Food, accommodation and travel, the best self-guided tour in Guilin

1: Guilin and urban areas

Generally speaking, the best tourist season in Guilin is from April to October every year, which is usually called the peak tourist season (overall Tour prices will not be much higher than usual, or there will be no difference). The May Day, National Day, and Spring Festival holidays are the peak tourist periods. All scenic spots are overcrowded, and the city's roads are very crowded.

As a famous tourist city, Guilin is too small compared to other cities, with an urban population of only 700,000. The most important streets are Zhongshan Road and Jiefang Road. The most prosperous one is Zhongshan Middle Road, a section of Zhongshan Road. It only takes less than 30 minutes to walk from one end of Zhongshan Middle Road to the other. After 7 p.m., half of the streets on Zhongshan Middle Road will become pedestrian streets, which makes people feel very lively.

(1) Transportation

1. Guilin Liangjiang International Airport is 30 kilometers away from the city. There is an airport bus to the city, and the end point is the Civil Aviation Building (it takes about 30 minutes from the airport to the city) ), you can choose to get off near the train station. As long as there is a flight to Guilin, there is an airport bus to the city. No matter how late it is, the cost is 25 yuan per person. There is a bus from the Civil Aviation Building to the airport every 30 minutes. Please depart from Guilin to the airport 2 hours in advance. The cost of taking a taxi from the city to the airport is about 80 yuan, and sometimes you can get it from the airport for 60 yuan. There is a peculiar phenomenon in Guilin, that is, it is not easy to buy discounted air tickets. Air tickets from other places to Guilin are often very cheap, but flights out of Guilin may not be that cheap. Maybe Guilin is too small and has poor spending power.

2. Guilin has two train passenger stations: Guilin North Railway Station (commonly known as North Station, Origin Station) and Guilin South Railway Station (commonly known as Guilin Station or South Station). The South Station is currently the main passenger station. It is in the urban area (Zhongshan South Road) and the transportation is very convenient; the North Station is in the north of Guilin. According to locals, it is considered a suburb. The transportation is not very convenient. There are only No. 18 and No. 99 to get there. urban area. If the train stops at both the North Railway Station and the South Railway Station, it is best to get off at the South Railway Station. For relevant train information, please check the relevant content on the website. There are very few trains departing from Guilin, and most of them stop on the way. Sleepers heading north are generally difficult to buy at the window. It is very convenient if you go to Liuzhou, Nanning and other cities in the region.

3. Guilin has three bus stations: the main bus station (Zhongshan South Road, the main passenger station), Chengnan Bus Station and Beimen Bus Station (Zhongshan North Road, mainly bound for Xing'an and Lingchuan). All regional buses and most suburban buses depart from the bus terminal. It takes about 10 minutes to walk north from the South Railway Station (turn left after exiting the train station). Please refer to the relevant content of the website for the specific bus timetable

4. All scenic spots in Guilin are accessible by bus. For details of the bus, please refer to the traffic information of the website.

Guilin's buses are basically unmanned and ticket sales are 1.2 yuan, and there is no refund. Buses to the suburbs cost 1.5 yuan, such as No. 3. Ask the driver or read the stop sign before getting on the bus. Air-conditioned buses cost 2 yuan, such as Route 99.

Perhaps only Guilin in China has free buses (8:00-17:00, buses starting with 5). The waiting time for free buses is longer than ordinary buses, and the ride is Always pay attention to your finances, as thieves ride for free ^_^

The following are free buses:

Route 51 - departs from the East Ring Bus Station and passes through the Flower and Bird Market and the North Pole Plaza, Fengbei Road, Central Square to Guilin Station.

Route 52 - departs from Donghuan Parking Lot, passes through Sanlitian Square, Longyin Road, and ends at Qixing Park.

Route 53 - departs from the bus company and passes through Huancheng West Road to North Pole Square.

Route 54 - departs from Guilin South Railway Station and passes through Shanghai Road, Anxin Community, Chuanshan Park, and Sanlitian Square to the High-tech Zone.

Route 55 - departs from Pingshan via Nanhuan Road and Jingpingshan Bridge to the Vehicle Management Office.

Route 56 - departs from Pingshan and ends at Pingshan via Nanxi Park, Shanghai Overpass, Xiangjiang Hotel, Jiangjun Road, and Bazhong Road intersection.

Route 57 - departs from Xifeng Road and passes through the Institute of Education, Children's Palace, Ximen Bridge, Nanmen Bridge, Xiangshan Park, Jiefang Bridge, Cross Street, and Art Museum to Xifeng Road.

