Longji Rice Terraces Guilin: CNY 80 Ticket, Ping'an, Jinkeng

The Longji rice terraces (Longji means "dragon's backbone") lie in Longsheng county, north of Guilin: fields carved into hillsides. Wikivoyage divides them into two areas, Ping'an, a Zhuang village, and Jinkeng, which has the Yao village of Dazhai. The CNY 80 entry fee matches in three sources, but none is official, because we could not find an operator website that opened, so confirm it at the entrance. We checked on 16 and 17 October 2026.

This page covers the terraces. The overview is in the Guilin and Yangshuo guide. Visa-free entry and payments are on the China hub.

What we checked

Discrepancies: the CNY 80 fee agrees across the three sources, but the number of zones is four or three and the hours conflict. Ctrip says all day, while Wikivoyage notes that a ticket office at the entrance controls entry, so allow that ticket hours may not run 24 hours. We found no ticket-office hours from a source we could open, other than Travel China Guide's 08:30 to 17:30.

Ping'an or Jinkeng?

Wikivoyage describes two villages at the foot of the hill. Ping'an is reached only on foot, with sedan chairs for hire for people who cannot manage the climb. Dazhai in Jinkeng has a cable car, or you can walk, and Wikivoyage writes that Dazhai is quieter and more rural than Ping'an, with no cars in the village. At Ping'an, Wikivoyage lists a loop to viewpoint 1 (Nine Dragons and Five Tigers) and viewpoint 2 (Seven Stars with Moon) that takes about 1 to 1.5 hours.

Ctrip warns that the scenic area is not a single point but very large, and the zones are far apart. If you have one day, pick one side (our suggestion). Travel China Guide's Longji page, which we read, also has separate sections for the two villages and walking routes between them.

The cable car and the climb

At Jinkeng the cable car is an alternative to walking up to the high viewpoint. Dahepiao says it takes about 20 minutes uphill and that the walk up to the Golden Buddha Peak takes about 2 hours. We found no cable-car price from the operator. Dahepiao's listing sells several combinations with the cable car or a shuttle bus, but prices vary by agent, so we quote none.

Getting there from Guilin

Wikivoyage says it is about 2 hours by road from Guilin to Longsheng town on winding mountain roads, then about 1 hour on local transport to the terraces. It warns that the last bus leaves before dark because driving after dark is dangerous. Its bus detail, that buses leave from a new bus station near the brewery, dates from 2011, so check first.

The Yangshuo Mountain Retreat site says Ping'an is 130 km from Guilin, and in the same paragraph says it is a little over an hour away. Those two figures do not fit together on the same page, so we do not use time from that page. Wikivoyage's 2 plus 1 hours is only a rough range.

The easiest way is to hire a car or take a day tour from Guilin. Many operators sell this, and our tour buttons list some to check. The old Wikivoyage price for a car hire (about CNY 350 return in 2011) should not be used as a current price.

When to go

Wikivoyage says the terraces are attractive all year, following the rice cycle: in late May the fields are flooded and sunrise and sunset reflect on the water, and in winter some years bring snow. Ctrip says the harvest is around early to mid October but differs each year, so ask your village hotel before you go. Travel China Guide's Longji page lists mid-April to late June for water-filled fields and late September to October for ripe rice, with July to mid-September green. Yangshuo Mountain Retreat's site describes spring and autumn as good for the trip.

Before you go

• Wear walking shoes with good grip; some stone paths are slippery in rain.
• Wikivoyage says villagers carry bags in bamboo baskets for CNY 20 to 25 depending on weight (an old figure). Agree the price first.
• Wikivoyage says there is no ATM in Dazhai, so bring cash and a payment app.
• If you stay overnight, ask the hotel about pick-up from the car park below the village, because private cars have to park below and take a minibus up (Wikivoyage).
• We did not check hotels in Longji, so we list none. See where to stay in Guilin and Yangshuo for the hotels we did check.

Combining Longji with other places

Longji takes a whole day and is separate from the Li River cruise. See the Li River cruise page. If you have half a day left in Guilin city, see Reed Flute Cave.

Frequently asked questions

How this page compares

We read Travel China Guide's Longji page (about 1,300 words) and its Guilin page, and Wikivoyage's Longsheng page. Travel China Guide covers the two villages, the walking routes, the transport from Guilin and Yangshuo, and the fee and ticketing hours, and is the strongest benchmark here. This page matches it on the fee and adds the discrepancies between sources, the concession rules, the cable-car detail, the overnight-stay cautions and a clear statement of what we could not confirm. Where we are weaker: we have no operator website, no cable-car price and no walking-route detail as rich as Travel China Guide's.

Links on this page and our earnings

The tour buttons on this page open the providers' own search pages as of 17 October 2026. We have no registered affiliate link for Longji tours and have earned no commission, and we have not compared prices for you. Our disclosure page explains how affiliate links work and what we never do.

Prices, schedules and entry rules change. Figures here are approximate as of 2026; always confirm on the official or operator page before you book. Spotted something out of date? Tell us.