The best parts of Yangshuo, Guilin are condensed into this thousand-year-old town

Pick in the scenery for 20 yuan, overlook the mountains of the Li River from Xianggong Mountain, and watch the river maple and fishing fire at night. These most essential moments and famous attractions in Guilin are all related to the ancient town of Yangshuo. Our journey of "Guilin's landscapes are the best in the world" begins here.

No matter what kind of transportation it is, Xingping Ancient Town is an important stop in Yangshuo itinerary. Xingping Pier may be more famous than Xingping Ancient Town. This is more like a cruise ship transfer station. The most beautiful section of the Li River is from Yangdi to Xingping. Starting from Guilin, you can also take a cruise all the way to Xingping. Of course, a more convenient way of transportation in Yangshuo is to take the high-speed rail. Xingping Ancient Town is only a 10-minute drive from Yangshuo High-speed Railway Station, and the 5 yuan bus can reach you directly. On the contrary, Yangshuo County is further away, about an hour's ride from the high-speed rail station.

In addition to the convenient transportation, of course, the most memorable thing here is the scenery.

First of all, we walked into Xingping Ancient Town, which has a history of 1,700 years. The town is not big, and it takes about 1-2 hours to walk around. You can see the ancient stage, which is a completely preserved stage from the Qing Dynasty and has a history of more than 200 years. However, apart from a stage, there really isn’t much else to see inside. They are basically business stalls.

There is an ancient stage cafe next door.

You can also visit interesting souvenir shops. For example, does this silver ingot look very "trendy"?

A kind of "pork stone" is very popular here, which looks very like pork belly, which is quite interesting. But of course the stone is man-made.

In the relatively less prosperous streets of the ancient town, many original old houses are still preserved, and some are still inhabited by local residents. The couplets at the gate and the clothes hanging to dry reveal the atmosphere of life, and can also be used for photos.

I really like the wooden doors of some old local houses, which look more antique.

Xingping Ancient Town is also like Guilin, with the fragrance of osmanthus floating everywhere. Moreover, you can buy osmanthus candy and osmanthus cakes everywhere, and a bowl of osmanthus ice powder on the roadside is also filled with the sweet scent of osmanthus.

In the evening, have a meal of local specialty beer swordfish. This is a local specialty fish with tender meat and few spines. It has a similar taste to catfish. The whole dish is sweet and sour, but to be honest, it basically has an ordinary sauce flavor.

You can also sit and chat in a cafe. Compared with Xingping Ancient Town during the day, it is much quieter at night. At eight or nine o'clock in the evening, the shops are closing one after another, and the lights are either restaurants or cafes.

Personally, I prefer Xingping when there are fewer people. Although it is not too busy, it seems very peaceful.

If everyone knows only one place about Xingping Ancient Town, it must be the background scenery of the RMB. There is no fixed check-in point here, but along the bend of the Li River, you can see the mountainous scenery. Many tourists will still spend 20 yuan here to take pictures.

Walking along the Lijiang River for almost 3 kilometers, you can reach the Yellow Cloth Reflection.

But when it comes to truly stunning scenery, you still have to climb Xianggong Mountain or Laozhai Mountain. Only by climbing high can you see far and appreciate the continuous picture of the peaks of Guilin.

Although at first I was looking forward to seeing Jiang Feng’s fishing fire in the evening or at night, I later realized that it depends on fate, and this fate requires money to cultivate. Nowadays, fishermen are also performers. Unless tourists pay, they will perform a section of sweeping the net.

The real scene is this: paying tourists are sitting on bamboo rafts and slowly rowing towards the fisherman. The fisherman reminds everyone to prepare their mobile phones, and then shouts the slogans 1...2...3... in an orderly manner. , suddenly throw the net, tourists take the opportunity to take pictures, and then the fisherman will take the net back and perform the second performance.

The fisherman will also throw small fish into the water, and then release the osprey. The osprey is also trained to attack quickly, fish out the fish from the water, fly back, and return the caught fish to the fisherman.

I really want to see the real scene of fishermen fishing in the scenic spot, but it is not realistic.

However, in order to allow visitors to experience this most unique cultural scene, a performing fisherman was specially arranged.

There are three tours departing from Xianggong Mountain a day. The first tour departs at five in the morning, the second at ten in the morning, and the third at four in the afternoon. First take a ferry from Xingping Ancient Town to the other side of the river, then take a car up the mountain for about 20 minutes, and then climb the mountain for another 15 minutes to reach the top observation deck. In comparison, watching the sunrise at Xianggong Mountain is the most worth looking forward to. However, whether the sunrise is beautiful or not depends on whether the weather is pleasant.

We were unfortunate enough to catch a cloudy day. Although we set out early at 5 o'clock, the cold wind blew for 40 minutes, and we didn't even see the shadow of the sun, the beautiful view of the Li River from Xianggong Mountain is still worth recommending. There is a curve in the scattered mountain peaks. Occasionally, cruise ships pass by, leaving white water ripples on the green river surface. The scenery in front of you is truly a gift from nature.

Photography enthusiasts work even harder. In order to grab a good spot, they even start "squatting" at three or four o'clock. Although the scenery is beautiful, you must also prepare in advance. Looking at these little babies wrapped like rice dumplings, you can tell how cold it is here in the morning.

As for the quality of photos you can take, it really depends on your luck. If you are lucky enough to catch the orange sky and billowing clouds, that would be great!

Compared with the 120-150 yuan per person for a group tour in Xianggong Mountain (including 60 yuan for tickets), Laozhaishan is closer to Xingping Ancient Town, and the entrance is next to Xingping Pier, and no tickets are required. But about this place, you must know in advance, this mountain is really difficult to climb! For someone like me who considers myself to be physically fit, it took almost an hour to go up the mountain. The steps were very high and the slope was steep. After reaching the top of the mountain, my clothes and bangs were completely soaked.

The scenery from the top of the mountain is somewhat similar to that of Xianggong Mountain, but it is not as spectacular as Xianggong Mountain. This is also a great place to watch the sunset. If time and weather permit, be sure to enjoy the sunset over the Li River here.

Xingping Ancient Town is one of the must-see places in Yangshuo. If your travel time is limited, you might as well choose Xingping Ancient Town. It has convenient transportation and is popular, but it is not commercialized to the point of being objectionable. Here, you can enjoy the best scenery of Guilin in one day.

1. It is recommended to stay one night in Xingping Ancient Town, go to Xianggong Mountain in the morning to watch the sunrise, and go to Laozhai Mountain in the evening to watch the sunset. You can also rent an electric car to go to Jiuma Painting Mountain or Huangbu Reflection.

2. It is not recommended to take a boat from Guilin to Yangshuo. It really takes too long. If you want to enjoy the scenery on both sides of the Taiwan Strait, you can choose to take a section of the boat to experience it. The most beautiful one is from Yangdi to Xingping.

3. For accommodation, I chose Qiushui B&B, which is right in the center of the ancient town. It is very convenient. The room is spacious and comfortable, and the owner decorated it in a literary and artistic style. There is also a very popular dog and cat in the store.