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Yao Nationality Village of Nangang

Yao Nationality Village of Nangang

Yao Nationality Village of Nangang
3.5
12:00 AM - 11:59 PM
Monday
12:00 AM - 11:59 PM
Tuesday
12:00 AM - 11:59 PM
Wednesday
12:00 AM - 11:59 PM
Thursday
12:00 AM - 11:59 PM
Friday
12:00 AM - 11:59 PM
Saturday
12:00 AM - 11:59 PM
Sunday
12:00 AM - 11:59 PM
What people are saying
Felix
By Felix
Rough, direct people and nature
3.0 of 5 bubblesAug 2017
What do you do in a AAAA scenic spot in China?! Trying to avoid tourist groups that want to take a photo with you instead of the minority people living there. On one hand it's nice that these places get this title and the government spends some money on preserving it. On the other hand most of that money lands in the pocket of local governments. The locals (Yao Zu) try their best to do business, selling dried herbs, nuts and the like. I felt a bit harassed by some vendors, trying to sell their goods by saying "help me - buy something from me - I haven't sold anything today". Anyways, upon arriving - we drove by car - we were welcomed by a young girl trying to get us to sleep at their families house. We preferred to walk around and try to find our own stay. As I always say, the best things happen when you go to a bar, said and done. The owner of "Golden Stone Bar" (得金石酒吧) is a pure and honest person who happens to have a guest room too, so that's were we stayed for two days. We asked him and his family to eat together so we could sample more of their local dishes - and their Mijiu too ;) It's a bit more complicated to arrive with public transport as mentioned by another reviewer. But if you decide to go, you should definitely stay over night, sit down and breathe the history of the village. There's a minority dance going on but it's done for Chinese tourists and none of the dancers looked like they're enjoying this. Instead we paid two cool old guys sitting somewhere hidden, smoking their pipes and they happily performed their drum dance. Awesome mountain formations, similar to Guilin and beautiful mountain roads. Very good place to shoot rural live of Yao people's lives! Go there - support them to keep this alive. Because nobody else seems to care!

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4 within 10 kms

Most Recent: Reviews ordered by most recent publish date in descending order.

Detailed Reviews: Reviews ordered by recency and descriptiveness of user-identified themes such as waiting time, length of visit, general tips, and location information.


3.5
3.5 of 5 bubbles10 reviews
Excellent
2
Very good
4
Average
3
Poor
1
Terrible
0

Ilaria M
Guangzhou, China53 contributions
4.0 of 5 bubbles
Sept 2013 • Couples
It's very hard to get there (unless you are travelling with an organised tour on the village holidays - but that's to avoid as it ruins the whole atmosphere of the place).

Instructions from Guangzhou: take a bus to Liannan or Lianzhou from the Guangzhou Provincial or Passenger Bus Station (located by the GZ Railway Station). The price ranges from 80 to 120 RMB according to the day and the journey takes 3.5-4 hours. If necessary, transfer from Liannan to Lianzhou. There ask for directions (or get lucky, as we were) and get on the local bus to Nangang). If you don't speak Chinese (we don't), the ideal is to have the names of all the places printed or in a picture forma ready to show to driver and passengers. The bus will take you halfway to the village for the modest price of 70 RMB (this is some tax imposed to visitors, while locals pay only a few yuans: to notice: we paid 70 RMB for the 2 of us, so this seems to be a fee applied to groups rather than to individuals, but this detail was not clear). After that a free mini van will proceed to the village (there are very few people going up there, so the larger bus is not necessary anymore). This series of passages and connections seem pretty hard, but it's actually a smooth one. The last bus departing from Lianzhou is at 16.00. The equivalent coming down from Nangang is at 17.00. Together with the entrance fee (80 RMB/person), the journey is the main investment here.

The village is actually an eclosed area where the building are preserved in their original conditions (although some renovation is going on, in prevision of the future plans of turning this place, home of a minority ethnic group with its own peculiar traditions and culture, into an attraction theme park - get there before this happens). The activities of the villagers have already been reshaped for the tourism: there are 2-3 small restaurants and lots of souvenir sellers. There is also a possibility for sleeping in 2 different family inns: 100 RMB for a double bed room (shared bathroom) and 100 RMB for 2 people dinner and breakfast service - it is an amazing experience and probably one truly giving a feeling of the place. During day time tourists are flowing through the narrow alleys and the stone staircases, but in the evening and early in the morning there is nobody around. The landscape also is magnificent: karks formations surround the area.

What we did not like: after paying the 80 RMB entrance fee, everything inside the village was subject to extra payments (little tastes of food, little performances of local dancers and musicians, even taking photographs with some people). Some of the villagers dresses in typical clothes are actually beggars and live in extremely poor conditions. However, others are employees regularly working for the village attraction management. Souvenirs are not typical at all - in some cases not even of Chinese origin! No book or information material in English is available.

