very professional and knowledgeable. Our tour guide, Lily, went the extra mile on everything. Could not of asked for better planning. The explanations were detailed and interesting. The local restaurant choices were delicious. moreDec 2022, Robin C
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GREAT Forbidden City tour!
We took a guided tour with Ivy through the Forbidden City. She had everything perfectly organised, knew all the amenities and explained the most important facts around history and design of the palace in an enticing manner. Can absolutely recommend her as a guide, we had a great day! moreOct 2022, Adam A
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Beautiful Day at Great Wall in Mutianyu
We had a wonderful day visiting the Great Wall together with our guide, Ivy. The organisation - from the pick up to the return - was excellent, we had nothing to worry about. So It was a lovely and relaxed day profiting from the experience to the fullest without having to trouble about transport or tickets. Ivy explained well the history and knew about all nice parts of the part of the wall that we visited. She is very nice company. We had a very good experience. moreOct 2022, Nina
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Excellent time in Beijing
Ivy was a true professional who spoke excellent English and engaged us with stories of the very rich Chinese cultural heritage and history. We went away with so much more knowledge with her as our guide giving us a live commentary as we walked around. She brought us to the off the beaten track spots, less crowded corners of the attractions and very importantly, knew which toilets were clean and more foreigner friendly. Highly recommend Ivy to any future visitors to Beijin moreOct 2022, JCCEBJ
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Excellent time in Beijing
Zac from China Highlights organised a 3 day Beijing trip for my family during the Golden Week in China. moreOct 2022, JCCEBJ
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Excellent service
Our travel planner Monica is kind, very attentive, and there is no pressure or "hard sale". Great service and highly recommended! moreSep 2022, Julia
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A great tour
Our trip to Beijing was brilliantly organised and stress free. As usual with China Highlights our guide Ivy was really well prepared, knowledgeable and dealt with all the security, covid checks and tests etc. It made the trip really easy. moreAug 2022, Peter F
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