- 🥾 Difficulty 3 / 5
- 📍 no night above 1,500 m
- 🚄 rail + short transfers
- ✈️ 0 domestic flights
- 🧗 climbing, caves, paddling
- 🛂 mainland → Hong Kong
- 🎶 Halloween + festival
- 💶 €1,950–2,350 pp
- In: Chongqing · Out: Hong Kong
- The idea
- Day by day
- Map
- Hiking & action
- Off the beaten path
- Nightlife
- Transport
- Border check
- Practicalities & cost
- Sources
The character of this route
The objection to Guilin was not "karst is boring" but "two guys on a tourist boat is odd". This route takes the karst and turns it into a playground rather than a backdrop: you go into it, climb up it and paddle beneath it.
It starts in Chongqing, five nights, with the Wulong karst as a day trip and Halloween Saturday. Then two hours south by rail into the Guizhou karst: Getu He, with an inhabited cave village, a rock arch more than a hundred metres high and a climbing culture found nowhere else. After that the Dong villages around Zhaoxing and a ridge walk between drum towers.
The finale before the coast is Yangshuo, four nights – China's climbing capital, with November as its best season. No big Li River boat, no Guilin city day, no rice-terrace buses. Instead a climbing guide, kayak or bamboo raft on the Yulong, a sunrise on Laozhai Shan and climbers' bars.
📊 Route in numbers
- Stops
- 8 (Chongqing, Wulong, Dazu, Getu He, Zhaoxing, Yangshuo, Shenzhen, Hong Kong)
- Highest night
- below 1,500 m
- Driver
- none – three car transfers of 30 min to 2 h each
- Domestic flights
- none
- Total train time
- about 12 h, longest leg about 3 h
- Changes of accommodation
- 5
- Action days
- 6 (Wulong, 2 × Getu He, Tang'an, 2 × Yangshuo)
🎶 Two nights that make the order worthwhile
Sat 31 Oct, day 5: Halloween in Chongqing. Sat 14 Nov, day 19: Shi Fu Miz at Tai Tong Organic EcoPark in Yuen Long, four stages. Details and tickets in Route 4.
🔀 How Route 11 differs from Route 3 and Route 9
- Compared with Route 3: same landscape, but three more nights in Chongqing including Halloween, rail instead of five days with a driver, and Yangshuo as an action block instead of Longji and Sanjiang.
- Compared with Route 9: no Yunnan and so no high mountains – the variant for someone who works in the Alps. And the karst is not watched from a boat.
- Shortest rail legs of all routes: no ride over three hours.
Honest caveat: a climbing ban in the great arch of Getu He was reported in 2019; whether it still applies is unclear. The arch itself, the cave village and the cave river are not affected – climbing then moves to the walls outside or entirely to Yangshuo.
20 days
Day by day
27 October to 15 November 2026. First city, then caves and villages, then rock and water, then the coast.
| Day | Date | Place | Activity | Overnight | Transport |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tue 27 Oct | Chongqing | Arrival early in the morning, 250 m. Pre-book early check-in, sleep. In the evening 📍 Hongyadong and the Jialing riverfront, first hotpot. | Chongqing | Flight arrival |
| 2 | Wed 28 Oct | Chongqing | 🧭 The vertical city on foot: Liziba, where the monorail runs through an apartment block, the Shibati stairs, Eling Park, then the Yangtze cable car across the river. Evening bars around Jiaochangkou. | Chongqing | Metro, cable car, on foot |
| 3 | Thu 29 Oct | 🚄 Wulong karst | 🥾📍 Day trip: 🚄 to Wulong South, about 1 h, then a shuttle. The Three Natural Bridges – arches up to almost 300 m, a glass lift down into the sinkhole – and the Longshuixia fissure: 2 km of walkways between vertical walls. A foretaste of Guizhou. | Chongqing | 🚄 2 × approx. 1 h + shuttle |
| 4 | Fri 30 Oct | Dazu | 📍 The Dazu rock carvings, UNESCO World Heritage, about 1.5 hours out. If you would rather stay: Nanshan and the view over both rivers. Evening 🎶 Friday round in Jiefangbei and Guanyinqiao. | Chongqing | 🚄 + bus |
