Guilin from Luoyang: Haiyang Ginkgo, Longji Terraces and Yangshuo, 5 Days

Leave Luoyang in the morning and head south by high-speed rail, the hills outside turning from loess to grey stone as the day goes on. By the time you walk out of Guilin North the light is still up. Drop the bags and step into Dongxi Xiang, where the flagstones are worn smooth and the walls on both sides still carry horse-head gables and lattice windows. At the far end stands Xiaoyao Tower, low but close enough to the river to show a strip of water. After dark, walk to Shan Lake, where a pair of pagodas light up in the middle of the water, one bronze and one glazed. Finish with a bowl of rice noodles and ask for the crisp pork.

Attraction introduction: Dongxi Xiang is the stretch of Ming and Qing lanes left inside the old city of Guilin, with grey brick, gable walls and timber gatehouses still where they were built. Xiaoyao Tower stood by the Li River as early as the Tang dynasty; the present building is a reconstruction on the old site. Shan Lake joins Rong Lake, and the twin pagodas stand on the water between them.

Tips: The lanes belong to visitors by day and to locals around mealtime, so go just before or after eating. Guests generally find the broth in Guilin rice noodles on the salty side, so ask for less of it the first time. In practice, keep day one to settling in and walking, and let the travel wear off.

Out of the city at half past seven and up into Lingchuan, ninety minutes of climbing. Yellow shows first in patches along the road, then thickens until the lane into Haiyang is buried in leaves. Start at Damutongwan, where the old king tree needs several people to reach around and its crown spreads wide enough to hold the light; when the wind comes, leaves come down without a sound. The village houses are grey brick with ginkgo nuts drying at the doors. Lunch is duck stewed with ginkgo. In the afternoon move to Datangbian, where the pond goes still and the fallen leaves float flat, cutting the white walls into pieces in the reflection. Back to Guilin before dark.

Attraction introduction: Haiyang sits in Lingchuan county, where the land is steep and the fields are small; the ginkgo was planted by earlier generations and now numbers over a million trees, which is why the place is called the first ginkgo township. Damutongwan has the densest stand and the old king tree, reckoned to be a thousand years old. Datangbian is a village of more than five hundred years, and its pond is where people come for reflections.

Tips: The leaves turn late, still green through early November and only translucent from the middle of the month. Guests generally find the village lanes jammed at weekends, so shift to a weekday if you can. In practice, the paid spots are scattered, twenty yuan each at Damutongwan and Datangbian while Bindong and Xiaopingle are free, so choose by the time you have.

Head toward Longsheng in the morning, two hours of switchbacks, and a whole hillside of terraces swings into view at each turn. Start at Pingan, climbing from the village gate along narrow stone steps between stilted houses hung with corn and red chillies. At the Seven Stars with the Moon viewpoint, seven small knolls sit inside rings of dykes as if someone had arranged them. Lunch in the village, bamboo rice cooked to order. In the afternoon move to Jinkeng Dazhai, where the drop is bigger and the dykes read like netting from the second platform. Sleep up on the mountain.

Attraction introduction: The Longji terraces lie in Longsheng county and were cut into the slopes by Zhuang and Yao families over many generations, running from the valley floor to the ridge, so narrow on the steepest pitches that only one or two rows of rice fit. Seven Stars with the Moon at Pingan takes its name from the seven knolls and the single flooded field. Jinkeng Dazhai falls further, and its three platforms each face a different direction, with the water in the paddies throwing the sky back at sunset.

Tips: The mountain holds damp, so bedding in the village guesthouses tends to feel cold and clammy; ask for a room facing south. Guests generally find the stone steps steep and slick after rain, so take them slowly and wear shoes with grip. In practice, travel light and leave the big cases in Guilin, carrying only what one night needs.

Up early for the terraces, when mist climbs out of the valley and the dykes float in it one line at a time. After breakfast, descend and drive three hours to Xingping. Board a raft in the afternoon and drift downstream from the pier, the peaks stepping back one after another while the shallows show their cobbles. Near Huangbu the boatman slows for photographs, because the mountain on the back of the twenty-yuan note is right there. Walk a while at the foot of Laozhai Hill afterwards, or take a bowl of oil tea in town. Sleep in Yangshuo.

Attraction introduction: Xingping is an old river town whose pier faces the view printed on the reverse of the twenty-yuan note, a stretch of flat water where the peaks fall whole into the river, hence the name Huangbu Reflection. Downstream stands Nine Horses Painted Hill, a cliff face whose stone veins read as horses from a distance. The Li River bends several times through this section, the current easy and the rafts poled or pushed along the classic part of the waterway.

Tips: Rafts depend on the water level, and both floods and very low water can close them, so this is confirmed the day before. Guests generally find the river windy in any season, cold in late autumn, so bring a jacket. In practice, Yangshuo is still a drive from Xingping, so do not stay on the bank until dark.

Skip the Li this morning and go to the Yulong instead. Two to a raft at Jinlong Bridge, the boatman poling off the riverbed, and at each weir the whole raft slides over and the splash reaches your ankles. Nine weirs in all, rice fields and bamboo on both banks, sometimes a buffalo drinking. Land at Jiuxian an hour and a half later and take a bicycle along the Ten Mile Gallery, a flat road with Moon Hill and the great banyan on either side. Beer fish for lunch in Yangshuo, then the train from Yangshuo or Guilin North.

Attraction introduction: The Yulong is a tributary of the Li, shallow and slow, its bed of cobbles, and because the rafts are poled by hand it is far quieter than the main river. The run from Jinlong Bridge to Jiuxian is known as the waterway of the Ten Mile Gallery, nine weirs of little drop, each one dipping the nose of the raft and lifting it again. Jiuxian village has stood here for more than a thousand years, and its old houses and stone bridge are still in use.

Tips: Rafts carry age and height limits, usually no children under 1.2 metres and no one over seventy, so switch to a cruise boat with elderly parents or small children. Guests generally find the water calmest in the morning, when reflections hold, and the wind rising after noon. In practice, do not fill the last day and keep two hours for the station.