6 Days Western Guizhou Tour

Day 1: Arrive in Guiyang.

Welcome to Guizhou! Your driver and tour guide pick you up from Guiyang Airport or train station according to your arrival schedule and bring you to downtown, where you check in your hotel. Enjoy a free and easy evening in Guizhou’s capital city.

Day 2: Guiyang – Ziyun

Your driver and tour guide pick you up from your hotel in the morning. Get driven to Getu River National Park in Ziyun County (3.5 hours). Enjoy the scenic spot with its tranquil surroundings, beautiful and colorful scenery on both banks of the river, in which the water is crystal clear. Watch a local “Spiderman” climb up the cliff as high as 100m without any protective measures. After having walked through the Getu Cave, take a boat along the river and head to a nearby Miao village, enjoy the view along the little cruise and get more familiar with the Miao people. Spot the mysterious cliff burials in the caves along the way. Afterward, drive back to the hotel.

Day 3: Ziyun-Xingyi

After breakfast, we start a 2-hour trek to Zhongdong, a mountain village of the Miao, which is completely built into a cave at an elevation of 1800 meters. Around 70 villagers from 18 households call this place their home, and they are labeled as the last cave-dwelling tribe of China, even in Asia. Houses are roofless but warm in winter and cool in summer. The villagers chose to live in the cave, though the local government built a new village under the hill for them.

Get a transfer to Xingyi in the afternoon (3 hours). Xingyi is located in Guizhou’s southwest, at the border to Yunnan. We stay here overnight.

Day 4: Xingyi & Around

In the morning, we visit the western part of the Ten Thousand Peaks Forest (Wanfenglin) and have a look at the misty waterfalls and geologic wonders: this scenic area contains the vast majority of the county's karst landscape. The cone peaks stand close to each other and cover hundreds of square kilometers along the border to Yunnan. Their perfectly shaped forms in a magnificent landscape, as well as numerous grotesque peaks, make the Ten Thousand Peaks Forest very special amid surrounding mountains, fields, rivers, villages and forests. Stroll around over plank walks or take an electric trolley to drive you around.

After lunch, we have time to visit the Malinghe Gorge, the so-called most beautiful scar in the world. The Malinghe River is a tributary of the Nanpan River and runs through the gorge with its some 200 meters high cascades, falling down on both sides of the river. The most spectacular part of the gorge is called Tian Xing Gallery, offering its visitors a great impression by entering it by elevator. We head back to our hotel in Xingyi afterward again.

Day 5: Xingyi – Huangguoshu

After breakfast, we make our way to the Huangguoshu Waterfall, the largest of its kind in the whole of Asia. On the way, we make a stop at the 24-Bend-Road, which is only 4 km long but winds its way up a steep hill. It was very important during the war with Japan (1939 – 1945). Known as the lifeline of the Anti-Japanese war, the 24-Bend-Road was the only land transport pass which connected the Old Burma Road with Chongqing, back then the second capital during of the country.

We then continue to our tour and visit Tianxing Park. This scenic spot is famous for various types of natural stone formations and shapes, high cactuses, extending to a dense forest. Tianxing Park is located some seven kilometers downstream of Huangguoshu Waterfall and also some natural bonsai trees can be found here, forming a beautiful combination with the surrounding mountains, waters and stone forests.

At last, we arrive at Huangguoshu Waterfall, with a height of 81 meters and a width of 101 meters. There is a 100-meter-wide cave hidden behind the waterfall called Shuilian Cave (which is famous again for the home of the Monkey King, the main character of the story Journey to the West). Not to mention all kinds of strange stalactite formations in the cave with its halls, windows, and springs. You can even touch the waterfall showering down from above when standing right at the edge. We stay in Huangguoshu overnight.

Day 6: Huangguoshu – Guiyang

We drive to Tianlong Old Han Village today. Enjoy a so-called Di Opera (Ground Opera) today. It is typical Guizhou event and a left-over from the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), an original ethnic dance music performed without a stage but within the fields. It's not only a show but actually real life. People here wear clothes in the style of the bygone era and speak the language used during that period. This area is the only place in China that maintains the living customs of the Ming Dynasty. All the houses were made of stone and complicated hidden tunnels and secret exits were built during times of war.

After lunch, we drive back to Guiyang Airport or train station, where this tour comes to an end. We are looking forward welcoming you in Guizhou again!