10 Moments Couples Actually Remember
Ordered by how romantic they are, not by how popular the photo spot is.
1
This is the loveliest date on the water in Yangshuo. The Yulong River (遇龙河) is about 8 km from Yangshuo town, and unlike the bigger Li River, the bamboo rafts here are not motorised — a local poles you slowly past karst peaks, rice fields and small weirs. One raft seats two, and it is genuinely quiet, with no engine noise. The most romantic time is late afternoon into sunset, when the golden light gilds the peaks and the surface of the water turns amber, the river so clear it mirrors the hills the whole way. Many people pair the ride with a cycle along the river — pedal out, raft back, or the other way round, for both views in one day.
2
The best way to soak up Yangshuo is on two wheels — bikes are easy to rent all over town, both ordinary and electric. Ride out from Yangshuo along the Yulong River, past green rice fields, old villages, ancient stone bridges, water buffalo, and karst peaks rising all around you. Most of the route is flat and easy, with somewhere to stop and take a photo for two on every bend. The loveliest stretch is late afternoon into the soft light, when the sun eases off and the peaks start to gild. Keep riding to a raft dock and float back by bamboo raft — a slow, gentle afternoon, the kind Yangshuo does so well.
3
The base is what turns a Guilin trip into a honeymoon, and Yangshuo has resorts that make the stay the memory. Alila Yangshuo is the icon — a 1960s sugar mill that Vector Architects reworked into a design hotel, keeping the original steel trusses and concrete walls, with the pool built on the mill's old loading dock, reaching out toward the river, and the spa set inside the former sugar-storage rotunda. Banyan Tree Yangshuo, meanwhile, is villas along the Li River, with large windows and balconies that open straight onto the peaks, two restaurants and a spa. Wake to a curtain full of hills, take coffee by the pool, book a couple's spa — an atmosphere a city hotel simply cannot give you. Book a peak-view room ahead, as they fill up fast.
4
If your first or last night is in Guilin city, the loveliest date on the water is the Two-Rivers Four-Lakes night cruise (两江四湖). The night boat loops the Li River, the Taohua Canal and four lakes in the centre of the city, past old bridges and waterside gardens, with the prettiest stretch on Shan Lake, where the Sun and Moon Pagodas glow and reflect in the water. It runs about 1 to 1.5 hours, the boat ringed with glass for an easy view of the lit city — a still, romantic part of a city evening. Night departures run across several times around 19:25–20:40.
5
On the shore of Shan Lake in central Guilin stand the Sun and Moon Pagodas (日月双塔), the city's iconic evening image. The Sun Pagoda is 41 m tall — the world's tallest brass pagoda — lit a brilliant gold, while the Moon Pagoda is 35 m and glows a soft silver. They stand side by side at the water's edge, and after dark their lights reflect down the lake into a beautiful double image. You can walk the Shan Lake shore in the evening and take in both from the bank for free, or pay to climb the pagodas. It is a soft, lovely hand-in-hand spot in the city centre — no need to travel for it.
6
If you set one early alarm on this trip, set it for sunrise at Xingping (兴坪), an old town on the Li River with the "20-yuan note" view — the very karst peaks printed on China's 20-yuan banknote, rising from the mist over a bend in the river. The viewpoint (near Nine-Horse Fresco Hill) is a free roadside spot with no entry fee, and it is at its best at sunrise, when the light is soft and a thin mist often drifts over the water. Couples come here at first light before the crowds, then wander the old streets of Xingping and take a coffee by the river — a quiet, beautiful morning you cannot get in the middle of the day.
The most spectacular evening in Yangshuo is the open-air Impression Liu Sanjie (印象·刘三姐), directed by Zhang Yimou — the same director behind the Beijing Olympics opening ceremony. The show is staged on the real Li River, using twelve karst peaks as a natural backdrop, with a cast of more than 600 (mostly local villagers and fishermen), lights washing the mountains, bamboo boats, folk songs, and cormorants fishing the water, all in a roughly 70-minute spectacle no indoor theatre could match. Watching it together in the evening is the kind of thing that stays with you. Book tickets ahead on Klook, and choose your seats carefully, as the show draws big crowds.
8
The signature date-night dinner in Yangshuo is beer fish (啤酒鱼) — fresh Li River fish fried and then simmered with beer, chilli, tomato and garlic, the flesh juicy, the sauce rich and faintly malty, served with hot steamed rice. It is the one dish to order at least once in Yangshuo. Famous places line the Li River and run through West Street, so choose one with a riverside table and eat together in the evening with the karst peaks as a backdrop. Afterwards, wander the bright, busy lanes of West Street, or head back to a quiet resort balcony — whichever suits the two of you. Beer fish is pleasantly spicy; you can ask for a milder version if you prefer.
9
The charm of a couple's trip in Yangshuo is not only the sights — it is the slow pace the resorts let you keep. Wake to a curtain full of karst peaks, take a coffee by the pool in the morning while the mist still drifts over the hills, eat a leisurely breakfast with nowhere to be, then book a couple's spa or read by the pool before heading out to cycle or raft in the late afternoon. At Alila the pool reaches out over a rocky rise toward the river, while at Banyan Tree the villas sit right on the Li River. It is the kind of place that makes "doing nothing at the resort" the best part of the trip — if you can, keep half a day clear for nothing but each other.
10
The most romantic way to get from Guilin to Yangshuo is not by road but by Li River cruise. The big boats leave a pier near Guilin and cruise the loveliest stretch of the river — rows of karst peaks on both banks, rice fields, water buffalo and old villages, taking around 4–5 hours to Yangshuo. The middle stretch from Yangdi to Xingping is the most famous of all, including the 20-yuan-note scene. Sit up on the boat's deck and watch the peaks slide by, lunch served on board — a journey that is a sight in itself. You will reach Yangshuo just in time to check into the resort, which makes it a perfect first day of the Yangshuo leg. Check the water level before you go in the dry season, as low water can reroute the cruise.