Things to do in Baise
And where to stay, the best time to visit, what a day costs, and the traps to skip.
Best time to visit Baise
• a note or something on ✦ an occasion worth the trip
Best overall window, dry and comfortable with clear skies for the sinkholes, plus Tour of Guangxi cycling in October.
Mild and drier, good for hiking and spring mist on the lakes before the rains.
Sanyuesan song festival month in most years, warm and humid with more showers.
Mango peak and best waterfalls, but the wettest, hottest months with possible heavy rain closures. June is wettest.
Cool and dry, and the month for Debao's red maples and its Red Maple Tourism Festival.
Quiet grey end of the dry season, fine for red tourism and the least photogenic month for the lakes.
What's on
- Sanyuesan (Zhuang March 3rd Song Festival) third day of the third lunar month, usually April
Guangxi's biggest ethnic festival, with singing gatherings, five colour rice and Jingxi embroidery balls. Book everything early.
- Baise mango harvest season June to August, peak mid June to mid July
Tianyang mango marketing events, with the late Guiqi variety extending the season into August.
- Miao Tiaopo Festival around the Lunar New Year period, dates vary by county
Flower pole gatherings with dance and horse traditions in Baise's mountain counties.
- Yi Torch Festival 24th day of the sixth lunar month, usually July
Torch festival celebrations in Yi communities in the Baise mountains.
- Tour of Guangxi October
WorldTour road cycling through the region, with Jingxi embroidery balls presented to riders in 2025.
- Debao Red Maple Tourism Festival December
Zhuang song and dance and handicraft events programmed around the red maple viewing period in Debao.
Best things to do in Baise
Baise Uprising Memorial Park
Baise's defining sight, a hill park of memorial hall, monument and Red Seventh Army sites above the Youjiang River.
Yuedong Association
A Qing dynasty Cantonese guild hall on Jiefang Road that became the Red Seventh Army headquarters in December 1929.
Dashiwei Karst Doline
A 613 metre sinkhole in the Leye tiankeng group, with a primitive forest on its floor viewed from the rim and cave.
Tongling Grand Canyon
A fissure canyon walk past an underground river and ancient tree ferns to a waterfall quoted at 188 metres.
E Quan Scenic Spot
Goose Spring's clear jade water under a 15 arch Qing bridge, with bamboo rafts, boardwalks and reflected karst peaks.
Jiuzhoulao Street
Jingxi's old market street, where embroidered balls are still stitched at doorsteps along the E Quan river.
Quyang Lake
A free highland lake of emerald islets west of Jingxi, best for a boat ride or shore cycling at sunset.
Chengbi Lake Scenic Area
The locals' lake 7 km from the city, a 39 square kilometre reservoir of islets, shore roads and orchards.
Where to stay in Baise
Youjiang District downtown
default Baise city base
Memorial park, guild hall, malls, best restaurants and the riverfront, with the city's highest reviewed hotels.
Baise Railway Station area
one transit night
Functional chain hotels for early trains, but a taxi ride from everything you came for.
Tianyang District
airport and mango season
Baise Bama Airport, Tianzhou Ancient Town and Buluotuo Square, east of the city and away from the western sights.
Jingxi town
canyon base, essential overnight
Sleep here for Tongling, Gulongshan, Goose Spring, the old town and Quyang Lake instead of commuting from Baise.
Leye town
sinkhole base, essential overnight
Small mountain town that puts you at Dashiwei at dawn, with Luomei Lotus Cave as the wet weather plan.
Haokun Lake shore, Lingyun
lake nights and dawn mist
Lakeside homestays with charm and a view rather than hotel service, in Lingyun county north of Baise.
Think twice about
- Baise Railway Station perimeter as a holiday base
A noisy transit strip with thin food, practical for one night only and not a safety concern.
- Scenic area gate hotels at Tongling and Gulongshan
Isolated once the gates close with no dinner choice. Sleep in Jingxi town and drive about 40 minutes.
- Tianyang as your only base
Pleasant airport and mango district, but it strands you east of the city for sights that are west and north.
Best restaurants in Baise
Gui Xiao Chu Guangxi Cuisine (Baise Dream Island)
Baise's top rated Guangxi dining room at Dream Island, for sour and grilled dishes, river fish and mango desserts.
Jingyuan Ruibo Dapaidang (Chengxiang Road)
A big open fronted dapaidang on Chengxiang Road for wok dishes, grilled fish, beer and group tables.
Xiagang Street Night Market
Baise's essential cheap night, with 5 yuan rolled rice noodles, grills, sour pickles and locust flower jelly.
Jiefang Road
The old city street by the guild hall for breakfast rice noodles, pig blood sausage and five colour sticky rice.
Tianzhou Ancient Town
Mango country eating in Tianyang, with Zhuang festival food and fresh Guiqi and Tainong fruit in season.