| 5 | Sat 31 Oct | 🎶 Chongqing | A slow day: Ciqikou on the Jialing or the observation deck above the confluence. Evening 🎶🎶 Halloween Saturday – Jiefangbei and Guanyinqiao in a state of emergency, costume compulsory. | Chongqing | Metro |
| 6 | Sun 1 Nov | 🚄 → Getu He | 🚄 Midday Chongqing West → Anshun West via Guiyang, about 2.5–3 h, then 🚗 via Ziyun into the valley of Getu He, about 2 h. Arrival late afternoon, dinner in the village by the river. | Getu He | 🚄 approx. 3 h + 🚗 2 h |
| 7 | Mon 2 Nov | Getu He | 🥾📍 The Great Arch: a natural rock portal over 100 m high with the river running through it – up via walkways and the glass lift, galleries and cave entrances at the top. 🧗 With a local guide to the sport-climbing walls in the valley, permit on site. Afternoon the climb to Zhongdong, the cave village. | Getu He | On foot, boat |
| 8 | Tue 3 Nov | Getu He | 🧭 Boat ride on the underground river section, then the Swallow Cave: a hall into which thousands of swifts fly in the evening. There, Miao men show free climbing without a rope on the cave wall – a tradition found only here. Afternoon walk between the villages upstream. | Getu He | Boat, on foot |
| 9 | Wed 4 Nov | 🚄 → Zhaoxing | 🚗 Back to Anshun West, 🚄 via Guiyang North to Congjiang on the Guiyang–Guangzhou line, 🚗 about 30 min into the Dong village of Zhaoxing. Evening among the five drum towers – each belongs to a clan. | Zhaoxing (homestay) | 🚗 2 h + 🚄 approx. 2 h + 🚗 |
| 10 | Thu 5 Nov | Zhaoxing → Tang'an | 🥾📍 Ridge walk to Tang'an, a terraced Dong village, about 5 km uphill, back via Jitang. Afternoon indigo dyeing and rice-field fishing in Xiage. With luck, in the evening the polyphonic Grand Song of the Dong. | Zhaoxing (homestay) | On foot |
| 11 | Fri 6 Nov | 🚄 → Yangshuo | 🚗 To Congjiang station, 🚄 to Yangshuo, about 1.5 h. Stay by the Yulong River, not on West Street. Afternoon 🚲 first bike loop through the fields. Evening 🎶 climbers' bars – it's Friday. | Yangshuo | 🚗 + 🚄 approx. 1.5 h |
| 12 | Sat 7 Nov | 🧗 Climbing day | 🧗 Sport climbing with a local guide at Moon Hill or White Mountain – bolted limestone, November is the best season of the year. Half-day courses for beginners, multi-pitch for the experienced. Without rope experience: the via ferrata. Evening in Baisha, Saturday. | Yangshuo | Scooter |
| 13 | Sun 8 Nov | Xingping & Yulong | 🥾📍 Before sunrise up Laozhai Shan above Xingping – steep ladders, at the top the Li River bend from the 20-yuan note. Afternoon 🛶 kayak, SUP or bamboo raft on the Yulong, paddled yourselves rather than being driven. | Yangshuo | Bus, boat |
| 14 | Mon 9 Nov | 🧭 Choice day | Three options: 🎈 hot-air balloon over the Yulong at sunrise (pick-up around 4 am, weather-dependent) · 🧗 a second climbing day · 🛵 a scooter loop into the upper Yulong valley to villages without buses. Farewell dinner: beer fish. | Yangshuo | Depends on choice |
| 15 | Tue 10 Nov | 🚄 → Shenzhen | 🚄 Yangshuo → Shenzhen North, about 2.5–3 h, direct or from Guilin West. Arrive in the afternoon, quiet evening in Shenzhen. | Shenzhen | 🚄 approx. 3 h |
| 16 | Wed 11 Nov | Shenzhen | 🧭 The design and coffee district around OCT-LOFT, Talent Park on the water, or Shekou. Evening 🎶 OIL in Chegongmiao if the programme fits. | Shenzhen | Metro, on foot |
| 17 | Thu 12 Nov | 🛂 → Hong Kong | 🛂 Across the border to Hong Kong. Afternoon Star Ferry and Sham Shui Po, evening 🎶 Sheung Wan. | Hong Kong | 🛂 border + MTR |
| 18 | Fri 13 Nov | Sai Kung | 🥾📍 Sharp Peak, 468 m, extremely steep on loose scree – or by kayak to the basalt columns of the Geopark coast. Evening 🎶 Kwun Tong. | Hong Kong | Bus, boat |
| 19 | Sat 14 Nov | 🎶 Hong Kong / Yuen Long | 🎶🎶 Shi Fu Miz Festival at Tai Tong Organic EcoPark, Yuen Long, 12:00 to 04:00, four stages – date and line-up confirmed, see Route 4. | Hong Kong | MTR + bus |
| 20 | Sun 15 Nov | Hong Kong | Dim sum in Sham Shui Po, Star Ferry, then the Airport Express. Flight home from Hong Kong. | — | Airport Express |
Table scrolls sideways · 20 days, 27 Oct – 15 Nov 2026, no gaps.
