China Travel Forum

[merrain]

I will be arriving in Guilin airport at 7pm, (in about a month)and from the nasty stories I've read about the aggresive touts there, I would like to go to Yangshuo as soon as possible. Given the time of arrival, do I have to stay one night in Guilin? Or can I easily, (and safely-solo female traveller) catch a bus to Yangshuo..(or taxi?).
Also, LP says the river boat cruise from Guilin to Yangshuo is so spectacular. But I keep reading posts saying to get out of Guilin by bus to Yangshuo and take river boat cruises from there. So, from Yangshuo, do the cruises go toward Guilin and/or the other direction? Is one direction more scenic than the other?
Thanks for your help!!!

[kamal]

If you're arriving in Guilin at 7:00pm it will probably be after 8:00pm by the time you arrive in Guilin(Baggage claim & 40 minutes to Guilin). The last of the non-stop comfortable buses leave Guilin's bus station at 8:00pm and take about 1 hour to arrive. It looks like you'll probably miss that one. There are other smaller buses that leave from the railway station, the last ones leave at 9:00pm. Those buses stop along the way and pick-up pretty much anything including farmers with their produce so you might be sitting on top of someones vegetables. Taxi's will probably run around 250rmb but it's best to negotiate the price before hand. Private car transport can be arranged for 300rmb (driver waiting for you on arrival). If you need to stay the night in Guiln there are many hotels. Prices ranging anywhere from 70rmb - 800rmb for a 5 star hotel.
The boat ride is spectacular from Guiin to Yangshuo but it's not the only option. Tickets are 285rmb including a lunch buffet. You'll also need to take a taxi to the Zhujiang Pier. Not sure of the exact price, around 100 - 150rmb for the taxi. Another option is to go to Yangshuo and arrange a boat ride through the most scenic part of the river near Xingping town. You won't get to see as much scenery but the prices is around 40 - 50rmb plus about 10rmb for the bus each way. Feel free to contact me if you need any help with your travel arrangements.
happy tour

[Guest]

I was there last year and arrived also late in the evening. I think it is not possible or convenient to catch a bus to Yangshou that late.
If you know where to go for the night just ingnore the touts. We took the shuttle bus from the airport to Guilin, and had picked one hotel from the LP guide. At the hotel where the shuttle route ends a female "tout" or agent approached us and offered a double room with bath for 160 RMB in the said ***hotel. We desided to take it and did not regret! The same thing happened in Xian and after that we had more open attitude to these "touts", at least when they have some kind of offical status as tourist agents and actually can get 50-60% discounts from the hotels*. This of course only works if you are staying in real hotels, not just hostels and really cheap places.
The river is the same both ways! Taking a "tourist" cruise boat from Guilin is more expencive than getting a boat ride in Yangshuo. Western cruises are something like 500-600 RMB (a real ripoff for just an English guide and maybe better food), Chinese boats are something like 250 RMB. We took one of those for conveniece's sake, a simple meal was included (do not order enything extra, horrendous prices). Like I said, from Yangshuo you can get a river trip cheaper, but the cruise boat from Guilin is a convenient way to "do the river" if you are short of time and have the money.
*) Coming back to Guilin we tried to get a room in the same hotel from the front desk, but they told us to go to the agent (who had her own desk at the opposite side of the lobby). So we got the same 60% discount again from the posted price. Go figure...

have a good tour at the end!