17 Days Wonderful Festivals Tour to Guizhou

Arrive in Congjiang by high speed train, meet your local guide and driver.

Stay at 3 star Indigo Lodge Zhaoxing.

Drive to visit Basha Village in the morning. The Miao people living here are known as The Last Gun Man Tribe in China. After that we head to the village of Dong people for the Chixiangsi Festival in which young locals dressing in their traditional costumes date through singing and dancing, and you may see the engagement ceremony and group wedding ceremony as well as water buffalo fights in the village.

Home stay at guesthouse in Dong village.
 

Drive to visit the Village of Yao People famous for the Herbal Bath that can cure locals from sickness, you will have the option to try the herbal bath. After that we head to a village of Zhuang People for the Devil Dispelling Festival in which the mysterious rituals will been seen. This festival is held every year to pray for a good health and harvest. During the festival, some of the locals will be chosen to act as devils secretly and they can not expose themselves, the others will dispel them by offering animals to bribe them or displaying fire crackers to scare them under the instructions given by the Shamam who is the spiritual leader of the village and thought with the ability to communicate with devils and gods. Finally all of the villagers dressing in their traditional costumes will get these acted devils out of the village, ending with the celebration of singing and dancing as well as a big banquet. Of course, this festival always attracts people from surrounding villages of Dong People, Miao People and Yao People.

In the late afternoon we will drive to a village of Dong People for Grand Choir Dancing Festival where almost 300 hundred Dong people sing and dance together.

Stay at 4 star Xinxiang Songlai Hotel (best available).
 

Today, we head to the Village of Passion Miao for their Lusheng Festival. The Miao living in Guizhou are composed of more than 100 different subgroups among which the Passion Miao is famous for the Lusheng dance and bullfight during the festival. Drive to Rongjiang in the afternoon.
Stay at 3* Rongjiang Shangping Hotel (best available）
 

Drive to visit the Village of Water People, the Water people are known for making the embroidery with horse tail hair and they are the only minority group in Guizhou who still keep their own written words of language. After that head to visit the Village of Red Miao for the festival called Dancing Under the Moon.

Stay at 3* Rongjiang Shangping Hotel (best available）

Leave Rongjiang for kaili, stop on the way to visit rice terraces and a Miao Village famous for batik making. In the afternoon, visit the Lusheng Festival of Long Skirt Miao.

Stay at 4* Kaili Grand Metro Park Heaven-sent Resort.

Drive to visit the Village of Green Miao, local people in this village still make paper with the mulberry tree bark following the techniques dated back to 1500 years ago. After that head to visit the festival called Dancing on the Flower Slope held by the Flower Miao.

Stay at 4 star Novotel Guiyang.

We head to visit the Garrison Village of Ancient Chinese People built 500 years ago, it was built of stones with the defense purpose as the people living here are the descendants of solders sent here by the emperor to fight against minority rebellions. You will explore the garrison village like a maze. After that, a short drive will lead us to another Garrison village for the festival called Carrying the Ancestor in Santa Chair and a big float parading ceremony will be seen. You will also see the Mask Opera performed by locals. Drive to Liuzhi in the late afternoon.

Stay at 3 star Liuzhi Zhangkejiang Hotel.

Head to the Suoga Village of Long Horn Miao and join the festival called Dancing Around  the Flower Tree. The long horn Miao are known for their unique hair style in form of water buffalo horn dressed with both their own hair and the hair passed down from their female ancestors.

Stay at 4 Star Anshun Puhua Hotel.

We head to Shuitang town and hike 1 hour up to visit the Zhong Dong Village, The Last Cave Man Tribe in China. It is a village built in the cave with 200 meters in width and 100 meters in length, there are totally 78 people from 18 families living in the cave. Zhong Dong means middle cave, which means there are upper cave and lower cave nearby, you can walk to both of them, especially you can walk through the upper cave which is actually a big stone arch. After that we drive to visit the festival of Dancing at the Flower Square held by Black Miao.

Stay at 3* Weiyena Hotel (best avaialble).

