Guilin has a sub-tropical monsoon climate with four mild and distinctive seasons. The weather in January is the coolest with an average temperature of 7.9 C (46 F). July is the hottest with an average temperature of 28.3 C (82.9 F). Summer is the rainy season, especially in May and June. So the optimum time to travel in Guilin is from April to October.

• Bajiaozhai
• Elephant Trunk Hill
• Folded Brocade Hill
• Fubo Hill
• Guihai Stele Forest
• Guilin Daxu Town
• Hongyao Minority Village
• Huangyao Ancient Town
• Li River Cruise
• Ling Canal
• Longji Terraced Field
• Merryland Resort
• Reed Flute Cave
• Seven Star Park
• Silver Cave
• The Bishui Cave
• Yangshuo
• Yuzi Paradise
• Ziyuan

By air
Guilin Liangjiang International Airport is 26 km (16.2 miles) from the city center. Over 50 airlines connect Guilin with domestic cities as well as foreign counties such as Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, etc. In particular, airlines schedule several flights daily to and from major cities like Beijing, Chongqing, Guangzhou, Guiyang, Haikou, Hangzhou, Hong Kong, Kunming, Macau, Nanjing, Nanning, Qingdao, Sanya, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Taiyuan, Wuhan, Xian, Zhengzhou, Dalian, Shantou, Chengdu, Lanzhou, Tianjin, Jinan, Wenzhou, Changsha, Fuzhou, and Zhuhai.

By train
Guilin's major trunk routes link it with Anhui, Beijing, Chongqing, Fujian, Guangdong, Guizhou, Hebei, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Shaanxi, and Shanghai, Sichuan and Zhejiang. International trains from Beijing to Hanoi, Vietnam, pass Nanning, the provincial capital of Guangxi Autonomous Region, twice a week, where is very convenient to get to and from Guilin.

By bus
There is an express highway from Guilin to Liuzhou. Long-distance sleeper coaches run between provincial cities like Beihai, Nanning, Wuzhou, Yulin, etc, and cities in the Pearl River Delta such as Dongguan, Guangzhou, Jiangmen, Panyu, Shunde, Zhongshan and Zhuhai, Puning, Shantou and Zhanjiang in Guangdong Province, Changsha in Hunan Province, Wuhan in Hubei Province, Fuzhou in Fujian Province and Sanya in Hainan Province, and more.

The Li River Folk Custom Centre
This is a galaxy of folk custom of the Miao, the Yao, the Dong and the Zhuang, where you can not only appreciate the exquisite architecture of these ethnic groups, but also can enjoy their exotic arts and cuisine.

The Folkway Garden
The Folkway garden located in the Peach-blossom Villa, in which is a place where folk dancing and singing performances are held every day. Performers of the Miao, the Dai, the Zhuang, the Dong and the Mosuo sing songs of their nationality and dance in their traditional way very enthusiastically to welcome each guest.

Maya Internet Cafe
It's opened in early 2005, with good location, leisure environment, moderate price and fast access to internet. It is located 50 meters south from Guilin Department Store, opposite "How Nice Brazil Barbecue".
Type: Internet Café
Address: Zhongshan Zhonglu

Dragon Boat Festival
The Dragon Boat Festival, or the Duanwujie, is on the fifth day of the fifth month of Chinese lunar calendar. It is a custom to have Dragon Boat racing every 5 years. It was originally a festival to memorize a great poet, Quyuan, who was also a patriot 2000 years ago, but it is also believed that the celebration of Dragon Boat Racing may bring a good harvest and a peaceful river. A lot of fireworks will be let off, sacrifice of rice dumpling will be offered to the “God’ of Dragon, and the locals will sing a lot of boating songs. The Dragon Boat Racing will be on the river between the Elephant Hill and the Liberation Bridge.

Yangshuo Fishing Lantern Festival
The fishing lantern festival started in 1999. Events include: numerous lanterns on the Li River, colorful lights in the streets of Yangshuo, minority performances, arts exhibitions, beer festivals, cormarant fishing with lanterns, farming products exhibitions and so on.

Yangshuo Beer Festival
West Street is the 'global village' where many foreigners live and travel and is the reason why the western styled Beer Festival is held here. Since December 31st, 1999, the festival is held at the very end or very beginning of each year. On the evening of the selected day, foreigners gather together to perform their own music and dances. The local people also present their traditional dances and the two groups intermingle in the spirit of fun. The beer drinking competition is the climax of the festival. All these activities and the mix of cultures give this festival an exciting and exotic flavor.

Gongcheng Cultural Festival for Guangong
Held on May 12th (in the Chinese lunar calendar) each year, Gongcheng Cultural Festival for Guangong is the joint work of the Gongcheng Cultural and Tourist Development Co, Ltd. in Guilin and the Qianse Tourism Marketing and Management Co, Ltd. in Nanning. The festival is characterized by rich and colorful cultural activities, including a Guangong Showering, a National Music Conference, a Traditional Opera Performance, a New Plaque Unveiling Ceremony, a Sacrifice Rite of the Huimen Martial Arts Organization, a Yao Nationality Folk Songs Contest, a Writing and Painting Exhibition, and a Speed Boat Performance, etc.

Guilin Landscape and Cultural Tourist Festival
The annual Guilin Landscape and Cultural Tourist Festival is an international tourist event, characterized by tourism and culture. It aims to promote the further development of Guilin tourism through a series of art performance with local flavors, sporting events and competitions, commercial expositions and fairs, as well as activities of exploration in scenic areas. By now eight sessions of the Landscape and Cultural Festival have been successfully held here in Guilin City.

