A guide to a few days in Guiyang, Guizhou

If you’re anything like me, Guiyang might be a Chinese city that you’ve never heard of, let alone been able to point to on a map. The capital of the Guizhou region in Southern China, it has a population of about 6 million people and is clearly still expanding. It might not be the first choice for an international tourist, but we found it to be a city with quite a lot to offer and a nice way of getting “off the beaten track” – although China is such a large country this shouldn’t be too difficult. We were in Guiyang for a wedding, otherwise we might never have gone, but I’m really pleased that we stayed a few more days to explore our friend’s home city a bit more.

Impressions of Guiyang

So what was it like? A lot greener than I expected, even though I knew it was a city that could experience high rainfall. It’s set in the karst mountains that the region is known for, and it’s clearly been decided to build around the small mountains, rather than build up them, so you end up with islands of green among the high rises. It’s about 1000m above sea level, and has very high UV levels so make sure you’re wearing sun cream! One of the first things I noticed was how much construction was taking place, so it feels like it’s really continuing to grow and expand. For example, we got caught out by one of the tube lines not yet existing as it appears on some maps and not on others.

We came across relatively few people who could speak English, which we’d expected , but everyone we encountered seemed friendly, if a little curious by us. We had a few photos requested with us and suggestions to connect on WeChat. We found that translation apps really came into their own, as they allowed us to connect with people in a way we otherwise wouldn’t have been able to.

When I tried to research Guiyang before visiting, I found quite little information available which made planning what to do a little more challenging. It also seemed that there were quite a few recommendations outside of the city, which at the time we didn’t know how easily accessible they would be. Below I’ve shared some of the highlights / main things we did on our visit, but also some suggestions that we didn’t manage to fit in which might be of interest if you’re staying for longer (or don’t have a wedding to attend).

Things to do in and around Guiyang

Qingyan Ancient Town

The Qingyan Ancient Town was located about 30km south of the city and took about 45 minutes to get there by car and cost the equivalent of about £8 in a Didi (Uber equivalent).

The town dates back to the beginning of the Ming dynasty, in the 1300s. The town is built completely of stone, is surrounded by city walls and has a gate at each compass point for entry and exit.

There were a lot more shops and restaurants than I had expected, and a little less info about the history of the town available than I’d hoped, but as such it was a great place for souvenir shopping (or to sample local food if you fancied pig trotters). It was also nice to see some more traditional buildings, rather than the high rises of the city. We walked through the town and went up the city wall which was incredibly steep (and possibly not advised in the middle of the day in the full sun) but it gave us a good view of the town and the surrounding area.

Qianlingshan Park

The largest city centre park in Guiyang, Qianlingshan Park was recommended as a place to ‘escape the city’s hustle and bustle’, so ironically it was probably the busiest place that we’d been. It was also hilarious that in front of the sign declaring “Quiet Please”, there was an exercise class taking place with music blaring, and a load of dancers with more music blasting out. That being said, it did feel like a good nature area and perhaps on a less crowded day (it was the start of the mid-autumn festival) or if we’d strayed further away from the main paths we’d have found it a bit calmer. There’s an underground line which goes directly to the park so it’s pretty easy to access.

There were two particularly notable things about the park. Firstly, the monkeys. On certain paths there were monkeys everywhere, and there were guards who were clearly tasked with preventing them from getting too close to food stalls as they were stationed with slingshots. They were cute (especially the babies) but I was amazed how close people were trying to get to them, and willing to feed them by hand. They are clearly used to stealing things from people and we saw a few head off with drinks and food that had been snatched away. Keep your bag closed and anything valuable within it!

Secondly was the zoo. Now free to enter, the zoo is part of the park. But particularly of interest, they have giant pandas! The panda area closes at 5pm – we literally missed them by 5 minutes, so if you’re planning to see them, try and be a bit more organised than we were.

You can climb Mount Qianling to reach the Hongfu Temple and get panoramic views of the city. You can also take a boat out onto Qianling Lake. Although we were only there for a couple of hours, I can see how you could spend most of a day at the park.