Jinxiu Ancient Town
Jingxi's night market quarter, for rolled noodles with huapi sauce, sour mango with chilli and five colour rice.
Youjiang River Riverside Barbecue Stalls
Stall grills along the Youjiang banks for grilled fish with wild pepper sauce and buffalo hump with cold beer.
Haokun Lake Entrance Farmhouse Restaurants
Farmhouse kitchens at the lake entrance cooking white hair tea stewed fish, bamboo tube chicken and sticky rice.
Outdoor things to do in Baise
Gulongshan Grand Canyon
An 8.6 km guided rafting run threading three canyons and three karst caves past 100 metre waterfall clusters.
Haokun Lake Scenic Area
A karst ringed highland lake for cycling the 12 km shore path, boat rides, paddleboarding and dawn mist viewpoints.
Buliu River Xianren Bridge Scenic Spot
A bamboo raft ride down a 16.9 km gorge to the Xianren Bridge, a natural stone arch spanning the Buliu River.
Sandieling Waterfall
A free roadside waterfall dropping in three tiers about 1 km from Tongling Grand Canyon, worth twenty minutes.
Debao Red Leaf Forest Park
Thousands of acres of maple turning red in December, with Zhuang song and dance around the Red Maple Festival.
Youjiang River
The city's free evening riverfront walk, with lit bridges, anglers, square dancing and barbecue stalls warming up.
Best hotels in Baise
Dream Source Hotel (Baise Dream Island Commercial Center)
The top of Baise's local hotel market by the Dream Island centre, with large rooms, suites and tubs, at mid range prices.
Vienna Hotel (Tianyang Ancient City High-speed Railway Station)
A reliable chain hotel beside Tianzhou Ancient City, with big rooms, parking and ancient city views on one side.
Jinmi Mango Hotel
A mango named local hotel in the college and government zone with a strong review record at budget prices.
Vienna International Hotel (Jingxi Happiness Road)
The predictable brand name base in Jingxi town for Tongling, Gulongshan and Goose Spring, with breakfast and parking.
Duyuewan Homestay (Haokun Lake Scenic Area)
A small lakeside homestay at Haokun Lake for the dawn mist version of the lake, with family cooking and lake fish.
Is Baise expensive? What a day costs
| Budget | CN¥220 a person |
|---|---|
| Classic | CN¥450 a person |
| Splurge | CN¥900 a person |
A day of food, drink, sights and getting around, before the room
What to book ahead
- Dashiwei Karst Doline: a few days ahead
- Tongling Grand Canyon: a few days ahead
- Gulongshan Grand Canyon: a few days ahead
- Buliu River Xianren Bridge Scenic Spot: a few days ahead
- Dream Source Hotel (Baise Dream Island Commercial Center): a few days ahead
- Vienna International Hotel (Jingxi Happiness Road): a few days ahead
- Duyuewan Homestay (Haokun Lake Scenic Area): a few days ahead
- Book Jingxi and Leye rooms early and cancellable, because stock is thin on Chinese holidays and festival weekends.
- Buy scenic tickets a day ahead where possible, for example Tongling at 99 yuan ahead versus 115 yuan at the gate.
- Build a flex day into Jingxi and Leye loops in wet months, because canyon and rafting areas can close in heavy rain.
Is Baise safe?
- Wear non slip shoes at Tongling, stay on paths at the Dashiwei rims and schedule long mountain drives for daylight.
- Tap water is not drunk locally. Hotels provide kettles and bottled water.
- Foreign passport holders cannot use the Chinese ID border pass scheme near Jingxi and Napo. Vietnam needs a normal visa and formal port crossing.
- Carry your passport in the border prefecture, where road checkpoints are routine.
Baise travel tips: tourist traps to skip
- The Dashiwei glass deck is the marketing image and, per reviewers, the least impressive part. Do the rim, peaks and cave first.
- Little Guilin nicknames flatter the area. Expect wilder, rougher and less serviced karst than Guilin.
- Buy mangoes at Tianyang market stalls in season, not at airport gift prices.
- At Haokun Lake, agree any motorcycle taxi price precisely and one way before you ride.
Getting around Baise: public transport and more
- Baise Station is on the Nanning to Kunming high speed line, with direct trains toward Guilin at about 4 hours.
- Jingxi is about 98 km and Leye over 100 km from downtown Baise on mountain roads, so charter a car and sleep in the satellite towns.
- Jingxi south station buses run to Tongling roughly every 20 to 30 minutes until 19:00, about an hour and 14 yuan.
- Central Baise is walkable, with cheap taxis and DiDi for the station, Chengbi Lake and the malls.
Who Baise suits
| Solo travellers | OK |
|---|---|
| Groups of friends | Good |
| Couples | Good |
| Bachelor parties | Not ideal |
| Families | Good |
| Bachelorette parties | Not ideal |
Make Baise your trip
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