Route 58 - starts from Nanxishan Park and passes through Xiangshan Park, Qixing Park, Folk Customs Park, Fubo Mountain Park, Diecai Mountain Park, Yushan Park to Ludi Park

5. Taxi: Most taxi models in Guilin are Jetta and Santana sedans.

Taxi consumption standards:

a All taxi fares are divided into two time periods: daytime and evening. The daytime period is from 6:30 to 23:00 Beijing time, and the evening period is from 6:30 to 23:00 Beijing time. 23:00 to 6:30 the next day.

b Taking a taxi during the day, the starting fee is 7 yuan, and you can travel 2 kilometers (which feels a bit less). If you take a taxi for more than 2 kilometers but not more than 4 kilometers, you will be charged RMB 1.60/km per kilometer (100M is the unit of measurement) ), if it exceeds 4 kilometers, it will be charged RMB 2/km. The general charging principle is the starting fee plus the calculated fee. For example, if you take a taxi for 2.5 kilometers, the standard fare is 7 yuan (0.5×1.60=7.80 yuan); if you take a taxi for 5.5 kilometers, the fare is 7 yuan (2×1.6 1.5×2=13.20 yuan).

c When taking a taxi at night, the pricing principle is the same as during the day. The difference is that the starting fee is changed to 7.80 yuan, 1.80 yuan/km for 2 to 4 kilometers, and 2.40 yuan/km for more than 4 kilometers.

(2) Tour

1. Issues related to visiting the Li River:

Guilin-Yangshuo: Ferry ticket 210 yuan (including Chinese food on board). There are two wharves on the Li River: Mopanshan Wharf and Zhujiang Wharf (a 40-minute drive from the city). Mopanshan Wharf is a wharf for domestic guests, and Zhujiang Wharf is a wharf for foreign guests. Departure times are 9:30 and 10:00 every morning, arriving in Yangshuo around 14:00 in the afternoon. You can buy the ferry ticket by yourself at the pier that morning (215 yuan/ticket), or you can entrust the website to buy it (215 yuan/ticket). There are no buses or buses from the city to the pier. If you buy your own tickets, you can only take a taxi to the pier in the morning (about 60 yuan). Guilin's cruise ship goes directly to Yangshuo (the Yangdi-Xingping section is traveled during low water conditions), and the cruise ship cannot disembark or stop in the middle; there is no return ship from Yangshuo to Guilin (there may be one during the Golden Week). This type of cruise ship is the only one operating legally on the Li River. All other modes of operation are illegal and are severely cracked down by the government. There are many ways to swim only in any section of water on the Internet, which will not be explained here.

Instructions for one-day tour of Li River, there are two prices:

(1) The price of 345 yuan is for the whole journey. The hotel will pick you up at the pier, and after you finish swimming on the Li River, you will be sent back to your hotel in Guilin. , on the way back to Guilin, we have to visit several scenic spots, including Moon Mountain, Big Banyan Tree, Julongtan and Strange Stone Palace. The tickets for the above scenic spots are already included in the price of 345 yuan.

(2) The half-way fee is 245 yuan. We will pick you up from the hotel and board the boat at the Lijiang Pier. After disembarking in Yangshuo, you can have free time.

2. To be fair, tickets for many tourist attractions in Guilin are a bit expensive. The most famous "three mountains, two caves and one river" (Elephant Trunk Mountain, Fubo Mountain, Diecai Mountain, Qixingyan, Reed Flute Cave, Lijiang River), there are also many new developments, the two rivers and four lakes worth seeing, although it is It's a man-made landscape, but it's pretty well made. Elephant Trunk Hill is the city emblem of Guilin, you can also take a look.

Most of the attractions in the city are free for military personnel, and students with student ID cards from other places cannot enjoy discounted prices. Most parks are open to the public free of charge before 7 a.m., so you can use this time to enter the park. Don't think that there will be no one guarding the door at this time. If you go in with a big bag on your back, you still have to buy a ticket. The message should be as ordinary as possible, and don't make people look like tourists. Put the camera in your pocket and just walk in as if you were a local exercising (don’t feel guilty, even if you are stopped and beaten to death, you will say you are a local. Many locals in Guilin speak Mandarin. Remember the nearby communities before going in) The name is just in case of unexpected events^_^).

