Kaiping Watchtowers & Granary Bookstore Private Day Trip

Step into one of southern China's most photogenic corners on this comfortable, fully private day trip from Guangzhou. After a relaxed door-to-door pickup from your hotel, ride in a private air-conditioned car to Kaiping, a UNESCO World Heritage area famous for its diaolou - the strikingly beautiful fortified watchtowers built in the early 1900s by returning overseas Chinese families. At Jinjiangli village your English-speaking guide brings the stories to life: the nine-storey Ruishi Tower, crowned 'the finest diaolou in Kaiping,' the village's oldest Jinjiang Tower, and the French-designed Shengfeng Tower, each a charming blend of Lingnan tradition and Western architectural flourishes.

Enjoy a leisurely local lunch in Xiangang town, where the clay-pot rice (bao zai fan) is a regional specialty. In the afternoon, take a gentle, unhurried stroll through the atmospheric old arcade street of Xiangang Xu - a beautifully faded market town of weathered qilou arcades and ivy-covered shopfronts that has served as a filming location for popular Chinese TV dramas. Finally, visit the celebrated Librairie Avant-Garde 'Granary' bookstore, set inside five dome-shaped 1970s grain silos with a glass cafe, named by CNN among China's most beautiful bookstores and by the BBC among the world's top ten.

This is a calm, culture-and-photography focused experience with plenty of time to wander, sip coffee and take photos - no hiking and no rushing. Your private vehicle and guide are yours for the whole day, with flexible timing and convenient drop-off back at your Guangzhou hotel in the evening.

Free cancellation is available on most tours up to 24 hours before the start time. The exact cancellation terms for this tour are shown during booking.