Yunnan to Guizhou

Cycling in North Guizhou

There are many road leading through Guizhou. The 22 hours train ride from Kunming is one, but on bicycle you will experience, what some would call: "the real China". The Northern Route from Kunming to Guilin contains two separate legs, one that leads to Guiyang and one that leads to Libo. This page is about the Northern route in Guizhou. The southern route is described on our cycling in South Guizhou page

Your first part of the journey will lead you to the Stone Forest, a spectacular Stone rock formation that goes way beyond the relatively small park. The whole are is huge, which becomes clear when you are cycling towards the town of Shilin (from either east or west!)

There's a few nasty climbs to take but in the end, it's all not too difficult. Just before the Stone Forest you can stay in Shilin. There are many hotels on the main street and some of them are excellent bargains. The Stone Forest itself is a beautiful place. Here is more about the Stone Forest

Xingyi

It's a good 2 or 3 days bicycle ride to Xingyi (I used 3 days). It's all not an unpleasant ride though I have to say, nothing really special. Traffic is not bad, sceneries are not special but it's nice cycling through rural areas.

Xingyi is the border town with Guizhou province.

The town is not very spectacular and as it goes with many Chinese cities, it has been renovated over the years. It is however a good city to stay a day or two, visit the parks and enjoy some of the local food.

Xingyi is the city to make up your mind. You have two options to continue: take to northern road to Anshun, Guiyang, Kaili and then further to Zhaoxing and ultimately to Guilin. The alternative is, if you ask me, more exciting (cycling in South Guizhou)

Anshun, Guiyang and north Guizhou

North Guizhou sees a fair share of tourist. It makes sense because here you find near Anshun the Huangguoshu waterfalls. I had the bad luck to visit the falls in the dry season so I haven't seen them in their prime.

Guiyang, capital of Guizhou

Anshun is another big city people use as a starting point to visit the falls. The Huangguoshu waterfalls are a short bus ride away although if you are on the bicycle you want to stay in the nearby town Huangguoshu which is much nicer to do. Anshun is 43 km away.

The Huangguoshu waterfalls are actually a range of waterfalls.

Make sure you visit the falls just after the rainy season, August is a good month as the falls dry up in winter. I visited the falls in April and there was little water which made the falls a disappointment.

Going north to Guiyang you can follow two roads. Once I did the motorway by bus and it was not pleasant. On the bike I followed to Qingzhen and Guiyang. It's about 100km on a good road though busy too (and the only one accessible for bicycles).

On the way to Libo

Guiyang is, especially for a big city not unpleasant for a day extra rest. There are plenty of markets though there's little further to see.

After Guiyang it became nicer, especially the road from Kaili  that leads to Conjiang, Rongjiang and to Zhaoxing. This is a very scenic route where along the way you will pass traditional Dong villages with Wind and Rain Bridges and Drum Towers. You will pass plenty of impressively laid out rice fields on the hill slopes.

From Kaili you can continue to Rongjiang (Guzhou), Conjiang and further to Zhaoxing, Sanjiang and Longsheng before reaching Guilin. That part of the journey is described here

On the way in east Guizhou from Sanjiang to Zhaoxing

South Guizhou

Of all my bike rides the south of the province is still one of my favorites. It's not because of the spectacular sceneries but mostly because of the genuine friendship I found. Especially in Sanglang was great but in other towns (Wangmo, Duyun, Libo) the people were amazingly friendly. Here is the full story about cycling through south Guizhou.and my experiences in Libo and the road further into Guangxi.

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