The Diverse Minorities
17-Day Guilin/Yangshuo-Longsheng-Sanjiang-Zhaoxing-Congjiang-Rongjiang-Kaili-Guiyang-Kunming-Dali-Lijiang-Shangri-la
Get in touch with 8 minorities in China, experience local unique traditions and culture, enjoy minority family visiting.
Suggested Itinerary
Hotel: The Guilin Bravo Hotel
Private Transfer to Hotel
Your guide, driver and private car will be ready and waiting for you when you arrive in Guilin. They will offer a relaxed and trouble-free transfer and help you with luggage and hotel check-in.
Free Time to Explore
Today is free for you recover and relax after a long-distance flight. If you interested in a walk in Guilin's city center, feel free to ask your guide for suggestions and recommendations.
Hotel: The Guilin Bravo Hotel (Standard Room)
Breakfast & Lunch
Visit the iconic sight-Elephant Trunk Hill Park at the city center in the morning. Have a quiet and cozy experience in Daxu Ancient Town,enjoy a cave beauty of spectacular stalactites and stalagmites at the Reed Flute Cave. Have some Guilin food in a local restaurant at lunch.
Good to Know
Elephant Trunk Hill Park is the symbol of Guilin, and has a shape of an elephant with its trunk drinking from the Li River.
Daxu Ancient Town, one of Guangxi's four well-preserved ancient towns.
Hotel: The Guilin Bravo Hotel (Standard Room)
Breakfast & Lunch
Take a Li River Cruise from Guilin to Yangshuo, a marvelous river journey consisting of amazing karst landscapes, graceful bamboo groves, farmers tending rice paddies, and lumbering water buffaloes. You will get Yangshuo after the cruise. Explore the highlights by yourself at West Street in Yangshuo, a beautiful and famous Chinese county well known by foreign travelers.
Good to Know
The Li River Cruise covers the most beautiful karst landscapes section of the Li River in Guangxi. Every traveler who heads to Guilin should not miss. You will have the lunch on the cruise.
Yangshuo is widely loved by foreign travelers, so its West Street is also known as the Foreign Street with various bars, restaurants, hotels and shops.
Hotel: Jinkeng Quanjinlou Hotel
Breakfast & Lunch
Today you will be transferred to Longji Terraced Fields in the morning. Enjoy magnificent rice terraced fields and local Zhuang and Yao minorities' culture. Longji Terraced Fields hiking, one of the best hiking routes in China, which is famous for its fantastic countryside scenery and local ethical culture. Go hiking to enjoy the beauty of the terraced fields at a slower speed. Enjoy a local lunch in Longji Terraced Fields.
Good to know
Jinkeng Quanjinlou Hotel is the best hotel with the most beautiful view in Dazhai. Near the View Point 1, you can get some fantastic overall photos of the rice fields.
Zhaoxing Hotel
Breakfast & Lunch & Dinner
Your guide and private driver will take you to Sanjiang-famous for Chengyang Wind and Rain Bridge. Built in 1916, Chengyang Wind and Rain Bridge is the largest wind and rain bridge now. See unique Dong houses and architectures when you visit the wind and rain bridge. Visit Zhaoxing Dong Village, one of the large-scale Dong Villages in Guizhou Province. With more than 1000 Dong houses, its drum tower complex is considered the largest in China. Have a lunch and dinner in one of the original restaurants in Zhaoxing Dong Village.
Good to Know
Chengyang Wind and Rain Bridge is nearby 8 Dong villages- an original place to learn about Dong culture and experience local life.
Hotel: Congjiang Hotel (Standard Room)
Breakfast & Lunch & Dinner
Today you will be transferred to Congjiang from Zhaoxing. Experience Dong minority custom at Tang'an Dong Village, a village built on a steep mountain slope and surrounded by terraced paddy fields. Visit Basha Village, an original Miao Village in Congjiang in Southeastern Guizhou Province. Experience local Miao people's traditions dating back to the Qing Dynasty (around 2200 years ago).
Good to Know
Basha Miao Village is known for not only Miao men's unique hair dresses and long guns, but also women's shinning fabric from egg white.
Hotel: Dongxiangmi Hotel (Standard Room)
Breakfast & Lunch & Dinner
After a morning fresh and breakfast, today your guide will take you to Chejiang Dong Village, one of largest Dong Villages located along a river among mountains. See its big Banyan tree with a 300-year history in the village and experience local life. Head to Rongjiang Ancient Town to see a culture mixture of Dong and Miao minorities. The town has been existed for more than 2000 years. Enjoy a lunch and dinner in local restaurant in Rongjiang Ancient Town.