📉 Altitude profile – flat, as ordered
Chongqing 250 m → Getu He in the Guizhou uplands, below 1,500 m → Zhaoxing and Yangshuo below 500 m → coast. No acclimatisation, no altitude risk, no snow peak on the horizon. The effort comes from stairs, ladders and rock, not from altitude.
Geography
Map
From Chongqing south into the Guizhou uplands, then along the Guiyang–Guangzhou high-speed line south-east through the Dong villages and the Guangxi karst to the coast. An almost straight line.
In China: the Amap link works behind the firewall. Google Maps is blocked on the mainland and OpenStreetMap is unreliable – background, app tips and offline maps.
🚗 The road leg to Getu He individually in Amap
- Anshun → Getu He · approx. 2 h
- Getu He → Anshun · approx. 2 h
Everything else is rail or a short station transfer – for trains use Trip.com or the 12306 app.
The core programme
🥾🧗 Hiking, climbing and water
No summits, but every other day something that gets you wet, makes you hold on, or both.
Getu He: Great Arch and walls
Difficulty: moderate, many steps. The Great Arch of Getu is a rock portal over 100 m high; walkways and a glass lift lead up to galleries and cave entrances. International climbers have set routes here that hang free inside the arch.
🧗 Climbing: only with a local guide, permit and liability waiver on site. A ban was reported for the arch itself in 2019 – check beforehand with the guide which sectors are open.
Zhongdong, the cave village
Difficulty: moderate. A climb on footpaths to a huge karst cave in which a Miao community has built its houses – without roofs, because the cave is the roof.
🧭 Not a museum village but inhabited. Take photos respectfully, buy a tea in the village rather than handing out money.
Zhaoxing → Tang'an
Difficulty: moderate. About 5 km uphill over the ridge to a terraced Dong village, back via Jitang. After the harvest the terraces lie in straw and brown tones.
📍 The view down onto the drum towers of Zhaoxing in the evening light.
Yangshuo: sport climbing
Difficulty: your choice. Yangshuo is China's sport-climbing capital, with dozens of sectors around the karst towers. October to December is dry and cool – the best time of year. Local clubs provide guide and gear.
Never climbed? Book a half-day course; if you climb, take Moon Hill or White Mountain. There is also a via ferrata with steel cable and suspension bridges.
Laozhai Shan above Xingping
Difficulty: short and steep. 20 to 30 minutes on steps and metal ladders, partly exposed. At the top the classic view of the Li River bend from the 20-yuan note.
Be up before eight: haze in the valley, no boats, summit to yourselves.
Yulong: paddle it yourselves
Difficulty: easy. Kayak, stand-up paddleboard or bamboo raft on the Yulong between karst cones. In November the water is lower than in summer but enough for raft and board.
The difference from Guilin: you are not sitting on a deck with a loudspeaker, you are paddling.
.jpg?width=800)
.jpg?width=800)
.jpg?width=800)
Substance over sights
🧭 Off the beaten path
The "spider-men" of Getu
In the Swallow Cave, Miao men climb the wall without a rope – once as work on the rock, today as a demonstrated tradition. Framed for tourists, but real: only a few people can still do it.
A night in Getu He
Most people come as a day trip from Guiyang. Staying two nights in the valley gives you the walls in the evening, the swifts in the Swallow Cave and the village kitchen without groups – and puts you at the arch before the first bus.
Grand Song of the Dong
The polyphonic singing of the Dong is UNESCO intangible heritage and is sung at family occasions, not on request. Zhaoxing has performances; the real thing, with luck, is heard in the evening in a neighbouring village. Ask at the homestay.
Yulong River instead of West Street
Yangshuo's West Street is a funfair at night. Staying by the Yulong gives you karst cones at the door, bamboo rafts without engine noise and village guesthouses with a view – and the climbing walls ten minutes away by scooter.