Before taking the bus (that was the last of the day) they tried to discourage us as we would have had to stay for the night necessarily and NOBODY speaks English up there. For arranging accomodation and entrance, it is necessary to have some help (we were again lucky enough to meet a friendly Chinese on the way who helped us through), so better go there prepared!
Written 30 September 2013
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Felix
Xiamen, China44 contributions
3.0 of 5 bubbles
Aug 2017 • Couples
What do you do in a AAAA scenic spot in China?! Trying to avoid tourist groups that want to take a photo with you instead of the minority people living there.

On one hand it's nice that these places get this title and the government spends some money on preserving it. On the other hand most of that money lands in the pocket of local governments. The locals (Yao Zu) try their best to do business, selling dried herbs, nuts and the like.

I felt a bit harassed by some vendors, trying to sell their goods by saying "help me - buy something from me - I haven't sold anything today".

Anyways, upon arriving - we drove by car - we were welcomed by a young girl trying to get us to sleep at their families house. We preferred to walk around and try to find our own stay. As I always say, the best things happen when you go to a bar, said and done. The owner of "Golden Stone Bar" (得金石酒吧) is a pure and honest person who happens to have a guest room too, so that's were we stayed for two days. We asked him and his family to eat together so we could sample more of their local dishes - and their Mijiu too ;)

It's a bit more complicated to arrive with public transport as mentioned by another reviewer. But if you decide to go, you should definitely stay over night, sit down and breathe the history of the village. There's a minority dance going on but it's done for Chinese tourists and none of the dancers looked like they're enjoying this. Instead we paid two cool old guys sitting somewhere hidden, smoking their pipes and they happily performed their drum dance.

Awesome mountain formations, similar to Guilin and beautiful mountain roads. Very good place to shoot rural live of Yao people's lives!

Go there - support them to keep this alive. Because nobody else seems to care!
Written 22 August 2017
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Kylie M
Victoria68 contributions
4.0 of 5 bubbles
Dec 2017 • Family
Visited the village as part of a school program. The students loved the authenticity of the village. As you begin up the uneven steps, you are stopped and welcomed with local rice wine - not pleasant but fun to try. Keep heading up, stop and check out the ancient tofu making apparatus, try some of the local foods, pick up a gift. Don't forget to bargin.
The temple at the top has a great view across the kaste mountains. The woman push you to buy their incense and fire crackers. Careful if you do, they wont stop trying to get you to buy more. Very pushy and can ruin the temple moment for you.
Keep heading around the path for more stalls and offers to buy more food.
Our local guide was great in giving us a tour and explaining the different parts.
There is a performance hall on your way down, definitely worth a stop and check out if the performances are happening. I am told they run regularly.
Lots of Chinese tourists who found us Westerns more interesting with plenty of requests for selfies.
It was my third time here, and each time I have noticed some thing new or different.
Written 10 December 2017
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

lawc22
Penang Island, Malaysia167 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Jun 2016 • Friends
Nangang thousand-year yao village. perched peacefully for centuries on a lush mountain. the largest, oldest settlement of the indigeneous yao people in China.
visit the alleys and crooked passageways around the slopes of the village dwellings. many local produces and per what i can see, the 'commercializm' is still not wide-spread as other tourist destination in China..
facilities are good by chinese standard.
make sure to catch the daily traditional yao performance. quite interesting.!

In addition, venture nearby the village (for those true-blue city folk, like me) to see the agriculture activity of the local tribe and enjoy the fine scenery of paddy fields on hillslopes, buffaloes admist the spectacular surroundings views of hills at the distant resembling 'little Guilin' to me. fresh air is free over here.!
Written 5 June 2016
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

semi775
Shanghai, China36 contributions
3.0 of 5 bubbles
Jul 2014 • Friends
This town was interesting, and the views were spectacular from the top of the small village. The people there were extremely nice, and we had a great time conversing using my limited Mandarin and their non-existent English. However, I was lucky enough to have a close friend with me who grew up in the area, and he made the experience extremely rewarding. We watched the customary marriage ritual in an old theater, and sampled some of the locals offerings. Overall, we didn't need longer than 1.5 hours - not worth the trip from Guangzhou unless you are heading up to the area for the other attractions (check out the rafting adventure and the caves nearby!!!!). I do not believe I would have enjoyed this trip if I was not with my Chinese friend.
The entire village is on the side of a mountain, with stairs up to the top. It is NOT wheelchair or stroller friendly!!
Written 30 January 2015
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
*Likely to sell out: Based on Viator’s booking data and information from the provider from the past 30 days, it seems likely this experience will sell out through Viator, a Tripadvisor company.
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YAO NATIONALITY VILLAGE OF NANGANG (2024) All You Need to Know BEFORE You Go (with Photos) - Tripadvisor

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