Jiaxiu Pavilion

The top tourist site in Guiyang, it’s definitely worth going to see the Jiaxiu Pavilion. I’d particularly recommend doing what we did, and walking down from Hebin Park along the side of the river as it’s getting towards sunset. That way you’ll start to see the buildings light up in the early evening, and see the pavilion lit up at night which was beautiful. However, if you want to go inside the pavilion you will have to visit during the day.

Qingyun Market at Night

Now I’ll be honest, I’d have found this quite overwhelming if it wasn’t for the fact I was with a few locals who were very much guiding us through and ordered a selection of food for us (the first place we went we tried to order some duck skewers and accidentally ended up with half of a duck including feet and skin). But, it was great fun and I’m really pleased we went. Again, it was very much lit up at night and was a vibrant and bustling hub. There were lots of shops open and selling a whole range of things (we ended up buying some local alcohol) but also so much choice of places to eat.

We had crispy duck covered in a pepper which basically numbed your mouth entirely, but then followed up by a blueberry yoghurt drink which was delicious. We had aubergine, beef and noodles, oysters, dumplings, crispy potatoes, and a variety of other things I probably wouldn’t have been brave enough to try if not part of a group.

Tian He Tan Scenic Area

Again, we were attracted to the idea of going to Tian He Tan scenic area to see some scenery and something a bit more natural. So when we arrived and it appeared like a cross between Universal Studios and Center Parcs it was a little bit of a surprise… It seems like a holiday resort has grown up around the natural beauty spot, which sadly just makes it feel a bit fake. Particularly when you can take an escalator down next to one of the waterfalls! It was a little bit strange.

However, the waterfalls were still pretty, the landscape was great and it was nice to see down the valley. There were lots of dragonflies and butterflies, and some beautiful flowers blooming alongside the water. Once you got away from the crowds and the various shops, you could almost imagine you’d got out into nature. And it was only a half hour drive away from the city. The underground will extend there in the future, but not quite yet as we discovered!

Huaxi Park

We didn’t actually go to the park during the day time, but if we’d had a bit longer in the city then I would have been happy to go back in the day. We headed to Huaxi Park for the mid-autumn festival celebrations that were taking place, and it felt like so had a lot of the rest of the city! There were lots of decorations up for the festival and pretty lights on the river, as well as a moon structure on one of the bridges.

For the festival there were lots of food stalls and souvenir stalls around the park, as well as a procession taking place by boat on the river. From what we could see, it looked like there were interesting features (bridges, lily ponds, covered walkways) which would have made it a nice place to go in the daytime too. There were also lots of food places on the road leading up to the park!

Other places to visit in and around Guiyang

Huangguoshu Waterfall

If we’d had one more day then we’d definitely have headed out of the city towards Huangguoshu Waterfall. It’s the largest waterfall in China and therefore is a natural beauty spot. The scenic area it’s next to is also famous for being featured in the Chinese classic ‘Jouney to the West’. However it’s a two hour drive out of the city so isn’t the closest to get to.

Guizhou Provincial Museum

I’m not sure how much I’d have understood, but I do like a museum to learn more about the area I’m in and I think this could have been quite interesting.

Visit the traditional Miao villages

Again, further out of the city but meant to be a great cultural experience and a good way to see something more traditional.

Top tips for visiting Guiyang

• Protect yourself from the UV. Make sure you’re wearing suitable clothing, have a UV parasol like the locals, or are covered in sun cream. We managed not to burn, but you could really feel the strength in the sun.
• Make sure you’ve got a translation app downloaded. You’ll likely need it unless you can speak Chinese.
• The city sprawls and between this and the heat, we did nowhere near as much walking round the city as we might somewhere else. Didi’s are a great and quite cheap way to get around, as is the underground (although as it’s still being developed it might not take you exactly where you want to go).
• It’s not really a ‘tourist city’ as we warned by our friend, but actually for first-timers to China an awful lot of what we saw was interesting and different for us, so it really didn’t matter that we weren’t seeing lots of big attractions.
• Apparently it’s a bit of a foodie city, so try the food! I was worried everything was going to be too spicy but I still found plenty to enjoy.

Now I’ve been, I’m not sure I’d head back to Guiyang as a destination (although you can definitely spend a few days there), but I would find it interesting to start and end a trip around the wider province. It seemed like there was a lot we could see and do if we’d been prepared to travel a bit more each day, or tour around.

Have you been to Guiyang? Where would you recommend?