Chongqing's staircase neighbourhoods
Away from Hongyadong: stair alleys with noodle kitchens, mahjong on the landings and the bangbang porters with bamboo poles. Just walk downhill between Eling and the river.
Yuen Long instead of Central
Because the festival is in Yuen Long, we sleep in Hong Kong's north-west. Night markets, prices nobody on the island would believe – and twenty minutes to bed after the festival.
Evenings
🎶 Nightlife on this route
Loud at the start, silent in the villages, sociable in Yangshuo, loud at the end.
🎶 Shi Fu Miz Festival · Saturday 14 Nov 2026 · day 19
Four stages at Tai Tong Organic EcoPark in Yuen Long, 12:00 to 04:00: house and disco on the lawn, techno on the Valley Stage until four, UK bass by the pond, ambient to close. Date, venue and line-up confirmed, tickets on sale. Stages, line-up and ticket link in Route 4.
Source: Mixmag Asia, 15 June 2026, and shifumiz.com. Checked 4 Oct 2026.Chongqing 🎶 days 1–5
Big clubs around Jiefangbei and Guanyinqiao, lots of EDM; smaller techno rooms around Jiaochangkou. On Halloween Saturday the city is in a state of emergency – the biggest night out of the Chinese autumn.
Getu He & Zhaoxing 🎶 days 6–10
No nightlife. Rice wine at the homestay, stars over the valley, the village is dark by ten. Just right after Halloween.
Yangshuo 🎶 days 11–14
The sociable part: climbers' bars in Baisha and along the country road, an international crowd, live music. Friday and Saturday fall right here. Good for contacts and sector tips, not for techno.
Shenzhen & Hong Kong 🎶 days 15–19
OIL in Shenzhen, then 宀 Club, Studio Duplex and the warehouse series in Kwun Tong. Friday Kwun Tong, Saturday the festival.
🔎 Last-minute check – two weeks before departure
- Resident Advisor – event calendar, filter by Chongqing, Shenzhen and Hong Kong
- Mixmag Asia for announcements in Greater China
- For Halloween: the Instagram and WeChat accounts of Chongqing's clubs
Logistics
🚄 Transport analysis
No domestic flight, no multi-day driver, no train ride over three hours. The route follows two high-speed lines almost all the way.
🚄 Two rail axes carry the whole route
Chongqing → Guiyang → Anshun on the axis towards Kunming, then Guiyang → Congjiang → Yangshuo → Shenzhen on the Guiyang–Guangzhou line. In between only three short car transfers: Anshun ↔ Getu He and Congjiang ↔ Zhaoxing. Compared with Route 3 this replaces five days with a driver.
| Section | Mode | Duration | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chongqing ↔ Wulong South | 🚄 HSR | approx. 40–60 min | From Chongqing East or North. Do not pick the old "Wulong" station. |
| Chongqing → Dazu | 🚄 + bus | approx. 1.5 h | To Dazu station, then bus to Baoding Hill. |
| Chongqing West → Anshun West | 🚄 HSR | approx. 2.5–3 h | Via Guiyang North, direct or with a change; Guiyang → Anshun about 30 min. |
| Anshun West ↔ Getu He | 🚗 transfer | approx. 2 h | Pre-book a driver. Cheaper: bus to Ziyun, then shuttle into the valley (40 min). |
| Anshun West → Congjiang | 🚄 HSR | approx. 2 h | Change at Guiyang North onto the line towards Guangzhou. |
| Congjiang ↔ Zhaoxing | 🚗 taxi/bus | approx. 30 min | The homestay usually picks up, otherwise a taxi at the station. |
| Congjiang → Yangshuo | 🚄 HSR | approx. 1.5 h | Via Sanjiang and Guilin. Yangshuo station is outside town, taxi to the Yulong. |
| Yangshuo → Shenzhen North | 🚄 HSR | approx. 2.5–3 h | Direct or from Guilin West, frequent service. |
| Shenzhen → Hong Kong | 🛂 border + MTR | approx. 1–1.5 h | Via Futian/Lok Ma Chau or West Kowloon. |
Times for Anshun, Congjiang and Yangshuo are estimated from the sections – check in 12306 before booking.
