Route guide · High-speed rail
Guilin to Yangshuo by High-Speed Train (2026)
48 km, about 22m, 13 trains a day — and then 33.5 km more, because Yangshuo’s station is not in Yangshuo. Which of Guilin’s three stations you leave from, and how you cover that last stretch.
China for Travelers EditorialUpdated Save this — opening times and closures changeRail data refreshed monthly
- 2nd class
- ¥26 – ¥34
- what everyone buys
- Frequency
- 13/day
- 07:50 – 20:40
- Train types
- G · D
- G = fastest
- Day trip
- Easy
- no overnight needed
Leave from Guilin North 桂林北 — 13 trains a day against 5 from the city-centre station, and the earliest departure of the three.
The route at a glance
On paper this is the easiest hop in southern China: 48 km, about 22m on the fastest G-trains, 13 trains a day from roughly 07:50 – 20:40, second class around ¥26 – ¥34. There is no airport and no reason for one. What the timetable does not tell you is where the station is — and that is why this page spends most of its length on what happens after you get off, not on the ride itself. Arriving from further afield first? See the Guilin station guide.
Three ways down the river — and the fastest is not the nearest
Guilin and Yangshuo are joined by rail, road and river, and the three do not rank the same way. The train wins on paper and loses on arrival; the cruise costs you most of a day and sets you down in the middle of town. Rank them by where they put you down and the order inverts:
| Way down | Journey | Where it sets you down | Then what |
|---|---|---|---|
| High-speed train | 22m from Guilin North | Yangshuo station — 33.5 km out | Shuttle then taxi: 1.5–2 hours door to door |
| Li River cruise | 4–5 hours | Longtoushan pier 龙头山 — 654 m from West Street | Walk. Getting to the pier is the catch — see below |
| Coach | Roughly 1½–2 hours | Yangshuo bus station — 2.4 km from West Street | Short taxi, or walk it if you are travelling light |
So which one
- Take the train if
- — you are carrying little, arriving before the evening, or heading for Xingping rather than Yangshuo town. The station is markedly closer to Xingping than it is to West Street, which is the one case where its position helps you.
- Take the cruise if
- — the river is the reason you came. This is not transport that happens to be scenic; it is the sight itself, and it ends within walking distance of where you are sleeping.
- Take the coach if
- — you have luggage and want the town rather than the view. It runs to the town itself, which neither of the other two does.
Which Guilin station — there are three, and they are not equal
Guilin has three high-speed stations. All three sell tickets to Yangshuo, one of them runs more than twice the service of either other, and the city-centre one is the worst of the three on every measure that matters. Checked against live timetable data on 20 August 2026:
| Station | Trains/day | First | Journey | 2nd class |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Guilin North 桂林北 | 13 | 07:50 | 22m – 25m | ¥26 – ¥34 |
| Guilin West 桂林西 | 8 | 11:02 | 20–24 min | ¥28–29 |
| Guilin 桂林 (city centre) | 5 | 09:38 | 35–50 min | ¥33–40 |
Guilin North is the one to book. The city-centre station looks like the convenient choice and is not: its trains run north to Guilin North first and only then turn for Yangshuo, which is why they take half again as long and cost more for the same seat. Guilin West has a respectable service but nothing before 11:02, so it is no use for a morning start. Check the departure station printed on your ticket before you set off — the three are a long way apart and their names differ by a single character.
Detail on the city-centre station itself is in the Guilin railway station guide.
Classes and price
Second class runs ¥26–¥34, first class ¥41–¥54, and business class ¥87–¥99 where it exists — the D-trains on this run have no business cabin at all, only the G-trains do. On a ride this short the class barely matters: you are seated for about twenty minutes. The money on this journey is spent at the other end, on the transfer.
How to book with a foreign passport
12306 English app — the official China Railway channel: face-value fares, no booking fee. The trade-off is hassle — passport registration must be approved before you can buy (often slow), and customer service is Chinese-first and limited if a booking goes wrong.
