Luoyang vs Guilin
The short answer
They cost about the same day to day — Luoyang $30–55, Guilin $28–55 mid-range per person. Both are at their best in Apr, Sep–Oct, so one trip can take in both.
Side by side
Mid-range, per person, in US dollars. Both guides were costed the same way — see how we work these out.
| 🇨🇳 Luoyang | 🇨🇳 Guilin | |
|---|---|---|
| Daily budgetmid-range, per person | $30–55 | $28–55 |
| Cheap meallocal staple | $1.50–3.50 | $1.50–4 |
| Mid-range hotelper night | $35–65 | $30–65cheaper |
| Transit ridesingle trip | $0.25–0.50 | $0.25–0.50 |
| Avg. monthly salarylocal, for context | ≈ $850 | ≈ $780 |
When to go
Filled months are the ones each guide recommends; hollow ones it warns off.
What you'd actually do
A few of each guide's picks, one per category before seconds — the full lists are on the guides themselves.
🇨🇳 Luoyang
Ancient capital of thirteen dynasties, home to the cliffside Buddhist carvings of the Longmen Grottoes and China's self-declared 'City of Peonies.'
- Zhenbutong Restaurant$$Restaurants
- Shizi Street$Night markets & street food
- Yingtianmen night show$Theater & shows
🇨🇳 Guilin
The karst-mountain scenery on the back of the ¥20 note — a slower, greener corner of China built around the Li River and the backpacker village of Yangshuo.
- Yangshuo West Street$Nightlife
- Xie Dajie Beer Fish$$Restaurants
- Impression Sanjie Liu$$$Theater & shows
Practicalities
| Luoyang | Guilin | |
|---|---|---|
| Language | Mandarin Chinese with a Henan accent. English is rare outside hotels — a translation app is essential. | Mandarin Chinese, with a distinct Guilin dialect and Zhuang minority communities in surrounding areas. English is limited outside Yangshuo's tourist strip, which sees far more Western backpackers than most Chinese cities. |
The same in both:
- Currency
- Renminbi / yuan (¥ or RMB). US$1 ≈ ¥7.2
- Time zone
- CST (UTC+8), one zone nationwide, no daylight saving
- Power
- Type A/C/I plugs, 220V
- Tap water
- Don't drink it — bottled or boiled water everywhere
- Emergency
- 110 police · 120 ambulance · 119 fire