14 Days in Xingyi

Settle in — the city sits around 1,200 m with mild air — then an easy first evening of snack lanes and a bowl of mutton rice noodles around the street-center gardens.

1. xingyi city markets

Ride the 70-yuan ticket with the 50-yuan shuttle over the lookout loop under nearly 20,000 cone peaks, ending in Nahui Village for the fried-rice lanes — rapeseed runs January to March.

1. xingyi wanfeng forest
2. xingyi nahui village

Rent a bike or e-bike in Nahui for a 10-to-20-km loop between fields, hamlets and the Xiangchou (nostalgia) market — the peaks look their best in morning side-light.

1. xingyi wanfeng forest

The canyon runs 74.8 km with walls up to 280 m deep — give the elevator-and-boardwalk route a full morning, entry about 80 yuan, falls at full throat June to September.

1. xingyi malinghe canyon

Twenty minutes north of downtown, the museum at Dingxiao displays Guizhou-dragon fossils — small Triassic marine reptiles about 240 million years old — and pairs well with an easy afternoon back in town.

1. xingyi guizhou dragon museum

A 40-minute drive to the 176-sq-km reservoir for a boat run of one to two hours among green islets; go early, as afternoon wind can chop the water.

1. xingyi wanfeng lake

Back toward the lake shore for the old Buyi village of Nanlong, shaded by centuries-old banyan trees — slow lanes, cloth-dyeing courtyards and a village lunch.

1. xingyi nanlong old village

About 42 km southwest, an hour out, the childhood home of Republican-era general and premier He Yingqin (1890-1987) beside a small karst stone forest — one rural loop covers both.

1. xingyi heyingqin former residence
2. xingyi nidi stone forest

The Liu family manor south of downtown — seat of warlord-era governor Liu Xianshi — then the prefectural museum for Yelang and Han-era finds; the museum closes Mondays.

1. xingyi liushi manor
2. xingyi prefecture museum

Qinglong County sits elsewhere in the prefecture, about two hours northeast — a wartime road stacking 24 hairpins over roughly 4 km and some 260 vertical meters, the postcard image of the old Stilwell Road.

1. qinglong 24 bends

Huangguoshu belongs to neighboring Anshun, about 230 km or 2.5 hours by expressway — leave by 8 am. Season entry runs 160 yuan for the 77.8-m-high, 101-m-wide falls; the shuttle inside is extra, and expect crowds mid-day.

1. anshun huangguoshu waterfall

The Wumeng grassland belongs to neighboring Liupanshui's Panzhou, about two and a half hours north — high pasture averaging around 2,500 m and topping out at 2,857 m, with wind turbines, horses and spring azaleas; pack a warm layer at this altitude.

1. liupanshui wumeng grassland

One last early ride for sunrise over the cones, a slow breakfast at the Xiangchou market, then coffee and packing downtown — repack the dried chilies and rice-noodle gifts.

1. xingyi wanfeng forest

A market breakfast and a last stroll through the street-center gardens, then the 10-km hop to the airport or the coach station for the road home.

1. xingyi city markets