Vietnamese tourists can fly directly to Guilin, explore China’s famous mountain scenery and do not need a visa from April.
Since early January, many travel companies have introduced the Guilin – Duong Soc tour by air with a visa-free policy for tourists. In fact, this city has applied visa exemption for groups from two ASEAN countries since 2015, through tourism units assessed by the management agency. To enjoy the promotion, guests must complete immigration at Guilin airport and stay a maximum of 144 hours.
Previously, when there were no direct flights, Vietnamese tourists often only had the option to buy the Nan Ninh – Que Lam – Duong Soc tour, costing about 6.5 million VND, traveling by road. In January, a Chinese landtour rented a charter plane to open this tour, jointly selling it with tour alliances in Vietnam, with an expected capacity of 180 guests per trip, starting in April.
Tourists take photos at the top of Lao Trai Son mountain, Duong Soc. Image: Bucket Listy Blog
Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Tung, a member of the alliance, said that the previous Que Lam – Duong Soc road program was “not very successful” because of long travel times and high destination competition. The last time Mr. Tung’s company sold this program was in 2023, then stopped completely.
With a price of about 7.3 million VND, the new Guilin – Duong Soc tour will compete directly with many Chinese air tours, priced under 10 million VND such as Guizhou, Phoenix Ancient Town, Hainan Island or 4-day Chongqing. Duong Soc’s advantage is its mountainous landscape, known as “the best mountain and water in the world”.
On average, the time to apply for a group visa takes about 10 days and costs about 30 USD per person. With the direct flight to Guilin, besides saving time and visa costs, visitors can also finalize their tour closer to the date.
The attractions in the new Guilin – Duong Soc program basically remain the same as the traditional tour such as experiencing bamboo rafts on the Li Giang River, Elephant Trunk Mountain, Jin Shuiyan Cave, Ngu Son Park.
In February 2025, Xishuangbanna also exempted visas for Vietnamese tour groups. Some alliances have opened the Hekou – Xishuangbanna tour, departing from Hanoi, priced at about 9 million VND per person. However, Tay Song Ban Na has many similarities with Thailand – a familiar spot to Vietnamese tourists – so it is difficult to sell.