Mandatory check
🛂 Border and permit check
🛂 Entry into China
No visa needed. Germans enter visa-free for up to 30 days per entry; the unilateral exemption applies until 24:00 on 31 Dec 2026. This route spends 17 days on the mainland. Carry: a valid passport, hotel bookings and the onward flight ticket from Hong Kong.
Sources: Consulate General of the PRC in Hamburg (4 Nov 2025); FAQs on Visa-free Entry into China, as of 21 May 2026. Re-check before departure.🎟️ Getu He: online booking with real names
No permit, but the scenic area requires a booking with names and a time slot via the WeChat mini program "预约黔行"; open 07:30–18:00, last entry 16:30. Climbing also needs a climbing permit and liability waiver. Best to let the guesthouse or guide book.
🛂 Mainland → Hong Kong on day 17
Hong Kong is a separate immigration area: Germans enter visa-free for up to 90 days. Exit from the mainland plus a separate entry into Hong Kong – two checks, both usually quick.
Execution
Practicalities, kit and cost
✈️ The flight is now the most urgent item
As of 8 Oct 2026 no flight is booked yet, departure is in 19 days. Chongqing has direct flights from Europe; according to flight trackers these include:
- Brussels → Chongqing, Hainan HU470, Mon/Thu/Sat, departs 12:10, arrives 04:30 the next day. Mon 26 Oct from Brussels = Tue 27 Oct in Chongqing – exactly day 1.
- Paris → Chongqing, Hainan HU718, Tue/Sat – leaving Tue 27 Oct means one day later.
- Air China from Budapest; from Frankfurt, Munich or Zurich only with a connection.
Home: direct flights from Hong Kong to Frankfurt and Zurich. Confirm days and times with the airline.
💶 Cost estimate per person
- Accommodation, 19 nights
- approx. €650 (Hong Kong 3 nights approx. €330)
- Rail total
- approx. €120
- Transfers Getu He, Zhaoxing, Dazu
- approx. €140
- Entries and permits
- approx. €120
- Climbing guide, kayak, optional balloon
- approx. €200
- Food and drink
- approx. €380
- Nightlife, Halloween, festival ticket
- approx. €200
- Buffer
- approx. €150
- Total
- €1,950–2,350
📅 Booking order for Route 11
- Open-jaw flight: in via Chongqing, onward from Hong Kong
- Shi Fu Miz ticket for 14 Nov
- Guesthouse in Getu He for nights 6–8, including pick-up in Anshun and the scenic-area booking
- Ask climbing guides in Getu He and Yangshuo via WeChat
- From 12 Oct inside the 15-day window the trains, first Wulong (29 Oct) and Chongqing → Anshun (1 Nov)
🎒 Kit
- Climbing shoes and harness if you have them – rental gear exists but rarely fits
- Rain jacket for Wulong, the caves and the spray in the arch
- Head torch for Zhongdong and the Swallow Cave
- Trail shoes with good grip – wet limestone is slippery
- Swimwear for the Yulong and Hong Kong
🌡️ Weather during the trip
- Chongqing / Wulong
- 14–21 °C, often overcast and hazy
- Getu He
- 10–18 °C, cool nights, fog possible
- Zhaoxing
- 12–20 °C, morning fog in the terraces
- Yangshuo
- 12–21 °C, driest time of year, ideal for climbing
- Shenzhen / Hong Kong
- 20–26 °C, best time of year
Further reading
Sources
- Xinhua/China Services – HSR Chongqing–Qianjiang opens, stop at Wulong South (June 2025)
- Wander in China – Wulong karst: access, natural bridges, Longshuixia
- China Highlights – Chongqing ↔ Guiyang, about 2 h
- Kupi – getting to Anshun West, about 30 min from Guiyang
- theCrag – Getu climbing area: sectors, access, permit
- Imperial College – Getu expedition 2019, climbing ban in the Great Arch
- Natural Arch and Bridge Society – the Great Arch of Getu
- Frommer's – Yangshuo: climbing, balloon, kayak
- TravelChinaGuide – Yangshuo in November
- China Highlights – Guilin ↔ Shenzhen, about 3 h
- Planemapper – flight HU470 Brussels → Chongqing
- Consulate General of the PRC in Hamburg – visa exemption for Germany until 31 Dec 2026
- Shi Fu Miz Festival – official site, 14 Nov 2026
- Resident Advisor – event calendar for the last-minute check
- German Federal Foreign Office – travel and safety advice for China