Yangshuo Fire Fishing Festival
The Yangshuo Fire Fishing Festival, which is held for three days in the golden autumn season each year, is reputed to be one of the eight best spectacles in Yangshuo. The Yangshuo Fire Fishing Festival was initiated by the local Government in 1998. Major activities during the festival are lights on Fishing Boats, bonfires, and fireworks, the theme of the festival. There is a joint art show, folk culture and artistic performances at squares, a fine arts exhibition,  a calligraphy exposition, a photography exhibition, football events, a chest contest, a cycling competition and other forms of artistic events. All these activities display the happy and prosperous life of Yangshuo County. The major activities, together with lantern performance at the foot of Bilian Peak, such as Silong Chushui (four dragons rushing out of water) and Qianzhan Liandeng (means thousands of lanterns in the shape of lotus floating on river water), constitute the fantastic scenery featuring the integrity of fire, lanterns and rivers.
 
Ziyuan River Lantern and Song Festival
Held from July 13 to 14 of the Chinese Lunar Calendar every year, the Ziyuan River Lantern and Song Festival is the traditional festival of Ziyuan County, Guilin City. During the festival, Han, Yao, Miao and other ethnic groups will honor and pay respect to their ancestors with traditional customs, which are rich in folk flavor. Grand gatherings will be held. Lion dance groups, dragon dance groups, river lantern groups and arts troupes will get together from all villages and present a wonderful folk art show. When night falls, people will place the river lanterns onto the river to remember their ancestors and pray for good fortune for their offspring. The river lanterns illuminate the river at night. After the river lantern show, the art performances and cross-singing competition will last all night. On the following day the market will be crowded with people.

Guilin International Dragon Boat Contest
The Dragon Boat Contest is one of the grandest events of the dragon boat festival and is held on May 5th in the Chinese lunar calendar. It is held every 3 years. All the participants actively make preparations and practice half a month in advance. On the morning of May 5th in the lunar calendar, the banks of the Li River will be crowded with spectators before the contest starts. During the contest, dragon boats cleave the river with continuous dragon boat songs and deafening sounds of gongs and drums, and the spectators move in crowds, which is an exceptionally grand occasion. The winners will gain silver coins and a roasted pig. Participants attach great importance to the final win of the contest. May is an ideal time for tourists from home and abroad to watch the Guilin Dragon Boat Contest. Guilin held the first International Dragon Boat Contest in 1998, which attracted Dragon Boat teams from Southeast Asian countries, Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan.

Guilin Travel Story

I sat in a window seat on the plane that flew me from Chengdu to Guilin. I’d heard about the fantastically shaped limestone hills that the city was famous for and I was expecting to see maybe 10 of these surrounding the city. My God! I looked down from the plane and saw the vast plain below me infested with thousands of those hills, stretching as far as my eyes could see.

I exited the airport arrivals hall to be greeted by my beaming guide, a young man who spoke English fluently and had lots of interesting anecdotes to tell me about the city, its history and the many different cultures of this region of southern China.

On my first evening in Guilin I attended the Minority Groups concert at a theatre in downtown Guilin. As well as traditional Chinese Han culture, the traditions of local minority groups, such as the Miao, Dong, Zhong and Yao, also formed a vital part of the local culture of this region. I was stunned by the mixture of traditional dances, singing and costumes as well as the mask dances and the acrobatic performances that made up this performance. 

The next day I went on the Li River cruise.  I think everybody who visits Guilin does this cruise – it’s a must-see.  This was a full-day cruise along the famous Li River where one can see the best of the limestone hills scenery as the boat cruises leisurely by.  The cruise ended in the up-country town of Yangshuo, popular as a place of recreation by both foreigners and local Chinese. You can bargain for and buy all kinds of traditional handicrafts here, mostly in West St, (named after the “westerners” that inhabit the town) as well as hang out at bars, discos and pizzerias if you feel like being just a “westerner”.

On my second night in Guilin I went on the Four Lakes cruise.  This was a riverboat cruise around the four lakes located in the downtown area of Guilin city, brought to life at night by the floodlighting of buildings, greenery, hills, bridges and the magnificent twin Sun and Moon pagodas in the centre of the first lake. The magic of this cruise was completed by tales told by my guide of the colorful and often sad history of Guilin. Unlike the Li River cruise, the scenery on this cruise was largely made by humans, therefore to me all the more impressive and magical.

My last day in Guilin consisted of visits to Elephant Trunk Hill, Fubo Hill and the Reed Flute Cave. Elephant Trunk Hill, a symbol of Guilin City, is part of a limestone hill beside the Li River (the river that runs through the city from beyond the mountains far beyond) and is shaped like an elephant dipping its trunk into the river to drink. A park beside Elephant Trunk Hill, called ‘Lovers Island’, is filled with - tasteful and modernistic I must add - sculptures of lovers in different poses. Here I had some fun being photographed posing beside these sculptures.

Then it was on to Fubo Hill, another one of the spectacular Guilin hills located right in the centre of the city, this one a Buddhist shrine with a thousand year-old history.  Here I wrote a prayer on a yellow prayer flag, dedicated to the future happiness of my two children, and tied it on a string near the ceiling of the cave, one of hundreds of yellow prayer flags on a string that was one of dozens of strings of flags lining the ceiling of the cave that was a shrine.

Then it was a visit to the Reed Flute Cave. This is a vast series of caves or caverns with stalactites and stalagmites formed over millions of years into fantastic shapes, likes animals, people and even fruits and vegetables, all of them imaginatively named!

Before I left Guilin I visited a silk factory and a pearl factory. I was tempted to buy a magnificent silk quilt but instead spent my money on a beautiful multi-coloured pearl necklace and earrings.