Discover Guilin and Yangshuo
Yulong River Bamboo Raft
遇龙河竹筏漂流
A quiet tributary of the Li River poled by hand on a bamboo raft between karst peaks, bamboo groves and low weirs that the raft slides over. Far more intimate than the big Li River boats, and the water is close enough to touch.
The story
What makes this place special
The Yulong is a small tributary that joins the Li near Yangshuo, running through farmland under karst towers. It is not a historic monument; the rafting is a modern business built on an old irrigation landscape - the river is stepped by a long series of low weirs built to hold water for the fields, and running those weirs is what makes the trip fun. The valley holds the Ming stone arch of Yulong Bridge and the old walled settlement at Jiuxian, and the stretch nearest Yangshuo takes in the great banyan tree associated with the Liu Sanjie story.
What you’ll discover
Two people sit on chairs on a bamboo raft while a boatman poles from the stern, and you drift down a shallow green river between rice fields, bamboo and limestone towers, dropping over low weirs with a splash every few hundred metres. The river is sold in sections - the upper reach from Jinlong Bridge down to Jiuxian is the most recommended, the middle and lower sections from Shuiedi down to Gongnong Bridge are shorter, and a full run from Jinlong to Gongnong is around 15km with a large number of weirs. Reported figures for distance, time and weir count vary considerably by section and by source.
A little local insight
Good to know before you go
- Pick a section, not the whole river. The upper reach between Jinlong Bridge and Jiuxian is the consensus best - roughly an hour and a half of the prettiest water - and the full run is a long time on a hard chair.
- Book the night before, on the official channel. Yulong raft tickets are released through the scenic area's own WeChat mini-programme and the Yangshuo city one, typically at 8pm for the next day, and the popular piers sell out quickly. Touts at the roadside are not the official system.
- You will get wet going over the weirs. Bags go in a dry bag or in the plastic the boatman provides, and flip-flops beat shoes.
- The raft is only half the valley. Hiring a bike or an electric scooter and riding the lanes along the Yulong - past Yulong Bridge, Jiuxian and the fields - is the thing visitors remember most about Yangshuo, and it costs almost nothing.
- The boatman will offer to stop for photographs and may expect a tip for it, and there are usually vendors on the weirs selling drinks and taking pictures. Agree anything extra before you set off.
- This is the quiet alternative to the Li River cruise: the Yulong has no motorboats, the water is shallow and clear and the scale is intimate, where the Li is wide and busy.
When to come
Morning for light and for calm water, and late spring through early autumn when it is warm enough to get splashed. The river is low and some sections thin in the dry winter months. Avoid midday in summer - there is no shade on a raft.
Getting around
Not realistic. Boarding a bamboo raft means stepping down and across onto an unstable floating platform from a sloping bank or a rough pier, with no ramp or lift, and the raft has no backrest support or restraint. There is no accessible alternative on the river. A visitor with a bad knee may manage with help from the boatman; a wheelchair user cannot. The valley roads, however, are flat and are a good electric-scooter or accessible-vehicle outing.
Worth knowing before you go
Insist on the hand-poled bamboo rafts, not the motorised ones, and pick the upper section from Jinlong Bridge - it has the best scenery and fewest rafts. You will get wet at the weirs.
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