Xingping is what Yangshuo used to be. Even now when more and more tourist find Yangshuo, it is still a quiet hideout with the exception when the tourist boats from Guilin arrive. Xingping town is small, you can walk around in an hour or so. it has a long history that goes back at least 500 years. Many of the buildings are traditional from Qing and Ming dynasty period.The village is surrounded by many spectacular hills with imaginary names as "5 fingers hill" or Sengni Hill that resemble a monk and a nun are bickering with each other. South of town you can find Carp Hill and Snail Hill while in the west there lies Pen Holder Hill and Belle Peak. Around town you will find the village's own Camel Hill, the other Camel Hill is south of Yangshuo. The Li River cruise from Guilin to Yangshuo is very popular, still, even though there are plenty of boats on the river. It seems sometimes there's more boats on the river then cars on the road. The cruise starts just outside Guilin and follows the river all the way south where it stops at the riverbank right in town before it continues to Yangshuo. For the first part of the trip, the boat passes a not very interesting landscape though it is pleasant enough. The further south the boat comes, the more spectacular the limestone mountains are.These days more and more tourist leave the town and explore the area north of Xing Ping. You can do a great hike north of the village in a few hours but some decide to stay a night in the village.

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