Li River bamboo raft tickets: the short answer
The Li River scenic area runs five raft routes. The total per person per trip is ¥115 to ¥255, which is scenic area admission plus the raft ticket, on the price list currently shown on the official site. You buy through the official WeChat service account 漓江售票处 (Lijiang Ticket Office), in your own name, in advance. For the National Day holiday, rafts are booked online 7 days ahead. The raft pages say nothing about passports, so ask the information line before you go.
This page covers only the Li River scenic area's rafts, which the site calls 漓江排筏游.
Li River bamboo raft price list: which routes can I book?
Prices are in yuan per person per trip. The scenic area splits the rafts into two sections.
| Route | Section | Trip type | Admission | Raft ticket | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Biyange Pier via Xiushan to Caoping Pier (碧岩阁码头—秀山—草坪码头) | Yanshan (雁山段) | Two-way or one-way | ¥10 | ¥105 | ¥115 |
| Yangdi Pier to Chaobanshan Pier in Xingping (杨堤码头—朝板山码头) | Yangshuo (阳朔段) | Two-way or one-way | ¥30 | ¥225 | ¥255 |
| Yangdi Pier to Mashan Pier (杨堤码头—马山码头) | Yangshuo | One-way | ¥15 | ¥125 | ¥140 |
| Yangdi Pier to Laocuntou (杨堤码头—老村头) | Yangshuo | Round trip | ¥15 | ¥155 | ¥170 |
| Chaobanshan Pier to Nine-Horse Painting Hill (朝板山码头—九马画山) | Yangshuo | Round trip | ¥15 | ¥125 | ¥140 |
Two routes are offered both two-way and one-way, but the list shows one price for each and doesn't say which version it is for. The Mashan trip is one-way, and the pages don't say how you get back to Yangdi. The list has no effective date printed on it.
What you see along the way
For the Yangshuo section, the raft tour page names Nine-Horse Painting Hill (九马画山), Yellow Cloth Reflection (黄布倒影), the Xingping scenery (兴坪佳境) and the scene on the back of the 20 yuan note (20元人民币背景). The Yanshan section is described as calmer, with the banks of the Xiushan peninsula (秀山半岛). The page does not say which route passes which sight.
How to book a Li River bamboo raft ticket as a foreigner
The scenic area uses real-name advance booking (实名预约购票). The online booking page and the ticket information page both say cruise and raft tickets are bought through its official WeChat service account, 漓江售票处. You buy the raft ticket there yourself. We can help you plan the day and arrange a guide or private car to the pier.
- Follow the service account 漓江售票处 (Lijiang Ticket Office) in WeChat. The online booking page shows a QR code for it.
- Book your route and date ahead, under your own name.
- Before the trip, ask the information line which ID the booking takes.
Can I use a passport?
The raft page, ticket information page and online booking page do not say which ID rafts need, or whether a passport works. Don't assume yes or no. The only ID wording is in the 2026-10-01 cruise notice, which tells booked cruise passengers to bring valid ID in their own name (本人有效身份证件). It doesn't mention passports and it is not about rafts.
Information lines: 0773-8996303 is printed on the price list; the home page lists tourist enquiries on 0773-8287688 and 0773-2881088. Complaints: 0773-8996573. Rescue: 0773-8996672 on land, 12395 on the water. Operating hours are not stated. For paying in China in general, see our cash and payment guide.
How far ahead should I book? Golden Week and same-day tickets
The scenic area's notice dated 2026-09-16, 2026年漓江景区国庆假期游船、排筏票预售公告, covers the National Day holiday (the October Golden Week). It says rafts, time-slot tours and fishing-village tours are booked online 7 days ahead. It is a holiday notice only. The scenic area's notices and booking pages do not say how many days ahead raft booking opens at other times of year.
The same notice gives the main cruise routes 15 days ahead for the holiday, so don't use the cruise number for rafts.
