Beijing & Guilin: The Romantic Cities
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.
Today is free for you to explore Guilin by yourself, depending on your departure time to Beijing. As always your private car and driver will escort you to the airport in good time, ensuring you are at the correct terminal on time.
Price includes:
Discover real reviews of Highlights Travel Family's best-rated service across trusted platforms.

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Amazing and Effortless Experience Overall!
![]() China Highlights is totally legit and they planned our visit in Beijing perfectly, they were also great with being flexible to meet our unique needs and timelines, with multiple changes on the fly. Our guide in Beijing, William, was amazing as well! William was friendly, kind, thoughtful, funny, and also was great at keeping us on track timing-wise (as we didn’t make this particularly easy for him lol). Cannot recommend both China Highlights and William to anyone else looking to visit China for the first time! more
Jun 2025, jamesrkable
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A culture of hospitality and smiles
![]() Beijing was prettier and far less crowded than anticipated. Colin aka Po Po, our guide, enhanced the experience with his knowledge and wicked sense of humour. He made every moment special for us.We spent about three days in Beijing and surrounds. China highlights offerings were high quality, including accomodation, car, driver, guide and selection of real local restaurants. Being vegetarian wasn’t an issue at all. Visiting historical quarter of Beijing along with Hutong walk and Confucius Beijing temple were unique experiences- which became more special with Colin’s interest in philosophy and wonderful global perspective. Despite language barriers- we were greeted by scores of locals with genuine smile and curiosity. We shall be back (hopefully with Colin) to explore this wonderful culture. more
Jun 2025, Inderjeet
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Beijing group tour
![]() We had a group tour for our clients and William was our guide. He was knowledgeable, kind and flexible throughout the tour. Our clients loved the way he explained diverse topics. We would recommend him for our future groups too.Thank you William and God bless! more
Jun 2025, Prima Rodrigues
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