Good to Know
Chejiang Dong Village-a concentration of several hundred Dong households mostly have the same family name-Yang. Nearly all people there can sing local folk songs.
Hotel: Heaven Sent Dragon Hotel (Superior Room)
Breakfast & Lunch & Dinner
Have a walk among Datang Miao Village in Kaili, a village famous for its women' short skirts and waterproof granaries. Learn more about minorities' custom and culture of Southeastern Guizhou in Kaili Ethnic Minorities Museum.
Good to Know
Kaili Ethnic Minorities Museum shows some writing, pictures and material objects of minorities living in the southeast of Guizhou Province.
Hotel: Trade Point Hotel (Deluxe Room)
Breakfast & Lunch & Dinner
Learn more about Miao people's traditional life in Shiqiao Miao Village, see how to make paper in a traditional way. Later you will visit Qingman Miao Village, drink a small cup of wine prepared for honored guests by the local before you step into the village, have a personal touch through a local family visit, and a chance to see traditional way of clothes and dresses made by dyed fabric.
Good to Know
Miao Traditional Paper Making has been well kept by local Miao people for more than 1000 years and developed into make color paper.
Hotel: Kunming New Era Hotel
Breakfast & Lunch
Enjoy a relaxed early morning, then your guide, private driver and car will bring you to Guiyang Longdongbao Airport to catch a flight to Kunming.Local guide, private driver and car will be ready to pick you up when you arrive in Kunming. Enjoy a comfortable and stress-free transfer from Guiyang to Kunming.
In the afternoon, have a visit at the Dragon Gate on Xishan nearby the Dianchi Lake, appreciate its grottoes, sculptures and corridors dating back to 1781 to 1835 carved by a Taoist monk and his co-workers.
Hotel: Kunming New Era Hotel
Breakfast & Lunch
Today you will visit one of the limestone highlights Jiuxiang Caves, a large group of karst caves. Have a look at many vivid stalactites and stalagmites with some beautiful names such as "Fairies Welcoming Guests", and "The Fairy is coming out of bathing". Then you will step into the Stone Forest, a vast limestone pillars area formed through erosion. For lunch you will enjoy local special food in a restaurant nearby.
Good to Know
Jiuxiang Caves, one of the largest cave group system in China
Stone Forest is quite far away from Kunming, but private transfer makes your journey more comfortable and easier.
Hotel: Dali Landscape Hotel (Standard Room)
Breakfast & Lunch
Catch a flight from Kunming to Dali (departure at 10:45 and arrival at 11:35), enjoy a comfort and relaxed transfer to Dali. You will discover Bai unique culture in Houses of Bai People in Xizhou, a historical and typical concentration for Bai people. Take a leisure cruise on Erhai Lake to get some marvelous photos of vast lake with mountains, local houses and blue sky. Wander in the Ancient City of Dali to enjoy a nice evening. Enjoy a Lunch at a Chinese restaurant serving traditional local Yunnan-style dishes.
Good to Know
The Ancient City of Dali has a history of more than 1200 years and is a relic of the Ming Dynasty (1382 AD)
Hotel: Hexi Hotel (Standard Room)
Breakfast & Lunch
Leave for Lijiang after a morning relaxation, explore a well-preserved ancient city - Lijiang Ancient Town. The town has beautiful scenes at a high sea level and splendid culture of local minorities.
Active atmosphere light the night of Lijiang. Popular bars, restaurants and shops are good choice for a night extension.
Hotel: Hexi Hotel (Standard Room)
Breakfast & Lunch
Visit Jade Dragon Mountain, one of must-see natural sights in Yunnan Province. The mountain is accessed by a cable car starting at the Yak Meadow and going up to 3800m. You will see amazing clouds scenery and Glacier Park, and may find yourself in a paradise.
Hotel: Holy Palace (Standard Room)
Breakfast & Lunch
View the first bent of the Yangtze River at Stone Drum Town, whose base of mountain standing for the First Bay on the Yangtze River. Take a Tiger Leaping Gorge Hiking, one of the deepest and most marvelous gorges in China. Experience Naxi people's culture on the hiking route, enjoy local special cuisine there at lunch. The hiking is one of the most exciting hiking routes in China.
Good to Know
Tiger Leaping Gorge gets the name because it is too narrow for a tiger to easily jump over the Jinsha River. You will be shocked by its magnificent gorge and have a chance to see Yulong Snow Mountain and overlook the Jinsha River Valley.
