Ways to visit
Longji Rice Terraces Small-Group Day Tours
A capped group, a published timetable and a fare that already covers the gate ticket and a licensed guide. The cheapest sensible way to see the terraces properly from Guilin.
The one with everything in the fare
Ten and a half hours to a published clock, with the scenic-area ticket, an English-speaking guide, a Zhuang lunch and the Red Yao long-hair show all included.
From $88 per personCheck Availability
What a small-group tour of the Longji Rice Terraces actually is
A fixed departure you join rather than charter. You are collected from your Guilin hotel, or you walk to a named meeting point, and you travel with up to ten or fifteen other people to a timetable the operator publishes in advance.
The guide is licensed and travels with the group. On two of the three the gate ticket is already in the fare, so you go through the entrance rather than queue at it.
Why choose a small-group tour
The fare covers what you would otherwise buy separately
On the in-depth day trip the CNY 80 ticket, the guide, the Zhuang lunch and the CNY 80 long-hair performance are all in one price. Bought individually those come to most of what the tour costs before you have paid for the drive.
You know the timetable before you book
One operator publishes its day to the quarter hour: gather at 08:30, at the gate by 11:00, hiking at 13:00, off the hill at 17:30, back in Guilin at 19:00. You can plan the rest of your trip around a day like that.
The groups are genuinely capped
Fifteen on one, ten on another, and both caps are stated on the listing rather than implied. A capped group is why you can hear the guide on a windy platform, and why nobody is waiting for stragglers at the top.
It is the cheapest way to get there with a guide
These start at $65 per person. The cheapest private day with a guide is $68 and does not include the ticket, so on a solo trip or as a pair the arithmetic is not close.
Small-group tours vs private tours
| Shared trip | In-depth day trip | Mini group | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cap | 15 travellers | Not stated | 10 travellers |
| Length | 9 hours | 10.5 hours | 8 hours |
| On the hill | 5.5 hours | 6.5 hours | 5 hours |
| Gate ticket | With the option you select | Included | Included |
| Lunch | At your own expense | Included | At your own expense |
| Long-hair show | Optional, about CNY 80 | Included | Not included |
| Pickup | Guilin hotels | Sheraton Guilin, self-transport | Guilin or Yangshuo hotels |
| From | $65 per person | $88 per person | $160 per person |
Group caps and inclusions as each listing states them. Starting fares as published in August 2026.
Compare every Longji Rice Terraces tour
Alone or as a pair, the fixed departures win on price and on guiding. From four travellers upward the per-car private fares change that, and the private tour page works through the arithmetic.
What you get, and what you don’t
In the fare
- ✓ A licensed English-speaking guide with the group
- ✓ Return transport from Guilin, and Yangshuo on one
- ✓ The CNY 80 scenic-area ticket on two of the three
- ✓ Lunch and the long-hair show on the in-depth day
- ✓ Bottled water on the mini-group day
- ✓ Free cancellation up to 24 hours ahead, on every one
Not in the fare
- ✗ Lunch, on two of the three
- ✗ The CNY 40 scenic-area shuttle on the shared trip
- ✗ The CNY 30 one way, CNY 50 return buggy at Ping’an
- ✗ The Dazhai ropeway
- ✗ Gratuities — one operator suggests CNY 50–100 per person
- ✗ Hotel pickup on the in-depth day, which meets at a named hotel instead
Planning a small-group tour
Fares run $65 to $160 and the days are eight to ten and a half hours door to door. All three leave Guilin in the morning and put you back in the city in the evening, so they fit a single free day without touching your hotel booking.
Book a few days ahead outside the harvest and a week or more from mid-September. One shared trip blacks out Chinese New Year, the first week of May and the first week of October entirely, which is worth checking against your dates.
Check which valley each one goes to before you commit — all three of these visit Ping’an rather than Jinkeng Dazhai, and the village table shows what that means.
The cheapest way onto the terraces
Nine hours with a licensed guide and hotel pickup in central Guilin, capped at fifteen, with five and a half hours across Huangluo and Ping’an.
From $65 per personCheck Availability
Who should choose something else
If you are four or more, stop reading and price the per-car private fares: $136 for a car of up to eight is under $20 a head and buys you the route as well.
If sunrise or the cloud sea is what you came for, no fixed departure can deliver it. They arrive at eleven by design. Stay in a village guesthouse and walk up before breakfast instead.
And if you want Jinkeng Dazhai specifically — the bigger bowl, the ropeway, the high traverse — none of these three goes there. The private days do, and one of them includes the ropeway.
Frequently asked questions
Is the entrance ticket included in Longji Rice Terraces tours?
On most of them, yes, and the card for each tour says which. Three of the cheaper options deliberately leave it out so you pay only for the transport, and on those you buy the CNY 80 ticket at the gate on the way in. Two more include it on the fuller booking option and not on the basic one.
Do Longji Rice Terraces tours include lunch?
Some do and the card for each one says so. Where lunch is included it is usually a Zhuang village meal with bamboo-tube rice, eaten in Ping’an. Where it is not, there are village restaurants at both viewpoints and you pay on the day.
How much walking is involved?
Expect 30 minutes to three hours on your feet, almost all of it on stone steps rather than rough ground. From the Ping’an road it is a 20 to 30 minute climb to the first platform and about an hour to reach both. Take the cable car at Dazhai and you can be at the top with barely a climb at all.
Should I go to Ping'an or Dazhai?
Ping’an if you want the classic view and a shorter day; Dazhai, in the Jinkeng valley, if you want a bigger and emptier landscape and do not mind the extra distance. Ping’an is a 20 to 30 minute climb from the road, while Dazhai has a cable car. One ticket covers both, so the real constraint is time.
How far ahead should I book a day tour?
A few days is usually enough, and a week or more through the harvest weeks in late September and October. One operator reports its private days being booked about seven weeks ahead on average. Every tour here refunds in full up to 24 hours before departure, so booking early costs nothing.
Who farms the terraces now?
The same Zhuang and Yao families, and the paddies are still working fields rather than a set. That is why water levels differ from one terrace to the next, and why the harvest happens over weeks rather than on a date.
Should I tip the guide and driver?
It is not compulsory and nobody will ask. One operator suggests CNY 50 to 100 per person between guide and driver, which is a reasonable guide if you want one. Several listings name gratuities as an exclusion so that the fare you see is the fare you pay.
Small-group Longji Rice Terraces tours