(3) Accommodation

Guilin’s hotel industry is relatively developed. Generally speaking, hotel prices are divided into two price levels: shoulder season and peak season, and there are three special periods for peak season prices. , that is, three days before May 1st to May 6th, October 1st to October 5th, and one week before and after the Chinese Lunar New Year. During these three periods, hotel prices are usually calculated based on the rack rate or even exceed the rack rate. The Guilin Municipal Government stipulates that hotels are allowed during peak tourism periods (specifically the 15 days before and after May 1, the 15 days before and after October 1, the 15 days before and after the Spring Festival, or when national conferences or other major festivals are held in Guilin) The room price is subject to a maximum increase of RMB 30 based on the standard retail price.

The price of most star-rated hotels already includes room service fees, government price adjustment funds and taxes, and some hotels also provide free breakfast. Usually, hotel accommodation fees in Guilin are calculated on a per-day basis, and check-out is agreed before 12:00 Beijing time. If you check out after 12:00 and check out before 18:00, the hotel has the right to charge half the room rate; if you check out after 18:00, it will be regarded as check-in again on the same day, and one day's accommodation fee will be charged.

Generally speaking, tourists can go to the hotel front desk or call the hotel to inquire about the price. The hotel will give a discount of 60-20% off the retail price. Prices will almost never be reduced during peak travel periods. If you go through local travel agencies or travel booking websites in Guilin, you can often get a lot of discounts (usually less than 50% off).

Most transportation hubs are the dead spots of a city, and Guilin is no exception. I advise you not to live near train stations or bus stations unless you have to catch a train, especially if you are greedy for cheap. These two places often cheat and rip off customers! The inner ring with the diameter of Zhongshan Middle Road (Nanmen Bridge-Boai Hospital) is very suitable for tourist accommodation. Guilin's main tourist attractions and commercial districts are all on this circle. As for the prices of various grades of hotels, please refer to the hotel prices on the homepage of the website (which can be used as a reference when you come to Guilin).

(4) Shopping (The landscape painting part is written by the moderator of Waterside Osprey!)

Guilin landscape is one of the important materials of Chinese painting. Chinese painting techniques are mostly freehand brushwork, which mainly represents artistic conception. As symbols of oriental art, Chinese painting, Chinese calligraphy, epigraphy and seal carving, together with ceramics, folk paper-cutting, silk products, clothing and paintings, have become must-buy souvenirs when traveling to China.

Speaking of Chinese painting, let’s briefly explain why Chinese painters like Guilin’s landscapes. Influenced by Confucianism and Taoism, Chinese people like to use natural scenery to express their wishes—either ambitions, perceptions of society, worship and praise of nature, or desire for life. Moreover, such wishes are often general. Or implicitly. Guilin has been praised by Chinese literati since the Tang Dynasty (AD 618-907), which is related to the powerful symbolic significance of Guilin's landscape.

In addition to the beauty of form and environment, Guilin’s landscapes also have a beauty with the most oriental significance - hazy beauty. Objectively speaking, it can inspire the greatest aesthetic association in human beings. In China, there are three urban characteristics that are intoxicating, namely Shanghai at night, Chongqing in the fog, and Guilin in the rain. The biggest feature of Yu Guilin is the hazyness of the landscape in the drizzle - sometimes appearing and disappearing. This is in line with some of China's so-called upright literati - intellectuals who believe or assume that the government is evil and are unwilling to serve and utilize government institutions - - have the same mentality. They pursue and advocate being alone and do not want to get involved in worldly disputes. From this, the Chinese used black and white as the basic tone, used shades to express distance, and used the unique brush as a tool to inject the author's personal joy, anger, sorrow, and joy into the seemingly random composition.

When visiting Guilin, the most common tourist souvenirs are Chinese landscape paintings. Since landscape paintings have the characteristics of works of art in addition to the concept of tourist souvenirs, it is very difficult to commercially price such souvenirs - her price is directly related to the author, artistic level, artistic value, and the buyer's willingness to pay. It also depends on whether it is original or imitation.

In addition to landscape paintings, tourist souvenirs that you can encounter when traveling in Guilin include Nuo masks (Nuo is a widely popular prayer activity in ancient China, aiming to eliminate bad omens that are believed to be attached to the human body), and Zhuang hydrangeas. , Miao embroidery, batik crafts, Zhuang brocade, paper umbrella crafts, wood carvings, etc. In addition to craft wood carvings and brocades, the price of other souvenirs ranges from 10 yuan to 400 yuan per piece (depending on the handicraft technology, material, packaging and plastic arts value). Zhuang brocade and craft wood carvings incorporate more artistic elements, so the price is difficult to determine.