Trip.com ↗ — the same China Railway seats, booked in English with a foreign Visa or Mastercard, no verification wait and 24/7 multilingual support. It sells at the same 12306 face fare with no booking fee, and new-customer promotions can bring a first trip below face price. You can also add hotels, attraction tickets and tours to the same trip. See the booking walkthrough.
Real-name rule — the name and passport number on the ticket must match what you present; e-tickets are scanned at the gate, no paper pickup needed.
Book on Trip.comNASDAQ: TCOM
The international arm of Ctrip — one of the few platforms selling real China Railway tickets in English, to a foreign passport and card. (Is it legit? — 12306 vs Trip.com )
You have arrived — now the other 33 km
This is the part the timetable hides. Yangshuo station 阳朔站 sits 33.5 km from West Street 西街, 47 minutes by road, on the Xingping 兴坪 side of the county. Getting from the platform to the town is a two-stage business, and it takes longer than the train did.
- The official shuttle coach, ¥20. It leaves from the left of the exit, runs every 20 minutes or when full, and takes about an hour to Fengming centre 凤鸣. Tickets are sold at the counter beside the stand, so you do not need an app.
- Fengming 凤鸣 to West Street, 3.0 km. The shuttle does not reach the town itself. It is a short taxi from there — not a walk, as the road carries heavy traffic and has no useful footway.
The useful thing to know about the shuttle is that it is timetabled against train arrivals rather than to a fixed clock — if a train gets in, a coach is waiting for it. Published last departures are around 21:20–21:50, so a train arriving before then is covered. Later than that, a taxi into town runs ¥80–100, and it is worth asking your guesthouse in advance whether they meet trains.
Expect to be approached at the exit by people offering rides. The official counter and the coach stand are both to the left as you come out; anything sold to you on the concourse floor is not them.
The Li River cruise — transport, or the reason you came?
The cruise runs from Mopanshan 磨盘山 or Zhujiang 竹江 passenger terminal down to Yangshuo, taking 4–5 hours through the stretch the ¥20 note was drawn from. Treated as transport it is absurd; treated as the day’s sightseeing it is the most efficient thing on this page, because it ends 654 m from West Street instead of 33.5 km away.
The catch is at the Guilin end, not the Yangshuo end. Both piers are 28–30 km outside Guilin with no ordinary bus service, so you are looking at a ¥70–90 taxi, and you need to be there well ahead of the sailing to collect tickets and clear the security check. Budget an hour and a half before departure — the boats do not wait, and the sailings leave in a single morning window.
Three-star or four-star
This is the one decision worth thinking about, and it is not about the view: the route, the sailing time and the scenery are identical. What the higher fare buys is space and lunch. Three-star boats carry appreciably more passengers, seating is tighter, the top deck is contested at peak season and the set meal costs extra. Four-star boats carry fewer people, have a second shaded deck and include a buffet. Four-star sailings are also sometimes berthed at a closer pier — about 180 m from West Street rather than 654 m — which is worth confirming at booking if you are carrying luggage.
One practical note on buying: the scenic area sells cruise and bamboo-raft tickets through its own WeChat service account, and its website carries no fares at all. That is a real obstacle without a Chinese phone number and a WeChat account, which is why most foreign visitors book the sailing through an agent or an international platform instead.
The river closes more often than the guides admit
Sailings are suspended when the Li River runs too high or too low, and this is routine rather than rare. In the last week of July 2026 the scenic area published three separate suspension notices and three reinstatements — covering the Yangdi–Xingping raft section, the Caoping section, and the sectional cruise together with the Yangshuo–Yangdi route — all inside about seventy-two hours.
Nothing about that is unusual for the rainy season, and it almost never appears in English write-ups, which describe the cruise as though it simply runs. It does not always run, and a booking is not a guarantee of a sailing.
What to do about it: check the scenic area’s own service account on the morning you travel, before you commit to the ¥70–90 taxi out to the pier. If sailings are suspended, the train and the coach are unaffected — the river closes, the corridor does not.
