Although Guilin's weather makes it suitable for traveling to all year round, the best time to visit Guilin is from April until November.
This period offers warmer weather, great views, and more opportunities for a variety of outdoor activities.
There are still going to be some slight differences in the best times based on your interests and needs. Our article gives you suitable travel-date options for different preferences and interests as well as seasonal travel tips.
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- Best Time for Good Weather
- Best Times for Natural Beauty
- Best Times for Family Travel
- The Worst Times to Visit Guilin
- Guilin Travel Guide by Month
Best Time for Good Weather
If you are looking for less rain with hot-to-mild and often sunny weather, then the autumn months from September to November are the best choice.
Especially for couples, such good weather provides an excellent backdrop for celebrating your anniversary, birthday, or other significant milestones.
With this delightful weather, Yangshuo, in Guilin's countryside, is an excellent destination. There, you could admire the golden autumn paddy fields and cycle by them with the backdrop of the setting sun.
Enjoying a romantic candlelit dinner on a riverside lawn in the gentle evening breeze would be a wonderful ending to a day of sightseeing.
Discover real reviews of Highlights Travel Family's best-rated service across trusted platforms.
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Highly recommend Lele from Guilin China highlights
Guilin is absolutely breathtaking! The incredible views along the li river make those fantastical Chinese landscape paintings come to life. Walked around the rice terraces and rode a bike along the dragon river were unforgettable highlights. Our trip was made even better thanks to our guide, Lele from China highlights , who ensured everything went smoothly. Lele was helpful, professional, and provided just the right amount of insight about the area’s history and culture. more
Mar 2025, Teo O
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Guilin with great Lili from China Highlights
Guilin is a very beautiful city. And our guide Lili from China Highlights made our visit much more enjoyable. She is a very smart and kind lady, who is always looking out for us. She even teached us painting!! She helped us with everything, and gave us very useful advices and suggestions. Lili is also a very good photographer!! Without asking her to do so, she was always taking beautiful pictures of us, and sent them to us. We really apreciatte her attitude toward us. And love the pictures she sent to us. We traveled with her to Yangzhou, and I am sure Yangzhou would not had been so beautiful without her. Thank you Lili!! more
Mar 2025, Cecilia Ly
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Amazing Guilin
Our trip to Guilin with China Highlights was awesome. We did a boat trip on the Li River from Guilin to Yangshuo as well as staying in Yangshuo and Xingping. The scenery was absolutely fantastic! There were limestone pillars everywhere and the people were so friendly. Our guide, William took us to all the best spots and gave us excellent historical and cultural information. He was always attentive and engaging with us. We sampled lots of delicious food as well as being introduced to local people - we even got some cooking lessons. Our hotels - Moondance (Yangshuo) and XingPing Island resort were friendly and welcoming family-style boutique hotels. Everything was so well organised we never had to worry about anything. (Thanks also to our CHL consultant, Chandler, who converted our original wish-list into an amazing itinerary). more
Mar 2025, Richard
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Best Times for Natural Beauty
Guilin is a scenic city. Whenever you visit, you could enjoy beautiful landscapes of mountains, rivers, and countryside. However, if you want to see its top seasonal scenery, the best times are during spring and autumn.
In spring, with the drizzling rain and mist, the peaks, rivers, and villages along the Li River seem to be adorned with a thin pastel layer, having blurred outlines and soft colors and best resembling a traditional Chinese painting.
In autumn, the rice terraces at Longji Terraced Fields become a vast golden-tiered spectacle. Mature rice crops spread like waves across the terraces, shimmering in the sunlight, resembling a golden scroll painting.
Best Times for Family Travel
For families with flexible schedules, autumn and spring are the best times for travel. As mentioned above, during these seasons, you could enjoy beautiful scenery, pleasant weather, and plenty of outdoor activities for children. Additionally, there are fewer tourists compared to the peak summer season (apart from around the first week of October).
For families with school-aged children, your timing of vacations may be more fixed and the available options are limited.
Generally, a summer vacation is the most common choice. Guilin's hot summer offers kids cool and enjoyable outdoor activities, such as paddleboarding and cave exploration, along with numerous indoor cultural experiences, such as making paper fans.
If you choose to travel in the Christmas holiday season, Guilin also offers many activities. Hiking in the countryside, enjoying a city walking and food discovery tour, and taking cooking classes are all great experiences.
No matter in what season you visit, we would carefully customize your itinerary to balance the interests of your family and create quality family time without any hassles. Just contact us.
The Worst Times to Visit Guilin
The rainy season is a rather bothersome factor. Guilin is affected by early monsoon rains during the early summer, leading to the onset of the rainy season. May/June is the rainiest period.
When traveling during this period, a flexible itinerary is necessary because adjustments may be required due to unforeseen weather conditions.
If you prefer a quieter travel environment, you may need to avoid the Labor Day holiday (around May 1–5) and National Day holiday (around October 1–7). They are the peak tourist weeks in Guilin.
However, the issues encountered during the worst times can be minimized through flexible planning and enough knowledge of the destination. That's what we could do for you by creating your own hassle-free trip.
Guilin Travel Guide by Month
Our private tours offer you customized options and more personal space with a private guide who is only available for your family/couple/group. We provide a more in-depth and less-touristy experience as well as a worry-free tour. Just contact us to create a hassle-free trip.
- January
- February
- March
- April
- May
- June
- July
- August
- September
- October
- November
- December
Guilin in January
- Average daily temperature range: 7–13°C (45–55°F)
- Average rainy days: 11
- Average sunny days: 4
- Average cloudy days: 15
January in Guilin is cool and crisp, with occasional rain. This is an ideal time for those seeking a peaceful getaway with fewer tourists.
Take a leisurely river cruise along the Li River and visit an artist on the bank of the river to immerse yourself in the local culture, such as learning to make a paper fan and using Chinese painting skills.
Recommended China Tours
All of our tours can be adjusted or customized based on your requirements. Just contact us if you have a good idea about what you want to do. You could also start from one of our popular itineraries including Guilin: