Getting Around Guilin
No Metro, But DiDi Has You Covered

Guilin taxis run on a meter. Flagfall is about ¥9 by day and ¥11 at night, including the first stretch, then it's charged by distance — most downtown trips come to a few dozen yuan. Flag one on a main road or pick one up outside hotels and attractions.

Tip: have your destination written in Chinese characters, since most drivers don't speak English. Ask your hotel to write it on a small card, or save the Chinese name from Amap on your screen — and check the meter is running each time.

DiDi suits almost every situation in Guilin — when you're loaded with luggage, heading back to the hotel late, going to Guilin North Station to catch a bullet train, or reaching somewhere the buses don't. It's charged by distance and time, usually a touch cheaper than a taxi in town, with several car tiers to choose from in the app.

Before you fly, download DiDi and link Alipay or WeChat in advance — setting it up at the airport is fiddly. Once you can hail a car in the app, everything gets easier: no haggling, no worrying about detours.

Guilin has many bus routes around town, with several passing the Two Rivers Four Lakes, Elephant Trunk Hill, Zhongshan Road and out to the Reed Flute Cave. Fares start at ¥1–2 and stay under ¥5 — the cheapest option of all. Pay by scanning a QR code or dropping coins.

The honest truth: signs and announcements are mostly in Chinese, with long waits and several transfers for far-flung stops. For tourists, DiDi is much more comfortable. Buses make sense on the tightest budget within the central zone over short hops, paired with Amap, which gives accurate routes and stops.

The fastest way to Yangshuo is the bullet train from Guilin North Station (桂林北站 Guilin Bei) to Yangshuo Station (阳朔站) in about 24 minutes, second-class around ¥22–34, with many departures a day. Guilin also has Guilin Station (桂林站) downtown, a short walk from the Two Rivers Four Lakes, and Guilin West (桂林西站) on the Guilin–Guangzhou line.

Worth knowing: Yangshuo Station is about 30 minutes from Yangshuo town, so once you arrive you transfer on by shuttle bus (¥20 per person) or taxi (¥80–100) into town and West Street. Book ahead on Trip.com or the 12306 app. See our China high-speed rail guide.

Several out-of-town sights are easiest by day tour or chartered car with driver. Yangshuo is about 65 km south, roughly 1.5 hours, with direct buses from Guilin Bus Station for about ¥25 leaving every 10–15 minutes. The Longji rice terraces are about 2 hours north on winding mountain roads.

For Longji, a day tour or chartered car is the easiest choice, since public transport (a bus to Longsheng, then a local bus up to Ping'an or Dazhai) is fiddly and time-consuming. If you want sunrise over the terraces, it's worth staying a night up on the mountain.

The most scenic way to reach Yangshuo is a Li River cruise from the Zhujiang or Mopanshan piers, gliding past rank after rank of limestone peaks for about 4–5 hours into Yangshuo — a highlight of the trip in itself. Once you're in the Yangshuo area, travel shifts to a rural rhythm.

Around Yangshuo and the Yulong River, people love to rent a bicycle or e-bike for about ¥30–60 a day to ride past the rice fields and peaks, and to drift downstream on a bamboo raft. Yangshuo town itself is easily walkable — West Street and the shops sit close together.

Amap has accurate bus data, lets you hail DiDi inside the app, supports searching places in English, and has full transit planning with bus-stop details. Download it from the App Store worldwide and it works without a VPN — an essential app for Guilin, especially for finding your way around the Yangshuo area where signs are in Chinese.

Apple Maps uses Amap's map data inside China, so its routes and directions are accurate, and it works without a VPN. Ideal for iPhone users who'd rather not install anything extra — you can search in English too.