The terraces

The Four Villages of the Longji Rice Terraces

Hours, prices and access verified by the Longji Rice Terraces Tours team — last checked August 28, 2026

One ticket covers four villages and most tours visit two of them. Which two decides what the day looks like — the classic view or the bigger bowl, a climb or a ropeway, Zhuang architecture or Red Yao.

Ping’an Village — the classic view

Ping’an is the Zhuang village 17 kilometres past the entrance gate, built along a contour on the shoulder of the ridge so that most of its timber guesthouses look out over the same terraces. It is the busiest of the four and the one most photographs come from.

Two numbered platforms sit above it. No. 1, Nine Dragons and Five Tigers, looks along the ridge to where nine spurs run off the main spine with five low hills among them. No. 2, Seven Stars with the Moon, faces a curve of terraces with seven small knolls left unterraced in the middle of it.

From the village gate the climb to the first platform takes twenty to thirty minutes on stone steps, and both together take about an hour and a half at an unhurried pace. An electric buggy runs part of the way for CNY 30 one way, CNY 50 return.

Jinkeng Dazhai — the big bowl and the ropeway

Dazhai is the Red Yao village inside the Jinkeng terrace area, 23 kilometres past the gate and higher than Ping’an. The bowl it sits in is considerably larger, the terraces run further up the mountain, and there are fewer people on the platforms at any hour.

Three viewpoints ring it. West Hill Music is the highest point in the scenic area at about 1,180 metres and the one people climb for sunrise. Thousand Layers to the Heaven looks straight down the steepest stack of paddies on the mountain. Golden Buddha Peak is the third, and it is where the ropeway arrives.

That ropeway is the practical difference between the two valleys. Walking up takes about an hour and a half; the cabins take twenty minutes and run continuously, which turns a climbing day into a walking one.

Guzhuang, the Ancient Zhuang Village

Guzhuang is the least visited of the four and the reason is simply that fewer tours stop there. It is a Zhuang settlement of hundred-year-old timber houses on stone paths, about half an hour’s walk from Ping’an along the contour.

What it offers is the village rather than the view: drum towers, wooden granaries raised off the ground, and an ecological museum of farming tools, costume and household objects. Two of the tours here build it into the walking route rather than treating it as a photo stop.

Huangluo, the Long Hair Village

Huangluo is a Red Yao village at the foot of the road, before the climb starts, which is why so many tours call there on the way in or out. The women of the village grow their hair to remarkable lengths and it is the reason the village is known internationally.

The record is precise and frequently misquoted. On 22 April 2023, 256 Red Yao women combed each other’s hair in a continuous chain measuring 456 metres at Huangluo, and Guinness World Records recognised it as the longest hair combing chain. Guinness records that the women cut their hair once, at eighteen.

A performance is staged for visitors and it is ticketed separately, at about CNY 80 per person. One day tour includes it in the fare; on the rest it is a choice you make at the gate, and one reviewer here says plainly that it was not worth the money to them.

Which village your tour visits

Villages taken from each listing’s own itinerary and inclusions. Where a fare is transport only, the route is yours to choose on the day.

See every Longji Rice Terraces tour

Staying the night in the terraces

The villages are full of guesthouses, most of them timber, most built along the same contour as the fields. Staying changes what you see: the terrace lines are lit after dark, the cloud sits in the valley at first light, and the platforms are empty until the first coach arrives at eleven.

One thing to plan around — vehicles are restricted on the village roads and luggage is awkward on stone steps. Two operators state plainly that you should sleep in Guilin the night before rather than trying to arrive with bags. One tour will drop you at a Longji guesthouse at the end of the day instead of driving you back.

Walking between them

Walking times as published by regional guides and confirmed by the layout of the scenic area’s own map board.

Anything that crosses between the two valleys is a serious day’s walk rather than a stroll, and worth planning as the whole outing. The shorter routes are covered with the viewpoints on things to do at the terraces, and every tour that includes guided walking is listed on Longji Rice Terraces Tours.