2 Guilin Sambo. There are various varieties of Sambo on the market now, but none of them taste as good as before. If you want to eat it yourself, don’t buy those so-called combo packs or gift packs to save trouble. The taste inside is simply too different and it will disgrace the reputation of Guilin’s Three Treasures. In order to ensure quality, it is best to go to large supermarkets to buy. The prices in souvenir shops all over the street may be cheaper than in supermarkets, but who knows what’s inside!

a Guilin Sanhua Liquor, produced by Guilin Sanhua Co., Ltd., 18 yuan to 100 yuan. There are very few counterfeits. It is best to buy mature wines that are more than 10 years old. Porcelain bottles, crystal bottles, and frosted bottles are all good. The latest product "Lao Guilin" tastes very good and costs less than 50 yuan for 39 degrees and less than 80 yuan for 52 degrees.

b Guilin fermented bean curd, the Huaqiao brand produced by Guilin fermented bean curd factory is the best, and the specially brewed five-spice flavor is the best.

c Guilin chili sauce, Huaqiao brand produced by Guilin Sauce Factory is the best.

3 There are other Shatian pomelo, mangosteen, water chestnut, ginkgo, persimmon, kumquat, etc. I won’t go into details, you can try them all before buying.

(5) Catering

Guilin’s local cuisine is fragrant, spicy, fresh and sour. Restaurants are also similar to hotels. According to their consumption environment and service level, they are divided into food stalls, low-end restaurants, mid-range restaurants, and high-end restaurants. The price of a dish of the same size made with the same raw materials and the same cooking techniques in a high-end restaurant may be 5 to 10 times that of a food stall. Of course, the hygienic guarantee, consumer comfort, and thoughtful service of high-end restaurants are higher than that of food stalls, but on the other hand, food stalls can better taste the real local flavor. In terms of consumption level, the specific price mainly depends on whether the raw materials are produced locally and whether they are in season. You can enjoy local delicacies by spending 15 to 50 yuan per person per meal at the food stalls.

1 Guilin rice noodles have different names (flavors) due to different seasonings, side dishes, etc.: soup noodles, braised vegetable noodles, beef brisket noodles, hot and sour noodles, horse meat rice noodles, etc. The taste of rice noodles in each suburban county is very different. The price is 1.8 yuan to 2.0 yuan/100g, 2.5 yuan to 3.0 yuan/150g, and horse meat rice noodles are generally 5 yuan/100g. The way Guilin people eat braised cabbage rice noodles is to mix it well and eat it dry, and then drink the bone soup slowly after eating, so that you can taste the full flavor of the rice noodles. At present, the most famous rice noodle shops in Guilin include Shengli Rice Noodles (Wayao), Shiji Rice Noodles (Jiefang West Road, opposite Smile Hall, open 24 hours a day, suitable for tourists), Fulin Rice Noodles (Zhongshan North Road, Jiangan Road, etc.) , Qiuling rice noodles. Rice noodle shops near train stations and bus stations advise everyone not to try them, as they are not generally unpalatable. There are also some rice noodle shops that taste good. The way to choose is to see how many people are eating. If everyone eats outside with a sterilized bowl, it is worth queuing up^_^

2 If you want high-end food, you can go to Zhengyang Pedestrian Street, where there are famous restaurants such as Chongshan Hotel, Jufulin, and Zhengyang Tangcheng. If you want to eat delicious food, you can go to the food stall street opposite Guangxi Normal University in Sanlitian. It is very lively at night, so you can definitely go to whichever restaurant has the most people. Fuguang Fish Head and Lingui Er Lamb, opposite Wangcheng Commercial Building on Jiefang East Road, are also popular. The most concentrated places for snacks in Guilin are the Guilin Mongkok Food City next to the central square, and the Haoda Ma Food Plaza on the 5th floor of the Bagui Building in the central square (Smile Hall also has a branch), both of which are self-service restaurants.

(6) Others

1 Bank There are many bank branches in Guilin, and it is very convenient to withdraw money with a credit card.

Banks that support national deposits and withdrawals include Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, China Construction Bank, Bank of Communications, Agricultural Bank of China and Bank of China. The above banks also have branches and 24-hour ATM machines in Yangshuo; except for Yangshuo, only Agricultural Bank of China has branches in Guilin’s counties. There are no commercial banks such as China Merchants Bank in Guilin. It is best to hold credit cards from the four banks mentioned above when going out.

2 Internet cafes There are many Internet cafes in Guilin, mainly concentrated in residential areas and commercial areas. They all provide broadband Internet access. The price is about 1.5 yuan to 2 yuan per hour. Some Internet cafes require an ID card to access the Internet.