Guilin is a city in the south of China along the shores of the Lijiang River, known for its beautiful karst rock formations, a scenery that was deemed so beautiful by the Chinese government that it deserved to be depicted on the 20 Yuan bill. Guilin is set in the “2 rivers, 4 lakes” region, so there is a lot of beautiful landscapes in and around the city to explore.
How to get to Guilin from Macau
Crossing the border into Mainland China was a very exciting moment for me as I did not know what to expect from this country known for its restrictions. Since March 2024, Luxembourgish citizens are allowed to enter China visa-free for a maximum duration of 2 weeks, so that certainly made things easier.
In Macau, you grab a local bus to the border point. Here, everything went much smoother than I thought; all I had to do was fill out a small tourist info card with my personal data, the anticipated duration of my trip, and my address in China… just the usual stuff that most other countries now do digitally. After that, I passed immigration – the line for non-Chinese people was empty – and within 5 minutes, I was officially on Chinese ground.
I had booked a train from Zhuhai to Guilin (with a connection in Guangzhou). Zhuhai is the first Chinese city just beyond the border crossing, and the train station is within 5 minutes walking distance. Boarding the train was simple and straightforward. Use the app trip.com to do your bookings in advance, and you receive an email with the number of the train, the departing platform, and your coach and seat numbers.
Things to do in Guilin
Spend 2 days in Guilin to explore the main highlights of the area:
- Explore the Elephant Rock in the center of Guilin. This rock has a hole at the water level, making it look like an elephant dipping its trunk into the water. You can also climb the stairs leading up the rock to have a nice view.
- Explore Guilin. Guilin has a nice pedestrian zone where you can try local street food, which leads all the way from Shanhu Lake, with the beautiful Sun and Moon Pagodas, to Xiaoyaolou Dongxi, an old traditional street with many shops and a beautiful Chinese castle.
- Take a boat down the river Lijiang to Yangshuo (this needs to be booked a day in advance). You will be picked up around 7 am and the boat will take about 4 hours to reach Yangshuo. During the ride, you can enjoy the stunning landscapes and take as many pictures as you need. Once you arrive in Yangshuo—around noon—you have several options: rent a bike and drive around to see more surrounding natural wonders, like Moon Mountain (highly recommended), the nearby caves (overcrowded and full of artificial lights, not a real cave experience), or even have a short ride on a balloon to see the view from a different angle. In the evening, take a bus to get back to Guilin. This takes some “asking” around (meaning put “Bus to Guilin?” on your translation app and show people the Chinese words) as there is no clear bus station. I eventually found a bus behind a gas station going to Guilin. Worst case, you could also take a taxi. The bus ride took about 45 minutes.
Click on one of the pictures to open the Guilin / Yangshuo gallery :
add to my bucket list already. hope to see with my eye onec in my life.