Li River Cruise, Guilin
If you are travelling to Guilin, you should take the Li River cruise from Guilin to Yangshuo. It is basically one of the main attractions which are provided by many tour provider in Guilin. You will be able to see beautiful karst peaks at every bend of the river under the blue sky. Although, to be honest with you, the dock where we boarded the ship kinda looks like...abandoned. Hahaha. Apparently the boats will only be ready upon booking at specified timing.
The scenery alongside the Li River is very beautiful. We did not take the full length tour of Li River Cruise because the whole tour can take 4 - 5 hours. This is because Li River is very long at approximately 83 km.
We took the cruise from the Crown Cave (Guanyan). Hence, the scenery alongside the river has a lot of water eroded cave.
Closer look at the underwater cave.
As we are cruising on a winter day, the water level gets much lower. And hence, our cruises only take us about two hours to complete. Thankfully, that day was sunny so we can still see the beautiful scenery clearly from the boat.
Alternatively, you can also take an option of bamboo rafting along Li River. The distance will be shorter than taking the bigger boat though. If you are visiting in the spring or summer, there is an option of Li River Hiking too. The entire hiking route is about 22 km and it is divided into two sections: Yangdi to Nine Hore Fresco Hill (10 km) and Nine Horse Fresco Hill to Xingping (12 km).
There are different prices for the Li River Cruise, depending on the type of boat that you choose:
(1) Superior River Cruise: 690 - 750 RMB (~ 109 - 118 USD) for adults
(2) Deluxe River Cruise: 385 - 420 RMB (~ 61 to 66 USD) for adults
For the sample of complete pricing, you can go here.
There have been bad story about tourists being scammed and taken on shopping tours, being accommodated on cheaper boats, boat trips cut short with a surprising bus tour to other place or taken on smaller motorised rafts which are nice when the weather permits, but not really when the weather is not cooperative, and are certainly not what you paid for. So, do be mindful and alert when you are signing up for a tour package for Li River Cruise in Guilin.
