A week somewhere near (but not in!) Guiyang

My wife is going to a conference in Guiyang in late May/early June. I am thinking of going with her, and then spending a week or so somewhere within striking range. Any suggestions? From browsing the forum, Guiyang itself is a bit of a hole, but nearby...?

Thanks, Peter

Guiyang is indeed a hole.

The Kaili region nearby used to lovely. Scenic, hilly region, with lots of interesting traditional villages, some of which were still authentically traditional when I visited (ie. traditional, wooden houses, little in the way of tourist development). There have been a lot of changes in that area since I visited, including the construction of a high-speed rail line. I don't know how much things have changed, and where you have to go to find interesting villages these days. But at any rate, Kaili and the region around it should still be far more interesting than Guiyang. You could spend a week traveling from there as far as the Guilin region, if you wanted. Indeed if you want something more foreign tourist-friendly, just head to Guilin/Yangshuo.

Otherwise, I personally really enjoyed the Caohai. It's a pretty lake at higher altitude, with a range of different ethnic groups living around it. There should be many other off-the-beaten track possibilities in Guizhou.

Some thoughts.

Thanks Giora, will have a look at your ideas.
P

If you are not familiar with traveling in China and / or do not speak Mandarin, to see the best areas then it is better to hire a guide. This province is one of my favorite place to visit in China but it is not an easy place to visit.

I think you've probably already done your trip, but for the sake of others who visit the forum researching Guiyang, we really liked Guiyang, and I would go back! It's easy to navigate, bustling, there are several really nice sites to visit within the city, and we especially enjoyed Qingling Shan Park. It was easy to visit nearby locations that were accessible to visit via bus or train, but I gave up on visiting any of the Miao villages because we really would have had to join a tour... Qingyan Ancient Town was ultra easy to reach by bus, and Nanjiang Canyon was relatively easy to reach via the train, although I should have arranged transportation from the train station to the hotel ahead of time.

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