Sorry for another post but - Guilin/Yang. 3 days?

I'm sorry I didn't think of this when making my post about Hong Kong, but we'll be in Guilin/Yangshuo for 3 days. Definitely want to do the river cruise, but would it be better to just go directly to Yangshuo as soon as we arrive? I was originally thinking 1 night in Guilin and the other in Yangshuo, but I don't want to spread the trip too thin, especially if there's more to do in each place that I've found so far. Opinions anyone?

Yes, don't bother staying in Guilin. It's really just another big Chinese city. Yangshuo is where all the best scenery is at.

Li River is the most beautiful section of China, but in Guilin, you can see the most famous Elephant Trunk Hill, and Seven Star Cave. I think it's worthy to see. You can see the photo gallery of Yangshou and Guilin from chinatourmap.com Maybe it can help you arrange your itinerary. Good Luck!

We stayed in Yangshuo which is definitely where it's at. We arrange a river cruise from there - you can choose where you commence and finish. If you want to see the Elephant Trunk Hill etc then just arrange a tour that commences from that start point.

By splitting your trip I think you will spread yourself to thin. We spent 3 days in Yangshuo and there is more than enough to keep you busy. We went on a river cruise one day, hired bicycles and a tour guide the second (and went to moon hill) and the third was spent hot air ballooning and in caves. Make sure you invest in a evening performance of the light and theatrical show - it uses the local scenary to provide a backdrop to a spectactular theatre performance on a lake. Very impressive.

Hmmm... this seems like a good idea. Is it easy to arrange a river trip leaving and returning to Yangshuo? For some reason I couldn't imagine any other cruise besides the one between Guilin and Yangshuo before you said anything, so thanks!

We organised one from Yangshuo that did involve a taxi ride (included in the price) to the start point. The taxi ride was enjoyable as you got to see a different angle on the spectactular countryside. Don't have to move all your belongings down the river either! There are hundreds of tour agencies in Yangshuo so shop around. We used a local guide (Jessie Yu - jessilu714@yahoo.com) to sort our tours out. She was pretty good and competitively priced. Do some research on www.yangers.com before committing to anything