Have a relaxing morning, then drive 1.5 hours to the village of Antique Miao, you will visit the Zhuwang Festival held by the antique Miao. Zhugwang means the King of the tribe called bamboo as they think their ancestor ''Zhu'' was born from the giant bamboo pipe. The Antique Miao was named after their unique cultures such as the side way sail hairstyle, primitive instruments, especially the wild burial tradition called tomb of the living dead. Yo will enjoy their dance to the musics played by very classical instruments.

Stay at 4* Anshun Puhua Hotel.
 

Drive to visit the Tianxing Cave, you will see the Cliff Burial in the cave by taking a boat trip, and talk to locals from the surrounding Miao villages to figure out how they could carry the coffins up to the cliffs 100 meters above the river. After that drive to visit the festival called Leading Sheep held by the Pointed Hat Miao, you will be interested in their unique costumes and the courtship culture called"Leading Sheep".

Stay at 4 star Novotel Guiyang.

Drive 3.5 hours to Kaili and check into your hotel after lunch. Then have the whole afternoon to visit the Dragon Dance Festival in which 36 dragons from different communities compete with each other to pray for a good health and harvest in the coming new year. The highlight is the Fire Dragon Dance in the late evening, you will see these 36 dragons dancing in the fireworks sprayed from the bamboo cylinders filled up with gun powders, which will bring you an amazing visual enjoyment. It is said that the purpose for dancing in the fire is to dispel the devil dragons by burning them.

Stay at 3* Guilv Grand Hotel (best available).

Head to Wuyang River Gorge for a cruise tour, you will be amazed by the beautiful views on the both sides of the gorge. After that drive to Zhengyuan, it is an ancient town built 2000 years ago originally on the both sides of the lower Wuyang River. According to the historical records Zhenyuan used to be a military stronghold and the key trading post on the Southern China Silk Road.

This town is famous for its long history with many rich and generous cultural relics, making it much like a historical garden. Zhenyuan Ancient Town covers only an area of 3.1 square kilometers but greets you with more than 160 scenic spots including caves, palaces, pavilions, temples and rivers with unique architecture, exquisite engravings and marvelous natural landscape.

Enjoy the amazing night view of Zhenyuan ancient after dinner.

Stay at 3* Fucheng Hotel（best available inside ancient town). 

In the morning we will pay a visit to the Black Dragon Cave which actually is an ancient architectural complex built 600 years ago on the cliff and in the caves by officials and businessmen from China and abroad. Temples here are a combination of Taoism, Buddhism and Christianity.

After that, with your guide, you will explore the ancient town, especially you will have the opportunity to visit one of the oldest houses The Residence Family Fu in this town and listen to the owner, who is the 7th generation of his family, talk about their rise and fall because of the opium war. A local Ancient Winery can be visited.

After lunch, if you are interested, you could climb 45 minutes up to the City Wall built by the Miao people 2000 years ago. Here you can have a bird's eye view of the whole ancient town. You will find that it looks like a Yinyang diagram as the Wuyang river winds through the middle part of the town in the form of an"S".

Stay at 3* Fucheng Hotel（best available inside ancient town）

Today we drive 2 hours to visit Shiqiao Village where we have a chance to see how local Miao people make paper from mulberry tree bark in a traditional way. on the way to the festival, we stop to see Qingman Miao Village which is famous for their Folded-silk felting costumes, and where the Miao people are preparing for the Lusheng Festival.

In the afternoon, you will visit the largest Lusheng Festival held by the Green Miao, but it also attracts Miao people from others subgroups, you will see locals dressing up themselves with their most beautiful traditional costumes and silver ornaments. Join the celebration composed of Lusheng dancing, rooster fights, and water buffalo fights.

Stay at 4* Kaili Grand Metro park Heaven-sent Resort（best available). 

Drive to railway station for your connecting train. There is direct bullet train from Kaili to Guiyang, Chengdu (The capital city of Sichuan Province), Kunming (The capital city of Yunnan Province)

Trip ends.