Guilin & Yangshuo Landscapes Photo Tour

Guilin arrival, and stay overnight in downtown. Enjoy the nightlife of city lakes.

Leave around 9 am on the drive to Longji rice terraces. Once there, meet some local people and long-haired women.

We'll reach the highest-location hotel via a 2-hour walk from the parking lot. After a short break, we arrive at a view point to shoot the sunset over the terraces. Afterwards we head to the hotel for dinner.

Shoot the sunrise from a viewing platform in the hotel where we stay. Or spend the time however you want.

Arrive in another village, with a view of the famous Longji Dragon’s Back. Shoot an overview of the village.

We return to Guilin before 6 pm, and go to climb a hill in a park, to take photos of the sunset and city life. Observe how the city was built among mountains. We wait until the city lights are turned on.

Get up early (leave the hotel at 4 am) to catch the sunrise on a mountain peak that very few foreign people ever visit, overlooking the most dramatic scenery of the Li River. There are about 600 stone steps to get up there.

Shoot karst scenery and landscape over the Li River, either at sunrise or during the earlier part of the morning, depending on the amount of cloud cover expected from the weather forecast. At this time of year we might be lucky to capture mists between the mountains, and there is one point on the mountain that gives you the best chance of this.

Around 7:30 am drive to Yangdi to board a motorized raft along the Li River in the morning light (before 8am and before other tourists), stopping in the best places for photography. Arrive in Xingping and meet some of the fishermen in their homes. Take informal portrait shots.

Then we go to the hotel, check in and take some time off. Crash out or edit photos over a cup of coffee.

Start out in the late afternoon for sunset, walking for 10 minutes. Meet two of the eldest cormorant fishermen in this village, and shoot the river sunset and gas lamp portraits at dusk.

Leave the hotel early (at 4:30 am) to catch sunrise on the Li River. We walk a short way and then take a raft to get to the location, with one of the best mountain reflections along the river. A cormorant fisherman will join us as the sun rises.

Return to the hotel for breakfast, or grab a bite on the road somewhere, before climbing one of the highest mountains around and continuing to shoot the Li River landscape.

Go back out in the evening for sunset overlooking a valley, with mountains as backdrop. Drive directly to a location where the late afternoon sun lights up the fields, with magnificent mountains in the distance. We wait until after sunset, before continuing back to the hotel for a late dinner.

We drive for an hour to a village, where we photograph a buffalo farmer on an ancient stone bridge, with mountains in the background. Watch how local people feed hundreds of ducks in the wild. This is really a relaxing place, with absolutely no tourists (except you).

We move on to a small ancient town, go and visit some local families, listen to their stories, and shoot some natural portraits. Capture the memories and happy faces in the old houses.