Same-day tickets: the notice is about cruises
The scenic area's 2026-10-01 warning notice (桂林漓江景区游船票务紧张预警提示) says the cruise piers basically do not sell same-day tickets, only a few returned-ticket standby tickets, and some dates were sold out. It tells people without a booking not to wait at the pier, and warns against roadside and unofficial sellers of "internal" or "scalper" tickets. It does not mention rafts, and the scenic area's pages give no same-day rule for rafts. Booking is in your name and in advance, so book ahead.
Where do the rafts leave from, and how do I get to each pier?
The Laocuntou trip starts and ends at Yangdi Pier. The Nine-Horse Painting Hill trip starts and ends at Chaobanshan Pier. The scenic area's transport page lists no separate pier for either, and gives these connections for the others.
- Yangdi Pier (杨堤码头). Shuttles run from Yangdi Pier to Guilin Station, and to Yangshuo bus station or Xijiekou petrol station (西街口加油站), phone 18176338209. The page says departures are adjusted to when cruise boats reach the pier. It says nothing about raft times, so don't count on a shuttle matching your raft. A Yangshuo–Putao–Yangdi coach line runs 7:00-17:30 every 30 minutes (0773-8829658, 18077378840).
- Chaobanshan Pier (朝板山码头) and Mashan Pier (马山码头). A sightseeing cart (观光车) runs from the Xingping raft ticket office (兴坪排筏售票处) to each pier, phone 0773-6779990. To Chaobanshan, the off-season cart leaves every 10 minutes at fixed times. In peak season it follows visitor numbers and normally leaves when full. To Mashan, departures follow visitor flow. The page does not give the address of the Xingping raft ticket office.
- Biyange Pier (碧岩阁码头) and Caoping Pier (草坪码头). Lingchuan county bus 306 extension line, buses 6:30-19:00 every 40-60 minutes (18377309766).
- Xingping Pier (兴坪码头), a cruise pier. Yangshuo bus 802 runs 7:30-17:40 every 10-30 minutes. The Yangshuo–Xingping coach runs 6:30-19:20 every 15 minutes. A shuttle links Xingping high-speed rail station and Xingping Pier. The page does not say whether these stop at the raft ticket office or at Chaobanshan Pier.
Guilin South, Guilin North and Qintan bus stations have coaches to Yangshuo county town, Yangdi and Xingping. See our Guilin travel guide for the wider trip.
Are Li River rafts motorized? Can they stop when the river rises?
They are fully electric (纯电动力), per the price list and the sightseeing raft page. That page says the new rafts use lithium iron phosphate batteries and have a reverse gear for turning round. Compared with older fuel rafts, it says they give off no exhaust and no oil drips and are quieter. It also says they are built from a new bamboo-imitation material (仿竹), so don't expect real bamboo, even though the English price list says "Bamboo Raft".
Rafts can be stopped at high water. The Guilin Maritime Safety Bureau closed raft sailing between Yangdi and Xingping from 10:00 on 2026-07-28 because the river was rising, citing Article 26 of the Guilin Lijiang Navigation Rules. A second notice lifted the closure from 14:20 on 2026-07-29 because the water had fallen. That is one example, not a pattern or a season.
Li River bamboo raft vs the big Li River cruise
The raft pages describe an electric raft trip close to the water (亲水零距离, "zero distance from the water") on set sections of the Yangshuo and Yanshan stretches. The cruise is a separate product, with star-rated ships and its own price rows. Its routes, prices and piers are on our Li River cruise tickets page.
What the raft pages don't say
- The price list gives no child, senior, student or foreigner price and no discount rules.
- The raft pages and booking pages give no refund or change rules for rafts, including for a day closed by high water.
- The raft pages and the price list give no raft trip times, first or last departures, or how long a trip takes.
- The raft pages and the price list don't say how many people share a raft, or give life-jacket, age or health rules.
For any of these, use the information lines above before you book.
