Yangshuo, China
Written on November 27th, 2025 by Dr Hobo
This is the first in a series of five posts about my favourite places visited whilst ‘backpacking’ i.e. travelling without a suitcase, without much of a plan, and trying not to worry too much about accommodation!
Yangshuo, China
Last visit: December 2017
Vibe: Outdoor adventure playground meets backpacker social hub
I’ve spent a lot of time in China and it’s the only country I’ve gone back to multiple times (four visits so far). My first trip was October 2010, and every time since it’s got a bit more ‘over-developed’. That said, I’d still recommend going. The surrounding karst landscape is just ridiculous - ‘magical’ and ‘fairytale’ only get you so far before you need to see it for yourself.
Yangshuo itself is a bustling hub, with West Street as the main tourist drag, packed with cafés, hostels and tat shops. The Li River runs alongside it and you can get brilliant views from most hostel windows or any of the rooftop bars. Best thing to do is rent a bike or scooter and get as far out of town as you can during the day. Dragon Bridge was always a highlight on my earlier visits, but it’s getting busy in high season now.
On my last visit we went to Xing Ping, Yangshuo’s smaller neighbouring village, to escape the crowds. If anything it was even more beautiful. It may get just as hectic soon enough though - the new high-speed rail station is there. Next time I’d like to venture further out and see how the climbing scene has developed. It was only just becoming a thing for locals when I first visited.
In sum: A must if you’re into outdoor activities like biking and climbing, and don’t mind tours involving mud baths, light shows and bamboo rafting. Not so much if you’re after authentic Guangxi culture or idyllic isolation.
Diary Extract - October 2010, Golden Week
Woke up at Monkey Jane’s with a proper hangover from last night’s rooftop beer pong session. The room was basically one giant mattress with about five of us sprawled across it, no dividers, no personal space. We’d come down from Guangzhou for Golden Week, the national holiday where the whole country takes a week off at once and piles into every tourist spot going. As English teachers, we’d joined the rush, hoping Yangshuo might be a bit less insane than Beijing or Shanghai.
Eventually we hauled ourselves out and stumbled down to the McDonald’s just off West Street to meet the others and sort out bike rentals. Those golden arches looked wrong against the karst landscape behind them, a bit sad really. But by then I’d learned that the Chinese loved McDonald’s. It meant modernity, development, having made it. Fair enough, even if it did jar a bit.
We cycled out towards Dragon Bridge through some of the best countryside I’ve ever seen. Those limestone peaks rising up through the mist looked exactly like the photos and then some. Stopped for pictures at a huge banyan tree on the way, the kind of ancient sprawling thing that makes you feel fairly insignificant.
At Dragon Bridge itself we did what any slightly hungover group of foreigners would: jumped off it into the river below. We got a mix of claps and mocking jeers from the local bamboo rafters, the universal “here come these idiots again”. Either way, the water was refreshing and cleared out what was left of the beer pong.
Found a great restaurant nearby for a late lunch, the kind of proper local spot you’d never find without stumbling onto it. Then it was time to catch our sleeper coach back to Guangzhou. First time on one of these and I thought they were brilliant: little coffin-sized bunks stacked two high, every passenger horizontal for the journey. Genius Chinese engineering. Who needs proper seats when you can just lie down for a six-hour bus ride?
Yangshuo in Media: The Painted Veil (2006)
This underrated drama starring Edward Norton and Naomi Watts was filmed in and around Yangshuo, using the karst mountains and Li River as a backdrop for 1920s rural China. The story’s set in a fictional cholera-stricken village, but the real locations will look familiar to anyone who’s been. The cinematography makes the most of those limestone peaks - same views you get cycling through the countryside. Also, Edward Norton!
Anyone who’s been to Yangshuo will recognise the landscapes straight away. If you haven’t, treat the film as a decent nudge to book the flight.
Next in the series: Victoria Falls
