Private Longji Rice Terraces Full-Day Tour from Guilin

The Longji Rice Terraces

The Longji rice terraces lie in Longsheng County, in the mountains of north-eastern Guangxi about 100 kilometres from Guilin. Their name means Dragon's Backbone, because the ridges, wrapped from valley to summit in thin stripes of terraced fields, look like the scales of a sleeping dragon. Construction began in the Yuan dynasty, around the thirteenth century, and continued over generations as Zhuang and Yao farmers turned slopes of up to 1,100 metres into fields fed by mountain springs and bamboo pipes.

The terraces are still farmed by hand today, growing rice once a year, and the area was recognised as a globally important agricultural heritage system. Are the Longji rice terraces worth visiting? For many travellers they are the most beautiful landscape in Guangxi after the Li River, and a private Longji rice terraces tour lets you take in both main areas comfortably in a single day.

Ping'an Zhuang Village

Ping'an is the oldest and best-known terrace village, home to the Zhuang people, China's largest ethnic minority. Its houses are built of dark wood on stilts, stacked up the slope with fields reaching right to their doors. From the car park the included shuttle bus brings you up the mountain road, and your guide leads you along stone paths through the village to the two classic viewpoints.

The first, Seven Stars with Moon, looks down on a group of small hills topped by round fields that resemble a moon surrounded by stars. The second, Nine Dragons and Five Tigers, opens onto a wide amphitheatre of terraces flowing down several ridges. Allow about two hours in Ping'an. Local restaurants serve dishes such as rice cooked inside bamboo tubes; lunch is not included, so you can choose where and when to eat.

Dazhai Red Yao Village and the Cable Car

Dazhai, on the other side of the range, is a village of the Red Yao people, whose women wear bright red embroidered clothes and are famous for keeping their hair extremely long, often wound around the head. The terraces here are higher and wider than at Ping'an, climbing in long bands right up to the skyline.

With the included Dazhai cable car you glide from the valley up the mountainside to the viewpoints near the Golden Buddha Summit, saving a steep climb of more than an hour. From the top, paths link panoramas with poetic names such as the Thousand-Layer Heaven Ladder and West Hill Music, where the terraces sweep down beneath your feet. Plan about two and a half hours in Dazhai, including the cable car up and down.

Best Time to Visit the Longji Rice Terraces

The best time to visit the Longji rice terraces depends on what you want to see. In April and May the fields are flooded for planting and reflect the sky like stacked mirrors; from June to August they turn bright green; from late September to mid-October the rice ripens to gold just before harvest, the most photographed season. Winter is quiet, often misty, and occasionally frosty.

Mornings are usually clearest, which is why our pickup is at 08:30. The mountains are cooler than Guilin, so bring a layer even in summer. Rain is common from May to August, and paths can be slippery; your guide will adjust the order of the villages to catch the best light and weather on the day, one of the advantages of a private tour.

How to Get to Longji from Guilin or Yangshuo

How to get to the Longji rice terraces is the main challenge for independent travellers: public buses from Guilin are slow, and the shuttle buses and cable car need separate tickets. By private car the drive from Guilin takes about two hours each way along a scenic mountain road; from Yangshuo add about an hour and a half more.

On this tour our driver collects you from your hotel lobby in Guilin or Yangshuo, and the vehicle stays with your party all day, so you can stop for photos on the way and leave your bags in the car. Other private options in the booking panel include a longer terrace hike, Ping'an only by shuttle bus, Dazhai only with the cable car, or a combination with Reed Flute Cave or the Chengyang Dong village and its covered wind-and-rain bridge.