Bike Aways

Highlights

Cascading hand-carved Longji rice terraces; remote hike to Yao Villages; Winding mountain descent and riverside cycle, the famous Guilin limestone karst landscape, Guilin Mifen noodles.

Itinerary at a glance

Day 1 arrive Guilin and transfer to the rice terraces

Day 2 Hike a remote “escape the tourists” trail in the terraces, Yao minority comfortable mountain viewing guesthouse/ home stay.

Day 3 Full day cycle, mostly downhill through pine and bamboo then along the Yi River – with options for rafting the last leg of our ride into our countryside guesthouse.

Day 4 Country back roads and farmers pathways (mostly flat and concrete) through small villages and market gardens, with views to the South China Karst System.

RMB 3800 includes bikes, guide, mechanic plus  support vehicle, all meals, 3 nights accommodation, entrance fees and transfers to and from Guilin airport or train station.

 

The more in depth Blurb

LONGJI means The Dragon’s Back in Chinese and the ziggurat cut mountains truly look like the knobby back bone of a writhing dragon.

These terraces are quite close to Guilin – a couple of hours transfer by car, spectacular in all different seasons and a well-known photographers paradise.

It can be a circus in the day time – one of my favourite acts is the Yao Women who have discovered big money in unleashing their coiffure then running a wooden comb through a half meter or so of hair of whilst you snap photos.

Another is the scramble of porters fighting to carry your bags – or your self – up the stone staircase walk into Pingan village.

But it’s nice to get away from the performance art put on for tourists, which is why we spend a full day hiking deep into into the cascading field and through traditional wooden villages, eating home cooked “running” chicken which is how you say free range in Chinese, and friendly friendly minority people who farm and weave and (theoretically) build houses without nails.

At night we return to Pingan, which has a number of comfortable guesthouses with comfortable beds and cold beers. The guesthouse we use is a home stay, but a comfortable bed, private room guesthouse kind’ve home stay.

Pingan is an ideal place to start a cycle trip as you are up high and get to cycle mostly down hill through forests of pine and bamboo, with mountain views and glimpses of villages perched high – minority tribes – Zhuang, and Yao – living on the borderlands between Guangxi and Guizhou.

On day 3 we cycle 58 km to Wantian along the Yijiang River, with the option to jump in a rubber raft for the second half of the day to our guesthouse in a peaceful village alongside the river is an enjoyable mostly downhill ride.

Day 4 is the home run to Guilin. Powered by the best noodles in the world – Guilin Miefen – we cycle flat concrete backroads through small villages and farmlands. The afternoon bring us our first views of the South China karst system for which Guilin is famous. Before we hit the snarly traffic of Guilin we will organise a vehicle to transfer you to the airport / train station for your return journey home. Note: this trip is easily extendable all the way to Yangshuo if you have the time.

Getting there and away.
Guilin is the start and finish point of this trip.  Meet up time is 4pm at Guilin airport, and 5pm at Guilin North Railway station.
Please talk to us  about getting there and away.

Flying from Hong Kong

 

Train from Shenzhen ( just across the border from Hong Kong)

And then back from Guilin

 

Flights from Beijing

Guilin to Beijing

Train from Beijing