Guilin Travel Guide

Elephant Trunk Hill (Xiangshan), in Guilin, Guangxi, China, is the emblem of Guilin's landscape — named for its shape like a giant elephant drinking at the river. Standing where the Li and Taohua rivers meet, the 'Water-Moon Cave' between trunk and leg lets the river flow through, the classic 'Elephant Hill and Moon' vista since antiquity. Atop sit the Puxian Pagoda and Yunfeng Temple amid many cliff inscriptions, long celebrated in poetry and painting. Climb for the confluence and city view; night lights make it ethereal. It distills Guilin's 'green hills, clear waters, fantastic caves, pretty rocks' — the first landmark to visit.

Seven Star Park, in Qixing, Guilin, Guangxi, takes its name from seven peaks arrayed like the Big Dipper — Guilin's oldest and most iconic urban landscape park, a resort since the Sui-Tang era. Camel Hill resembles a crouching camel; the Flower Bridge spans the Xiao Dong River; Seven Star Cave is a millennia-old karst wonder whose stalactites glow under colored lights. The park also holds Longyin Cliff inscriptions and the Guihai stele forest. Hills, water, caves and rocks interweave — boat, climb and explore history here, a miniature of 'Guilin's scenery tops the world' and a shared ground for citizens and visitors; from Camel Hill or the Moon Tower you overlook the city and tributaries.

Reed Flute Cave lies northwest of Guilin in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, China, a karst cave in millennial limestone named for the reed grass once used for flutes at its mouth. Inside, stalactites, stalagmites and curtains glow in colored light in countless shapes — called 'the Palace of Natural Art.' A looping walkway reveals changing vistas; with Seven-Star Cave it's one of Guilin's two great caves, exemplifying the region's 'fabulous caves.'

The Li River flows through Guilin in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, China, a tributary of the Pearl River system celebrated for its karst peaks and jade-green water — 'green hills, clear streams, fabulous caves and pretty rocks.' The ~83 km waterway from Guilin to Yangshuo is called a 'hundred-mile gallery': verdant peaks rise sheer from the banks and mirror in the calm surface, with fishing boats, bamboo rafts and egrets dotting the scene. Iconic views include the Xingping vista on the back of the 20-yuan note, Yellow Cloth Shoal, Nine-Horse Fresco Hill and Misty Yudi. A cruise or a Xingping bamboo-raft drift reveals ink-wash landscapes that define classical Chinese scenery.