Hotel: Holy Palace (Standard Room)
Breakfast & Lunch
Explore Tibetan culture at Songzanlin Lamasery, the largest Tibetan Buddhist lamasery in Yunnan Province. Have a walk in Pudacuo National Park, a well-preserved ecosystem within the virgin forests. And Lake Bita and Lake Shudu are scenery not to miss in the park.
Good to Know
Songzanlin Lamasery has the same style of Potala Palace in Tibet and represents the Tibetan culture with Buddhist statures and some cultural treasures.
Breakfast
A private transfer from hotel to airport is arranged and you can sit back and enjoy a comfort and no stress transfer to Kunming. Catch a morning flight from Shangri-la to Kunming (departure at 10:00 and arrival in Kunming at 11:00). We will make sure you board your continued flight or international flight in Kunming before you come back home.
Tour Price
Price includes:
Discover real reviews of Highlights Travel Family's best-rated service across trusted platforms.
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Guilin 2024
We visited Guilin for 2 days and stayed in the Guilin Waterfall hotel. Guilin was absolutely beautiful! Our guide, William, was very knowledgeable and kind! He taught us so much about Guilin and the surrounding area! We really enjoyed trying the specialty rice noodles of Guilin. Our highlight was the Li river cruise. more
Feb 2024, Explore
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Excellent service
Amazing tour and the guide Mr. 贺霄 was very accommodating with our needs and request as we have bought our 2 years old with us. Well explained for all the place we visited. Any additional cost were informed well ahead and didn't felt any pressure if we opt not to go for additional detour. The trip was relaxing/ laid back/no rushing with zero shopping! more
Feb 2024, JJC
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Vincent was a fantastic guide !
Vincent was a fantastic guide !Vincent is a wonderful & warm guide. He is extremely knowledgeable and his explanations are excellent. He showed us around Guilin & Yangshuo. He attended to all of our needs and really made the tour very special more
Feb 2024, David
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Beautiful Yangshuo
Guilin, but mostly Yangshuo was at the tail end of our China adventure so there was a lot to live up to. Having a guide like Gary Wei meant that our trip ended on a high! We arrived in Guilin very late from an 11 hour train journey. Gary met us with gifts of fruit, sweet bread and cakes which was so unexpected and thoughtful.Gary's knowledge of the area was exceptional and his attention to us the same. He really took our children under his wing - even tuning in to annoying sibling rivalry and managing to keep the peace very well! Gary was our personal photographer at times and even our Taiji instructor, making a beautiful video of us all doing Taiji in a scenic setting :)The cruise from Guilin to Yangshuo is definitely worth taking and we enjoyed our few nights in the area, riding bikes along the river, doing a cooking class and enjoying the scenery more
Feb 2024, JenB
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Nice tour in Guilin
I have an excellent trip to Guilin and local guide Tony.Tony has a lot of information about the local history and culture.We enjoy the tour very much. more
Feb 2024, Chai Kiam leung
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Beautiful and Great Trip
Our guide Steven, is a local in the area and was very knowledgable, kind and patient. Our flight was delayed and came in late in the early morning. Everything was well accommodated for the delay. Also, he had great restaurant choices/recommendations and helped us take great photos. Overall, great guide and experience! more
Feb 2024, Karol
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Inolvidable viaje en Guilin con Alonso y China Highlights
Alonso cuenta con un manejo del espanol bastante bueno y muy profesional. Mis padres no hablan ingles y pudieron comunicarse con el directamente todo el tiempo. Tiene un elevado conocimiento de la cultura, la historia, la geogrfia y los sitios a visitar. Alonso ademas cuenta con un excelente sentido del humor, haciendo el viaje muy ameno y divertido. Se interesa genuinamente por la cultura latina y el viaje se convierte en un exquisito intercambio cultural. more
Jan 2024, eduardogor77
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Amazing trip in China
From the start until the very end our guides were very professional, helpful, knowledgeable and funny! We would not have had such an amazing time if we had done this on our own. We went to several cities, each city we had a new guide, who were from that area. Each guide made sure we were picked up in very nice van and delivered to each activity, safely and on time. They got us through lines quickly as well as showed us where to get the best views and pictures. Their knowledge of what they were sharing with us made the trip even more valuable. more
Jan 2024, Mary Ann Brady
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unforgettable Guilin
Lily Wong our guide at Guilin was wonderful. Along with all the good qualities like being punctual,courteous, organized,knowledgeable,hard working she is also caring.The scenaries at Guilin is second to none,Lily helped us to take lots of pictures to capture the scenaries as much as possible.With Lily's help I can enjoy the amazing cave and the rafting.At Yangshuo Lily also recommend a Light Show on the river.That was fantastic never saw anything like it. I must mention the unique hotel they put us in.Its called Yangshuo Moondance hotel.My wife is very happy with Lily because she took a lot of pictures for her and took her shopping for a new (Qie Pao,cantonese Cheung Sham). more
Jan 2024, Peter W
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Just wish I could stay longer!
