Driving to Fuli Town: A Hidden Gem Near Yangshuo

The postcard is perfect, and utterly familiar. The karst peaks of Yangshuo rise like jade teeth from the emerald Li River, bamboo rafts glide silently, and West Street hums with a global buzz. You’ve seen it, loved it, and perhaps now seek a whisper beneath the shout. So, you rent a car, a scooter, or hire a driver with a reassuring smile, and point your compass east. The destination isn’t on most standard itineraries: Fuli Town. This isn’t just a drive; it’s a short journey from China’s most iconic scenery to its enduring, artistic heartbeat.

The magic begins the moment you leave Yangshuo’s perimeter. The highway gives way to a winding lane, where the monstrous peaks become gentle companions in fields of golden rapeseed or lush rice paddies. You pass villages where water buffalo lounge in muddy ponds and farmers in conical hats tend to their plots. This 30-minute drive is a decompression chamber, stripping away the commercial veneer and preparing you for a place where time adheres to the rhythm of the river and the stroke of a brush.

Fuli: More Than a Bridge

Your first glimpse of Fuli is its ancient, covered bridge—the Fuli Bridge. While Yangshuo has its own historic bridge, this one feels less like a photo op and more like a living room for the town. Old men play cards under its wooden eaves, sharing stories and cigarettes. Women sell freshly picked fruit from baskets. It’s a masterpiece of Ming Dynasty carpentry, not frozen in a museum, but sighing with the weight and warmth of daily life. Cross it, and you cross into another era.

The Town of Three Treasures: Fans, Painting, and Light

Fuli proudly calls itself the “Town of Three Treasures.” This isn’t a marketing slogan for tourists; it’s the authentic economic and cultural engine of the town.

First, handmade bamboo fans. In small, open-front workshops, master artisans split, shave, and weave bamboo into exquisite folding fans. The smell of fresh bamboo fills the air. You can watch an old craftsman, his hands a map of decades of precise work, paint delicate landscapes of the very hills outside his window onto the fan’s paper. Purchasing one here isn’t just souvenir shopping; it’s sponsoring a centuries-old art form.

The second treasure is hand-painted scrolls and fans. While Yangshuo’s streets are filled with mass-produced art, Fuli’s tiny studios house true painters. You’ll find them hunched over desks, using fine brushes to create stunningly detailed scenes of karst mountains, blooming lotuses, or calligraphic poetry. The connection between the landscape you just drove through and the art on paper is direct and tangible.

The third treasure is lanterns. As dusk approaches, Fuli softens. If you’re lucky enough to stay into the evening, you’ll see handmade lanterns begin to glow, casting a warm, romantic light on the old stone streets and the river’s edge. It’s a quiet, magical contrast to Yangshuo’s neon-lit nightlife.

The Driving Experience: Freedom and Serendipity

Having your own wheels transforms this trip. The drive itself is a highlight, offering the freedom to stop wherever beauty beckons.

Detour to the Yulong River

On the way to Fuli, a sign for the Yulong River Valley is irresistible. A quick turn leads you to a world even more serene than the Li River. Here, you can park beside ancient stone waterwheels and witness the timeless scene of farmers working in fields framed by breathtaking peaks. It’s the untouched China of imagination, just minutes off the main road.

The Riverside Road and Local Flavors

The final approach into Fuli runs along the Li River itself. Pull over. The view here is unfiltered and majestic. Fishermen on narrow bamboo skiffs use trained cormorants, a practice centuries old. It’s a living postcard, without the crowds.

And then, there’s the food. Driving means you can indulge in Fuli’s famous beer fish—a Yangshuo region staple—in a rustic riverside restaurant where the fish was likely swimming that morning. But you can also discover local specialties like stuffed liangfen (cold rice noodles) or pumpkin cakes from a street vendor, eating them while leaning against your car, watching town life unfold.

The Deeper Current: Tourism’s Gentle Touch

Fuli presents a fascinating case study in sustainable tourism. It is undeniably on the map, yet it has largely avoided the fate of becoming a theme park version of itself. The tourism here is symbiotic. Visitors come to observe and purchase genuine craftsmanship, which in turn provides the economic incentive for young people to learn these dying arts from their elders. Your presence, especially when you buy directly from an artisan, helps preserve a cultural ecosystem.

The town manages to absorb visitors without letting them define the pace. The primary industry is still fan-making and painting; tourism feels secondary, incidental. This authenticity is its greatest luxury. It’s what every traveler seeking the “real” China hopes to find—a place that exists proudly for itself, allowing you a privileged glimpse.

A Contrast That Enriches

This is why the drive is so essential. The journey from Yangshuo to Fuli frames the contrast. Yangshuo is China’s glorious, exuberant face to the world—a vibrant, chaotic, and exciting melting pot. Fuli is its soulful, introspective heart. Experiencing both creates a complete picture. The energy of West Street makes the tranquility of Fuli’s back alleys more profound, and the quiet artistry of Fuli gives deeper context to the natural spectacle of the peaks.

As the afternoon sun begins to lengthen the shadows of the karst towers, you’ll drive back to Yangshuo. The road is the same, but your perspective has shifted. In your trunk, a carefully wrapped bamboo fan or a small scroll painting sits as a tangible memory. More importantly, your mind holds the scent of woodshops, the sound of river water, and the image of a painter’s concentrated gaze. You return not just from a nearby town, but from a deep dive into the enduring culture that gives this stunning landscape its meaning. The hidden gem wasn’t just a place on a map; it was the feeling of discovery itself, made possible by the simple, liberating act of taking the wheel and going.