Frequently asked questions
How long does the train take from Guilin to Yangshuo?
About 22m on the fastest G-trains, 22m – 25m typical. That is the ride, not the journey: Yangshuo's station is 33.5 km from the town, so allow 1.5–2 hours door to door once you add the shuttle and a taxi.
Is Yangshuo railway station actually in Yangshuo?
No. It is 33.5 km north of Yangshuo town — 47 minutes by road — and it is closer to Xingping than it is to West Street. This surprises most first-time visitors, and it is the single most useful thing to know before booking.
Which Guilin station should I leave from for Yangshuo?
Guilin North (桂林北). It runs 13 trains a day against 8 from Guilin West and 5 from the city-centre Guilin station, it has the earliest departure at 07:50, and it is direct. The city-centre station's trains run north to Guilin North first before turning for Yangshuo, so they take longer and cost more.
How do I get from Yangshuo station to West Street?
Take the official shuttle coach from the left of the exit — ¥20, every 20 minutes, roughly about an hour to Fengming centre, and it is timetabled against train arrivals rather than to a fixed clock. Fengming is still 3.0 km from West Street, so budget a short taxi on top. Ignore anyone offering you a lift at the exit.
What if I arrive after the last shuttle?
The last departures are around 21:20–21:50, and because the service tracks train arrivals there is normally a coach waiting for any train that gets in before then. After that a taxi into town runs ¥80–100. If you are booking a late train, it is worth asking your guesthouse in advance whether they meet trains.
Is the Li River cruise better than the train?
They are not really competing. The cruise takes 4–5 hours against about 22m on rail, but it is the sight itself rather than a way of covering ground, and it ends 654 m from West Street where the train ends 33.5 km away. If the river is why you are here, the cruise is the journey. If you just need to get to Yangshuo, it is not.
Three-star or four-star cruise — is the upgrade worth it?
The route, the roughly four-hour sailing and the scenery are identical; what you pay more for is space and lunch. Three-star boats carry appreciably more passengers with a paid set meal; four-star boats carry fewer, have a second open deck and include a buffet. Four-star sailings also sometimes berth at a closer pier, which is worth confirming when you book if the walk matters to you.
Can the cruise be cancelled?
Yes, and more often than most guides suggest. The scenic area suspends sailings when the river runs too high or too low, which in the rainy season can mean several suspensions and reinstatements inside a single week. Check the scenic area’s own service account on the morning you travel rather than assuming a booking guarantees a sailing.
Can I visit Yangshuo as a day trip from Guilin?
Comfortably, if you take the train — first departure 07:50 and trains run until late evening. What catches people out is planning a day trip around the cruise: at 4–5 hours one way, a same-day return means coming back by road or rail, not by boat.
How much is a Guilin to Yangshuo train ticket?
Second class is ¥26–¥34, first class ¥41–¥54. Business class exists only on the G-trains, at ¥87–¥99. Budget more for the transfer at the Yangshuo end than for the ticket itself.
Sources
Route data — distance, journey time, fare bands and daily frequencies — is sampled from China’s national rail system and refreshed monthly; the per-station counts for Guilin North, Guilin West and Guilin were taken from live timetable data on 2026-08-20. Road distances — station to town, pier to West Street, Fengming to West Street — are from Amap (高德地图) routing, measured the same day between named endpoints. Cruise routes and the ticketing channel are from the scenic area’s own site; the suspension notices are its published announcements. Shuttle frequency, the last-departure window and the touting are cross-checked against recent traveller reports.
What moves: the shuttle runs to train arrivals rather than a fixed timetable, and river sailings are suspended and reinstated at short notice in the rainy season. We re-check this corridor monthly — bookmark the page and come back before you travel. The one thing no guide can settle for you is whether the boats are running on your morning: that is posted by the scenic area on the day, and it is the last thing to check before you pay for a taxi to the pier.
Once you are down there
The corridor is the easy part — these are the decisions that follow.