Our guide Frank was fantastic. He was really knowledgeable about the region and the many different ethnic groups living here. He has contacts with local people who invited us into their homes. He was so high energy and kind. We saw many things in a short period of time from the pagodas, to history Duha (so?) street, to a beautiful relaxing cruise on a river….we also attended a spectacular cultural show in Yangshou. It wasn’t on the agenda but so glad we went. (Randomly called the Romance show). Frank also introduced us to local cuisine like Guilin noodles. We stayed at the Aspara Lodge for one night in Yangshou and seriously could have stayed for a few days if I didn’t have to go back to work. Travel advisor Liberman was a great resource as well and helped plan such a special trip. more
Jan 2024, Rosequarose
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Remarkable experience in Guilin
I have an excellent trip to Guilin and my guide, Gary Wei who works for China Highlights Tour was very professional and knowledgeable in regard to the history of the Guilin and Yangshuo. Gary was remarkable with his recital of a lot of ancient poems. Hence, I had such a good and memorable experience. I do highly recommend China Highlights Tour to anyone who wish to visit China. more
Jan 2024, Sooi C
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Don't Miss the Chinese Countryside!
Our guide William (Wei Jiyi) was exceptional. He made the utmost effort to accommodate our groups' additional requests and recommended restaurants, shows and attractions that were all of great interest. He ensured the already included items in the itinerary were entertaining to the whole group by providing expert opinions and answering all questions. more
Jan 2024, Diana G
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Well organised tour
We started in Guilin, our tour guide was Frank, Frank's knowledge of Chinese history is very good and he added in all the interesting historical facts along the way. On this part of the tour we were 14 people, including my 87 year old dad, and Frank was very patient with our group rounding us up and waiting for my dad as he was a bit slower. Some family members left Guilin at different times due to different travel arrangements, Frank and Carol arranged the necessary transfers and changed the tour schedule slightly to accommodate everyone as much as possible. more
Jan 2024, LC
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Greatest Asian Experience
All local guides, from Lena in Tokyo, Denis in Kyoto, Tom in Bangkok, Kai in Phuket, Martin in Hong Kong, William in Guilin, Linda in Zhangjiajie, to Jessie in Beijing, did their best to make sure everything went smoothly and to adjust to my teens' additional requests. more
Jan 2024, Diana Gadjanov
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Great China Highlights tour with Vincent
We had a great 4,5 days tour in Guilin with Vincent! Vincent has a lot of information about the history and culture of the area, he is always attentive to the details, proposes items originally not included in the tour but which might be of interest (like the show in Yangshuo, hiking routes, going to RUYI peak, tea party, etc.), considers individual diet requirements. In addition, Vincent's English is advanced and professional. more
Jan 2024, Ксения
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Beautiful place and amazing guide
We did a visit to Yangshuo with China Highlights. We really enjoy our visit, our guide, Gary Wei was so friendly and kind. Very good company on the River Li Cruise and on our visit to Guilin and Yangshuo. We did a very fun bike ride to the country side, visit the West Street and to the wonderful show. We really recommend all of this! more
Jan 2024, Journey44166757277
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Great experience in Guilin and Yangshuo
We visited Longji rice terraces, Li River cruise, Yangshuo impressions show and Yangshuo county ebike tour, spending 2 nights in Guilin and one in Yangshuo. Our guide Tony did a great job for our Guilin and Yangshuo tour, we would recommend this company. more
Jan 2024, Lee Fitzmaurice
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Extraordinary value of our 4-days trip
We reserved a 4-days trip with China Highlights for Guilin and Yangshuo. We normally travel only relying on our own, but this time we decided to apply to a local agency. It may sound pretty expensive, but we valued every moment. more
Jan 2024, Veronica P
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Guilin and Yangshuo with China Highlights!
We reserved a 4-days trip with China Highlights for Guilin and Yangshuo. We normally travel only relying on our own, but this time we decided to apply to a local agency. more
Jan 2024, Veronica Pesarasi
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amazing trip around Guilin
With our funny, storytelling, thoughtful first rate guide Steven we hiked, and biked around Guilin. The vistas, the encounters and discoveries were beyond our expectations. more
Jan 2024, Aude P
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