Banyan Tree Resort, Yangshuo, China
During our time in Yangshuo, we had the opportunity to stay at the incredible Banyan Tree Yangshuo, which, quoted by our local driver, was the best resort in town!
Banyan Tree Yangshuo is situated 20 mins from downtown Yangshuo and its this out-of-town but not quite feel that gives it its spectacular tranquil charm.
When you first arrive at the resort, you will be immediately be greeted by this stunning vista from the lobby. Surrounded by Karst mountains, Banyan Tree Yangshuo consists of multiple accomodation buildings and free-standing villas dotted around the resort, as well as an outdoor swimming pool, spa centre, incredible landscaped gardens, on-site restaurants and a fabulous list of daily activities on offer.
Room tour
During our time at Banyan Tree Yangshuo, we stayed in one of their Karst Discovery Suites. This room type is their standard room but it is so luxurious. From the moment we walked in, we knew we were going to love this place. Spacious, modern with plenty of natural light and beautiful oriental style touches in the wooden doors and soft furnishings.
The suite has everything you could ever need and you can tell that great attention to detail has been put into creating this space.
The Karst Discovery Suite is extremely spacious with its own seating area and study desk opening out onto a stunning balcony with floor-to-ceiling windows.
Every night, the staff came by for turn-down service and would light some essential oils to burn, bring an evening cookie (delicious!) and leave a little gift on your bed. These little touches made the stay so enjoyable.
During daily room cleaning, fresh fruits and luohanguo (monkfruit) tea would always be refilled. The perfect afternoon snack after a day out.
Resort activities
One of the things I loved about Banyan Tree Yangshuo was its list of complimentary resort activities. You can come by the lobby to pick up food to feed the resident fish, or borrow a bike or two to cycle around numerous suggested biking trails. There is also daily peacock feeding - the resort is home to one peahen and three peacocks which you often see wandering around the lobby and if you're lucky and they're in the mood for it - they'll spread their beautiful feathers as well!
Resort Grounds
Oh and the resort grounds, they're beautiful. Every image in this post is captured in this resort - you can see just how stunning it is!
Breakfast
I love a good buffet breakfast and Banyan Tree Yangshuo certainly delivered with one of the largest variety of breakfast buffets I've had the pleasure of experiencing. They had everything from Chinese dishes, Western dishes, Japanese dishes, to an egg station, wonton station, noodle making station, dimsum area, tropical fruits, a chocolate fountain (!), ice-cream machine, breads and pastries, ham & cheese, drinks station, yakult (haha!), desserts and more.
Funnily enough, every day we went, we'd discover a section of the buffet we had overlooked like the yakult and the wonton noodle bar. It was one of the best breakfast buffets we've had.
Bamboo rafting
We spent one of our afternoons floating down the Li River on board Banyan Tree Yangshuo's very own private bamboo raft. It was a lovely introduction to the Yangshuo area and we saw numerous interesting sights on board. As the bamboo raft left from the resort's pier itself, it was a really nice and tranquil experience, away from the usual crowds Yangshuo draws.
The bamboo rafting experience at the resort is one hour long - be sure to book the day before to secure your time slot!
Bai Yun Restaurant
On one of the nights, we visited Bai Yun Restaurant at Banyan Tree Yangshuo. This is a Chinese cuisine restaurant with local Guangxi & Canton flavours. Here, we tried beer fish - one of the specialty dishes of Yangshuo, as well as an array of delicious Chinese dishes followed by one amazing dairy-free mango sago style dessert!
I hope you enjoyed this tour of the beautiful Banyan Tree Yangshuo, where we based ourselves during our time exploring Yangshuo. Stay tuned for detailed travel guides and tips on visiting the Yangshuo area soon. We saw so many beautiful sights in Yangshuo which I can't wait to share soon.
