A foodie ride through the South China UNESCO Limestone Peaks
Bikes on the side. Food at the centre of the story. Mostly flat rides.
3 days / 2 nights
Friday evening departure from Hong Kong
A Different Kind of Bike Trip
This is not a hammer-out-the-kilometres style cycling trip.
This is a weekend built around Guilin and Yangshuo’s countryside food culture, old villages, misty limestone scenery and slow backroads riding.
We leave Hong Kong after work on Friday evening, meeting up at 6pm at Hong Kong West Kowloon Station, then ride the high-speed rail north through Guangdong, eating dinner at Guangzhou South Station before continuing a few more hours into Guangxi and arriving beneath the limestone peaks of Xingping. Our hotel is not far from Yangshuo Station.
Saturday is a full day cycle along back roads through the Li River villages and into the Yulong Valley, one of the most beautiful cycling regions in China.
Along the way we eat properly. And frequently.
Guilin mifen noodles at local market stalls. Beer fish beside the river. Osmanthus cakes and sweets with tea. Taro dishes in season, pomelo peel stuffed with pork, handmade tofu, bamboo shoots and countryside banquets are all possibilities.
The riding is beautiful, but always on the way to the next sublime meal.
Yangshuo and the South China Karst System
Inscribed by UNESCO as World Heritage in 2007, the limestone mountains surrounding Yangshuo are extraordinary. Limestone towers rise from rice paddies like giant stone islands, shaped over millions of years by wind and water into forms local villagers compare to dragons, horses, ancient scholars and celestial maidens.
The Li River slides through this landscape like green jade.
Bamboo leans over the waterways, water buffalo graze the paddies, and in the older villages you still find grey brick courtyard homes, ancestral halls, traditional produce markets and kitchens turning out deeply regional cuisine.
This older poetic Yangshuo is what we seek out, by train, by bicycle and increasingly by appetite.
Riding the Better Yangshuo
Yangshuo has changed enormously over the years.
The old backpacker village has grown into a bustling tourism town and the classic rides are now crowded with traffic, rental scooters and tour buses.
We largely avoid that, using quieter country roads linking Xingping, the Li River villages, Fuli and the Yulong Valley, riding routes where farmers still dry rice beside the road and ducks are often the only things jamming the roads.
The cycling is easy to moderate with stops for snacks, photographs, tea, coffee or whatever catches our attention.
Itinerary
DAY 1 • Friday
Hong Kong → Guangzhou South → Xingping
Meet at Hong Kong West Kowloon Station in the late afternoon for our evening departure north.
We ride the high-speed rail through Shenzhen and into Guangzhou South where we stop for dinner in the station precinct before connecting onwards to Guangxi.
We continue north by evening train, arriving late at Yangshuo Station before transferring to Xingping, the old Li River town made famous on the RMB 20 banknote.
Check into our guesthouse and sleep beneath the peaks.
DAY 2 • Saturday
Xingping → Li River Villages → Yulong Valley
Breakfast in Xingping.
There may be time for fresh soy milk, youtiao, hand-pulled noodles or sticky rice parcels from the morning market before we set out by bike.
Today’s riding follows quieter village roads linking the Li River countryside with the Yulong Valley.
This is classic Yangshuo scenery, limestone towers rising from rice fields, water buffalo in the paddies, old stone bridges and bamboo groves along the riverbanks.
Lunch will likely be local countryside fare with beer fish, seasonal vegetables, river fish and whatever looks best that day.
By afternoon we reach the Yulong Valley where the scenery becomes softer and greener, with the jade-coloured Dragon River winding beneath the limestone peaks.
Optional bamboo raft sections are possible depending on mood and timing.
Stay overnight in the Yulong Valley in a countryside guesthouse surrounded by rice fields and peaks.
Dinner is a proper Yangshuo countryside feast.
DAY 3 • Sunday
Yulong Valley → Fuli Markets → Gongcheng → Hong Kong
After breakfast we ride towards Fuli, one of the region’s best traditional market towns.
Farmers come here to sell produce, socialise, eat noodles, buy tools, get haircuts and exchange village gossip.
This is one of our favourite places for Guilin mifen.
The market is also excellent for local snacks and regional specialties including stuffed pomelo peel, preserved vegetables, handmade tofu skin and seasonal fruits.
From here we continue cycling through villages and backroads, stopping for a final lunch before transferring in the afternoon to Gongcheng Station.
Gongcheng works particularly well for Hong Kong returnees because the later train departures give us a more relaxed final riding day.
Evening high-speed rail back through Guangzhou South and onwards to Hong Kong, arriving late Sunday night tired, well fed and probably already planning the next trip.
Includes
- Hong Kong / Yangshuo train booking assistance
- All Yangshuo and Gongcheng transfers
- 2 nights accommodation
- 2 days guided cycling
- Quality bikes
- Breakfasts
- Selected shared meals
- Local snacks and food stops along the way
- English-speaking guide
Getting There
We depart Friday evening from Hong Kong West Kowloon Station.
There are no direct trains to Yangshuo, so we connect through Guangzhou South where there are frequent onward departures into Guangxi.
For the return we generally use Gongcheng Station, which offers later departures and works well for a full final riding day before returning to Hong Kong.
Email: bruce@bikeaways.com