Guilin day out · Guilin Karst - Putao Fenling Karst Section

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Guilin

   Guilin gets its name from the osmanthus trees that line its streets, and when they flower in autumn, the whole city smells of apricot and honey. The name means forest of cassia, and the city of about six hundred and fifty thousand people sits in a bowl of limestone hills in the north-east of Guangxi, on the banks of the Li River. The hills are the point: they rise in sharp, steep-sided cones and towers right in the middle of the town, so that streets, bridges and parks have to find their way between them. Elephant Trunk Hill, on the river bank, has an arch at its base that makes it look like an elephant drinking.

   Read the complete Guilin write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Guilin is where the day begins. Next is Guilin Karst - Lijiang Fengcong Karst Sect.

2. 2. Guilin Karst - Lijiang Fengcong Karst Sect

   There are two kinds of limestone scenery around Guilin, and the difference is the key to understanding what you see. Fenglin, or peak forest, is a plain studded with isolated towers, each standing alone like a tree in a clearing. Fengcong, or peak cluster, is where the towers are joined at the base, forming rows and clumps of hills with deep hollows between them. The section along the Li River south of Guilin, down towards Yangshuo, has mostly the clustered kind, and the stretch where the river threads through them is the most famous landscape in China.

   Read the complete Guilin Karst - Lijiang Fengcong Karst Sect write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Guilin Karst - Lijiang Fengcong Karst Sect comes up about 48 km into the recorded legs. Next is South China Karst.

3. 3. South China Karst

   Yangshuo is the place where travellers have been stopping for thirty years to sit and look at hills, and nothing has quite replaced the pleasure of it. But the hills are the point, and they are close enough to touch.

   Read the complete South China Karst write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   At least about 75 km into the recorded legs you reach South China Karst. Next is Guilin Karst - Putao Fenling Karst Section.

4. 4. Guilin Karst - Putao Fenling Karst Section

   Planning note

   Guilin Karst - Putao Fenling Karst Section, about halfway. Next is back through South China Karst.

5. 5. back through South China Karst

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete South China Karst write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   back through South China Karst sits at 79 km, about halfway. Next is back through Guilin Karst - Lijiang Fengcong Karst Sect.

6. 6. back through Guilin Karst - Lijiang Fengcong Karst Sect

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Guilin Karst - Lijiang Fengcong Karst Sect write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   back through Guilin Karst - Lijiang Fengcong Karst Sect comes up about 93 km into the recorded legs. Next is Guilin.

7. 7. Guilin

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Guilin write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Guilin closes the day.