Overview
The river cuts through a limestone landscape dissolved over 200 million years into isolated towers, and the water is shallow, clear and slow. Full cruises take four to five hours from Guilin’s Zhujiang pier; bamboo rafts run shorter sections around Yangdi and Xingping. Fishermen with cormorants still work the river, though today mostly for photographers.
Highlights
The Yangdi to Xingping section is the best scenery and the shortest way to see it if you are short of time. Book cruises a day ahead in high season; boats fill and the schedule is fixed. Mist after rain is what the classical painters were looking at — an overcast morning is better here than a clear one.