Reed Flute Cave

Reed Flute Cave runs a few hundred metres into a hill on the northwestern edge of Guilin, and the walk through it takes under an hour on a made path. The formations are genuinely large, with curtains, columns and a chamber the guides call the Crystal Palace, but the cave is best known for the way it is presented, floodlit in saturated reds, greens and blues from hidden fixtures. Some visitors find this ruins the rock, others treat it as the point. Ink inscriptions on the walls, some of them very old, record earlier visitors. It is an easy, level indoor option in Guilin when weather closes in on the river.

What you actually see

• The Crystal Palace - the largest chamber, a broad hall with a reflecting pool at the far end.
• Stone curtains and columns - the sheets and pillars where stalactites and stalagmites have joined.
• The wall inscriptions - old ink writing left by earlier visitors, pointed out along the route.
• The coloured lighting - the floodlit scheme that defines how the whole cave is experienced.

When to go

The cave holds the same temperature all year, so it works as a rainy-day or midsummer alternative to being out on the river. Weekday mornings avoid the coach groups that arrive from mid morning onwards. Visitors move through in batches behind a guide, so arriving just after opening usually means a smaller group and fewer heads in the way.

Honest expectations

The lighting is very heavy handed and photographs come out looking artificial. It is a one-way route at a set pace with a guide, mostly in Chinese, so there is no lingering. The paths are wet and slippery in places. For anyone who has seen large caves elsewhere, it is a short and fairly expensive stop.

Nearby

Central Guilin, Elephant Trunk Hill and the Li River departure piers.